On the day representatives of the twelve nations that are a party to the Trans Pacific Partnership were in Auckland, New Zealand to sign the trade deal, Senate Agriculture Chair Pat Roberts of Kansas was saying in Washington that a vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership is not expected until after the November Elections. Roberts delivered that message to the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture Wednesday.

Roberts, along with House Agriculture Ranking Democrat Collin Peterson, said the trade deal does not seem likely to be considered before the lame-duck session. Roberts did say members of Congress "are going through 5,000 pages and finding reasons they are not for it." Roberts says approval of the deal depends on the election results while Peterson says the trade deal would likely fail if considered in the House today. Peterson, who has opposed most trade agreements, said he is still examining the agreement.

With the pact now signed by the countries, the clock is ticking- they have two years to ratify it.

At least two agricultural groups immediately released a statement on the day of the signing of the deal.  The National Corn Growers cheered the deal, while the National Farmers Union restated their opposition.

Corn Grower President Chip Bowling expressed that group's support- "The National Corn Growers Association supports the Trans-Pacific Partnership because it would give America's farmers and ranchers greater access to some of the world's fastest-growing economies. This agreement is good for both corn farmers and our friends and partners in the livestock industry. We all want to see more American grains, meat and dairy on dinner tables around the world." Click here for Bowling's full statement.

NFU has been very vocal in their disdain for TPP. "TPP is modeled after the failed deals of the past, and it is destined to fail," explained Roger Johnson, president of the National Farmers Union.  "Those past deals worsened America's trade deficit, did nothing to stop our foreign competitors from cheating the system, and failed to live up to a long list of promises." The full statement from NFU is

US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack says he can't help cotton producers with the request to declare cottonseed as an oilseed that would be covered under the federal farm safety net that was a part of Title I of the 2014 Farm Law. Vilsack signaled reporters on Wednesday that he had notified members of Congress that he could do nothing and that they would have to reopen the Farm Bill to include cottonseed as an eligible commodity under the new Price Loss Coverage and Agriculture Risk Coverage programs that were created by the 2014 farm bill.


Vilsack told reporters Wednesday that Congress would not only have to authorize coverage of cottonseed but also find a way to pay the estimated cost of the subsidies, about $1 billion a year.

Among those responding to these statements by the Secretary- the Chairman of the House Ag Committee- Mike Conaway of Texas.

Conaway disagreed with the Secretary over his authority to make this move- saying he was sorry that the USDA lawyers were telling the Secretary no while he had lawyers at USDA that were telling him yes. We featured comments from the Chairman this morning in our RON Farm News heard on radio stations around the region- Click here for that report.  The House Ag Committee also released a statement attributed to the Chairman- click or tap here to read his full statement.

Several groups expressed their unhappiness with the Vilsack decision. "The American Farm Bureau Federation is seriously disappointed that the Agriculture Department has determined Sec. Vilsack does not have the legal authority to administratively declare cottonseed as an oilseed, thus making it eligible for farm program benefits," said American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall.  "A lot of cotton farmers are hurting across our nation. The AFBF Board voted to support an administrative declaration by Sec. Vilsack, in hopes of softening some of the economic pain our cotton producers are feeling."  Click here to read more from AFBF.

Plains Cotton Growers President Shawn Holladay is also unhappy with the word from Secretary Vilsack and Plains Cotton released a Wednesday afternoon statement- "This designation would be a tremendous boost for cotton growers across the Cotton Belt who are struggling with low prices, high input costs, weak demand, and growing competition from foreign producers who are heavily subsidized, and it would help give us some stability as we go into financing the 2016 crop."

He promises they will leave no stone unturned in order to get this accomplished.

"Don't be afraid to work a little harder than you think you should."


Dr. Rod Hall was living that approach to life long before he started offering it as advice to young veterinarians.


Dr. Hall's career as a veterinarian has spanned nearly four decades, including having served as State Veterinarian with the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry (ODAFF) since 2011. His dedication to not only people but the animals he cares for was recognized as Dr. Hall was presented the Oklahoma Veterinary Medical Association's (OVMA) Veterinarian of the Year Award during the OVMA's 101st Annual Convention & Expo held January 28-30 in Tulsa.


The Veterinarian of the Year Award is the highest honor awarded to an OVMA member in recognition of contributions to the profession.  Click or tap here to read more about Dr. Hall.

Op-Ed Posted by Robert Bonnie, Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment at USDA


"Throughout the last seven years, the USDA Forest Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service have made great strides in conserving private working lands and our public lands for future generations. We have pioneered approaches to conservation that use incentives and partnerships to work with landowners across property boundaries and conserve watersheds, wildlife and large landscapes. What's more, USDA is demonstrating that conserving our natural resources creates economic opportunities for rural communities across the country.


