According to the USDA, canola acres planted in Oklahoma have declined significantly this year compared to last. I reached out to Dr. Ron Sholar of the Oklahoma Oilseed Commission and Great Plains Canola Association for his take on what exactly happened that caused this sudden drop-off. Sholar responded pointing his finger at Mother Nature.

September was abnormally dry and arid, he said, making the soil unsuitable for sowing, which prompted farmers to delay their planting for a couple of weeks. And from one extreme to the other - it then began to rain. Having only about a 30-day window, Sholar says many farmers just missed their opportunity to get seed in the ground.

Sholar reports little moisture since October has been seen in the countryside, putting most of the state at roughly 90 days without notable precipitation. Even so, Sholar says the canola fields that did get planted, look remarkably good thanks to, "good subsoil moisture and weather conditions that allowed the crop to acclimate as the cold weather started this year."

Sholar says farmers remain optimistic about the fields they were able to plant this year and believes more farmers will opt to jump on-board with canola next fall, given the current price spread advantage over wheat.

Click here to read more and listen to my full visit with Sholar discussing this year's crop and the Canola College event coming up soon.

Days before the current Administration took office, the Obama Food & Drug Administration proposed a regulation that would consider animals bred as a result of gene editing, would be considered and regulated as a drug. Dr. Alison Van Eenanaam of the University of California Davis is one of the world's foremost authorities on gene editing in animal production. In a recent conversation, she told me to consider an animal a drug - is crazy.


"This was a draft guidance from the FDA," she explained. "It's not very scientifically defensible because it's not based on product risk."


Van Eeenanaam says the applications of this technology are endless, and not just in agriculture. However, having access to such science would allow livestock breeders to introduce countless useful traits into their breeding programs with precision and efficiency. Developing polled Holstein cattle for example, would address current animal welfare issues related to dehorning. Gene editing could also help in developing disease resistant animals, making potential epidemics we once feared a thing of the past. Despite the obvious benefits this technology offers, though, the FDA's final decision on the regulation has yet to be announced.


"There was a public comment period that was introduced when that draft guidance came out and we haven't had a final wording from the FDA yet. Many of my colleagues are concerned about this proposed regulation because it really will block the ability of public sector science and small companies to use this technology. If you block access to breeding innovations you basically are slowing down the ability of breeders to improve animals. That has large knock-on environmental effects in terms of less efficient agricultural production."


Listen to Van Eenanaam and I discuss the regulatory roadblocks keeping gene editing technology on the sidelines, on yesterday's Beef Buzz - click here.