The U.S. Department of Agriculture took action to end Dairy Checkoff support for projects focused on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives, while allowing funding for necessary administrative functions unrelated to those activities.
Under the Biden administration, the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy began putting these mandatory fees on dairy farmers towards initiatives including greenhouse gas and net-zero targets.
In a Wednesday evening interview with The Daily Wire, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said President Donald Trump was committed to ending this mandatory wokeness.
A memo obtained by The Daily Wire, sent Thursday to the chief executive officers, chairs, members, and research and promotion boards in the American dairy industry, informs them that all research and promotion boards must align with the Trump administration’s priorities focused on agricultural production, producer profitability, and “freedom from ideologically driven mandates.”
“Assessments should not underwrite environmental, social, and governance (ESG) frameworks, net-zero, or climate-neutrality initiatives that impose non-statutory costs, restrictions, or commitments on domestic producers or processors,” the memo states.
Checkoffs are designed to promote and provide research to boost demand for specific agricultural products. Farmers pay checkoff fees based on how much of a given product they sell. Other checkoff programs include the American Pecan Promotion Board, the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, the Real Christmas Tree Board, the Mushroom Council, or the Hass Avocado Board.
Read the full story in the Daily Wire.
