WICHITA – Mike Callicrate, owner and operator of a meat packing facility and retail market called Ranch Direct Foods, dropped his lawsuit against the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, according to the Associated Press.

Callicrate and The Humane Society of the United States filed a lawsuit seeking a permanent injunction against the NCBA using beef checkoff funds as a contractor alleging that the NCBA was receiving preferential treatment by receiving a majority of checkoff funded projects.

NCBA and Cattlemen's Beef Board refuted the allegations, and a recent audit from the USDA's Office of the Inspector General found no wrongdoing in the $52 million beef checkoff program.