Northeast Beef Promotion with Kaitlyn Swope

and none of these events or programs can happen without checkoff dollars and so I'm going to ask you to kind of take me take us through the steps that you have to do so It starts off with an authorization request.

So could you tell us, you know, what is that request and the steps you have to go to be able to promote beef with check off dollars.

Yep, no, that's a great, great point.

And I think, yeah, kind of foundational piece of how we're able to execute our programming is through the authorization request process.

So the Northeast Beef Promotion Initiative program, the lion's share of our funding comes through the Beef Promotion Operating Committee.

So the fiscal year for the checkoff runs October through September.

So the authorization request is a one year request for that fiscal year.

So it's a multi-step process.

We're kind of executing programming while planning for the upcoming fiscal year.

So those processes are happening simultaneously, but each Typically, May timeframe is when we start working on the authorization request for the year ahead.

So it's essentially a draft plan of programmatically, here's what we're looking to do within the next year.

And then here's the budget required to execute on the deliverables outlined within the request.

And then each July at the beef industry summer business meeting, we present our plan of work or our authorization request.

to the program committee, budget committee.

So our RAR falls under the consumer information category.

So we present that.

Committee members from all across the country are then able to provide input and feedback on, you know, is the direction make sense? Does it align with committee goals? Does it align with the beef industry long-range plan? And ultimately, are the activities outlined going to drive beef demand We then take that feedback, fine tunes the request between July and then September is kind of the financial component of the authorization request process.

So that's when the Beef Promotion Operating Committee meets each September and they take into account, you know, what was the committee feedback on these requests? What modifications have been made between then and now? And then that's the opportunity to again present that authorization request and then ultimately have funding assigned.

That is known then following that meeting in September.

And then once we have formal approval from Cattlemen's Beef Board and USDA, we start executing work based on the approved plan in October.

So that's a pretty intense process and there's a lot of demand for those dollars.

I know that this past year, to give you some figures, there was $48 million worth of requests and there was only $39 million plus of dollars available.

So you have to have your ducks all in a row when you go into those meetings.

So is it intimidating to go before those boards?

I would say like at first glance, yes, it would be an intimidating process.