It took almost two years- but Oklahoma has now had Secretary of Ag Sonny Perdue come calling- Oklahoma is the 47th state he has been in since assuming the position of Secretary of Agriculture- and the one day trip was jam packed- starting with lunch at Cattlemen's Steakhouse Event Center. AND- the entire Oklahoma Congressional Delegation was there- along with Governor Mary Fallin. (Oklahoma's First District seat is open because of Jim Bridenstine being appointed to be Administrator of NASA)

Secretary Perdue dialogued with the Ag Leaders in the room yesterday at noon- and you can hear that conversation- including a Farm Bill update from House Ag Committee member Frank Lucas- by clicking or tapping here.

US Secretary of Ag Sonny Perdue was in town to address officials from across the country during the Farm Production and Conservation Leadership Summit taking place in Norman, Okla. He sandwiched two local events around that Keynote Address on Wednesday- both in Stockyards City. After the first of those events- We had the chance to join other members of the state's ag media to ask the Secretary a few questions about some of the more pressing ag issues currently - touching on several subjects including his plans for the second round of Market Facilitation Program payments to farmers affected by Chinese tariff pressure, that have been hinted at in recent comments with reporters.

The Secretary says it is still up in the air as to exactly when the payments will be made, but will in all likelihood be sometime after the Thanksgiving holiday either in late November or early December. Of the $12 billion that President Trump has committed to the program, Perdue says roughly half or a little less of that amount will be applied to this second round of payments. He says what happens after that will be dependent on how the trade climate fares - which in his opinion, is looking pretty bright with recent developments and the potential for new opportunities on the horizon. Perdue highlighted the Administration latest inroads on the trade front with KORUS, the USMCA and preliminary talks with the EU and Japan, before addressing the elephant in the room- China.

You can hear the complete Q&A session with Secretary Perdue for more on these topics and others by clicking or tapping here 

Congressman Frank Lucas attended a luncheon in Oklahoma City hosted by Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue, yesterday, during which he took a moment to speak with us about his impressions of the progress being made on the 2018 Farm Bill, still being hammered out by House and Senate Ag leaders. According to him, some great progress has been made these last couple months on a staff-to-staff basis and believes leaders on both sides of the aisle are starting to come together - at least on the House side. For the Senate, he says it may not be until after next Tuesday before they can return the Farm Bill back into focus. Nonetheless, he says he is more confident now than he has been in the last nine months that a comprehensive Farm Bill will be complete before the end of the year.

Now what exactly that will look like, is another issue. But ultimately, he says it will probably mirror the bill he authored as House Ag Chairman back in 2014, albeit with a few tweaks here and there.

"By and large, it will be fully paid for and it will maintain the basic principles of the last Farm Bill," he said. "It will move us passed the next Presidential election and get us way down the road."

The main hang-up at this point will of course be the SNAP work requirements being pushed heavily by the sitting House Ag Chair Mike Conaway and President Trump. Lucas says neither the House nor the Senate will get its way on this issue, and we won't know what will actually happen on this issue until it does, remarking that this "will be the last piece of the pie that goes into the shell before it's baked."

House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson and members Ted Yoho and Roger Marshall have submitted a bipartisan letter to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in support of a petition to waive livestock haulers from certain provisions of Hours of Service (HOS) rules. The petition, was also signed by a number of major industry associations including the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, Livestock Marketing Association, American Farm Bureau Federation, American Beekeeping Federation, American Honey Producers Association, and National Aquaculture Association - all requesting increased driving hours for livestock haulers. In exchange for the agency's flexibility on this matter, the groups involved say they are agreeable to possibly requiring livestock haulers take additional training designed by FMCSA.


Aside from the three Ag Committee leaders that spearheaded the letter, several other members of Congress from both sides of the aisle also agreed to sign onto the letter, which in total carries the signatures of 59 Congressional members now.


House Ag Ranking Member Collin Peterson stated that the current hours of service regulations do not accommodate the unique needs of livestock haulers, adding, "This petition will allow them to deliver agricultural products to market more effectively while maintaining their proven record of safety." His remarks were echoed by Congressmen Yoho and Marshall, both concurring that safe transportation of livestock is an essential part of feeding America, but acknowledge the difficult task of ensuring motorist safety while also tending to the health and welfare of the animals being transported.


To review a copy of the letter or further remarks made by leaders of the organizations that have also endorsed the letter, click over to our website for the original story.

Animal Disease Traceability has for many years been a topic of discussion within the US beef cattle industry. The topic has once again resurfaced in recent years, driven mainly by customers, especially those overseas asking for more transparency within our cattle market chain. We caught up with USDA Undersecretary Greg Ibach earlier this year about his views on ADT and according to him, it would appear the industry is nearing a consensus on how to go about getting such a system done.


According to Ibach, there are programs in place already that serve niche markets that have created added value for enrolled producers. Ibach believes such programs could be foundational for the future if a national system were implemented.


Both the USDA and the industry would play a part in developing such a system, according to Ibach. And likewise, he says both would share the costs associated with establishing it.


"It's a partnership - USDA will pay for part of it and the producers and the public needs to understand the benefit to them as well," he said, reminding us of the potentially devastating consequences an outbreak could have financially on the entire industry if an outbreak did occur with no system in place to control it.


Click here to read more or listen to our complete conversation with Ibach on yesterday's Beef Buzz.

Market access improvements included in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) will lead to an expansion of U.S. agricultural exports by $450 million, mostly in the dairy and poultry sectors, according to a new analysis released yesterday by the Farm Foundation. However, the report mentions that those gains will be more than negated by retaliatory measures taken by Canada and Mexico in reaction to the United States' decision to raise import tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.


According to the analysis, retaliatory measures from Canada and Mexico "will cause U.S. agricultural exports to decline by $1.8 billion." It continues to say that with continued retaliatory tariffs from China and other trading partners, "the United States would see a decline in agricultural exports of $7.9 billion, thus overwhelming the small positive gains from USMCA."


For more highlights and key findings of this report, or to view the full analysis entitled, How U.S. Agriculture Will Fare Under the USMCA and Retaliatory Tariffs, click here.