Peter Michaelson & Paul Sobocinski on the Beef and Pork Checkoffs

Cattlemen first put money into a checkoff for product promotion in the 1920's, but since the mid '80s, the checkoffs have been required and also the subject of much dispute with large producers on one side and smaller, family scale producers on the other. In 2011 a rancher and a hog farmer long in the business talked about checkoffs, these industry-funded, generic research and marketing programs meant to increase demand for an industry's agricultural commodity.