Research and Marketing Issues Facing Commodity Promotion Programs
Commodity promotion check-off programs are now an integral component of the set of marketing tools used by the nations' farmers to influence (and understand) the market for their output. Nearly $1 billion are invested annually by U.S. producers in such collective demandexpansion activities as generic advertising and promotion, new product development, public relations and product research. Most of the funds used for these generic promotion and research activities are collected from farmers under the authority of federal and/or state legislation. Some programs, authorize refunds and some exempt small producers.