WHO IS NCBA?
National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) is an industry lobbying group that represents the world’s biggest meatpacking conglomerates: Cargill, National Beef Packing, and Tyson Foods are all members.
NCBA only has 25,000 individual members. That’s less than three percent of the 882,692 ranchers in the U.S.
HOW DOES NCBA MAKE THEIR MONEY?
National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) is funded primarily with mandatory government fees collected from every U.S. rancher through a program called the beef checkoff.
While NCBA receives some dues from their limited membership as well as corporate sponsorships at their trade shows, more than 70 percent of their income — $26 million dollars — came out of the pockets of ranchers in 2020 as mandatory fees paid through the beef checkoff program.
Every year for nearly thirty years, NCBA has received the lion’s share of checkoff funds. How is this possible?
By seizing control of the committee that awards checkoff contracts, NCBA rigged this government system to pour ranchers’ dollars into their own pockets. Even ranchers who don't agree with NCBA's work and have opted not to join as members must fund the association through mandatory checkoff fees.
HOW DOES NCBA SPEND THEIR MONEY?
NCBA claims their mission is simply to increase demand for beef. Yet when you look at the expenditures on their tax forms, a quick calculation tells you they’re only spending about half of every dollar on actual beef promotion and research initiatives.
The other half of that dollar mostly goes to salaries: In 2020, NCBA spent $17.5 million on a 180-person staff, with 50 of those employees making six-figure salaries and the CEO and CFO each raking in nearly half a million dollars every year.
And here’s the state of today’s beef industry: Beef consumption has fallen from 79 pounds to under 57 pounds per person today. The rancher’s share of every dollar consumers spend on beef has plummeted from more than 60% in the late 1980s to as low as 37% in recent years.
Since the beef checkoff was established, half a million ranchers have gone out of business.
WHAT’S NCBA’S POLITICAL AGENDA?
NCBA is a lobbying group that works to advance initiatives strengthening the dominance of their multinational meatpacker members. This work is at odds with the interests of America’s independent cattlemen and women.
In 2015, NCBA successfully lobbied to kill Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (MCOOL) for beef, which was a powerful marketing tool for independent American ranchers to distinguish their products from lower-quality imported meat sold by giant meatpackers like Brazil’s JBS.
NCBA’s more recent efforts to defeat the bipartisan Opportunities for Fairness in Farming (OFF) Act are clearly motivated by self-interest: The OFF Act would prevent checkoff funds from being awarded to lobbying groups, and 70 percent of NCBA’s budget is derived from checkoff funds.
NCBA has also been a critic of ongoing USDA rulemaking that would give farmers more legal rights against meat processors and poultry conglomerates. NCBA joined other groups in lobbying against the rules; altogether, these agribusiness interests spent $7.79 million in 2010 to successfully lobby against them.
WHO BENEFITS FROM NCBA’S WORK?
NCBA’s lobbying efforts have paid off for the largest members: Meatpacking conglomerates Marfrig (the Brazil-based parent company of National Beef) and Cargill increased their profits by 53 percent and 23 percent respectively in fiscal year 2022. Tyson’s impressive 48 percent year-over-year profit increase in 2021 pulled in more than $3 billion for the company.
Meanwhile, America’s ranchers are going out of business at an alarming rate. Even though NCBA gets the lion’s share of beef checkoff dollars in order to promote beef, demand for it continues to fall, with per capita beef consumption falling from 79 pounds to under 57 pounds per person today. Since the beef checkoff was established, half a million U.S. cattle producers have been driven out of business.
IS NCBA TRUSTWORTHY?
NCBA has a history of misrepresenting facts and concealing the truth to protect their interests. Here are a few high-profile instances.
At a 2023 House Agriculture Subcommittee hearing on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry, NCBA’s president failed to disclose that NCBA receives federal grants and contracts related to the hearing’s subject matter — even though NCBA is a contractor for the federal beef checkoff program which is overseen by the USDA. In fact, beef checkoff funds make up approximately 70 percent of NCBA’s annual budget.
During his testimony at the hearing, NCBA’s president misrepresented the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming (OFF) Act as “defunding” the beef checkoff program. In truth, the OFF Act would simply add transparency and accountability to checkoff programs, and prohibit funds from being granted to lobbying organizations such as NCBA. NCBA’s failure to disclose to the committee that they rely on government checkoff contracts gave greater weight to this misrepresentation.
In a Western Ag Reporter op-ed, NCBA claimed that the OFF Act “would prevent…land-grant universities, and many research institutions from contracting with the Beef Checkoff.” This is untrue. According to the bill text, the OFF Act provides an exception for universities and land grant institutions, allowing them to continue to contract with checkoff programs.
ALL CASH, NO CATTLE
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association wants you to think they speak for cattlemen and women, but ranchers know the truth: that “Beef” in their name is just short for “beef packer,” and that is where their real priorities lie.