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Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt Talks WOTUS and State Question 777 at Oklahoma Farm Bureau Legislative Conference  

 
Making an appearance at the Oklahoma Farm Bureau annual Legislative Conference, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt talked regulatory overkill by the Obama Administration- and the challenges facing getting a yes vote this coming November on State Question 777. After his comments and question and answer time, Pruitt talked with us about WOTUS as well as State Question 777.


Pruitt told me he believes that is safe to expect the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals will leave the stay on the implementation of the EPA Waters of the US Clean Water Rule in place until after it has heard arguments on the merits of the case against the rule and issued their findings. That will take months- and should run the clock out on the Obama Adminstration and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. Depending on what the court decides on the litigation against WOTUS, that would mean the next resident of the White House and who they choose to head up the Environmental Protection Agency will have the decision whether to appeal an unfavorable verdict or pull the rule as currently written and start over.

Click here to read more from our conversation- and for a chance to hear the AG weigh in on both WOTUS and State Question 777.

Weekly Crop Weather Reports Kick Off- Oklahoma Wheat Crop Slips Compared to End of February  

 

From now through the end of November- USDA will be releasing weekly crop weather updates in most states- states like Missouri won't be releasing weekly updates for a few more weeks- but with the winter wheat crop coming out of what dormancy we had this year- the monitoring of the crop now begins in the southern Plains states of Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas.

For Oklahoma- compared to the February report issued a week ago- the Oklahoma wheat crop has slipped a couple of points in the good to excellent readings from 68% to 66%.  Canola has slipped four percentage points to 63% good to excellent- and our early look at pasture and range conditions show a one point drop from 37% to 36% in the good to excellent category- and the poor to very poor readings moved from 15% to 17% this week versus last.

Click here for the complete weekly report on Oklahoma crop conditions and the report released yesterday afternoon.

While the Kansas report was not available on line as of early this morning- the Texas report is out and shows that the wheat crop has improved from a week ago by two percentage points- from 40% good to excellent to now 42% good to excellent in the report out yesterday afternoon.  Click here for the Texas numbers.

Beef and Pork Officially Removed from COOL Regulations- Vilsack Speculates on Voluntary Options

 

Beef and Pork are officially no longer a part of the Country of Origin regulations. This past week, USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) published a final rule in the March 2, 2016, edition of the Federal Register to amend their country-of-origin labeling (COOL) regulations in response to statutory changes. The final rule officially removes beef and pork muscle cuts and ground beef and pork from the list of covered commodities subject to the COOL regulation.

USDA stopped enforcing the COOL requirements for beef and pork on Dec. 18, 2015, after the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 was signed into law. A provision in that law amended a previous statute by removing beef and pork from the list of products that must carry a COOL label. The US Congress responded to pressure from Canada and Mexico- the two countries that won multiple rounds of trade rulings against the United States over our COOL regulations for beef and pork.

At this past Friday's News Conference with USDA Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack answered a question raised by yours truly about the possibility of a voluntary COOL program- as Hays asked the Secretary if there was a proposal out there that would not cause Canada and/or Mexico to revive the tariffs they could still impose on the US.

His answer can be heard in this edition of the Beef Buzz- as broadcast around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network.

Click here for this edition of the Beef Buzz.

OSU's Dr. Derrell Peel Offers a Herd Expansion Progress Report

 

Mondays, Dr. Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, offers his economic analysis of the beef cattle industry. This analysis is a part of the weekly series known as the "Cow Calf Corner" published electronically by Dr. Peel and Dr. Glenn Selk. Today, Dr. Peel looks at where the beef cattle industry stands in accomplishing herd expansion.



