Cattlemen’s Beef Board releases 2025 Impact Report
The Cattlemen’s Beef Board (CBB) and Beef Checkoff 2025 Impact Report has been released, providing details on Beef Checkoff financial information, program highlights, key studies and more in one comprehensive document.
The report includes an overview of authorization requests (AR) supported by the Beef Checkoff in Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) across six program areas – promotion, research, consumer information, industry information, foreign marketing and producer communications.
“Even in a period of historically tight cattle supplies and higher retail prices, consumers continue choosing beef. This sustained demand doesn’t happen by chance,” says 2025 CBB Chair Ryan Moorhouse in a Feb. 24 press release. “It reflects decades of strategic investment through the Beef Checkoff to promote beef, build consumer trust and reinforce its value in a competitive protein marketplace.”
Checkoff impacts
The report opens with a letter from Moorhouse thanking Beef Checkoff investors for their help in advancing the program throughout FY25.
“This year brought plenty of challenges and opportunities – from ongoing drought recovery and unpredictable markets to shifting consumer expectations and fast-moving misinformation online,” Moorhouse writes. “Through it all, producers kept raising cattle with integrity, and your Beef Checkoff dollars helped protect and promote the product you work so hard to produce.”
Moorhouse further notes
Beef Checkoff-funded eff-orts helped bring accurate information about beef’s nutrition, safety and impact on environmental stewardship to millions of consumers, particularly highlighting the impact of the “Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner.” campaign in driving both trust in and demand for beef products.
Additionally, communication was a major priority for CBB, and Moorhouse notes Beef Checkoff updates through meetings, social media, videos and newsletters played an important role in circulating accurate information about the beef industry and how checkoff dollars are used.
“What makes the Beef Checkoff effective is how it brings the industry together,” Moorhouse concludes. “This year, committees dug deep into priority setting, oversight and accountability to ensure every dollar delivered value.”
Promotion
Throughout FY25, total funding for promotion ARs amounted to $9.12 million. The Veal Promotion and the “Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner.” promotion both achieved significant progress toward measurable objectives and exceeded several goals.
The Veal Promotion allocated $192,437 to promoting veal as a family-friendly meal option through delivering targeted ads for shoppable recipes on digital food sites and achieved an overall total sales lift of 2.7 percent.
Additionally, a targeted social media campaign educated consumers about the Veal Quality Assurance program and reached nearly 1.3 million customers.
Contracted by the National Cattleman’s Beef Association (NCBA), the “Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner.” campaign spent just over $8.8 million on efforts to boost beef consumption, promoting stories of real people and emphasizing beef as a healthy protein option in a balanced diet.
Beef Checkoff ads also capitalized on live sports streaming, reaching 114 million Americans tuned into events like March Madness and college and professional football games.
Research
Total research funding in FY25 amounted to $8.6 million put toward studies assessing pre-harvest safety, post-harvest safety and foundational research.
Forty peer-reviewed studies were published in five key research areas – nutrition, product quality, sustainability, pre-harvest safety and processed beef nutrition.
Key among the accomplishments of the post-harvest safety research was promoting advanced awareness of beef producers’ commitment to food safety, while pre-harvest safety and foundational research addressed key demand drivers including eating experience, nutrition, convenience, versatility and how cattle are raised.
Research insights from this AR helped inform the 2025-30 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, securing beef’s place on the plate and boosting consumer interest.
Consumer information
The consumer information and industry information ARs focus on increasing education around the beef industry.
Total funding for the consumer information category reached $7.5 million across three ARs, achieving 16 goals and exceeding 13.
Through the Northeast Nutrition and Health Expert, Consumer and Athletic Program Outreach and Engagement AR, efforts were focused on reaching customers in the northeastern U.S. including major cities like New York City, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
“By partnering with foodservice and retail experts, the initiative also aims to enhance consumer confidence and position beef as the preferred protein of choice,” states the report.
Another consumer in-formation AR provided educators in the nation’s largest school districts with beef-centric professional development events, lesson activities and online learning tools.
Through this, urban educators became equipped to teach students about science, technology, engineering and math concepts through the lens of beef production.
Finally, the NCBA-backed Thought Leaders, Experts, Media and Channel Marketing Engagement AR worked to promote positive media coverage of the beef industry, achieving nine cooking segments featuring beef on major television networks and reporting a 200 percent increase in media placements and audience reach compared with prior years.
Industry information
Funding for three industry information ARs amounted to just over $2.9 million and focused on developing new markets and marketing strategies and increasing efficiency and activities through programs focused on issues, management, public relations and quality assurance.
The Veal Quality Assurance AR allocated $58,473 to providing education and certification to ensure ethical, science-based care for formula-fed veal calves and the Antibiotics Symposium AR spent $82,403 on fostering dialogue on antibiotic stewardship.
Two veal production systems successfully met or exceeded all expected outcomes to achieve Veal Quality Assurance certification, while awareness on antimicrobial resistance was increased through the Antibiotics Symposium and a whitepaper.
Finally, the Issues and Crisis Management, Beef Advocacy Training and Engagement and Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) AR spent $2,794,203 on media development and monitoring, strengthening industry advocates through the Trailblazers program, and updating and translating BQA and training resources to reach even more producers.
Foreign marketing and producer communications
Foreign marketing funding and spending totaled $8 million put towards expanding international market development and access.
Engagement in West Africa, Colombia, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Mexico was boosted through this AR, even in the midst of tariff uncertainty and price challenges.
Finally, the producer communications AR works to establish a direct line of communication with producers and importers who pay the Beef Checkoff, and this AR spent just over $1.7 million of the $1.8 million it was awarded in funding.
Contracted by the CBB, the Producer Communications of Beef Checkoff Programs achieved nine goals, with one still in progress, and utilized various channels to share information, address misconceptions and improve transparency and communication across the industry.
CBB highlights the development of an information processing framework to organize producer-facing communications and help deliver a more cohesive and compelling Beef Checkoff narrative.
Additionally, The Drive newsletter reached a wider audience and added its first corporate sponsor to help extend the newsletter’s circulation and strengthen its brand.
New opportunities for Beef Checkoff-driven content were explored, and CBB says FY25 reinforced the understanding messages delivered by fellow producers are more effective at making an impact than organization spokespersons or staff alone.
“Featuring real producers on camera or behind the microphone enhances authenticity and underscores the Beef Checkoff is producer-led and producer-driven,” reads the report.
Attitudes and behaviors
Finally, the CBB 2025 Impact Report lists some statistics on producer and consumer attitudes.
For producer attitudes on the Beef Checkoff, statistics show 76 percent of producers say the program has contributed to positive trends in consumer beef demand, and 67 percent of producers say education about the value of beef compared to other proteins is the leading area they want to see dollars invested in.
For consumer attitudes and behaviors, the report shows protein remained a top priority for nearly half of consumers and high protein diets remained a popular eating trend as public interest in nutrition, health and wellness soared.
Grace Skavdahl is the editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.
