USDA ends mandatory farmer funding of ESG commitments in dairy checkoff

USA – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has ended the dairy checkoff funding for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) overregulation.

Under the Dairy Production Stabilization Act, checkoff funds are authorized for promotion, research, and nutrition education that strengthen USA dairy markets.

The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, established through the checkoff, has pursued extensive ESG initiatives, including greenhouse-gas and net-zero targets.

USDA’s action ends checkoff support for those ESG-related projects while allowing necessary administrative functions that do not advance such agendas.

This action also directs the Agricultural Marketing Service to ensure no research and promotion funds in other commodity checkoffs advance ESG mandates.

American producers substantially fund these checkoff programs through mandatory assessments. Those funds must serve their statutory purpose of strengthening markets for agriculture, not advance misguided external ESG agendas that can raise costs or potentially constrain production.

“American dairy producers, cattle ranchers, and farmers pay checkoff assessments so those dollars can build demand for their products – not bankroll radical climate agendas that raise costs and constrain production,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins.

“Today’s action returns the Dairy Checkoff and all research and promotion programs to their core mission: expanding markets and supporting the hardworking men and women who feed this country. We will not allow producer dollars to underwrite mandates that put American agriculture at a disadvantage.”

While USDA is taking swift action to bar the Dairy Checkoff from spending farmer paid dollars on the radical ESG ideology, when focused on its core mission, the Dairy Checkoff is largely a success.

Independent economists at Texas A&M have found that Checkoff investments increased the demand for promoted dairy products and dairy exports, and the gains in profit at the producer level from promotion were larger than the costs of the program.

The aggregate all-dairy return on investment (ROI) is US$5.93 for each dollar spent on activities. Dairy product specific ROI’s are US$4.16 for fluid milk, US$2.67 for cheese, US$24.85 for butter, and US$12.82 for exports.

Similar ROI studies are conducted for all research and promotion boards and have shown returns, for example: Beef – US$13.41; Cotton – US$6.40; and Softwood Lumber – US$33.54.

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