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The Adair and the Kingfisher FFA Chapters led the way for Oklahoma in team events at the 2013 National FFA Convention in Louisville. The Adair FFA Chapter had the National Champion Horse Evaluation Team, while the Kingfisher FFA Chapter had the National Champion Parliamentary Procedure Team. Five other Oklahoma teams also placed in their competitions held as a part of the 86th annual convention of the FFA.


The winning Adair Horse Evaluation team included Hunter Parsons, Blaine Mibb, Wyatt Smith, and Shelby White. Wyatt Smith placed first in the Individual rankings, while Blaine Mibb ranked seventh nationally in Horse Evaluation. The National FFA Horse Evaluation CDE is a competitive event that tests the student's ability to select and evaluate horses. Event components include eight selection classes that consisted of four halter classes and four performance classes. Students also give four sets of oral reasons with two sets coming from each evaluation class. Teams also work together to complete practical activities and a team presentation


Kingfisher FFA's Parliamentary Procedure team includes Katie Lippoldt, Trevor Woods, Gatlin Squires, Maegan Yost, Blair Kloeppel, and Jason Murray. The National FFA Parliamentary Procedure CDE tests students' ability to effectively communicate ideas during a meeting. Components included a general knowledge exam of parliamentary law, a ten-minute demonstration of parliamentary procedure, oral questions, written minutes of the demonstration as well as a team problem solving activity. 

Five more FFA Chapters in our state had teams that finished in their contests- to learn more- click here. 

Oklahoma FFA Tops the Nation in Proficiency Awards with Seven National Titles Awarded Friday Afternoon

Here in 2013, Oklahoma advanced and brought to Louisville 20 National Proficiency Finalists out of the 49, which was the third most Finalists behind Georgia and California. By the end of the afternoon on Friday, Oklahoma had claimed 7 National Proficiency Titles, the most of any state. Ohio was second with six National Proficiency titles and Georgia was third with five. In 2012, Oklahoma FFA members earned 8 National Proficiency Awards.

We have stories for each of these winners in our Blue Green Gazette section of our website- OklahomaFarmReport.Com. Click on the FFA member's name below to jump to their story which includes a picture from that afternoon and a brief audio interview to help you get to know each winner.

In addition- we have more pictures of each of the winners in our set of pictures from the convention- check those out by clicking here to jump to FLICKR.

Meet Your National Proficiency Award Winner in Outdoor Recreation- Garrett Yerigan, Pryor FFA (second National Proficiency Award won)

Meet Your National Proficiency Award Winner in Diversified Livestock Production- Tanner Miller, Mulhall-Orlando FFA (Second National Proficiency Award won)

Meet Your National Proficiency Award Winner in Diversified Crop Production- Placement Carson Vinyard, Altus FFA (Second National Proficiency Award won)

Meet Your National Proficiency Award Winner in Goat Production- Tyler Sanders, Wanette FFA

Meet Your National Proficiency Award Winner in Environmental Science and Natural Resources- Garrett Sharp, Waukomis FFA

Meet Your National Proficiency Award Winner in Ag Mechanics Repair- Jake Grossnicklaus, Chickasha FFA

Meet Your National Proficiency Award Winner in Emerging Agriculture Technology- Blake Goss, Sentinel FFA

Tyler Schnaithman Captures Public Speaking Championship- Dwight Stoddard is VIP and Thanks to Lotsa Folks 

We will have a few more stories to add this week from our coverage of the 2013 National FFA Convention- which, by the way, was made possible through the support of the Oklahoma FFA Alumni Association and the Oklahoma FFA Association. As always- Kent Boggs and Jack Staats were invaluable to me in chasing story ideas and relearning where everything was in Louisville after being in Indy the last several years.

One BIG honor that was nailed down on Friday night in Louisville was the announcement that Tyler Schnaithman of Garber FFA continued to have a VERY GOOD 2013- winning the National Prepared Public Speaking Award- bringing that honor home to Oklahoma again for the FIFTH straight year.  We talked with Tyler Saturday morning at the Oklahoma Suite in Freedom Hall- click here to take a listen to our visit with this most remarkable and humble young man- his folks, Lee and Becky, have raised three really great FFA stars and I suspect we are not finished writing stories about his FFA career.

Another one of the good ones- albeit a tad older- is our friend Dwight Stoddard.  Dwight has been involved with Career Tech and Ag Education for a bunch of years- and I have enjoyed getting to know him the last several years at the national convention where he has served as one of the judges that Okahoma provides in the prelininary rounds of the three major national speech contests. He was honored on Friday by the National FFA with their VIP Citation- and you can learn more about the award and more about Dwight by clicking here.

We have posted 365 pictures on this year's FLICKR set of photos for the convention- and we want to thank four of the current state officers for helping me take pictures- I challenged them to show everyone the National Convention as they were seeing it- and I think they did a good job.  Some pics were taken by yours truly- but the majority came from Allison Christian of Duncan, Joshua Haven of Cheyenne, Garrett Reed of Locust Grove and Bray Haven of Cheyenne.  Y'all did great!  By the way- click here to see the full set of FLICKR photos.

