The US Hardwood Industry Coalition applauds the recent action taken by The Ohio Forestry Association, Inc., (OFA) to oppose the Hardwood Checkoff initiative now under consideration by the US Department of Agriculture. The OFA’s move comes after the Virginia Forest Products Association also went on record in 2015 to oppose the Checkoff proposal.

The Checkoff proposal was published in the Federal Register on November 13, 2013. A 90-day comment period ending on February 18, 2014, yielded more than 950 industry comments on the plan. A majority of the comments were opposed to the proposed Checkoff blueprint. State organizations filing comments opposed to the Checkoff at that time included the Michigan Association of Timbermen and the Missouri Forest Products Association.

According to April 27 issue of Timber Talk, a weekly update from the OFA’s Executive Director, John Dorka

The OFA Board of Directors agreed to oppose the Hardwood Lumber and Hardwood Plywood Promotion, Research, and Information Order (aka "Hardwood Check Off”) as had been originally proposed by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Services. The "Hardwood Check Off” Order had been released for comment by USDA more than a year ago at which time interested parties provided written comments on the proposal. A considerable number of comments were made with a majority opposed to the proposal. It had been the belief among many in the industry that the order would not move forward, but earlier this year, we learned that the Blue Ribbon Commission (the group formulating the proposal) had renewed its bond for another year to keep working on the order. We had also had been told that the USDA was in the process of re-writing the order. With those actions, OFA felt it was important to take a stand on the order. Following a review with OFA industry members in which an overwhelming majority of manufacturing members indicated opposition to the original proposal, the OFA Board approved the position in opposition to the proposal.

Jeff Hanks, of Bill Hanks Lumber, and co-chairman of the US Hardwood Lumber Industry Coalition said, “The plain truth is, this proposal has been very contentious since it was forst looked at more than 20 years ago.” He continued, “When this latest plan came up in late 2013, most trade associations chose to remain neutral because of that history of controversy, but now there is a clear consensus forming in the hardwood industry that this Checkoff proposal is wrongheaded, and the actions taken by the Ohio and Virginia organizations underscore that.”

A check off was first proposed in 1993 within the National Hardwood Lumber Association (NHLA). The NHLA polled its membership and never garnered more than 41 percent support. In an internal vote in 1995, NHLA members voted down the Checkoff process and the industry never submitted the proposed order to the USDA for publication in the Federal Register. In November 2013, however, the proposal by the 14 member Blue Ribbon Committee was published in the Federal Register for industry comment.

“This process was supposed to be finished a year ago, and the industry has spoken clearly through the comment process that it does not want a Checkoff imposed on it against its will, but somehow the Checkoff idea has clung to life in the halls of USDA,” said Jeff Edwards, of Edwards Wood Products, and co-chairman on the US Hardwood Lumber Industry Coalition. “We hope the voice of OFA, which is chorus with the industry across the country, will reach Washington and be heard finally. It is time to formally terminate the Hardwood Checkoff,” Edwards concluded.

The US Hardwood Industry Coalition is comprised of hardwood lumber manufacturers nationwide who oppose USDA’s most recently published Checkoff proposal. In May of 2014, the Coalition commissioned a telephone research study about industry attitudes towards the Checkoff. Conquest Communications of Richmond, Virginia, questioned hardwood lumber manufacturers identified on a list from USDA of eligible companies to vote in any referendum on the Checkoff. A total of 257 companies responded. Those respondents represent 18 percent of the companies eligible to vote on USDA’s proposed check-off, which is a statistically representative sample of all hardwood lumber manufacturers. When presented with the question, “as the USDA check off proposal is written, do you plan to vote for it or against it?” a total of 83 percent of respondents indicated they would vote against the check off program.