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Forrest Lucas is the Founder and Chair of Protect the Harvest, a group he started in 2011 to assist in the fight for the rights of America's farmers, ranchers, animal owners and sportsmen/sportswomen. Lucas was in Oklahoma on Monday, meeting with the Ag Groups that gather at the State Department of Agriculture at the start of each week to discuss current issues that may impact agriculture and rural Oklahoma at the state capitol   


We talked with Lucas, who is the Founder and CEO of Lucas Oil Products, before he spoke to the gathering of Ag Groups about his interest in the passage of a "Right to Farm" amendment in the Oklahoma state legislature.


According to John Collison, Vice President of Public Policy for the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, Protect the Harvest has expressed a willingness to consider helping with grassroots communications and online efforts as the Oklahoma Ag Community explains the need for a Right to Farm amendment to members of the State Senate. The measure, HJR-1012, has already passed the State House of Representatives by a overwhelming 90 to 6 vote. 

HSUS is fighting the Ag Groups of Oklahoma over the Right to Farm Amendment with both a targeted email campaign- as well as with a TV ad blasting away at HJR 1012.  

Click here to read our Top Ag Story on this Amendment(and listen to our conversation with Lucas)- and the interest and support that Forrest Lucas is showing production agriculture in Oklahoma regarding HJR 1012.

Undercover HSUS Farm Investigator Finds Gestation Stalls Good for Sows

HumaneWatch.org, a project of the Center for Consumer Freedom, released a video interview Friday with a former undercover investigator for the animal liberation group Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). Gestation stalls, or individual maternity pens (IMPs), are used to house pregnant pigs. IMPs provide for individual care and feeding while preventing the fighting that occurs when pregnant sows are housed in groups. Mainstream veterinary groups support maternity pens as a humane housing option. However, HSUS has been lobbying legislators to ban these gestation pens and are pressuring food companies to only source pork from farms that use group housing of sows.


Watch the full video, by clicking here.


According to the HSUS investigator, who worked on pork farms:


-- "When they're not in crates, they fight each other. With gestation crates, they can't bite each other...They're in a safe spot."


-- "I had to believe they (HSUS) know the pigs would prefer to be in gestation crates . . . but choose instead to push the anti-gestation crate legislation because of what it would do to the pig farming industry."


-- "Objectively, HSUS should be for gestation crates if they're honestly, truly for animal welfare." 
 

Click here to read more about how about 200 large-animal veterinarians have signed an open letter in support of individual maternity pens. 

Beef Herd Rebuilding: What's Next?
 

Derrell S. Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, writes in the latest Cow/Calf Corner newsletter.


"The long-awaited end to beef cow herd liquidation happened in 2014 as the industry abruptly switched to expansion. The 2.1 percent increase in beef cow numbers in 2014 was more than generally expected but not a big surprise as the conditions were right for such a turnaround. Modest growth in heifer inventories has occurred since 2012. It wasn't until 2014 that beef cow culling decreased enough to combine with heifer retention and result in herd growth. This leads to a number of questions including how much additional herd growth is needed; how fast can it happen; and where will it take place. The answers to these questions are not completely apparent at this time and will depend on a number of factors yet to be determined in the coming years. However there are some indications already in place.


"After a brief attempt at expansion in 2004 and 2005, the industry has experienced unplanned herd liquidation. I mean unplanned in the sense that it was not typical cyclical factors that caused the liquidation. It was not, for the most part, low cattle prices but rather cost shocks that caused low returns and liquidation between 2006 and 2010. Widespread drought forced additional liquidation between 2011 and 2013. The question of how much growth is needed will depend on domestic and international market conditions over the next few years as herd growth occurs. It will depend also on things such as carcass weights that will determine total beef production relative to slaughter rates. At this point I see little reason why the cow herd should not rebuild to at least the level of the truncated expansion in 2007-2008...roughly 32.5 million head. That would suggest another 2.8 million head beyond the January, 2015 level. This implies total herd growth of nearly 9.5 percent in the next few years. Time and market conditions will, however, determine exactly what the size potential is for the industry."


Peel addresses how long will it take to surpass the 32 million head level.  Click here to read more of his analysis of herd rebuilding in the U.S.   

Warm, Dry Conditions Persistent Across Southern Plains

Drought conditions continued to be rated extreme to exceptional across the western half of Oklahoma, with conditions most severe in the Southwest and West Central districts. The most recent U.S. Drought Monitor indicates that the percentage of the state experiencing exceptional drought increased from 5.75 to 8.41 percent since the beginning week of March, a 46 percent increase. In the latest crop weather report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the state's wheat crop rated 44 percent good to excellent, 41 percent fair and 15 percent poor to very poor. That's unchanged over last week's report. Jointing of winter wheat reached 49 percent as of Sunday. The canola crop rated 62 percent good to fair, down two points from last week. Seedbed preparation continues for row crops. Pasture and range conditions rated 71 percent good to fair. That' up three points. Click here for the full Oklahoma report.

