Witnessing the Checkoff First-hand – One of Our Own – Greg Akagi
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The Beef Checkoff Program invests producer dollars in foreign market development through the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF), which is supported by the USDA and other checkoff funding. Recently, NAFB President-Elect Greg Akagi, farm editor for WIBW AM and the Kansas Agriculture Network, had the opportunity to visit Tokyo, Japan, and Seoul, South Korea, thanks to the Kansas Corn Commission.
Greg traveled with leaders from the USMEF and had first-hand experiences that helped him gain a better understanding of U.S. meat exports and witness checkoff activities in action. We just caught up with Greg to learn a bit more about what he saw in the way of U.S. beef promotions…tape
We asked Greg to describe how “the checkoff at work” concept really looked on the ground…tape
Greg also provided some insight to the challenges and opportunities he sees in the export markets in Japan and Korea…tape.
Greg hopes to return to the country in the near future with his family, to focus on his ancestry and family tree (his grandparents were Japanese immigrants).
For more information about the checkoff’s foreign marketing efforts and checkoff-funded programs, visit www dot my beef checkoff dot com (www.MyBeefCheckoff.com) or www dot U S M E F dot org (www.usmef.org).
The Beef Checkoff Program was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval.
Funded by the Beef Checkoff.
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