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Agricultural News


Congressman Frank Lucas Honored for His Continued Efforts to Support Oklahoma's Natural Resources

Wed, 24 Aug 2022 17:11:42 CDT

Congressman Frank Lucas Honored for His Continued Efforts to Support Oklahoma's Natural Resources At the Upper Elk Creek Dam 23D Rededication Ceremony, Associate Farm Editor, Reagan Calk visited with Congressman Frank Lucas about his part in flood control and conservation in the state of Oklahoma as well as insights on what to expect in the 2023 Farm Bill.

The Sargent Major Creek Dam in Roger Mills County was renamed to the Sargent Major Frank Lucas Dam to commemorate the congressman’s effort and support in protecting Oklahoma’s natural resources.

“It was very kind of my neighbors and the conservation movement to rename the first flood control rehab project dam in my honor,” Lucas said. “I was taken by total surprise. This is something I have worked on for my entire congressional career and this is something that activists both in Roger Mills County and across Oklahoma have worked on for generations.”

Lucas said he was pleased to have the Chief of NRCS, Terry Cosby, with the group as he was given the chance to look at completed projects, projects that needed rehabilitation and more.

“Showing the kind of great work we have done in Oklahoma to national leadership enables us to help drive these kind of efforts not just to completion in Oklahoma, but across the country,” Lucas said.

Turning the page to the 2023 Farm Bill, Lucas said he wrote the 2014 Farm Bill as Chairman at the time, served on the committee for the 2018 Farm Bill and will be part of the Farm Bill writing process in 2023.

“Today let’s visit about the conservation title because that is the section that funds things like EQIP(Environmental Quality Incentives Program), the cost share programs that enable farmers and ranchers to use practices that preserve the water, to protect the air, and maintain soil in place on their farms,” Lucas said. “Those programs will be reauthorized in the 2023 Farm Bill. I want to continue that cost share where the government pays a little and farmers put in money to do these practices.”

Other programs such as the Small Watershed and Flood Dam Prevention Program are also important Lucas said, to achieve new construction of dams.

“The flooding in places like Kentucky and across the country reflect that it is not just Oklahoma,” Lucas said. “These floods have to be addressed everywhere. It is also the bill that will reauthorize funding for the next five years for the rehabilitation program.”

Because Oklahoma has the greatest number of original dams, Lucas said the state has been heavily involved in rehab. The program continues, he added, because after a dam hits 50 years of life, you must go back and make improvements to make it last another 100 years or else deactivate it.

“Farm bills are about making sure we have the ability to raise the food and fiber we need to meet our needs at home and the country and to sell our surplus in the world markets,” Lucas said. “It is also the nutrition programs- think of SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), things like school lunch and WIC where we make sure that our neighbors who don’t have the ability to get the calories they need have access to that.”

Because these programs have worked so well, Lucas said people take them for granted.

“With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we have seen hiccups in food supply chains and we have seen hiccups in fertilizer prices,” Lucas said. “It just makes it all the more important that we have a stable and consistent production agriculture. The safety net of the 2023 Farm Bill and previous farm bills will help move that forward.”

As for Lucas and his efforts to advocate for rural Oklahoma in Washington D.C., he said it is a challenge at times because the majority of congress members live in urban America and no longer have a direct connection to rural America or production agriculture.

“Most members of congress want to do the right thing,” Lucas said. “The challenge is, they don’t know what the right things are.”

Lucas said part of his job is being a member who cares about rural America and enlightening his colleagues in a positive way about why what happens in Oklahoma determines if there is food in the grocery store and more, even if you are living in somewhere like New York City.


Lucas also talked about the upcoming election and more. Click the LISTEN BAR below to hear Reagan’s full conversation with Congressman Frank Lucas.


   

   

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