Pictured above- are these the two lawmakers that will eventually solve the current mess as they work with President Trump? (Speaker Mike Johnson meets with Senate Leader to be John Thune)

There was a funding package that had been negotiated by House Leaders- but it now appears to be dead. Republican lawmakers saw their phones light up from angry constituents stirred up by social media posts- especially on X with Elon Musk leading the charge.

President Elect Trump and Vice President Elect JD Vance released a statement on X as well- saying “Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025. The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country.”

They added, “Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH. If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF. It is Schumer and Biden who are holding up aid to our farmers and disaster relief.“

So- what does Speaker Johnson do with less than 48 hours before the government runs out of money? One analyst believes he brings to the table a "clean CR" with no disaster or farm help- and does include a debt limit hike attached.

Then- the real negotiations will need to start- the players in the room need to include Speaker Johnson(if he survives on January 3rd), Senate Leader Thune and President Trump and his team.

These players need to present one big budget/reconciliation package as soon as possible after the Inauguration to the new president that he helps shape —border, defense build-up, energy and housing de-regulation, tax cuts revised and made permanent, farm funding and disaster aid. That budget should also include an omnibus that Trump shapes and which every member of GOP should support.

If Trump is on board- his influence should help Speaker Johnson hold onto the incredibly slim GOP majority in the House and help keep the Senate GOP behind the deal as well.

Senator John Thune may be the key to making sure that a Farm Bill extension(and increased Ag assistance) is included as all of this is rebuilt in early 2025- for the ag community- the outgoing Senate Ag Committee chair's legacy may well be her refusal to get a Farm Bill done in 2023/2024 when she had the opportunity.

Oklahoma Farm Bureau works to improve the lives of all Oklahomans by supporting our state’s agriculture community. As Oklahoma’s largest general farm organization led by Oklahoma farmers and ranchers, OKFB takes grassroots values and advocates for agriculture at the state Capitol and in Washington, D.C., to ensure our way of life continues for generations to come.

Farm Bureau hosts leadership events, supports our state’s agricultural youth and connects consumers with agriculture in order to build a brighter future for our state. Become an OKFB member today online at okfarmbureau.org/join. Together, we are rural Oklahoma.

Oklahoma Farm Report’s Maci Carter caught up with Molly Van Lieu of the International Fresh Produce Association to talk about the meaning behind the phrase, “Food is medicine.”

“For us, it means a produce prescription as a standard practice of clinical care,” Van Lieu stated.

She used the example of a patient suffering from a diet-related disease visiting his or her doctor and receiving a prescription for fruits and vegetables in conjunction with the pharmaceutical solution. The prescription will then be redeemable at a local grocery store or through a delivery service.

“Our hope is that people can get off of those pharmaceutical interventions, and that has happened in many cases,” Van Lieu said. “But this is really designed to be a partnership with their pharmaceutical medications because we know that pharmaceuticals work better when people are eating healthier.”

Despite Corporate Transparency Act Delay, Producers Must Remain Vigilant

Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, is talking with National Cattlemen’s Association executive director of government affairs, Kent Bacus, about the Corporate Transparency Act, because while farmers and ranchers are off the hook for the time being, we must remain vigilant.

The U.S. District Court for the eastern district of Texas granted a preliminary injunction on implementing the Corporate Transparency Act to address questions about its constitutionality.

Bacus said, “Until the court can hear that further, they have granted a preliminary injunction. The federal government has appealed the court’s decision to the Fifth Circuit Court, so we are still waiting to see what is going to happen. We don’t know if the Fifth Circuit Court will hear that case by the end of this year, but there is a delay in implementing the Corporate Transparency Act for a little while.”

In response, the Treasury Department has suspended the reporting requirements for the January 1st deadline.

Oklahoma Weather can be all over the place and 2024 did not Disappoint! Acccording to State Climatologist Gary McManus We went from seeing 60’s and 70s yesterday throughout the state, and today we are waking up to Wind chills in the lower teens!

McManus says in his latest Mesonet Ticker this has been the year of Extremes for Oklahoma, including January of this year when we saw -27 wind chill in Vinita, Oklahoma, only for that to be followed by 113 degrees in Freedom back on August 24th of this year.

McManus said heat was a big factor this summer, “We had our own little circle of Hades centered in far SW OK

this year, where Altus, Hollis, and Mangum all saw 53 days at or above 100 degrees.”

As we know the old saying in the state, “if you don’t like the weather in Oklahoma, give it an hour” or as McManus says, “If an hour goes by too quickly, you can also just give it 24 hours for good measure.”

Last week’s federally inspected cattle harvest was 5,000 head smaller than the prior week and 38,000 head smaller than the same week a year ago. A large contribution gap between classes of cattle in the harvested total remains in place. In the past four weeks, fed steer and heifer head counts have increased 0.6% from a year ago, whereas the cull cow harvest was down 14.6%.

With sharply higher Live Cattle futures last Tuesday and Wednesday, cattle feeders were feeling encouraged by mid-week. The Texas cash trade missed out on the rally as packers purchased cattle there early in the week at prices steady with the prior week. The northern trading region capitalized on the upswing later, with packer bids following futures higher. Highs of $198/cwt. were reported for Iowa live sales and $303/cwt. dressed. Nebraska prices were just below the Iowa average generating a $4/cwt. gap between the northern and southern regions for the week’s summary pricing. The disparity pales in comparison to the record-wide north-south price spread observed for many weeks earlier this year.

Oklahoma Farm Report’s Maci Carter is talking with Kim Tutor, BASF Technical Marketing Manager for corn and wheat fungicides, about the agricultural solutions that BASF has to offer.

Tutor said that two diseases were most prevalent in the Oklahoma-Kansas areas, tar spot and southern rust.

“We saw tar spot in Kansas in May this year; it is the earliest tar spot has ever been documented in the U.S.,” Tutor detailed. “Southern rust usually blows in from the south, but what was really interesting was it made its way all the way North to Minnesota. So, it’s been an atypical year.”

She said that wheat farmers dealt with rust early in the season, and then further north of Oklahoma, some had to deal with fusarium head blight, which can result in DON vomitoxin, which producers will get docked for at the elevator.

For diseases in corn such as tar spot, southern rust, gray leaf spot, and more, Tutor recommended Veltyma fungicide because it also offers environmental stress mitigation by helping keep stomates open, facilitating better

photosynthesis, optimizing growth efficiency, and promoting root growth.