Economic Benefits Study

Executive Summary
Since 2002, the Canadian Beef Cattle Research, Market Development and Promotion Agency (NCO agency) has been responsible for the national check-off program for beef cattle in Canada. Where agreements exist between the NCO agency and provincial beef agencies, the mandatory national levy of $1 per head on domestic cattle sales is collected by the provincial agency and remitted to the NCO agency. The NCO agency distributes the funds to the respective divisions that manage beef cattle marketing and research activities, while the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association is contracted for administration. Canada’s national cattle check-off generates approximately $8.2 million annually. While the establishment of the NCO was seen as a significant step toward growing the market for Canadian beef and increasing the economic benefits flowing to Canadian cattle producers, concerns have arisen that the check-off does not provide adequate funding for beef and cattle marketing and research activities.

This document reports results from a research project that evaluated the impact of check-off-funded marketing and research activities on the economic well-being of Canadian beef cattle producers. The analysis focused on three core questions:

• What is the historic producer return to investment in marketing and research activities?
• How can the allocation of check-off funds be optimized across marketing and research activities?
• What impact does optimizing check-off fund investment in marketing and research activities have on the economic well-being of Canadian cattle producers?

An environmental scan of other beef and pork check-off programs revealed that check-off levies vary considerably. While countries with a high dependence on exports — such as New Zealand, Australia and Canada — have not applied levies to imports, U.S. check-off programs for beef and pork do apply their respective levies to meat imports. The focus of a country’s check-off program also reflects the importance of either the domestic or export market to the growth and competitiveness of the industry. Countries with a high degree of export dependency (e.g., Canada, Australia and New Zealand) focus their check-off funds on export marketing activities, while U.S. beef and pork programs focus their efforts on the U.S. domestic market.

Download the complete Economic Benefits Study [PDF / 881.69KB]
Download the Study Q&A [PDF / 148.68KB]