Check-Off Boards Plan Activities Using Market Research, Evaluation, and Coordination

In planning future activities, check-off boards rely heavily on market research and program evaluation. Agricultural Marketing Programs in Four Foreign Countries Are Significantly Different From U.S. Check-Off Programs

National agricultural marketing programs in the four countries we reviewed—Australia, Germany, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom—varied significantly from U.S. check-off programs in their organizational structure, sources of funding, activities performed, and emphasis on export promotion activities. Unlike U.S. check-off programs, some foreign countries’ marketing programs either have government members on their boards or are guided by councils that include government members. Some foreign marketing organizations receive significant funding from sources other than mandatory industry assessments. Marketing Organizations in Foreign Countries Differ in Activities Performed and Emphasis on Export Activities

Like the U.S. check-off programs, many foreign marketing programs carry out promotion and research activities. However, unlike their U.S. counterparts, these foreign programs may provide other services, such as buying and selling products, providing training to industry, inspecting products, and licensing exporters. This appendix provides information on the boards’ promotion, research, and evaluation activities and their joint efforts with related groups. Nutrition. These advertisements resulted in a sales increase of 9.6 percent. Production. Product development and new uses. Basic research focuses on developing new products to compete with petroleum-based plastics and adhesives. Therefore, the authorizing legislation includes an exemption to the prohibition on influencing governmental action for “any action designed to market soybean or soybean products directly to a foreign government or political subdivision thereof.”

Information on Selected Agricultural Promotion and Research Programs in Australia, Germany, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom

We reviewed the activities of 19 marketing organizations in four countries: (1) Australia, (2) Germany, (3) New Zealand, and (4) the United Kingdom. The organizations carry out these activities in both the domestic and export markets. Two assessment rates—a general assessment and an assessment for specific species promotion. Address Correction Requested
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on U.S. and foreign promotion and research programs that are designed to increase domestic and foreign sales of agricultural products, focusing on: (1) how U.S. check-off programs are planned and organized; and (2) how comparable marketing organizations in Australia, Germany, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom carry out their agricultural promotion activities.

What GAO Found

GAO found that: (1) the six U.S. check-off programs reviewed vary by board composition, revenues collected, assessment methods, and options for initiating, continuing, and terminating programs; (2) check-off boards differ in their emphasis on developing domestic or foreign markets, their methods for selling their products, and their reliance on research to develop new products, enhance production, and address nutritional concerns; (3) check-off boards use market research and program evaluation techniques to plan their future activities while coordinating with related groups in preparing and carrying out these plans; (4) the foreign promotion and research programs reviewed differ from the U.S. check-off programs in their organizational structure, funding mechanisms, types of activities performed, and emphasis on export activities; (5) some foreign marketing organizations have government members on their boards or guiding councils and do not require legislative action to change their assessment rates; (6) some foreign programs promote product groups rather than a single industry; (7) in general, the foreign marketing organizations do not exempt small producers from assessments and some receive significant funding from sources other than their industry assessments; (8) foreign organizations generally engage in a wider range of promotional activities, such as buying and selling products and providing training and inspection services than their U.S. counterparts and focus more on exports than domestic sales; and (9) market development programs may become more important in the future, since the new international trade regulations do not limit their use and increase competition.