President-elect Donald Trump Wednesday announced his nominee to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, leaving the Agriculture Secretary cabinet position the last to fill for the incoming administration. Trump announced during a rare news conference Wednesday David Shulkin as his Veteran Affairs Secretary nominee but offered no mention regarding the search for his Agriculture Secretary.

The delay in picking a nominee for the Department of Agriculture is causing some concern within the agriculture industry, but the Trump Transition team continues to say the President-elect is looking for the best candidate.

In talking with Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas, who is the immediate past Chairman of the House Ag Committee, he says he has heard all the names that everyone else has- has heard the talk of needing to fill this quota or that quota- but believes that the President Elect will end up doing right by rural America in who he selects.

Lucas says "From my perspective, as long as the individual cares about rural America, understands production agriculture and processing, I don't care where he or she comes from, I don't care what their background is- I just want someone who can step up and immediately go to work."

Earlier this week when we were in Phoenix at the AFBF Convention- we heard much the same thing from folks there- including Mary Kay Thatcher, long time lobbyist for the general farm organization.  She expressed hope that the President Elect comes up with a candidate that can be a strong advocate for rural policies in a Trump Cabinet that is already populated with a lot of very strong personalities.

President Elect Trump becomes President Trump a week from tomorrow- and now it's not totally out of order to wonder- when the USDA job be filled by the time he is sworn in as the 45th President of the USA.

Wow...

For the last eight years, federal agencies under the Obama administration have had basically free reign to impose rule after rule on Americans held with little to no accountability by Congress. That leash, though, is about to get a lot shorter as Trump and the Republicans descend on Washington.

"One of the biggest things that we hear from our members is that government overregulation is hurting the way cattle producers are doing business," NCBA's Scott Yager told me yesterday.

He says even now, measures have been taken in Congress to begin curbing several of the recent rules and regulations agencies have attempted to push through before Obama leaves the White House, bundling many of them into the Midnight Rule Relief Act. In addition to this, the Regulatory Accountability Act has also been introduced to fix loopholes in the law that federal agencies use to promote their restrictions.

""These bills will provide more accountability and transparency in how agencies conduct rule makings," Yager said. "Also, it restores power back to Congress - instead of just having federal agencies having no check from Congress."

Yager says this is a good start, but if we are to continue with passing legislation that actually helps agriculture and business with a tighter Republican representation in the Senate, there will still need to be strong bipartisan cooperation.

Click here to read more or to listen to yesterday's Beef Buzz, featuring Scott Yager talking overregulation.

The Veterinary Feed Directive or, VFD, went live this month and to help build understanding about the FDA's new, stricter rule, OSU's Chris Richards decided to debunk five common myths being spread about VFD.

Myth 1: Feed antibiotics will not be available to producers for their livestock.

Antibiotics will be available to producers for the treatment, prevention and control of disease.

"Producers will have to have a relationship with their veterinarian and get a VFD to use the feed antibiotics," Richards said.

Myth 2: A VFD is required to feed any feed additives.

This can be true for producers feeding an antibiotic that requires a VFD.

When a veterinarian fills out the VFD authorization, there are three options - no additional feed additive included in the diet, feed additives listed on the VFD may be fed with the antibiotic or the antibiotic can be fed with any legal feed additives.

"As in the past, antibiotics have approved combinations with other drugs that still must be followed. The feeding of ionophores, coccidiostats, insect growth regulators, wormers and other such products will not require a VFD unless fed with an antibiotic that requires a VFD," Richards said. "Many other feed additives such as probiotics and enzymes are not considered drugs and can be fed in any combination."

Myth 3: My feed dealer will not be able to have my feed until I provide a VFD.

A feed dealer can make and warehouse feed that contains antibiotics. The dealer must have a valid VFD to sell that feed to a producer.

To find out what the last two VFD myths are, click here to read how Richards sets the record straight.

Through February 10, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry will be accepting nominations for a total of four Oklahoma Excellence in Agriculture Awards, including the Governor's Outstanding Achievement Award in Agriculture, the Agriculture Environmental Stewardship Award, Outstanding Legacy in Agriculture Award and Outstanding Public Service in Agriculture Award.

