The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is seeking nominees for the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board (Cattlemen’s Beef Board) to succeed 27 members with terms that expire in March 2024. The deadline for nominations is July 10, 2023.

Nominees are needed to succeed members in Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin, Southwest Unit (California and Nevada) and Importer Unit, assuming no changes are made because of the pending reapportionment of the board’s membership.

The Cattlemen’s Beef Board is authorized by the Beef Promotion and Research Act of 1985 and is composed of 101 members representing 34 separate states, four units of geographically grouped states, and one importer unit.

Beef producers within the United States who own cattle or any importers that import cattle or beef may be nominated. Producers and importers must be nominated by a certified producer organization and submit a completed application. The secretary of agriculture will select individuals from the nominations submitted.

A list of certified producer organizations, the nomination form and information about the Cattlemen’s Beef Board are available on the AMS Cattlemen’s Beef Board webpage and on the board’s website. For more information, contact Barbara Josselyn at 202-713-6918 or Barbara.Josselyn@usda.gov.

Since 1966, Congress has authorized the development of industry-funded research and promotion boards to provide a framework for agricultural industries to pool their resources and combine efforts to develop new markets, strengthen existing markets and conduct important research and promotion activities. AMS provides oversight of 22 boards, paid for by industry assessments, which helps ensure fiscal accountability and program integrity.

AMS policy is that diversity of the boards, councils and committees it oversees should reflect the diversity of their industries in terms of the experience of members, methods of production and distribution, marketing strategies and other distinguishing factors, including but not limited to individuals from historically underserved communities, that will bring different perspectives and ideas to the table. Throughout the full nomination process, the industry must conduct extensive outreach, paying particular attention to reaching underserved communities, and consider the diversity of the population served and the knowledge, skills and abilities of the members to serve a diverse population.

Source: USDA's AMS