Voluntary Conservation Efforts Dramatically Improving Mississippi River Basin Water Quality 

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report that shows farmers have significantly reduced the loss of sediment and nutrients from farm fields through voluntary conservation work in the lower Mississippi River basin. Secretary Vilsack highlighted the value of conservation programs to these efforts, and called on Congress to pass a comprehensive Food, Farm and Jobs Bill that would enable USDA to continue supporting conservation work on farms and ranches.

The report, released by USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) this week, marks the completion of a watershed-wide assessment of conservation efforts in the Mississippi River watershed. Its findings demonstrate that conservation work, like controlling erosion and managing nutrients, has reduced the edge-of-field losses of sediment by 35 percent, nitrogen by 21 percent and phosphorous by 52 percent.

"Farmers and ranchers work hard to conserve the land and water, and today's report shows the tremendous impact they've had for the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico," Vilsack said. "We need to keep up the momentum by providing scientific and technical expertise that supports conservation in agriculture. To continue these efforts, we need Congress to act on a comprehensive Food, Farm and Jobs Bill as soon as possible."

Click here to read more of this story.  

Coalition Issues Principles For TPP Agreement 

An ad hoc coalition of agricultural and food organizations led by the National Pork Producers Council and Cargill has communicated to U.S. trade negotiators its "core" principles for a final, successful Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement.

The 19th round of negotiations on the TPP concludes this week in Brunei Darussalam. The regional trade talks include the United States, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

In a July 15 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Mike Froman and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the coalition of 37 agricultural and food organizations presented a set of principles to ensure that the TPP negotiations "fulfill the promise of a high-quality agreement that can serve as a standard for future trade agreements." 

"The TPP represents the single most important trade negotiation ever for the U.S. pork industry and for most of U.S. agriculture," said NPPC President Randy Spronk, a pork producer from Edgerton, Minn., "but for it to be a comprehensive, high-quality 21st century agreement, it must include all sectors, address SPS issues and tariffs and be enforceable. TPP can be a win-win for all the countries involved if it meets those criteria."

You can read more of this story and find a link to the coalition's full letter by clicking here.  

Oklahoma Ranch, Reasor's Foods, CAB Tell the Story of Beef

More than ever, consumers want to know where their food comes from. That's why Certified Angus Beef and Reasor's grocery chain have set out to tell the story of beef from farm to meat counter.

"Last year we started to work with Reasor's to create an advertising campaign that would feature Oklahoma Angus ranchers and make the tie to consumers who want to know more about where their product is from and really share the story that Reasor's is proud to feature the high-quality product that they do," says Tara Adams with Certified Angus Beef.

"We're bringing out a lot of our people who work on the fresh side of our business," says Jeff Reasor, chairman and CEO of Reasor's Groceries. "Also, obviously, within the meat department, we're bringing them out so they can understand the program from the ground up. So, they see it all the way from the people who are raising these cattle and how they're cared for and how it's processed all the way through to our store when it comes in our back door and how we take it and market the product in the store all the counter and all the way to the consumer until they leave the store."

You can read more of this story and watch a video version of it on our website by clicking here.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Hails 2013 Farm Income Forecast

United States Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack issued the following statement on the 2013 farm income forecast from USDA's Economic Research Service:

"This week's forecast of a $6.8 billion increase in net farm income is a testament to the resilience and productivity of U.S. farmers and ranchers, and a further sign of the positive momentum they have achieved over the past five years. A six percent increase in this key measure would be the second highest inflation-adjusted amount since 1973, even as agriculture has worked hard to recover from an historic drought and other disasters. I am confident that our farmers and ranchers will continue to show the determination and innovation that has been the hallmark of American agriculture for generations. To help continue their strong momentum, producers and rural communities are counting on Congress to provide a comprehensive, long-term Food, Farm and Jobs Bill that will lend certainty to Federal farm policy - as well as passage of a commonsense immigration reform measure to ensure a stable and dependable agricultural workforce in the years to come."

Highlights from the 2013 Farm Income Forecast are available online by clicking here. 
 

RFA Letter Urges EPA to Reject API's RFS Waiver Petition

In a letter sent today to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy, the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) urged EPA to reject the petition for a partial waiver of the 2014 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) submitted recently by the American Petroleum Institute (API) and American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM).

"Big Oil's attempt to completely rewrite and redefine the statute pertaining to RFS waivers is just another shameless example of how far they'll go to protect their market share and block larger volumes of renewable fuel from reaching the consumer," said Bob Dinneen, RFA's President and CEO. "Not only do API and AFPM blatantly contort the meaning and intent of the statute, but, as trade associations, they aren't even entitled to file a petition for a waiver in the first place."

According to RFA's letter, the petition from API and AFPM obscures the fundamental purpose and intent of the RFS, which is to drive the production and use of renewable fuels beyond their traditional role as fuel additives.

You'll find more of this story and a link to the full letter on our website by clicking here. 

ICYMI:  Oklahoman's New Canola Book Puts a Wealth of Information at Producers' Fingertips

The canola industry is growing rapidly across the Southern Great Plains. Exploding may be a more apt way to describe it. As more and more producers seek to add it to their rotations, Fairview producer Matt Gard says there's one thing that hasn't kept pace: information.

"Being a canola producer myself, I've noticed the difficulties in trying to find accurate yield data and have it right underneath your fingertips. So my company, we pulled together all the information from the Oklahoma Oilseed Commission, the national canola yield trials, from Oklahoma State University, and from our good friends up north, the Kansas State University people. And we put all our yield data all in one book so it's one-stop shopping for all the yield data for our producers to be able to read."

As an entrepreneur, Gard said he saw the need to bring together all the formation from all varieties which are acclimated to the Great Plains into one resource. He produced a book containing all of the information available about each specific variety. Gard's book contains a write up about each variety describing the traits and characteristics each exhibits.   It contains over 25 pages of tables and several guest editorials from producers, canola extension specialists, and certified crop advisors.

You can listen to my interview with Matt Gard and find out how to order his book by clicking here.
 

Four Additional Groups Petition Court for Permission to Defend COOL

Almost after the fact- R-Calf and three other smaller groups have petitioned the DC court to allow them to intervene and defend COOL.

On Tuesday of this week- a hearing was held by that federal court as the American Meat Institute and eight other groups asked that implementation of the revised COOL rule be halted until the WTO determines whether or not it complies with the WTO rules that were violated based on the earlier complaints of Mexico and Canada.

According to Colin Woodall of the NCBA, one of the groups partnering with the AMI in this request- it is hoped that the judge will decide on the preliminary injunction by the early part of September.

On Monday of this week- R-Calf announced they were asking the court to allow them to intervene- click here for details of that request from our website- while already the court had ruled that the National Farmers Union and US Cattlemen's Association along with a couple of other groups would be allowed to argue in favor of COOL- in effect defending the Obama Administration and how they have revised COOL to- in their opinion- meet the WTO demands of dealing with the complaints of our neighbors to the north and to the south.  

Regardless of how the Court rules- the slow motion WTO process will continue to unfold- and could result in retaliation by the two countries against the US in about a year or so down the road.