Designing a Voluntary Beef Checkoff

• Main Authors: F. Bailey Norwood, Chris Winn, Chanjin Chung, Clement E. Ward
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Western Agricultural Economics Association 2006-04-01
• Series: Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics
• Subjects: beef marketing; checkoff; free-rider; provision point mechanism; public good
• Online Access: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/10149

Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court considered whether the mandatory fees imposed by the beef checkoff violates the First Amendment. As a precaution, many states began forming voluntary beef checkoffs, where funds would be raised through voluntary contributions. This study conducted a survey of Oklahoma cattle producers to determine what type of voluntary checkoff design would receive the greatest support. The most popular checkoff placed a large emphasis on advertising and a slightly lower checkoff fee. The survey also tested the ability of a provision point mechanism to limit free-riding. The mechanism was not as effective as in other studies which used laboratory experiments.