U.S. Sen. Mike Lee of Utah has reintroduced the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming (OFF) Act. According to NCBA Chief Executive Officer Colin Woodall, this deceptively named bill would undermine producers’ right to collectively invest in their industry through the self-funded commodity checkoff programs they have created and governed to support marketing, research and education for their products. Woodall said the OFF Act would bury these programs under layers of unnecessary bureaucracy, prohibit them from working with industry partners and silence their ability to counter misleading or hostile narratives about agriculture.
That’s not reform; that’s sabotage,” he said. “These programs are not taxpayer funded; they’re financed and directed by farmers and ranchers themselves for the benefit of all who pay into the program, and they work. USDA studies show the beef checkoff returns more than $13 for every $1 invested.”
In short, he said the OFF Act would cripple the very programs that help build consumer trust, drive demand and grow markets. Far from creating opportunities, this bill would remove one of the few reliable tools producers have available to level the playing field.
The legislation is championed not by mainstream producers, but by a loose coalition of anti-agriculture activists, radical animal rights groups and fringe organizations that have been working long and hard to destroy the checkoff system. Woodall said these groups have found sympathetic supporters like Sen. Lee and radical left Sen. Cory Booker from New Jersey, a champion of the animal rights movement, to further their cause.
“Make no mistake—the OFF Act isn’t about transparency or fairness. It’s about dismantling a proven system of producer-led selfdetermination in favor of ideological purity tests and Washington micromanagement,” he said.