The Oklahoma City National Stockyards hosted its final sale of the year, Monday, during which the commission companies at the stockyards invited participants to bid on a donated calf - over and over and over... to benefit the All American Beef Battalion.

This marks the eighth year the stockyards has done this to raise money for the organization created by Vietnam veteran, Bill Broadie. Along with an army of volunteers, Broadie has made it his mission to make sure soldiers returning home from combat are received with a warm welcome and a steak dinner.

Over the last seven years, this annual fundraiser has generated approximately $319,000. This year, an additional $59,000 was added to the pot. Altogether, to date, this organization has fed a reported 368,000 service men and women and their families.

"It's very humbling, because I walked in their shoes fifty years ago," Broadie said to me during the auction. "The world situation like it is - we're going to keep deploying troops and as long as we can buy the steaks, we're going to keep doing it."

If you were unable to attend the auction yesterday, but would still like to show your support, you can always make a private donation to the cause, at www.steaksfortroops.com.

Click here to read the original webstory and hear my full conversation with Broadie during yesterday's sale.

 

Republicans are on the brink of sending President Donald Trump their first bona fide legislative accomplishment, as both chambers of Congress prepare to pass tax reform later today.

The House of Representatives is expected to clear the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act conference report on Tuesday afternoon. While top Republicans say they expect the bill to easily pass, a familiar class of 13 moderates who opposed tax reform in the House the first time around are expected to remain opposed.

Once the lower chamber approves the measure, the Senate is expected to quickly follow suit. If the legislation survives any potential Democratic procedural challenges in the upper chamber, the president could sign the bill as early as Wednesday.

While the GOP is singing the praises of the bill- and the Democrats are predicting the end of civilization if it becomes law- the reality for agriculture is somewhere in the middle. At least, that's the opinion of Danielle Beck of the NCBA- who we are featuring in the Beef Buzz that is airing this morning on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network- and that we will be detailing in tomorrow morning's email.

Beck told a Cattle Industry Webinar last night that while the bill is good for many in ag- it's hard to call it great.  She points to the increase in the exemption for the Estate Tax as a positive- but laments the face that the doubling of the exemption goes away in eight years unless Congress addresses that in next few years. She also says farmers will be pleased that "Stepped Up Basis" is a part of the deal- in all, she gives the measure a "B."

One thing is certain- it will make having a good tax accountant even more important as he or she weighs how you can take advantage of the ins and outs of Section 179, Interest Deductions and a lot more.

One NON Ag commentary that accents how this is complicates the current tax code can be read or seen here.

The goal talked about often was to simplify the tax code- in that the measure is an abject failure- but that is not surprising as we love to point out others who game the system- but we SCREAM when someone wants to take a perk away from us.

Stay tuned- this measure will be used as a major campaign talking point by both parties in 2018- so I hope you are not tired of listening to rhetoric from both sides- it will be heard for quite some time to come.

  

Scott Yager, chief environmental counsel for National Cattlemen's Beef Association, explained yesterday on our Beef Buzz segment, that the US court systems have imposed a regulation on farms and ranches, bringing them under what is known as the Superfund, or CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act) and EPCRA (Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act). This statute, intended to increase transparency now requires producers to report manure emissions. Yager says this action was pushed and encouraged by environmental activist groups and now NCBA is attempting to block this effort. He adds that many government agencies are even backing NCBA's argument.


"We're now having agricultural producers face liability for having to report manure emissions under the statute," Yager said. "The Coast Guard even came out in a public declaration and said having all these agricultural producers report to them is actually hurtful to their efforts to protect the public from actual emergencies - like an overturned tanker filled with chemicals or a plant explosion. That's the stuff CERCLA is supposed to provide emergency response for, not farmers."


Yager adds that even local emergency responders, police and firefighters, have taken NCBA's side. So, now that the courts have made their decision, it is unlikely they will back up on it, although they have at least delayed implementation until later next year in 2018. Originally, it was supposed to go into effect today, December 18, 2017. Yager says with this being the case it will likely take an act of Congress to reverse the decision. He says Congressman Billy Long from Missouri has been a champion of this effort and has found a short-term solution, blocking this action through the appropriations process. But, long-term, it will take more than that to keep the inevitable from happening.


"It goes back to who's driving this thing," Yager said. "It's these environmental advocacy groups that litigated this. Those are the only guys that want this stuff and actually it's going to hurt our government's ability to respond to true emergencies.


Listen to Yager and I examine this problematic issue and what is being done to find long-term fixes to it, on yesterday's Beef Buzz - click here.