The U.S. Department of Agriculture has partially denied a request for information on the national Beef Checkoff from the Organization for Competitive Markets. OCM Executive Director Joe Maxwell says the lawsuit and request for financial records stems from the 2011 audit of the program. He says on Friday, USDA released less than 175 pages or 1.5-percent of the requested financial records from the audit, most of which are tax forms that were already public.

He says USDA claims the checkoff documents are confidential and cannot be released.

He says USDA and NCBA are hiding information that will ultimately show wrong-doing.

Maxwell says they’ll keep pushing in the courts and legislatively to get transparency. A bi-partisan checkoff bill has been introduced in the Senate to crackdown on conflict of interests and anti-competitive practices, plus prohibit contracting with organizations that lobby on ag policy. There is companion legislation in the House.