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Why a Checkoff?

Mandatory industry marketing programs make sense when there are shared problems at a scale that defy individual company solutions.

Enhance industry reputation among consumers and value chain stakeholders.

Give consumers permission to consume the breadbasket of products they know and love.

Change retailer and food service perceptions of the role of breadbasket products.

Drive growth, market share, revenue and profits.

Fighting for Our Place on the Plate

It is time for the BREAD BASKET to come to the plate!

Commodity Checkoff Program Performance

Program Structure

Total annual budget of approximately $15 million.

Allocation: 85 percent bakers: 15 percent millers

Assessment: combined baker and miller contributions to equal $0.16 per CWT of wheat flour to produce breadbasket products

  • Bakers: $0.136 per CWT of flour
    Millers: $0.024 per CWT of flour

Products subject to assessment: The Breadbasket

  • Included: fresh and frozen sliced and unsliced bread, rolls, buns, bagels, naan, pitas, other flatbreads, English muffins
  • Excluded: tortillas, biscuits, croissants, organic products, products sold in the frozen section of a grocery store, bars, crackers, or sweet goods

View the complete Wheat Flour Foods Promotion, Research, and Information Order here

Exemptions: Companies using or selling less than 750,000 CWT of wheat flour. To claim an exemption, bakers and millers must substantiate one of the following:

  • The baker annually purchases less than 750,000 CWT of wheat flour to produce breadbasket products;
  • The miller annually sells less than 750,000 CWT of wheat flour to produce breadbasket products; or
  • The miller is also exempt from assessment on that portion of wheat flour sold to an exempt baker, even if the miller would otherwise be subject to assessment on that wheat flour

Collection: Bakers are responsible for collecting the assessments from millers and remitting them to the Board along with their own assessments, or where millers sell wheat flour to co-packers, millers will remit directly to the Board upon receipt of an invoice issued by the Board.

What do we get?

Total annual budget of approximately $15 million

Accountability: A checkoff program and staff is accountable to a Board of Directors made up of the companies that fund the program. You are the governors of your dollars and program. Checkoff Boards are subject to USDA oversight and required to report an annual ROI analysis.

* Based on historical averages of existing programs AND based on studies commissioned by the Feasibility Steering Committee

The Approval & Termination Process

All bakers and millers subject to the Order must pass an upfront referendum in support of the program prior to its launch.

Referendum Requirement: To pass, a majority of companies and a majority of the volume of wheat flour must approve the referendum.

If approved, through the initial referendum, the Order is subject to a subsequent referendum every 7 years.