Last year, a Senate inquiry into the distribution of the levy money paid by farmers of Australian grass-fed cattle emerged with almost unanimous views that farmers should have more say on how their levy money was spent.

Under the current scheme, farmers pay a $5 transaction fee per head sold, while meat processors pay 15 per cent of the levies, but receive double that in project spending.

The levy generates upwards of $20 million for the industry each year.

Last September, the Senate returned seven recommendations on the matter, including the establishment of a cost-effective and automated cattle transaction levy system.

It also recommended that a producer-owned body be established by legislation and that Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce revoke the status of the MLA Donor Company as an approved donor under the Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry Act 1997.

Mr Joyce is expected to rule on the matter in mid-February.

Launceston-based Australian Beef Association director and chief executive David Byard said he was thrilled with the Senate report, but wasn't confident that it would create change this year.

"The Senate result was brilliant," he said.

"It's more than we could have ever dreamed of. But there are too many big interests out there.

"You have international businesses, supermarkets like Coles and Woolworths who all get so much out of it.

"For us, though, this will mean a lot.

"Producers will be able able to regulate their own money."