FAQs

Amendments to Allow Redirection of Beef and Soybean Checkoff Assessments from a State 

Board or Council to the National Program

1. What does redirection mean?

Redirection means transferring checkoff assessments collected and retained by a State 

council or board to the national board. For example, a cattle producer could request that 

a Qualified State Beef Council (QSBC) redirect the portion of the producer’s assessment 

that would normally be retained by the QSBC to the Cattlemen’s Beef Board (CBB). 

Likewise, a soybean producer could request that a Qualified State Soybean Board 

(QSSB) redirect the portion of the producer’s assessment that would normally be retained 

by the QSSB to the United Soybean Board (USB). 

The proposed rule AMS published would add provisions to both the Soybean Promotion, 

Research, and Consumer Information Order and the Beef Promotion and Research Order 

that would allow producers, under certain circumstances, request that their assessments 

paid to a qualified State board or council recognized under each Order be redirected to 

the national program.

2. Why is it necessary?

The Beef Promotion and Research Act of 1985 (Beef Act) and the Soybean Promotion, 

Research and Consumer Information Act (Soybean Act) and the Orders issued thereunder 

authorize the collection of assessments from cattle and soybean producers, respectively. 

In most cases, these assessments are collected and remitted by State councils or boards—

either QSBCs or QSSBs—and can retain a portion of the assessments as authorized by 

the legislation. The QSBCs or QSSBs forward the remainder to CBB or USB, which 

administer the national beef and soybean checkoff programs, respectively.

3. Are all producers eligible to request redirection?

No. QSBCs and QSSBs operate under a variety of frameworks. For producers to be able 

to request that their assessments be redirected from the State organization to the national 

program, they must be in a State meeting one of the two circumstances:

• There is no State law allowing assessments to a State board or council; or

• There is a State law allowing assessments, but the State law also allows for 

refunds.

Producers in states with a state law that does not allow for refunds would not be able to 

request redirection.
4. How would cattle or soybean producers know whether they can request that their 

assessments be redirected to the national program?

AMS has identified, to the best of its knowledge, whether cattle and soybean producers in 

each state are eligible to request redirection of their assessments and will strive to keep 

this chart updated. However, because State legislation may change, producers may want 

to check with their QSBC, QSSB, or national board periodically about the current 

authority within each State. 

5. I’m a cattle producer, and my State law allows me to obtain a refund from the State. 

Shouldn’t that mean I receive the money back in my pocket?

The Beef Act requires all producers to pay $1.00 per head of cattle sold. Generally, this 

assessment is collected by the QSBC, which retains half and forwards the other half to 

CBB. (There are seven states without QSBCs, and in those states, CBB collects the full 

assessment directly.) Regardless of whether the State law allows a refund of State 

assessments, a producer is still required by the Beef Act to pay the full $1.00. If a 

producer obtained a refund of 50 cents from the State, the producer would not be 

compliant with the Beef Act. The same scenario holds true under the Soybean Act.

The proposed rule seeks to close this gap. In States where the QSBC or QSSB is 

authorized by State statute and the statute allows refunds, the requirements for those 

refunds are not consistent. In some refund States, the producers receive a credit for the 

assessments paid to the national board and are obligated to forward the refunded amount 

to the national checkoff. However, some refund States allow producers to request and 

receive funds directly from the QSBC or QSSB, with no requirement that the refunded 

portion be given to the national board. In these instances, a producer would receive both 

a refund of the State assessment and a credit toward the assessment due under a national 

checkoff. Such State-level refunds would enable producers to pay only one-half of the 

required national assessment due under the beef or soybean legislation. 

6. Have any States received requests from producers that their assessment be 

redirected to the national board?

AMS is aware that under the Beef Checkoff Program, both the Kansas and Nebraska

QSBCs have redirected funds to the CBB. The North Dakota QSBC received and denied 

a redirection request, citing State law. AMS is not aware of any soybean producer 

requests at this time.

7. Was there something specific that precipitated this proposed rule?

Yes. During the late 1990s, the Federal Government was required to perform a review of 

all regulations issued to determine if any information provided in the regulations was no 

longer applicable and if so, be removed. AMS inadvertently removed parts of the Code 

of Federal Regulations from each Order as it related to producer credits or refunds

regarding referendums. As a regulatory fix, provisions would be added back in to both 
Orders that would allow producers, under certain circumstances, to request that their 

assessments paid to a State council or board be redirected to the national program. This 

would ensure that they pay the full assessment required by the beef or soybean legislation 

but would not allow them to fund a State program if not required by law.

This is consistent with the intent of the legislation and with the language in the Beef and 

Soybean Orders prior to amendments made nearly 20 years ago. Those amendments 

struck refund provisions since assessments to CBB and USB had become mandatory. 

Those amendments, however, left unintended gaps. AMS is proposing a regulatory 

change to close those gaps.

Because of the original structure of both Orders when refunds were allowed under the 

national programs, the assessment collection process is framed in terms of credits rather 

than QSBCs or QSSBs collecting the full assessment and retaining half.