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Senator Lankford Calls Uncle Sam a Terrible Landlord- Fails to Convince Colleagues to Address the Problem

The federal government owns more than 600 million acres across the United States, but U.S. Senator James Lankford says it is not doing an adequate job of caring for that land.


"The federal government is a terrible landlord. You've got federal ownership and federal control of land but not federal maintenance and care for that land," he says. "It's distant, it's far away and it's just one piece on an inventory."


He recently introduced an amendment allocating funds from the Land and Water Conservation Fund - revenue generated from offshore oil drilling and used to purchase land - to be used in-part for maintenance of federal lands. 


Although it failed in the Senate, Lankford says he will continue the push to find a responsible way to fund the $18 billion maintenance backlog of current federal land.

After the Storms- 2016 Oklahoma FFA Convention Continues in Downtown Oklahoma City  

 
It was a stormy day in many towns across the state of Oklahoma yesterday afternoon and evening- including in downtown Oklahoma City- but FFA members followed the safety instructions from their Advisors- and navigated around the storms- continuing to enjoy Day One of the 90th Annual Oklahoma FFA Convention.

Some Highlights from Tuesday- the State Finals of the Prepared Speaking Contest was held- this for the right to represent Oklahoma FFA this fall in Indy at the 2016 National FFA Convention.  Anna Crosswhite of Kingfisher FFA was the winner from the Agri-Science Division from this past Friday in Stillwater- and Anna wins the overall State Title- earning her spot in Indianapolis this coming October!

And then there were two. Multiple candidates were running for the office of State President for the coming year- and now, there are still two in the running to head the 2016-2017 State Officer Team.  Current Northwest District VP Vanessa Wiebe of Hooker FFA and current State Secretary Cale Jahn of Elgin FFA are in the runoff later today.

Inspirational is what a lot of tweets and Facebook messages are calling the retiring address last night of current State President Drake Boyce.  Drake is unusual in that he has been a state President- not as a student at OSU- but rather as a student at OBU in Shawnee. I am told his testimony last night was exceptional.

NOW- let's mention DAY TWO for the Oklahoma FFA Convention.

The Stars will be announced in this afternoon's General Convention- Click here for our earlier story of the twenty District Stars that will be honored this afternoon as the Stars in the Four Classifications will be announced.

The Hunger Challenge will break the impressive totals of one year in a really big way- details of that come out as just over 200 Chapters that have participated in the Challenge will be honored- and word of a matching gift to the cash raised by many chapters will be announced as well!!!

The new State Officer Team will be announced in the final General Session tonight.

Click here for the Oklahoma FFA page of ALL Things State Convention for more of what is happening.

Derrell Peel Talks Downdraft in Cattle Market and Continued Cow Herd Expansion

Cattle producers know it's been a rough few weeks in the marketplace. Fed cattle have dropped more than $6/cwt this past week alone and feeders have been in decline as well. OSU Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist Derrell Peel says volatility in the futures market and a lack of direction in the cash market have made it difficult to know what's coming next.


"We've seen some seasonal kind of behavior in the first quarter of the year, and we're trying to figure out where we go from here," he says. "It's not so much that we don't know what direction we're probably going to go, but I don't think we have a sense of how committed we are to that path yet and how fast we go down that road." 


Peel says the cow herd is on track for another increase as producers continue to rebuild following the drought, although he says it will be more moderate than last year.


"Given the momentum and where we started the year with heifer inventories, it looks to me like we will continue to see year-over-year increases in the beef cow herd," Peel says. "I'm looking for somewhere in the range of 1.5 to 2.5 percent year-over-year increase. That will translate roughly into 600,000 to 700,000 more beef cows."

Listen to Peel's full commentary during the latest edition of the Beef Buzz.

New Study Highlights Benefits of the Partnership Between Contract Farmers and Chicken Companies

The National Chicken Council released a study Tuesday that presents the results of a 2015 broiler industry survey designed to capture key live chicken production statistics. In addition, the study summarizes several key trends in broiler production efficiency, returns and loan quality data.


