Throughout The Food Monopoly Files series, we have exposed how monopoly power has taken hold across nearly every part of our food system—from meatpacking, to inputs, and retail.
Now, it is time we turn our attention to one of the least visible drivers of that power: the mandatory checkoff programs that pull hard-earned money from farmers’ pockets and funnel it to corporate trade organizations and their lobbyists.
These checkoff programs fund well-known ad campaigns like “Got Milk?” and “Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner.” But behind the slogans lies a system riddled with corruption and controversy.
Farmers Funding Their Own Demise
Checkoff programs began as voluntary farmer-funded initiatives for research and marketing of various commodities. But over time, they evolved into government-mandated fees that many farmers and ranchers must pay every time they sell any of 22 commodities, from beef and pork to milk, eggs, and soybeans. Those payments total nearly $1 billion each year.
Checkoff dollars are collected by boards and councils for marketing, research, and promotion on behalf of all producers—at least on paper. In reality, they’ve become another mechanism that entrenches corporate control, siphons wealth from farmers, and props up the very system driving them out of business.
Where the Money Really Goes
The dairy checkoff alone collected $364 million in 2021, while the pork checkoff took in more than $94 million. Since 1985, beef checkoff fees have topped $1 billion. But the deeper issue isn’t just the amount collected—it’s where the money flows once it leaves the farm gate.
Checkoff dollars are routed through a government-sanctioned web of boards and councils that award checkoff dollars to contracted organizations that overwhelmingly work to favor the largest agribusinesses. Many of the groups that receive checkoff dollars operate as both marketing contractors and political influencers, blurring the lines between promotion and industry advocacy.
For example, in the beef sector, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) receives more than 60% of its total budget from checkoff contracts—funding that gives it enormous influence over what research gets prioritized, what narratives reach consumers, and which policy positions are advanced. NCBA is a lobbying group that works to advance initiatives strengthening the dominance of its multinational meatpacker members. Their policy agenda includes fighting against Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling for beef and the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming Act—work that is directly at odds with the interests of America’s independent cattle producers.
And while checkoff dollars are legally barred from being used for lobbying, the groups that receive them can use the influx of funding to bolster their overall budgets and expand their political influence, equipping them to fight reforms that independent producers overwhelmingly support.
Worse yet, several programs have been caught violating the law outright.
Abuse Without Accountability
A 2025 investigation by Farm Action, using publicly available sources as well as documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, revealed widespread checkoff program violations and weak oversight by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA):
- The North Dakota Soybean Council illegally spent $85,000 in checkoff funds lobbying for legislation that exempted it from future audits.
- The Missouri and Iowa Soybean Associations used checkoff dollars to run a fellowship program described as “hands-on work with policy, government, and legislative processes.”
- Available documents show that the Montana Beef Council did not provide required USDA approvals for its promotional materials or budgets after 2020—a clear breach of federal oversight rules.
Previous investigations by the U.S. Government Accountability Office have found deficiencies in the oversight of checkoff programs. Yet, despite these warnings and those from other watchdogs, USDA oversight of checkoff programs remains lax, opaque, and inconsistent.
Who Benefits—and Who Pays
Checkoffs are mandatory for nearly every producer of covered commodities, regardless of farm size or business model. Yet the benefits flow almost entirely to the largest agribusinesses and their trade associations.
Small and mid-sized farmers rarely see any return on their mandatory payments. Checkoff advertising, by law, cannot distinguish between different production methods like grassfed, pasture-raised, or regenerative. By reinforcing the idea that the end product is all the same, these campaigns undercut the very producers who rely on differentiated markets to survive, forcing them to help fund promotions that make their own products less competitive.
The outcomes speak for themselves: Between 2010 and 2020, the U.S. lost 20,000 dairy farms, even as the dairy checkoff collected hundreds of millions of dollars. Since the beef checkoff began, the country has lost roughly 500,000 cattle producers.
Checkoffs were supposed to strengthen producers. Instead, they’ve helped consolidate supply chains, rewarding the biggest players while everyone else disappears.
A System in Desperate Need of Reform
If checkoff funds were used for research and promotion that truly uplifts all producers, they could offer a legitimate benefit. Any serious reform must:
- Require transparency through the publication of checkoff program budgets and expenditures.
- Sever ties between checkoff boards and agricultural lobbying organizations.
- Enforce oversight by USDA.
Farmers should not be forced to bankroll an agenda that undermines their livelihoods. Farm Action will continue to expose how mandatory checkoff programs siphon money from farmers, strengthen corporate power, and undermine fair competition—and to push for reforms that restore transparency, accountability, and farmer control across the food system.
This post, like the rest of our Food Monopoly Files series, draws from Kings Over the Necessaries of Life, our landmark investigation into how monopoly power reshaped U.S. agriculture. Next up, we’ll look at the broader corporate playbook—the lobbying, revolving doors, and regulatory capture that allow monopoly power to entrench itself and shape the rules in its own favor.