"The Oklahoma Excellence in Agriculture Awards give us the opportunity to recognize those individuals who have made a positive and lasting impact on agriculture in our state," said Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture Jim Reese.

The deadline for all nominations is 5 p.m., Friday, February 10. The recipients will be selected by a committee of representatives from agricultural commodity organizations and farm and ranch organizations.

For details on the eligibility for these awards and how to nominate someone, click here.

Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture Mike Conaway made several announcements regarding the committee's members, new and returning, yesterday.

Our neighbors, Roger Marshall of Kansas, and Jodey Arrington of Texas, are among the six new members joining the committee. Returning will be Oklahoma Congressman and former committee chairman, Frank Lucas of Oklahoma's 3rd District.

Conaway also announced that Glenn 'GT' Thompson from Pennsylvania, who chaired the Agriculture Committee's Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry in the 114th Congress, will serve as Vice Chairman of the committee.

Also of note for this part of the world- Dr. Roger Marshall of the Big First District of Western Kansas will be on the Committee as a Freshman- he defeated Tim Huelskamp in the Primary last summer and the issue of getting a seat on the Ag Committee was one of the issues that Marshall used against the Tea Party Congressman, who had angered GOP Leaders who yanked his Committee seat from him during the 2014 farm bill debate.

For a complete list of the members assigned to the House Ag Committee during the 115th Congress, click here.

The impact of social media is going far beyond sharing the latest cute pet videos or what President-elect Trump is saying on Twitter. Case in point: viral weather stories are influencing farmer decisions and what they may receive for their corn and soybeans. That's according to Ryan Martin, a respected agricultural meteorologist with Advantage Weather Solutions who spoke at a workshop at American Farm Bureau Federation's 2017 Annual Convention & IDEAg Trade Show in Phoenix.

Martin looked ahead at what weather conditions will look like for much of the country, but warned farmers not to get carried away by the hype that they may come across on Facebook or Twitter. He highlighted recent posts that showed extreme dry and wet conditions in Brazil that suggested farmers there were in a world of trouble. Experts have credited price spikes and dips to these viral localized weather stories, despite the fact that they were not as influential as people believe.

"Everything is worse when you see it on Twitter. It is a breeding ground for pessimism," said Martin. "These are agriculture feeds trying to give you information. You would think this is the status where nothing is going right."

Martin warns that social media does not make for a good marketing tool when farmers are looking for the best times to sell or basing decisions on global weather events. However, he does admit markets today are greatly influenced by weather and their ultimate impact on supply and demand.

Martin's suggestion for farmers who are bombarded with weather information, particularly on social media, is to not buy into weather sensationalism. He says listen to experts you know, especially when it comes to making important marketing decisions.

To listen or to read more of Martin's advice on navigating weather sensationalism when making marketing decisions, click here.

The National Chicken Council released a study yesterday detailing the environmental, economic and sustainability implications of raising slower growing chickens, revealing a sharp increase in chicken prices and the use of environmental resources - including water, air, fuel and land.

In light of this report, NCC is urging consumers, the foodservice and retail industries, and non-governmental organizations to invest in studying the impact in the U.S. of the growing market for "slower growing" broiler chickens.

"The National Chicken Council and its members remain committed to chicken welfare, continuous improvement and respecting consumer choice - including the growing market for a slower growing bird," said Ashley Peterson, Ph.D., NCC senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs. "However, these improvements must be dictated by science and data - not activists' emotional rhetoric - which is why we support further research on the topic of chicken welfare and growth rates."

In assessing a transition to a slower growing breed, the environmental impact is an important component often left out of the equation. If only one-third of broiler chicken producers switched to a slower growing breed, nearly 1.5 billion more birds would be needed annually to produce the same amount of meat currently produced - requiring a tremendous increase in water, land and fuel consumption.

Furthermore, if the industry did not produce the additional 1.5 billion birds to meet current demand, the supply of chicken would significantly reduce to 27.5 billion less chicken meals per year.

Learn more about the environmental and economic impact slower-growing chicken production would have on the industry and overall food supply, by clicking here.