Agricultural News
Fundraising for State Question 777 Yes Vote Kicked Off This Past Week in Yukon
Mon, 15 Jun 2015 05:21:40 CDT
An early fundraiser to start raising money for the "Yes for State Question 777" campaign was held this past week at the Yukon home of Bob Funk, sponsored by the Oklahoma Farm Bureau. Several dozen representatives of the major farm organizations in Oklahoma, state lawmakers, agribusiness leaders and more were a part of the gathering, who heard from Forrest Lucas, the founder of Lucas Oil and Protect the Harvest, who called the battle to pass State Question 777 vitally important to not just Oklahoma, but to agricultural interests across the United States.
Lucas called Oklahoma agricultural leadership and the state lawmakers who worked to approve HJR 1012 in the Oklahoma State House and Senate this year very courageous for being willing to stand up to anti production agricultural interests that have lots of resources that have allowed them to get their way in several states around the country.
Tom Buchanan, President of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, told Farm Director Ron Hays after the short program at the fundraiser that he is excited to get the ball rolling in communicating the need for this addition to the Oklahoma State Constitution. If approved by a vote of the people in November 2016, State Question 777 will amend the state constitution and declare that the right to farm and ranch in this state will be protected. The specific language of the state question has yet to be developed- and will be written by State Attorney General Scott Pruitt.
Buchanan and Brian Klippenstein of Protect the Harvest both told Hays that passage of this state question will be of great benefit to future generations of farmers and ranchers in the state- but will also be very important to consumers, who will benefit from making sure that groups won't be able to prevent farmers and ranchers from being able to avail themselves of the most productive and safe food production practices- helping assure a continued safe, affordable and adequate food supply for generations to come.
Protect the Harvest helped with the Missouri campaign of a year ago that passed a similar question in that state- and Brian Klippenstein says what they learned in that campaign will help them offer useful advice to the Oklahoma effort to get a yes vote. He expects a well funded "no" campaign and says that the proponents must start right now to mount a high quality, aggressive campaign to explain to Oklahoma voters why they need to vote yes.
He believes that "safety, affordability and choice" will be three concepts that will resonate well with consumers- and it is important that the Yes campaign convice voters that a postive vote for SQ777 will assure them of those things in the food supply of the state.
You can hear a special audio wrapup from the fundraiser featuring Tom Buchanan and Brian Klippenstein by clicking on the LISTEN BAR below.
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