Check-off programs, particularly at the state and regional levels, have existed for many decades. Interest in more federally mandated programs has increased over the past several decades, as commodity groups have sought new ways to support their products. Such groups view the programs as economically beneficial farmer self-help activities requiring minimal federal funding. USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has some administrative and oversight responsibilities, but the producer-contributor boards that run the programs must reimburse AMS for such costs. Congressionally authorized programs now collect assessments for 18 commodities (with the year they began, and collections for the most recent year reported): beef (1986; $79.8 million), blueberries (2000; $1.9 million), cotton (1966; $66.6 million), dairy products (1984; $281.2 million), eggs (1976; $21 million), fluid milk (1993; $107.8 million), Hass avocados (2002; $24.2 million), honey (1987; $3.8 million), lamb (2002; $2.3 million), mangos (2005; $3.9 million estimated), mushrooms (1993; $2.6 million), peanuts (1999; $5.7 million), popcorn (1997; $600,000), pork (1986; $65.4 million), potatoes (1972; $10.7 million), sorghum (2008; $12-$16 million projected), soybeans (1991; $89.5 million), and watermelons (1990; $1.6 million). Among other check-offs that have been authorized but either not yet implemented, or terminated by producers in referenda, are canola and rapeseed , wheat , flowers , kiwifruit, limes , and pecans . Title V of the Federal Agricultural Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 ( P.L. 104-127 ) gave USDA broad-based authority to establish national generic promotion and research programs for virtually any commodity, either at its own initiative or upon the request of an industry group, without waiting for specific legislative authority. Prior to the 1996 law, a check-off necessitated passage of specific authority for an individual commodityâa route that some producer groups still follow. For example, the Hass Avocado Promotion, Research, and Information Act of 2000, signed into law on October 23, 2000, explicitly authorized the program that took effect September 9, 2002. Many billions of dollars are spent annually on "branded" U.S. food advertising and promotion, where one producer pits its name brand against the names of others offering a similar or substitute product. Perdue chicken and Tropicana orange juice commercials are examples of branded advertising. Generic ads, on the other hand, have no connection to the name of a specific producer. Because producers of a basic agricultural product cannot easily convince consumers to choose a particular egg or potato over another, generic advertising can help to expand total demand for the product, it is argued. Generic advertising uses television, radio, and other media to reach consumers. The Beef: It ' s What ' s for Dinner and Pork: The Other White Meat ads have been examples. The programs also seek to expand foreign markets and to fund research and education, such as development of new or improved products or surveys of consumer behavior. (Such activities are generally directed by the producer boards and approved by AMS.) Producers can and have organized voluntary check-offs, but they account for only a small share of all funding for generic efforts. Since the prototype Florida Citrus Advertising Tax was instituted in 1935, hundreds of mandatory farm commodity promotion programs have been legislated by states or the federal government. Nine out of ten U.S. farmers were contributing to one or more of these efforts by the mid-1990s. Many commodity groups prefer mandatory check-offs as a way to address the so-called "free rider" problemânonpaying producers who benefit economically from programs that others have funded. Requests to Congress or USDA to authorize mandatory check-offs have been prompted by various factors, including the search for new ways to stimulate product demand, particularly as farm markets have globalized and U.S. producers face more foreign competition domestically and overseas. Some producers have vigorously challenged mandatory check-off programs. Some have asked USDA to change or abolish orders it has issued on behalf of the commodity boards, or petitioned the department to hold a producer referendum on whether a check-off should continue. Some producers also have filed lawsuits in federal courts. Their key contention has been that the check-off is a "tax" to fund advertising and other activities they would not pay for voluntarily. Three cases have reached the U.S. Supreme Court. In the first, Glickman v. Wileman Brothers and Elliot, Inc. , California peach and nectarine handlers had challenged the USDA marketing order, which is not only a promotion program but also sets quality standards and other marketing rules for those fruits (see footnote 1 ). The 9 th Circuit Court of Appeals had held that the order mandating the assessments violated the affected parties' First Amendment rights and therefore was unconstitutional. The