An amendment to reform checkoff programs failed to make it in the final farm bill approved by the Senate last week. National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Colin Woodall was pleased 57 Senators voted against it while only 38 voted for it. He says the sponsors of the amendment don’t understand checkoffs or how they work.

He says the Senate co-sponsors were being influenced by a major anti ag activist group.

Woodall says to get the provision defeated, his group had to show Congress how checkoffs work, that they’re producer driven and that producers get the benefits from them.

One of the groups supporting the amendment is the Organization for Competitive Markets. Their leaders say the checkoff are not transparent and need fixing.