Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas Opens Floor Debate on the 2013 Farm Bill 

Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas realized a dream on Tuesday afternoon as he stood on the floor of the US House and introduced his Committee's five year farm bill, HR 1947 and opened it up for floor consideration. Congressman Lucas called the FARRM bill a bill full of reform- "The FARRM Act is a different farm bill for different times. There is a reason we put reform in the title. This is the most reform-minded bill in decades. It repeals outdated policies while reforming, streamlining, and consolidating over 100 government programs. It reforms the SNAP program - also known as the food stamp program - for the first time since the welfare reforms of 1996. And, it makes tremendous reforms to farm programs."

In his rousing remarks, Lucas recounted the suffering brought on his home county not simply by drought in the 1930s and 1950s, but by bad legislation which devastated the rural economy.  In 1930 the population of Roger Mills County was 14,000.  By 1940 it had fallen to 7,000 people.  Today, Lucas said, the population is close to 3,500.

It is reversing that economic devastation and depopulation of the rural counties throughout America that Lucas said he is trying to address in shepherding this farm bill through the House.

"I cannot make it rain.  There may be people in this town who say they can make it rain, but I cannot make it rain.  But in my tenure as chairman of the House agriculture committee, I can make sure we pass a comprehensive farm bill that does not repeat the mistakes of the 1920s and 30s, that does not repeat the mistakes of the 1970s and 80s.  I will not be a part of inflicting on future generations what was inflicted on what I call that generation of Vietnam veterans who came home to farm and instead went to the bankruptcy auctions or my grandparents' generation whose young men and women were wiped out in the 1930s.  I will not be a part of that.  So I will work with all of you to try and improve this draft that attempts to produce a safety net that is workable, that is efficient both for rural America and producers, but also for consumers.  I ask you to work with me in that regard."  (Click here to read more and listen to his opening comments.)  

Later, as the hour of general debate drew to a close, Lucas explained how the $20 billion dollars in savings in the SNAP program--objected to by many Democrats--would not affect those who truly qualified for assistance.  (You can listen to those remarks by clicking here.)

After considering amendments, a final vote on the bill is expected some time on Thursday, although with the large number of amendments made "in order" by the Rules Committee- that final vote could be pushed into next week. 

OMG! 103 Amendments Made "In Order" by the Rules Committee  

The House Rules Committee, which includes Oklahoma Congressman Tom Cole as one of its members, ruled a total of 103 amendments "in order" and declared that most of them would be allowed to have up to 10 minutes of debate each before a vote.  Five were considered to be high profile enough to deserve 20 minutes of total debate time.  Click here to review the full list as compiled by the Rules Committee on Tuesday. 

The five that get the extra amount of debate time include the Jim McGovern amendment that has 73 Co-sponsors that would wipe out the $20.5 billion in cuts to SNAP and take it out of Title One- from the Supplemental Coverage Option program.  Ron Kind of Wisconsin is the author of another of the major assaults on the House Ag Committee's bill- wanting to impose premium payment limits for Crop Insurance to $50,000 and cap the rate of return for crop insurance companies at 12%.

The other three Twenty Minute amendments include a dismantling of the sugar program, gutting Collin Peterson's Dairy Support program and reworking US International Food Aid .

One amendment that is listed as number 101 of the 103 amendments on the list could also be a prove troublesome for Congressman Frank Lucas and eventual passage of the base bill- it's an amendment offered by Kansas lawmaker Tim Huelscamp that would actual make bigger cuts to SNAP- raising the cuts to $31 billion by imposing work requirements on recipients. That has ten minutes of debate attached to it- but this could be a poison pill if adopted as you might lose all Democratic support for the final bill if that was included.  

Based on the time schedule released by House Majority leader Eric Cantor, general debate on HR 1947  is ended and consideration of the amendments will begin at 11:00 AM central this morning. First votes may be stacked and happen as early as 12:30 pm central time this afternoon.  

Chairman Lucas does have the option of bundling non controversial amendments that he and Ranking member Peterson are willing to agree on together and offering a group as "en bloc" but its unknown at this point if that will happen or not.

We will be tweeting and offering updates on our website as the afternoon and likely evening session unfolds.

WheatWatch 2013:  Combines Get Rolling Again After Rains Dampen Much of the Wheat Belt

The latest USDA figures show about 30 percent of this year's wheat crop in Oklahoma has been harvested. Oklahoma Wheat Commission Executive Director Mike Schulte concurs and says the crop is exceeding early expectations both in terms of test weights and yields.  I spoke with him yesterday afternoon to get the latest update on the progress of this year's harvest.

"So far, we've been hearing really good test weights," Schulte said. "We've been hearing a lot of 59-62 pound test weights. That, now with the rain we have received this past week, I think we'll see the numbers fall slightly. That's not to say that there isn't some wheat out there down in the far southwest region or up in the far northwest region and Panhandle where it had been extremely stressed that those test weights are not lower. I have heard of some 54 and 55 pounds, but I think, overall, producers are thinking that maybe it's coming in a little bit better than what was expected."  

