Sonic Corp. is mixing chopped mushrooms with ground beef to make cheeseburgers, and the U.S. government is behind it.
Sonic Signature Slingers are a calculated effort of the farmer-funded Mushroom Council, one of 22 such rah-rah groups created by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to promote commodities such as cotton, mangoes and Christmas trees.
Since the 1990s, the money for campaigns like “Beef: It’s What’s for Dinner” and “Got Milk?” came from mandatory fees charged to producers to fund the industry organizations. Now the payments are under threat from cattle ranchers and their congressional allies who want to make them optional. They say they’d prefer that advertising not benefit rival beef producers from other countries, who also pay fees, because U.S. beef is best.
In the meantime, mushroom farmers are cashing in. In the year ended Jan. 28, U.S. sales rose 4.9 percent to $1.24 billion compared with a year earlier, according to the Mushroom Council.
Farmer Payback
On average, farmers get paid back about $9 for every dollar spent on the marketing, according to a study co-authored by Gary Williams, professor of agricultural economics at Texas A&M University. For example, the United Soybean Board return is $5.20 on average, while egg farmers get back $8.11.
“The programs are highly effective,” Williams said. “It’s a very good return per dollar invested.”
Still, some large producers balk at the fees, and some have filed suit against the USDA.
In 2016, the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America, a nonprofit that advocates for independent U.S. ranchers, filed a complaint arguing the required fees violate the First Amendment by forcing them to subsidize speech they don’t agree with. The group supports Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee’s legislation prohibiting mandatory checkoff fees.
“We’re forced to pay and advertise foreign beef in the U.S.,” said Bill Bullard, chief executive officer of the Montana-based legal fund. “We have a superior product, and it’s coveted the world over.”