Warm, humid weather was reported throughout Texas with minimal rainfall reported in most areas this past week. Wheat rated 55 percent good to excellent, 36 percent fair and 9 percent poor to very poor. The crop improved one point in the fair category. Corn planting reached 20 percent complete, as planting was delayed due to wet conditions in the South East. Sorghum planting was 11 percent done with progress continuing in South and South Central. Range and pasture rated mostly good - fair with pastures greening up from recent rainfall. Click here for the full Texas report. 

Warmer than normal conditions with limited moisture continue to prevail across much of Kansas. The dry conditions in the west are especially concerning. Producers reported an increase in field activities with the recent mild weather, including fertilizer and herbicide application, planting preparation, and moving cattle off crop residue. The winter wheat crop rated 39 percent good to excellent, 44 fair and 17 percent poor to very poor. Winter wheat jointing reached 15 percent, ahead of last year, but behind average.  Click here for the full Kansas report.

Precision Agriculture One Piece of the Puzzle in Improving Sustainability of U.S. Beef Industry

Kim Stackhouse-Lawson serves as the director of sustainability for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. She recently has taken on additional responsibility looking at global sustainability for the beef industry. Recently she spoke at the Noble Foundation's Texoma Cattlemen's Conference in Ardmore. I caught up with Lawson at the conference. Lawson said globally the U.S. has a wonderful story to tell.


"We are certainly the most efficient and most sustainable industry in the global sphere, so being able to step up there and take a leadership role and educate other countries on the good things that we are doing and help them drive toward their goals of more sustainable beef really sets us apart and allows us to lead in a very meaningful way," Lawson said.


In comparing protein sources, the beef industry often comes under fire. Lawson said that criticism is unfounded as research funded by the beef checkoff in 2010 shows a different story. She said in five years the U.S. beef industry has been able to improve overall sustainability by five percent. In looking at environmental and social sustainability, she said the U.S. has improved seven percent. Farmers have also been able to reduce their emissions or pollution in water by 10 percent, along with reducing energy, greenhouse gas emissions and water use.


Sustainability looks at the entire production process from the field to the consumer.  Click here to read or to listen to this Beef Buzz feature, where Lawson addresses how improvements in agriculture effect beef sustainability.

Award winning broadcast journalist Jerry Bohnen has spent years learning and understanding how to cover the energy business here in the southern plains- Click here to subscribe to his daily update of top Energy News.

Federal Resolution Supports Locally-Led Conservation Efforts

A bipartisan, concurrent resolution recently introduced in the U.S. Senate and House recognizes the value of locally-led soil and water conservation and the role of conservation districts within those efforts across the nation.


"We're pleased to see a bipartisan group of representatives in Washington voicing their support for our nation's soils and locally-led natural resource conservation, and their critical value to our nation's economic and food security," said National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) President Lee McDaniel. "Providing for a projected world population of nine billion by 2050, while preserving our precious natural resource base, will require a coordinated, voluntary, incentive-based approach to private land conservation with participation from local, state and federal stakeholders."


The Senate resolution, S. Con. Res. 10, was introduced by Agriculture Committee members Senators Joe Donnelly (D-IN), John Boozman (R-AR); the House resolution, H.Con.Res.30, was introduced by the Chair and Ranking Member of the House Agriculture Committee's Conservation and Forestry Subcommittee Representatives Glenn Thompson (R-PA-5) and Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM-1), and Representatives Gregg Harper (R-MS-3) and Walter Jones (R-NC-3). The resolution is also supported by the Soil Science Society of America. 

Click here to read more from NACD.  

Prospective Plantings Report This Morning at 11 AM Central

It may well be one of the most anticipated reports of the season as USDA will release their spring plantings numbers at 11:00 AM central time this morning.

Grain market analysts generally expect today's Prospective Plantings report to show farmers plan to plant more acres to soybeans and fewer acres to corn, but crop prices and weather still will affect planting decisions. 

 Allendale reported earlier this month that its producer survey indicated corn planted acreage would fall 2.1 million acres from last year to 88.5 million, while soybean plantings would gain nearly 2.4 million acres to 86.1 million.

 At its annual outlook conference in February, USDA projected corn plantings this year would fall 1.6 million acres and soybean plantings would slip slightly.