In terms of quantity, Schulte said, producers are also finding some surprises. "I have heard a lot of eight- to 15-bushel wheat reported in southwest Oklahoma, but I've also heard a lot of 20- to 25-bushel wheat being reported in southwest Oklahoma. I think as you move up into the central regions I've heard a lot of 25- to 30-bushel wheat. I've heard some instances of some fields south of Enid maybe making 60 bushels per acre and up in the northwest and north central parts of the state I'm hearing a lot of 45- to 55-bushel wheat."

Click here to read Mike's latest region-by-region update, or to listen to our full conversation. 
 

The New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition Renews Commitment to Africa

In 2012, the United States leveraged its presidency of the G-8 to deepen the global commitment to food security through the establishment of the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition. At the G-8 Summit hosted by President Obama at Camp David, African heads of state, corporate leaders and G-8 members pledged to partner through the New Alliance and, working with the African Union and Grow Africa, lift 50 million people out of poverty in sub-Saharan Africa by 2022. Development partners, African governments, and international and local private companies committed to specific policy reforms and investments that will accelerate the implementation of country food security strategies under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program, and sustain inclusive agriculture-led economic growth. 

By partnering with the private sector during its first year, the New Alliance has already leveraged more than $3.7 billion in private investment in African agriculture. The New Alliance has also expanded over its first year. G-8 leaders this year welcomed the addition of Benin, Malawi, and Nigeria to the New Alliance, joining existing members Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique and Tanzania who have negotiated rigorous Country Cooperation Frameworks for accelerating investment that include policy reforms, private investment intentions, and donor commitments to align predictable assistance flows behind recipient country priorities.

Click here to read more.    

Challenging Times Still Ahead for Preserving, Rebuilding U.S. Cattle Industry

There are plenty of challenges facing the cattle industry today says Troy Applehans, a market analyst with Cattlefax. He spoke with me after the recent "Managing for Profit" seminar conducted at the Beef Improvement Federation's annual meeting in Oklahoma City.

He says the cattle industry-across all its various operations and segments-is currently undergoing some massive changes and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future.

"The industry, in terms of the different segments of the industry, if you them into the packing, feeding, stocker, cow-calf operations, they need some realignment due to the available supply due to numbers being down as far as they are. Obviously the packing segment has responded to an overcapacity situation by the closure of some plants over the past several years--most recently the Plainview, Texas, plant that Cargill had.

"And they've responded much more quickly, however, than the feeding sector where we remain at that 25 to 30 percent over capacity situation there which makes the margins extremely difficult for them. But at the same time they've found ways to differentiate themselves in terms of what they feed. Sometimes some of them have gone to Holsteins, developing heifers, lighter weight cattle in order to keep occupancy rates up for longer periods of time.

"And those are the kinds of things we need to see, but I fear we still will see a lot of the feedyard business in and of itself go out of business. The inherent value to the feeding industry is not very good right now."

Troy Applehans is my guest on the current Beef Buzz.  Click here to go there.
 

Website Launched to Promote Sustainable Rangeland Management

The Rangelands Partnership recently launched a one-stop shop website for all things rangeland. Considering rangelands cover 70 percent of the world's land area, and nearly that percentage for the United States, the information on the site is quite vast.

"The Rangelands Partnership has been working on this website for the last decade. The RangelandsWest website contains the most comprehensive body of information on the world's rangelands relative to any other source," said Karen Hickman, professor at Oklahoma State University's Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management.

The suite of websites has a database for more than 13,000 resources to support research, sustainable management and education about the world's rangelands. The Rangelands Partnership is a collaboration of 19 western U.S. land-grant institutions and several international organizations, which have been working to develop evaluated, science-based information resources and tools.

The full article is available on our website.  Click here to go there.  

This N That- Big Iron, Ag in the Classroom and the Peterson Brothers Strike Again

On this Wednesday morning- we do want to point you over to the Big Iron website- click here- where you can check out the 328 sale items that will be closing today- starting at 10 AM central time this morning.   

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The annual bus tour of Oklahoma Agriculture by a group of teachers hosted by Ag in the Classroom is underway- and our friend Dana Bessinger provides us a quick overview of what all the teachers were seeing yesterday in the Oklahoma Panhandle- which is the focus of this year's tour.

"On the Road with Ag in the Classroom teachers made a stop at Beaver County Fairgrounds to hear from Rick Kochenower and Loren Sizelove about water issues and drought problems in the panhandle. NRCS gave us a walking tour of the salt cedar problems in the Beaver river. Mrs. Pauline Hodges talked to the group about the Dust Bowl Days. Then on to Texas county, Chris Hitch gave an overview of the Hitch company and the cattle industry. Robert Bergner took us on a tour of Hitch 1 feed yard.  

The teachers visited a Pioneer seed facility and heard all about the genetics of the grain. They looked at circles of corn in excess of 400 acres. We toured the OSU research station at Panhandle State University. The day ended by making ice cream in a bag. Along the way teachers looked at Ag in the Classroom lessons connected to the tour stops. Wednesday, we're headed to the Black Mesa."

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Finally, for you Peterson Brothers fans- the boys from Kansas have another video they have produced about farm life has hit YouTube- it's called a "Fresh Breath of Farm Air" and has already has 90,000 views and growing- Click here to check it out and Smile a little!!!