Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has granted organizers of the National Beef Checkoff Petition Drive a 60 day extension to gather the needed signatures for a referendum vote. The organizers had asked for a one year extension but that was denied. R-CALF CEO Bill Bullard says the extension is needed due to the effects of the pandemic which limited their petition gathering.

He says it’ll be a challenge to collect enough signatures to get a referendum vote approved as they need around 60,000 signatures in a 60 day time period to get the 88,000 they have to have.

Bullard says the beef checkoff has been around for 35 years and hasn’t had a referendum vote in that time frame. He says cattle producers should have the opportunity to have a say in telling the government how their money should be spent.

Those interested in signing the petition can do so on line by going to checkoffvote.com.