From staff reports President and CEO of CattleFax Randy Blach and Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion Board Chairman Andy Bishop recently gave their reactions to the 2019-2023 Beef Checkoff Return on Investment study.
For these studies, Dr. Harry Kaiser, the Gellert Family Professor of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University, evaluated the effectiveness and impacts of national Beef Checkoff promotion, education and research activities for the most recent five-year period (2021-2023), as well as the broader impacts of the Beef Checkoff to the general U.S. economy for the past year, Cattlemen’s Beef Board website states.
“It’s been very evident over time to see the demand growth and the value of it in our industry,” Blach said. “It’s added hundreds of dollars per head to the value of all these cattle in our production systems. Export markets have boomed. Our domestic markets have boomed. ”
Blach noted that it isn’t just about demand growth but focusing on the quality and consistency of the product.
Bishop also praised the study.
“A $13.41 return on investment, which is up from $11.91 in the last study, that speaks volumes,” he said. “Anytime in your own operation you can get a $13 return on your investment, you would double down and try to do more things to continue to get that return.”
Bishop believes this increase is a testament to Beef Checkoff’s contractors and the Checkoff’s past 10 to 15 years promoting beef. He holds confidence in the Checkoff program’s framework, its ability to build beef demand, consumer satisfaction and the product.
Although the ROI was expected to be reduced due to growing inflation, “When you look at the original 1985 dollar, that dollar has a buying power today of 32 cents,” Bishop said. “We are getting pretty lean with what we can do with that dollar, but we are being laser efficient. When you see a return on investment like this, you see that we’ve got to be really laser-focused on what we’re doing and the programs that we are approving because those dollars are going down, plus their buying power is going down.”