Sen. Mike Lee Proposes New Protections for Farmers
May 23, 2025 | Source: Deseret News | by Gitanjali Poonia
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, introduced a bipartisan bill this week to protect farmers while cutting government spending.
The bipartisan Opportunities for Fairness in Farming (OFF) Act would bring more transparency to checkoff programs, used to aid the marketing and development of agricultural products.
Checkoff programs resulted in influential slogans like “Got Milk?” and “Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner” that allowed farmers to advertise large scale without any individual branding.
Stakeholders like farmers, producers and importers pool their resources to fund the checkoff program, which are directed by multiple boards.
The bipartisan bill has a mix of Democratic and Republican sponsors in addition to Lee, including New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rand Paul, R-Ky.