"We are now two years into herd expansion and that leads to questions of how much more herd expansion is ahead and, to a lesser degree, questions about how fast remaining herd expansion will occur. Beginning with a January, 2014 low of 29.1 million head, the beef cow herd expanded (based on USDA-NASS revised 2015 numbers) 217 thousand head in 2014 and another 1.03 million head in 2015. The January 2016 total of 30.3 million beef cows represented a 3.5 percent year over year increase in the beef cow herd, an undeniably aggressive rate of herd expansion. The sharp adjustment in cattle prices in late 2015 has been viewed by some as a result of this large herd increase and the feeling that it was, perhaps, too much, too soon and a sign that herd expansion is mostly over. I don't believe that is the case. It looks now (with the benefit of hindsight) that the spike in feeder cattle prices from 2013 through 2014 was a market signal to ensure that herd expansion got an aggressive jump-start. Having succeeded in that, market prices have adjusted back to levels that allow the industry to follow through with what has been started. Therein lies the question of how much more expansion will occur."

You can read Dr. Peel's answer to that question by clicking here.

Work Continues in the Senate on a GMO Labeling Bill 

According to Agri-Pulse, there is progress happening in Washington on getting a deal done in the Senate on GMO Labeling.

They report "Advocates for legislation to block state GMO labeling laws say they're optimistic they will reach a deal that can that can pass the Senate before the Easter recess. The negotiations are continuing today, and Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts says there's a "great sense of urgency" about getting a compromise.

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BASF Unveils Crop Management Platform MAGLIS at Commodity Classic

 
BASF announced this past week the global launch of Maglis, an online agricultural platform designed to help farmers manage crops more effectively and efficiently.


Connecting technology, data and people, Maglis allows farmers to gather, interpret and monitor a range of crop-related data that helps them make better agronomic decisions.


Scott Kay, U.S. Vice President for Crop Protection with BASF told me that he sees Maglis as the perfect vehicle for BASF to best serve today's farmer, as it provides a way to allow BASF professionals a way to "help them from an efficiency standpoint, manage risk and increase productivity."


Kay adds that Maglis will enable farmers to have a plan, which will then allow them to adapt more easily when Mother Nature changes external conditions. He says that "I think because the plan is farmer created- it is even more powerful."

Click here to listen to our conversation with Scott Kay about MAGLIS- and you can also read more and jump over to the BASF website to go deeper on this new informational platform rolled out this past week in New Orleans.

This N That, Farm Bureau Champions, 74-51 Red Dirt Bulls and Rainfall Keeps Falling as Storms Go In and Out

 

Last night, the Oklahoma Farm Bureau honored one state wide official and eleven lawmakers with their "Champion" Award.

The award was presented to state leaders who demonstrated an exceptional commitment to protecting agriculture and rural Oklahoma in the 2015 legislative session.

The 12 state leaders receiving the award include Attorney General Scott Pruitt; Rep. Scott Biggs, Chickasha; Rep. James Leewright, Bristow; Rep. Charles McCall, Atoka; Rep. Tom Newell, Seminole; Rep. Charles Ortega, Altus; Rep. Roger Thompson, Okemah; Sen. Don Barrington, Lawton; Sen. Brian Bingman, Sapulpa; Sen. Ron Justice, Chickasha; Sen. Mike Schulz, Altus; and Sen. Jason Smalley, Stroud.

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The fourth annual Red Dirt Bull Sale is set for this coming Friday, March 11th at the 74-51 Cattle Company Ranch just outside Marshall, Oklahoma.

Over 200 Red Dirt Bulls will be sold at High Noon on Friday- you can attend the sale in person at the ranch or you can watch and participate online on LiveAuctions.TV.

Click here for a sale catalog and more details about the sale- which is being coordinated by Matt Sims.

You can also go to the Ranch website to learn more about this year's sale by clicking here.

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One rain making system is exiting the state into Arkansas and Missouri this morning- and another system has already rolled into southwestern Oklahoma and is moving northeast.

Rainfall totals from this first storm topped two inches in a couple of locations- Ada and Sulphur- and many more locations got more than an inch of rainfall.

Here is the realtime rainfall map that shows you how rainfall is coming along- western counties have little to brag about to this point- but rain chances continue all week so the hope is western and north central counties will get their share sooner rather than later.

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