1. Through the Years $1 per head Item Average Cost in 1986 In June 2016
Buying Power of the Dollar
Through the Years
Item
Average Cost
in 1986
In June 2016
Gallon of gas
$.89
$2.27
Pound of ground beef
$1.29
$3.95
Movie ticket
$3.71
$8.58
Average rent
$385
$1,330
Base cost of a half-ton pick-up truck (before options)
$10,677
$38,910
Average home price
$89,430
$346,400
Beef checkoff assessment
$1 per head
As you can see, we’ve seen some dramatic changes in the costs of items we purchase on a regular basis – from gasoline to ground beef to entertainment, rent and mortgages… Take a look at some of these. These are not minor increases, but most of us can nod our heads as we read these because we remember paying those more attractive prices years ago.
Now, look at the bottom line, if you will. The beef checkoff assessment was $1-per-head when it launched 28 years ago – and it’s still a dollar-per-head today. The reasons for growing funding challenges with the checkoff quickly become apparent.
As checkoff expenses have increased dramatically while revenues have not, the producer leaders who serve on the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and state beef councils have worked diligently to leverage every dollar to the fullest extent possible. In fact, the latest comprehensive econometric model identifying the value of a cattleman’s checkoff dollar indicates that producers get a return of $11.20 for every dollar invested.
That’s great news considering our budget challenges, but we also must stay tightly focused on programs that are most efficient at achieving the checkoff’s ultimate task at hand – building demand for your end product, BEEF. Flip to next slide.

2. Challenges for Checkoff
$1-per-head beef checkoff assessment hasn’t changed since inception
Value of dollar in 2016 vs is about 41 cents
Costs of all services up dramatically
Up against anti-meat factions with exponentially larger budgets
Producers MUST WORK TOGETHER to move forward in this environment!
As we close, then, we’ll remind you that the $1-per-head assessment has been the same since the beginning of the checkoff 25 years ago.
With inflation figured in through the Consumer Price Index, that means that it costs about $2.37 today for the same thing that cost a dollar in Dividing that out, that rates the value of the dollar in 1985 at about 42.1 cents today.
At the same time, our costs for the kinds of advertising, research and education materials and services that we’ve illustrated to you here today have continued to escalate every year. And with our revenue actually down from 20 years ago, you can imagine some of the challenges we face moving forward, not just in keeping quality folks on our team, but in even having producers get together to identify the programs that we want to fund. On top of these challenges, we face the growing challenge of anti-meat groups with exponentially larger budgets than ours, who often share messages about our industry that are based on emotion rather than fact.
Throughout our journey, we must always remember that producer involvement is the very base of this whole self-help program. So if we are to continue our stories of success for the next generation of farmers and ranchers – then we all must work together. We have to stay away from personal differences and politics and stick to the task at hand, so we can make sure that BEEF remains WHAT’S FOR DINNER!
Thank you.