"Viewed in totality, live chicken production is a viable, mutually beneficial and attractive farming enterprise for the vast majority of farm families who raise chickens in partnership with the companies they work with," said agriculture economist and the study's author, Dr. Thomas Elam, president of FarmEcon LLC.


The study represents data from companies responsible for 92 percent of chicken production in the United States. 

A summary of the findings can be found here.

US Senate Judiciary Committee Agrees with R-Calf- Asks GAO to Investigate 2015 Cattle Market Drop

 

In response to R-CALF USA's January request, the Senate Judiciary Committee has requested the Comptroller General of the United States to use his agency, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), to initiate an investigation into the 2015 cattle price collapse.


In a letter signed by the chairman and ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), respectively, along with the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights, Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), respectively, the GAO is asked to investigate the cause of the sudden 15.1 percent drop in fed cattle prices that occurred during the latter half of 2015.


"We are pleased the Judiciary Committee agrees that the evidence we provided regarding the dysfunctionality of our fed cattle market warrants a careful investigation into the current structure of our industry and our industry's susceptibility to anticompetitive practices," said R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard.

Read more of the request by the group for this investigation by clicking here.

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CAST Award Recognizes Dr. Kevin Folta for Excellence in Science Communication

The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) announced that the 2016 Borlaug CAST Communication Award will be given to Dr. Kevin Folta, chair of the Horticultural Sciences Department at the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Dr. Folta is renowned for his ability to communicate science to non-scientific audiences and has trained scientists, farmers, physicians and students on how to conduct public outreach on scientific topics. CropLife America (CLA), member of CAST and founding sponsor of the award, applauds Dr. Folta for the impact he has made in bringing comprehensible information about agricultural science to the public.


"CropLife America is pleased to congratulate Dr. Folta on winning the 2016 Borlaug CAST Communication Award," said Jay Vroom, CEO and president of CLA. "His extensive experience and involvement in multiple areas of agricultural research - from citrus breeding and biotechnology to organic and sustainable production - is an invaluable asset for public outreach. Topics such as vegetable traits and crop disease resistance are foreign to many consumers; we applaud Dr. Folta for engaging audiences and facilitating these important discussions."


Dr. Folta coordinates and supports the work of faculty in more than 50 research programs at seven locations. He shares his thoughts on the intersection of society and science through his blog, Illumination, and discusses genetic improvements in farming and medicine through his weekly podcast, Talking Biotech. Dr. Folta engages with his audiences through television, radio, podcasts, and at conferences and workshops nationwide. He also developed a communication workshop for scientists to learn how to better engage the public.

Severe Weather Breakout Brings Wind, Hail and Rain

 

It's the tornadoes that get the headlines- and rightfully so- whenever severe weather rolls through our state. But- this weather outbreak- widely advertised by the weather service and industry weather men and ladies in our state- carried a pretty good punch in a whimsical way- reports of tornadoes were out there in several places across the state, high straight line winds also doing lots of damage.  Top honors for the strongest wind recorded by the Mesonet last night was apparently Copan in northeastern Oklahoma- where a gust of 87 miles per hour was captured.

Rainfall totals ranged from very little rain in the western most counties to quite a few locations getting an inch of rain or more- Medicine Park in southwestern Oklahoma seems to have the highest total for a Mesonet station- at 1.61 inches of rain in the last 24 hours- here's the map to see the distribution:




Finally- that third thing we mentioned in our headline- and the one that farmers perhaps fear the most- especially in wheat country where a lot of the wheat crop is now headed- HAIL. There was a lot of hail associated with this system- and daylight today will give farmers and adjusters a chance to see what the damage is looking like- but the biggest chunks of falling ice that I saw on Social Media last night belongs to Jackson County farmer Matt Muller, who had already lost some wheat to hail a couple of weeks ago- here's his hail of last night, which he noted, was only falling about every twenty feet or so- scary to think these chunks could have landed on your head.

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