U.S. Wheat Associates publicly thanked U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer for his work defending U.S. agriculture against attempts to weaken the World Trade Organization rules on domestic support in agriculture.

The Wheat Associates organization says the Buenos Aires WTO Ministerial Conference would be a failure and the mission of the WTO to advance trade would be negatively affected through a proposed permanent exemption for market price supports for certain major ag producers.

India and other countries have tried to create an ongoing loophole for certain types of price support programs that are associated with state-run stockpiling programs. Those types of price supports can be very distorting to trade, which violates WTO rules and the spirit of trade liberalization that the organization is supposed to represent.

Domestic support programs are what the U.S. calls a "non-starter" without market access liberalization. U.S. Wheat Associates wants to make clear it doesn't object to countries holding public stocks for food security, which is critical for all countries. Public stockholding has always been an option in the Agreement on Agriculture's "Green Box" of non-trade distorting support.

Click here for the full statement released by US Wheat, yesterday.

Our own Carson Horn joined American Farmers & Ranchers this past week at their second annual Rural to Urban Outreach Reception at the Tulsa State Fair. During the event he spoke with our state's House Minority Leader Steve Kouplen, a longtime rancher and agricultural advocate from Beggs and past president of Oklahoma Farm Bureau. Kouplen offered an insider's perspective into several pressing issues facing rural Oklahomans currently, including the upcoming special session.

Unfortunately, due to limited communication with state leaders, Kouplen is just as much in the dark about what will come form the special session as the rest of us. The only thing he could say about it was that it is set to begin Monday, December 18th.

Whether any more will be accomplished than what has already been done this year, remains to be seen. But Kouplen says he will adamantly pursue action to help alleviate our state's budget crisis. He backs proposed solutions such as expiring the Gross Production tax incentive and leaning more heavily on high earners to generate tax revenue.

"We have reached an acute situation where we need the revenue now," he said, explaining why more immediate measures need to be taken to quickly gain revenue rather than focusing on strategies that take affect gradually over the long term.

In the meantime, though, rural Oklahomans are dealing with a growing list of concerns (like a suggested fuel tax and shrinking rural healthcare) as the ag economy continues to suffer from the trickle down effects of low commodity prices. Kouplen says now more than ever, the rural community must work in tandem with its urban neighbors to ensure their needs are met, so they can continue to produce for urban consumers.

"We're seeing more and more urban legislators elected and less and less rural legislators. So, we're not really a rural legislature anymore," concluded Kouplen. "It's extremely important we keep in touch with our counterparts and explain to them the issues we face out in rural Oklahoma to produce that food and fiber they enjoy."


Listen to Kouplen and Horn talk more about these issues and why our state leaders should work to build cooperation among our rural and urban communities, by clicking or tapping here.

Over the years, OSU Extension Livestock Market Economist Dr. Derrell Peel has spent a lot of time in Mexico, learning about the cattle industry of that country. He was back there this year meeting with industry leaders and this week offered our listeners an update on the current situation in Mexico's beef markets. Historically, Mexico's cattle markets were largely dependent on our US market demand. But Peel says that is starting to change as Mexico's industry continues to develop.


"This particular trip had a specific focus on a bi-national conference on agricultural extension - to really work to try to jumpstart or restart extension programming in Mexico that has been interrupted in recent years," Peel said, reporting on this year's progress. "They had a pretty good summer wet season. Pasture conditions were pretty good, though it turned sharply drier towards the end of the rainy season. But in general, from a s cattle industry perspective, producers report that forage conditions and markets have been pretty good."


Obviously, US markets have continued to attract cattle north, Peel says, but domestically Mexico is seeing increased demand as its cattle feeding sector grows. This domestic growth has allowed Mexican producers more marketing alternatives to take advantage of for their cattle, especially in the northern region. This of course provides more potential dynamics to appear in the markets, which have in the past been almost exclusively dominated by US feeders. Peel says feeders in the US will now have to compete for cattle supplies from Mexico as they become available. Naturally, this will impact prices here at home into the future.


"Depending on what happens in US markets, we may see at least some modest weakening of prices in the US and if that happens it would be easy for those numbers from Mexico to actually back off just a little bit in 2018," he said. "I don't know that I expect them to change that much but it will be kind of a close balance. So, I think they'll be fairly sensitive to price levels in the US certainly relative to their domestic markets in Mexico."


Listen to Peel and I discuss the changing market dynamics between Mexico and the US, on yesterday's Beef Buzz - click here.

As the House Ag Committee and its Chair, Mike Conaway of Texas, gets ready to ramp up work on the 2018 Farm Bill, Conaway is launching a new online resource for farm bill information. Interested parties can access the information through the Committee’s website . 

The landing page is designed to provide updates and act as a storehouse for information relating to the 2018 Farm Bill. 

In coordination with the House Agriculture Committee's launch of a new landing page, the committee also released "This is the Farm Bill," the first in a series of videos promoting the farm bill. Here tis for you to check out: