Congresswoman Victoria Spartz’s amendment to improve transparency for commodity checkoff boards passed the House and will be included in the Farm Bill, according to an April 30 announcement.
The amendment is intended to provide farmers with more information about how mandatory fees collected by checkoff programs are spent. Checkoff programs require many U.S. farmers to pay a fee every time they sell any of 22 major commodities, with funds used for research and promotion purposes. These fees were originally voluntary but later became mandatory by Congressional action.
“Checkoffs are taxes on farmers mandated by Congress and have been known to be abused by some boards to pay lavish salaries to executives or lobby for Big Ag against small farmers instead of helping them,” said Rep. Spartz. “Hardworking farmers deserve transparency and accountability to know how their hard-earned money is spent.”
The new amendment requires the U.S. Department of Agriculture to publicly post key financial information from checkoff boards, including audit reports from the previous five years, updated annually.
According to Wikipedia, Victoria Spartz is currently serving in the U.S. Congress representing Indiana’s 5th district after replacing Susan Brooks in 2021. She has served in Congress since that year and previously was a member of the Indiana Senate from 2017 through 2020, as reported by the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Spartz was born in Nosivka, Ukraine in 1978 and now lives in Noblesville, according to the Indianapolis Star. She graduated from Kyiv National Economic University with a Bachelor of Science degree in 2000.
Checkoff programs collect roughly $1 billion each year and have faced criticism due to instances of abuse or corruption scandals over time.
