The American Farm Bureau Federation reacted to an announcement by the EPA yesterday, stating that the agency would reach out to state governors for consultation regarding the Waters of the United States rule, as they work to revise the controversial measure.

"EPA Administrator Pruitt's decision to consult with the states before revising the Waters of the United States rule marks a sharp break with the recent past," said AFBF President Zippy Duvall in a statement. "His letter to the 50 state governors requesting their comments on what a new rule should do recognizes the checks and balances that were written into the Clean Water Act in the first place."



For too long, Duvall says the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers under the Obama administration got away with hindering farmers and ranchers, with claims of alleged infringement of the WOTUS rule. He argues these claims were unjustified because the rule was never properly founded in the law, since it was not created with input from state officials in the first place.

"Administrator Pruitt calls this new relationship a partnership, rather than a fiat," Duvall said. "We agree that this is the right way to proceed: Regulation must be done with an open door and open mind. We look forward to working with the states, the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers to set things right once more."

Click here to review the original statement released by AFBF yesterday in response to the EPA's decision to be more inclusive in its revision of the WOTUS rule.

Four weeks in a row now, producers have watched cash cattle prices climb higher, as much as $20, with the highest price levels since August 2015. Wholesale boxed beef trade also performing well lately, up over $1600 cwt last week alone, and starting this week another $2-3 cwt higher on choice and select box beef trade. I spoke with Jim Robb of the Livestock Marketing Information Center to get a handle on what is causing this unprecedented upward movement in the market.


"The reasons we've had this rally are largely tied to our marketing rate," he answered pointing to the needs of packers and a very current market situation. "The other thing we've had this year that has added on - a lot of hedged cattle this year."


Robb continued describing more or less a chain reaction in the market from the hedging that impacted the basis, causing a rally in the futures which led more cattle being sold to packers early on rather than being delayed. But Robb says patterns like this tend not to perpetuate. According to him, this feels like a spike in the market more than anything, noting that if you dig deeper, volume numbers seemed to evaporate.


"It took four or five of these factors to come together to get us here," he said. "Can they perpetuate? I think some can, but this type of percentage increase tends not to perpetuate. That doesn't mean that we're not going to still be profitable feeding cattle, but the meat market headwind I think is probably the dampening force."


Listen in as I speak with Robb while he explains his thoughts regarding the unprecedented momentum in beef trade currently, on yesterday's Beef Buzz - click here.

In his latest contribution to the weekly newsletter Cow/Calf Corner, OSU's Dr. Derrell Peel this week, brought to light the fact that fewer cattle were imported during March from both our neighbors, Canada and Mexico. He suggests this could imply that Mexican producers are retaining more heifers to help rebuild their herd.

"Total U.S. cattle imports were down 7.4 percent in March compared to one year ago. Monthly imports of cattle from Mexico were down about one percent while cattle imports from Canada were down 17 percent year over year," Peel writes. "For the first three months of the year total cattle imports from Mexico are up 24.3 percent while imports from Canada are down 18.5 percent leading to a combined year-to-date cattle import total up 5.6 percent compared to the same period one year ago. Total annual cattle imports from Mexico and Canada in 2016 were 1.71 million head, down 13.9 percent from the 2015 total, and the lowest total cattle imports since 2004.


"Last year's heifer export rate was lower than is typical and suggested more heifer retention and herd rebuilding. However, the current rate may indicate that heifer retention in Mexico is slowing. Despite increased imports of Mexican cattle in January and February, the data suggest that exports were somewhat front-loaded early in the year and will not continue to increase year over year. March imports were about equal to last year and preliminary weekly data for April indicates a significant year over year decrease in imports of Mexican cattle."

To read Dr. Peel's full analysis of the numbers relative to this year's North American cattle imports, click here.

Organizers of the Oklahoma FFA State Convention this year brought in speaker and agriculture advocate, Kim Bremmer, founder of the website Ag Inspirations, to train FFA members how to be effective advocates for agriculture themselves. Bremmer created her business with one mission in mind: to inspire those who work in the industry to share their personal stories about agriculture and help connect today's consumer with their food and the people that produce it. She says anyone and everyone in agriculture can be and should be an advocate for rural life. I was there, too, to get Bremmer's advice.

"Unfortunately, there's just a lot of fear marketing out there today and food companies, marketing companies have all figured out that fear is an easy sell," Bremmer confessed, using GMOs as an example. "We want people to not be afraid of their food. And, we have to stop being mad at consumers just because they don't understand."


It's left up to us she says, to speak up and defend our industry, our farmers and our practices. But if we do, we must do it right, by validating concerns and respectfully addressing a person's questions.

Continue reading, or listen to my interview with Bremmer, to learn more about her approach to advocating for agriculture, by clicking or tapping here.

The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry issued a warning yesterday about a scam that has just recently been uncovered, in which scammers target individuals who have hay for sale. 


ODAFF's Jack Carson, says that the scams vary, but often share similarities. For example: The supposed hay buyer will send the seller a check in excess of the amount the hay is being sold for and then ask the seller to wire the extra money somewhere else. The scammers explain the overpayment by saying they need to cover taxes or shipping costs; however, then the check bounces and the scammer already has the money wired to them. The hay seller can then be left to pay the money back to the bank.

ODAFF recommends reaching out to your local law enforcement agency if something seems questionable about a future transaction or purchase. Rather than risk related scams, doing business with those you don't know, ODAFF also suggests using the Department's Hay Directory to locate well reputed hay sellers (click the link and look to the right under "Directories"). Click here to see the original warning from ODAFF.

OSU's Taylor Kennedy will be the first ever to participate in the Ultimate Ag Internship, a program created by AgGrad as a window into agribusinesses across the country which elevates work culture, career opportunities and a bird's eye view of specific job functions.

Kennedy is currently a graduate student of agricultural communications at Oklahoma State University. She holds a bachelor's of science degree in agricultural services and development from Tarleton State University and is a former national president of Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow. Through this internship opportunity, Kennedy will expand her knowledge of the industry and build upon her video and photography skills.

"We are very excited to see Taylor bring this program to life," says Tim Hammerich, Founder of AgGrad. "She will provide us the chance to tell the story of modern agribusiness in a format that resonates with young audiences: through video and imagery on social media."

You can follow Kennedy's journey through this internship over the summer, by following AgGrad on Facebook and Instagram. For links to their social media channels or to read more about AgGrad and their new innovative program, click here.

 

The Department of Agriculture Tuesday announced it would delay implementation of the final Organic Livestock Standards rule until November 14th, 2017. The rule was published in January in the final days of the Obama administration, and USDA is taking an additional six months to allow time for further consideration. The effective date for this rule was initially March 20th, 2017, and was subsequently delayed to May 19th, 2017, by a document published in the Federal Register in February.

The final rule amends the organic livestock and poultry production requirements by adding new provisions for livestock handling and transport for slaughter and avian living conditions, and expands and clarifies existing requirements covering livestock care and production practices and living conditions. Comments may be submitted to USDA until June 9th, 2017.