In an announcement made yesterday at a press conference at the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Secretary Jim Reese revealed that the Wildlife Services Division of the Department eliminated a record-number of feral hogs in the state during 2017.

"In the last six years, we've increased the number of hogs that we've eliminated by a variety of different programs," Reese said. "We're starting so far behind the ball, though, that to catch up, we still have a long way to go."

Just as Trans-Pacific Partnership nations seemed ready to leave Canada behind, the nation has reached an agreement to sign the trade pact. Renamed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, the agreement comes after talks in Japan this week.

With Canada now on board, with the approval of its agriculture sector, the TPP 11 agreement is scheduled for a signing ceremony in March.

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association says the U.S. withdrawal from TPP is a "missed opportunity." NCBA will have a representative in Canada attending the North American Free Trade Agreement talks later this week.

Kent Bacus, NCBA's Director of International Trade and Market Access, issued a statement expressing the industry's frustration for the situation.

"Withdrawing from TPP was a missed opportunity for the United States to gain greater access to some of the world's most vibrant and growing markets. As we now enter a pivotal round of NAFTA negotiations, the last thing we need is to take a step backwards in our relationships with Canada and Mexico."

The wheat industry's National Association of Wheat Growers and US Wheat Associates shared NCBA's concerns in a joint statement.

"The announcement today that the eleven remaining TPP members have concluded talks on a revised deal without us sends another discouraging signal to our long-time wheat importing customers in Japan," said Ben Conner, USW Director of Policy.

"If nothing else, this announcement should serve as a rallying cry for farmers, ranchers and dairy producers calling for the new trade deals we were promised when the President walked away from TPP," said Gordon Stoner, NAWG President and a wheat grower from Outlook, Mont. "The heat needs to be turned up on the administration and on trade negotiations with Japan. An already stressed agriculture sector needs the benefit of free and fair trade now."

Coming up next, starting on Monday, January 29th, the No-Till on the Plains 22nd Annual Winter Conference kicks off in Wichita, Kan. with a beginners' workshop.

Following that on Tuesday and Wednesday, says No-Till on the Plains Executive Director Steve Swaffer, the traditional conference will take place over the course of a full two-day schedule, featuring keynote speaker Allan Savory, world renown conservationist and holistic soil health management expert.


The conference will finish on Thursday with a separate event for the advanced no-till farmer during the Agricultural Innovative Minds Symposium (AIMS), where Swaffer says, "all the best minds and best discussion will take place."

If you plan to attend, Swaffer highly suggests pre-registering before Thursday, in order to save $80 on your registration. Full price will be charged at the door. To hear Swaffer share with me more information on the conference, including details for accommodations, speakers and workshops and how to register, click here.

Paul Shapiro, formerly with the Humane Society of the United States, recently authored a book entitled, Clean Meat. Hannah Thompson-Weeman of the Animal Agriculture Alliance says she is concerned about the implications of this term and concept that Shapiro is promoting.


"There's a reason the activist groups are pushing that term, 'clean meat,' over things like cellular meat or lab grown meat," she told me in a recent interview. "First of all, it implies that conventionally produced meat, or as I like to call it - 'meat' - is somehow unclean or dirty in comparison. It also distances the product from the technology used to produce it."


In fact, she says in some cases, even plant-based products are thrown under this new umbrella term adopted by activists. Thompson-Weeman explained that typically, consumers do not share an enthusiasm for technology in their food production. This is a major contributing factor as to why activists want to push the term. However, she insists it is critical for agriculture as an industry and its advocates to push back on the damaging implications the opposition is trying to present. The unfortunate thing about the situation, though, is that this technology could be and should be and is a part of the overall strategy to provide protein to a world with a growing demand.


"The industry isn't afraid, it's not threatened by these products," Thompson-Weeman said. "Folks that I've talked to, even the companies that have invested in these products, have made it very clear it is an 'and' proposition and not an 'or' proposition at all for them. We just want to make sure the product is named accurately and labelled accurately so people know what they are getting."


Listen to Thompson-Weeman and I discuss this new term, "clean meat," and why it is potentially damaging to production agriculture, on yesterday's Beef Buzz - click here.