"Today, we are launching the second chapter of USDA Results, a progressive year-long storytelling effort of the Obama Administration's work on behalf of those living, working and raising families in rural America. This month's chapter tells the story of how we are working to conserve our natural resources. Throughout February, we will be announcing new projects and highlighting the work we have done over the last seven years.


"The majority of our nation's lands are privately owned. USDA has invested more than $29 billion since 2009 to help farmers, ranchers, and landowners prevent soil erosion, create and protect wildlife habitat, and clean the air we breathe and the water we drink. NRCS has worked with as many as 500,000 of these producers on over 400 million acres across the nation. These stewards of the land are leaders in innovation and conservation of our natural resources." 


Click or tap here to read more about USDA's Conservation Successes.

The drop in the cattle markets in the second half of 2015 wasn't really a supply problem, at least not in terms of cattle numbers. That's according to CattleFax CEO Randy Blach.   I caught up with him last week at the Cattle Industry Convention in San Diego. A year ago, cattle supplies were tight and they stayed that way through the year as herd expansion continued in the U.S. and producers kept females out of the feedyard. In August, the cattle markets made a flip and a lot of cattle producers were put in a bad situation. From the supply side, there wasn't a lot of cattle to harvest, but there were more pounds of beef on the market, as the supply became uncurrent and the cattle were much larger at harvest. In the second half of the year, the market dealt with a lot of yield grade 4's and 5's and heavy weight discounts. Blach said this was one of the most uncurrent times he had seen in the last 30 years, because there was an incentive to make cattle larger, but he felt the supply forecasts were accurate.


"The numbers were right, the problem was demand and it started with global demand," Blach said. "We ended up with a lot of quantity in our domestic markets because global demand slowed and that's what happen when currencies move the way they did. The U.S. dollar gained 15 to 25 percent against most of these other currencies around the world, so they obviously lost a lot of purchasing power when that move occurred."


Cattle producers have seen a lot of extremes from record prices in 2014. Blach said the cattle market got too high. In early 2015, he said the market was stretched out and it became vulnerable. By the end of the year, he said this market had gotten too low.


"So you went from one extreme to the other," Blach said. "We should start to quiet down in here. We're going to be in a lower range and the market is going work lower and as we move into increasing supplies over the next several years, but the volatility I think is going to start to slow down."


I featured Blach on the Beef Buzz as heard on radio stations across the region. Click or tap here to listen to today's Beef Buzz.

Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) Thursday announced its commercial launch plans for its Roundup Ready2 Xtend soybeans after it received import approval in China. This technology has been highly anticipated by farmers and is now available in the United States and Canada in time for the 2016 season.


"We are pleased to bring Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans to the market," said Brett Begemann, Monsanto President and Chief Operating Officer. "After a decade of development, the new and elite germplasm in Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans can provide growers with outstanding performance in their efforts to produce the best crop possible."


Monsanto's Asgrow, Channel and regional brands, along with Corn States licensees, expect to introduce more than 70 soybean products across eight maturity groups with agronomic traits including resistance to nematodes and phytophthora root rot. Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans are broadly licensed to more than 100 seed brands.  Click or tap here to read more Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans. 

 

This Saturday, the 55th Annual Messner Ranch Bull Sale will be happening at the ranch in Beaver County. The Messner sale is the oldest annual production sale in the state of Oklahoma.


The 2016 sale will feature 150 service age Hereford and Angus Bulls, as well as 70 Bred Angus and Hereford Heifers. The sale will be held at the ranch, located 6 miles south and 11 miles west of Laverne, Oklahoma

For more information, you can all Milt Messner at 580-273-9494 or Van Messner at 580-552-1555.

Click here for their listing in our calendar section of our website- we have a link to their catalog there.

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An annual report from the Division of Agriculture is out that we wanted to call your attention to- It's called Partners in Progress- Wheat and details the research efforts of the Wheat Improvement Team at OSU that was funded in part by the Oklahoma Wheat Commission and the Oklahoma Wheat Research Foundation.

It provides details of accomplishments over the last year in basic wheat research as well as progress in turning out new varieties that will address the challenges in producing wheat in the southern great plains.

Click here for the 42 page pdf of the report.  If you are involved in the wheat industry- I would call it required reading.

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The newest hand in the Public Policy Division at Oklahoma Farm Bureau is Mark Yates of Edmond.

Yates will serve as the face of Oklahoma Farm Bureau at various community and civic organizations and events. He will work to educate urban citizens on the importance and impact of agriculture in Oklahoma.

"Urban citizens really need to hear the perspective of farmers and ranchers," said John Collison, OKFB vice president of public policy. "Mark gives OKFB an extraordinary opportunity to join the larger, statewide conversation."

I suspect that Yates will be spending a lot of his first year with the general farm organization explaining and advocating for State Question 777, the Right to Farm proposal that is on the state ballot this coming November.