Circuit Court stated that such generic advertising had not been proven necessary or more successful than individual advertising, and also, in effect, violated the free speech of growers who would prefer to use their money to advertise in other ways. The government appealed the case to the Supreme Court, which on June 25, 1997, reversed, by a 5-4 vote, the lower court's ruling. It found that the program "should enjoy the same strong presumption of validity that we accord to other policy judgments made by Congress. The mere fact that one or more producers 'do not wish to foster' generic advertising of their product is not a sufficient reason for overriding the judgment of the majority of market participants, bureaucrats, and legislators who have concluded that such programs are beneficial." In the second case, the Supreme Court on June 25, 2001, ruled 6-3 that mandatory assessments for the mushroom check-off were a violation of the First Amendment because they force producers to pay for commercial speech. Upholding a decision by the 6 th Circuit Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court reasoned, in United States v. United Foods, Inc. , that the program authorized by the Mushroom Promotion Act differs fundamentally from that under Glickman . The Court said that the mushroom check-off is a stand-alone program that is not part of a broader regulatory scheme, as was the peach/nectarine marketing order, and "... for all practical purposes, the advertising itself, far from being ancillary, is the principal object of the regulatory scheme...." The Supreme Court issued its third decision on May 23, 2005. The case, Johanns v. Livestock Marketing Association , stems from a ruling on June 21, 2002, by a U.S. district court in South Dakota that the national beef check-off violates the First Amendment by forcing producers "to pay, in part, for speech to which the plaintiffs object." The district court further ruled in the case that the generic advertising conducted under the Beef Promotion and Research Act and the ensuing Beef Order is not government speech. The 8 th Circuit Court of Appeals announced that it would not reconsider the district court's ruling. Appealing to the Supreme Court, the federal government argued a point that the Justices had not considered in the mushroom case: that check-off messages constitute government speech, and so are not susceptible to a First Amendment challenge. The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, ruled in favor of the government, upholding the program. The Court stated, in part: The message set out in the beef promotions is from beginning to end the message established by the Federal Government. Congress had directed the implementation of a "coordinated program" of promotion, "including paid advertising, to advance the image and desirability of beef and beef products." Congress and the Secretary have also specified, in general terms, what the promotional campaigns shall contain. ... Thus, Congress and the Secretary have set out the overarching message and some of its elements, and they have left the development of the remaining details to an entity whose members are answerable to the Secretary (and in some cases appointed by him as well). The Supreme Court majority also rejected check-off opponents' argument that the program does not qualify as government speech because it is funded by a targeted assessment rather than by general revenues (e.g., taxes). "Citizens may challenge compelled support of private speech, but have no First Amendment right not to fund government speech. And that is no less true when the funding is achieved through targeted assessments devoted exclusively to the program to which the assessed citizens object," the Court concluded. In a May 23, 2005, press release, then Secretary of Agriculture Johanns said that he was pleased with the decision. The House Agriculture Committee Chairman, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the National Pork Producers Council, the American Farm Bureau Federation, and the National Milk Producers Federation were among the groups that also reacted favorably to the Supreme Court's decision. The National Farmers Union joined the Livestock Marketing Association in expressing disappointment with the decision. (A subsequent settlement, filed by defendants and plaintiffs, included a check-off funded survey of producers' views toward the program.) Since the Johanns decision, several other closely watched legal challenges of the programs have been stalled or even ended, including others on beef, and on dairy, pork, watermelons, and cotton. Johanns also is widely expected to be used to defend future First Amendment challenges. However, it is possible that check-off opponents could continue to challenge other legal aspects of the programs in the courts. For example, the Supreme Court did not address the question of whether or not a check-off might be unconstitutional if it were found that the advertisements are attributable to individuals who disagree with a funded message.