Project 2025 Is Targeting Checkoff Programs. Here’s How Boards Can Prepare.

Checkoff programs and marketing orders have long played a critical role in U.S. agriculture, funding research, promotion, and producer-driven priorities. But they’re under mounting pressure. Across the country, producers are feeling the weight of economic strain, rising skepticism, and a growing disconnect between where their dollars go and what they see in return.

Now, Project 2025, a political roadmap backed by the Heritage Foundation and aligned with the Trump campaign, is putting a target on these programs, calling them "government-blessed cartels" and advocating for their elimination or dramatic reform.

The implications are serious: a push for forced votes, tightened restrictions, and potential defunding of some of the most important tools agriculture has to protect its markets and promote its products.

If you’re involved in a producer-funded board, this is the moment to prepare, not panic.

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So what should checkoff boards do?

Boards don’t need to panic, but they do need a plan. That starts with facing the reality that scrutiny is coming, whether from policymakers, producers, or the public. The best way to prepare? Get proactive, stay grounded in data, and tighten up the fundamentals. Here's how:

• Evaluate your current systems: Is your measurement framework still relevant? Are you tracking the metrics that matter to your stakeholders, not just the ones that are easiest to report? If not, it's time to refresh.

• Run a third-party producer survey: Don't wait until confidence slips. A neutral, well-designed listening exercise can reveal where you're earning producer or grower trust and where you're at risk of losing it. Better yet, it gives you hard data to act on.

• Revisit your messaging and narrative: Can your board members explain what the program does in one sentence? Is your value story built for the moment we’re in, or the one from five years ago?

• Build a “what if” plan now: Think talking points, ROI snapshots, board prep, and public FAQs. You don’t want to be building this under pressure.

• Collaborate with others in the industry: What are other commodity boards hearing from producers? What messaging is working? Where is the overlap in scrutiny or risk? Sharing resources and insight makes everyone more resilient.

Even if you are already doing these things to some degree, now is the time to make sure they’re current, consistent, and readily available to the people who matter.

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1. Prepare Your Checkoff Program for USDA Scrutiny and Policy Changes

Even if your board isn’t under the microscope yet, odds are someone’s already zooming in. Whether it’s Congress, watchdog groups, or producers themselves, you’ll need to show your work:

• Is your measurement and evaluation system up to date?

• Can you clearly articulate where producer dollars are going and what impact they’re having?

• Are your board members confident explaining how and why your program exists?

If the answer is "sort of" or "we used to," this is your starting line.

2. Reconnect with Producers Before Concerns Grow

This isn’t the moment to assume goodwill. Many producers are already under economic pressure, and political rhetoric only adds fuel to existing skepticism.

Run a stakeholder survey. Open the door to feedback.

Find out what they value, what they don’t, and where you might be losing ground without realizing it. If concerns surface publicly before you’ve had a chance to listen, it’s already an uphill battle.

3. Revisit and Strengthen Your Value Narrative

Can your program tell its story in plain language? Can you connect the dots between your activities and producers’ bottom lines? Do all your board members share the same understanding of that value?

If your messaging feels stale, vague, or internal-only, it’s time for a refresh. While you may not necessarily need a brand refresh, a hard look at how your program is communicating its value can go a long way.

4. Build a "What If" Toolkit for Checkoff Program Defense

This doesn’t have to be complicated, but you should have the essentials ready:

• A clear, public-facing overview of your program’s purpose and producer benefits

• Board talking points in case scrutiny hits fast

• A one-pager outlining ROI, producer value, and program outcomes

It's better to have it and not need it than to scramble under pressure.

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Final Thought: Preparation Isn’t Panic, It’s Leadership

What’s happening with Project 2025 isn’t just a communications problem or a PR threat. It’s a fundamental challenge to how agricultural progress has been funded and coordinated for decades.

If you’re thinking about program evaluation, stakeholder listening, or tightening your value story, now’s the time. Let’s make a plan that works for your board and gets you ahead of whatever’s coming.

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Emily Peet is the founder of Axis & Aim, a research and consulting firm specializing in audience insight, strategy, and stakeholder engagement. She’s worked with national and state-level checkoff programs across agriculture to help boards better understand, serve, and earn the trust of the producers who fund them.