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America’s farmers and ranchers are being forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars annually to mandatory assessment programs, or checkoffs, for so-called "generic" advertising. In fact, the twelve largest commodity promotion boards spend more than $700 million per year of hard earned producer money. The Center believes that these types of mandatory checkoff programs violate the First Amendment, which exists, in part, to prevent the government from compelling individuals to subsidize the expression of certain views with which they may disagree. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the Center’s belief in United States v. United Foods , as it relates to mushroom producers. The Center is committed to putting an end to unconstitutional checkoffs. Commodity Checkoff Programs: Center Files Brief Urging Supreme Court to End Beef Checkoff The cows have come home. After years of numerous lawsuits in the lower courts, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide this term whether farmers and ranchers can be forced to pay for generic advertising under so-called checkoff programs. The case, Veneman v. Livestock Marketing Association, is on appeal from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and challenges the beef checkoff program, which pays for the "Beef: It’s What’s for Dinner" campaign | |
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