09/17/2026
🚨 ADC ALERT: USDA ENDS USE OF MANDATORY FARMER CHECKOFF FUNDS FOR ESG, NET-ZERO & GREENHOUSE-GAS COMMITMENTS
This is a significant development for dairy farmers who have raised questions for years about how their mandatory checkoff dollars are being used. USDA announced today that dairy checkoff funds will no longer be used to support ESG-related initiatives, including net-zero and greenhouse-gas commitments.
For years, farmers have raised concerns about mandatory farmer-funded programs moving beyond checkoff’s core mission and about the implications of environmental commitments, on-farm proprietary data collection via FARM ES, and supply-chain leverage as back-door environmental regulation (even though the SEC and USDA backed away from Scope 3 emissions requirements under the current and previous Administrations) not to mention the issues with the 'methane math' where cows are concerned. That science is far from settled.
USDA says checkoff dollars should focus on their statutory purposes of promotion, research and nutrition education to strengthen U.S. dairy markets.
Stay tuned, and check out our ADC Alert with embedded links to the official USDA announcement here: https://conta.cc/3UX72Li