Every dollar invested in the Beef Checkoff Program between 2006 and 2013 returned about $11.20 to the beef industry, according to a study by Dr. Harry Kaiser of Cornell University.

"It is clear to me that activities funded through the Beef Board budget have a substantial impact on beef demand in the U.S. and in foreign markets. The return on producers' and importers investments into this program is vastly greater than the cost of the program," said Kaiser, the Gellert Family professor of applied economics and management at Cornell and director of the Cornell Commodity Promotion Research Program. He shared results at the 2014 Cattle Industry Summer Conference.

Commissioned through the checkoff's Joint Evaluation Committee, the new ROI study also had these findings:

• Had there not been any CBB-funded marketing between 2006 and 2013, total domestic beef demand would have totaled 15.7 billion pounds – or 11.3 percent less than it was with the checkoff programs in place. Holding the effects of all other demand drivers constant, the activities funded by the CBB resulted in an increase in beef demand of 2.1 billion pounds per year.

• Had the national Beef Checkoff Program not invested in foreign-market development between 2006 and 2013, foreign demand for U.S. beef would have been 6.4 percent lower.

• The statistical results indicate that all eight CBB demand-enhancing activities —generic beef advertising; channels marketing; industry information; new-product development; public relations; nutrition research; beef-safety research and product-enhancement research — have a positive and statistically significant impact on increasing per capita beef demand.

• At the bottom line, the increase in beef demand due to CBB-funded marketing efforts resulted in higher prices for beef producers and importers, which means higher net revenue than they would have experienced without those checkoff programs.

With ongoing budget challenges for the checkoff, the CBB commissioned the
"all-encompassing" study to provide a more thorough evaluation of checkoff activities than past studies. As a result, this new study presents a more complete and accurate picture of checkoff returns and provides a new benchmark, the CBB said.  by Tom Johnston on 8/8/2014