The U.S. Department of Agriculture is being urged to increase its oversight of the 22 federal agricultural research and promotion programs known as checkoffs. That’s according to a recently released report from the General Accounting Office, which noted that the Ag Marketing Service’s oversight of checkoffs remains inconsistent. Organization for Competitive Markets President Mike Weaver says this proves the problems they’ve been trying to expose and the lack of transparency from USDA.
He says his group will continue pushing for answers and won’t quit until the USDA is more transparent regarding checkoff programs and where the funding is going.
Weaver says he’s also disappointed with the Trump administration and what he calls their lack of support for agriculture.
The GAO report did note there have been some improvements with USDA’s checkoff oversight and conducting of internal reviews.
