So first of all, can you introduce the Kansas Beef Council to us? And then after that, what the checkoff actually means?

What the Kansas Beef Council is, is the entity that is charged with collecting the beef checkoff in the state of Kansas.

And from that, we can get into a lot of structure stuff.

But the Kansas Beef Council has got more history than what the beef checkoff is as we know it now.

So the Kansas Beef Council was started in the early 70s.

There was some producers who had a lot of foresight in the Kansas Livestock Association to start a volunteer checkoff.

in this state.

And that's a little bit harder to do if you want to take a long-term perspective.

So first of all, can you introduce the Kansas Beef Council to us, and then after that, what the checkoff m- actually means?

What the Kansas Beef Council is, is the entity that is charged with collecting the beef checkoff in the state of Kansas.

And from that, we can get into a lot of structure stuff.

But the Kansas Beef Council has got more history than what the beef checkoff is as we know it now.

So the Kansas Beef Council was started in the early '70s.

There was some producers who had a lot of foresight in the Kansas Livestock Association to, uh, start a volunteer checkoff, uh, in this state.

And, uh, the beef checkoff as we know it now didn't come into existence until 1985.

Uh, you know, I also keep hearing at K-State about all the investments that went into beef quality and how that's finally paying off today, and that's, that's a little bit harder to do if you wanna take a long-term perspective.

So is there someone whose job it is or several people whose job it is to make sure that the respective checkoffs for beef and corn and whatever else are following the rules?

The short answer is yes.

Along with that, the Act and Order also lays out several auditing firewalls that we have to put in place to make sure that the funds are being spent the way they should be.

So the Beef Council gets audited by the Cattleman's Beef Board, which is the national portion of the checkoff dollar.

And they come through and take a look at our books and make sure that, you know, every dollar is being accounted for and being spent properly.

in accordance with the act and order.

The Cattlemen's Beef Board also goes through those same kind of audits themselves through USDA and making sure that everything is being spent in accordance with the act and order.

Okay, if you could change one policy, what would it be?