Agricultural News
Oklahoma Cattlemen's Foundation Committee Meets to Begin Distribution Process of Fire Relief Funds
Wed, 17 May 2017 11:42:23 CDT
In early March of this year, hundreds of thousands of acres across the western Great Plains, were scorched by wildfires, 320,00 acres in Oklahoma alone, leaving behind millions of dollars in damage to farmers and ranchers in the affected areas. Jeff Jaronek, coordinator of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Foundation, has been working since the fires first broke out, leading the relief effort. Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays invited Jaronek to visit him in studio to give an update on the progress of the relief efforts undertaken thus far.
"The first immediate needs were hay and feed, and we've gotten that dispersed," Jaronek said, describing the Foundation's initial response to the crisis when it began. "We had a lot of fencing supplies come in, too, and distributed about 40 miles worth, to over 80 different individual producers. That's about $125,000 worth of supplies right there, not including the hay and feed."
Jaronek added that the Foundation has also collected approximately $1.2 million in donations from around the country. The goal has been to have this money in the hands of affected producers within 90 days of the fire event. A committee has been formed to review the applications and allocate the funding. This committee is scheduled to meet in mid-May to begin the process.
"We've gotten about 150 applications in, so it's quite a bit to sort through, but they're going to do their best to get through those and distribute those funds as equitably as possible, based on need," he said. "The grass is greening up, those cows need to be turned back out onto those pastures, so we want to provide them the means to do that."
Jaronek will join Hays for his weekly In the Field segment on KWTV News9 in the Oklahoma City area on Saturday morning at 6:40 a.m. Be sure to catch him then. In the meantime, you can listen to their off-camera conversation right now, by clicking or tapping the LISTEN BAR below, for today's Beef Buzz.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today's show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
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