Agricultural News
Terry Detrick of AFR Reviews 2015, Previews 2016 with Ron Hays
Fri, 18 Dec 2015 05:37:58 CST
The President of the American Farmers and Ranchers, Terry Detrick of Ames, is pleased with the end of year work in the US House and Senate, as lawmakers vote on the Omnibus Spending Bill and the Tax Package that will wrap up work in Congress in 2015. In talking with Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays, Detrick says he was pleased that the Congressional leadership honored an earlier promise to the Chairmen of the Senate and House Ag Committees to restore cuts made to Crop Insurance earlier in the fall. Detrick was also pleased to see Section 179 depreciation being made permanent after the last couple of years seeing the tax planning tool enacted by Congress in December for just that year.
Detrick, in looking back at 2015, is happy that Oklahoma is now out of drought that has been a dominant part of the Oklahoma weather scene the last several years. The moisture has positioned the 2016 winter wheat crop to be in really great shape as it goes into winter dormancy- unlike the crop that was struggling at this time in 2014.
The general farm organization President does worry about farm income, with crop prices at low levels- and the thirty percent drop in cattle prices seen here in the final days of 2015 versus earlier in the calendar year.
Looking to 2016- Detrick says it will be a challenging year to represent agriculture at the state capitol, as all lawmakers will be focused on declining state revenues that will impact every agency and department in the state of Oklahoma- as there will be fewer dollars to spend because of falling oil and gas revenues.
For agricultural groups in Oklahoma in 2016- the big issue for the next eleven months will be State Question 777. Detrick expects huge amounts of money will be spent in Oklahoma by oponents of the Right to Farm proposal- and he fears that a lot of that money will be spent telling lies about the State Question and today's modern production agriculture. Detrick calls State Question 777 a consumer protection bill- as it will protect consumers from activists who want to change agricultural production to suit their agendas- and leaving the bill to make that a reality behind for the consumer to pay.
You can listen to the conversation between Detrick and Hays by clicking on the LISTEN BAR below. And- you can watch them on Ron's In the Field segment Saturday morning on KWTV, News9 in Oklahoma City. In the Field airs at 6:40 AM in the News9 Saturday Morning News Block.
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