Finally- I call your attention to a couple of releases we posted on Saturday afternoon.  We were sorry that our 2013 National Officer Candidate, Brandon Baumgarten, did not make the six man National Officer team- but there was an Oklahoma connection- read about that by clicking here. 

And- the final convention numbers really blew us away- the final registration count released on Saturday was 62,998- a knock your socks off record compared to last year's 56,000 reported in Indianapolis. I suspect the national FFA folks may be looking for two or three more members that got lost in Louisville and never registered- maybe they got stuck in the drive through line at one of the local White Castles- and if they find them- they can boost a revised final number above 63,000!  LOL!

APHIS Finalizes Bovine Import Regulations in Line with International Animal Health Standards

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced today a final rule that will complete efforts to modernize the Agency's import regulations for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), demonstrating to the international community that the United States is committed to basing its BSE regulations on internationally-accepted scientific literature and standards set by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). The final regulation will allow for the safe trade of bovines and bovine products, while still protecting the United States from the introduction of BSE.

"This action will bring our BSE import regulations in line with international standards, which call for countries to base their trade policies on the actual risk of animals or products harboring the disease," said Dr. John Clifford, APHIS Deputy Administrator and Chief Veterinary Officer. "Making these changes will further demonstrate to our trading partners our commitment to international standards and sound science, and we are hopeful it will help open new markets and remove remaining restrictions on U.S. products."

It is important to note that control of imports is only one of several interlocking safeguards against BSE. This regulation does not change other measures that are currently in place in the United States. For animal health, these measures include the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's ruminant-to-ruminant feed ban.

Click here to read more and to find a link to a USDA Q&A on the new rule.  

BSE Regulations Draw Mixed Reactions from Cattle Industry Groups

The USDA announced the final comprehensive BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) rule Friday that will help ensure other countries aren't able to place non-tariff trade barriers on U.S. beef.   The announcement drew mixed reactions from supporters of the U.S. beef industry.

U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, applauded U.S. Department of Agriculture efforts that will help U.S. beef producers increase exports.   "This effort is crucial to breaking down other countries' unfounded trade barriers, and re-opening trade markets that are closed to U.S. beef. American agriculture has long set the gold standard for food production and safety. Today's actions will ensure U.S. beef producers can operate on a more level playing field and help grow our agriculture economy."  (You can read more of Stabenow's remarks by clicking here.)

Scott George, president of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and a Cody, Wyo., cattleman said, "The basis of these import regulations, set on internationally-accepted science and the OIE guidelines, is critical in showing that the U.S. is committed to ensuring trade, unfettered by protectionist motivations, and sends a clear message to our trading partners of the value we place on fair trade."  (Click here for more from the NCBA.)

Bill Bullard, CEO of RCALF-USA, said his organization was not pleased with the new rules.  "Despite the fact that BSE persists in the European Union (EU), which reported four new BSE cases in 2013, the new USDA rule opens the door to allow U.S. meatpackers to begin supplementing tight U.S. beef supplies with beef of questionable safety from Europe.  USDA cannot explain why BSE persists in Europe despite the fact that all scientific measures that are believed to be effective at breaking the BSE cycle have been rigorously enforced in Europe for nearly two decades."  (You can read more by clicking here.)

OSU Extension Small Grains Specialist Receives National Award

He has brought in more than $4.5 million in external funding to Oklahoma State University. He has published one book chapter, 40 refereed journal articles and 82 fact sheets or similar Extension materials.

He has been active and is recognized as a leader within professional societies, and was awarded the Warth Distinguished Professorship in Agronomy at OSU in 2011. The list of accomplishments goes on and on for Jeff Edwards, OSU Cooperative Extension small grains specialist.

That list will get a little longer as Edwards has been selected to receive the National Excellence in Extension Award during the 126th Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. The award is given annually to one Extension professional who excels at programming, provides visionary leadership and makes a positive impact on constituents served. 

You can read more of this story on our website.  Please click here to go there.
 

It's Monday- and the World Tour Continues in Ft Worth with the Oklahoma Cattle Feeders (AKA- TCFA)

We got back to Oklahoma City- wife Jan helped me reload the suitcase- I added a few more batteries to the equipment bag and away we go to Ft. Worth to cover the 2013 Annual Convention of the Texas Cattle Feeders Association.  We will let our friends in Texas think it's still their organization- but this group that represents feedlots in Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas has as their current chairman Walt Olson of Turpin and their Chairman Elect for 2014 is Jason Hitch of Guymon.

Their first general session for their annual meeting is this morning- we will be tweeting from here in Ft. Worth and will be posting stories from the convention for the radio network and the website over the next couple of days as well. 

In the meantime- click here to see their agenda.

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ONE OTHER NOTE- we have finally gotten our latest update for our APP for both Iphones and Ipads as well as for Android- if you don't have automatic updates- be sure and update as we have renamed a couple of the sections of the APP.

What was once the AUDIO section is now going to be dedicated to CANOLA while the one previously labeled VIDEO is now dedicated to 4-H and FFA. 

Already- we have a bunch of the stuff from the FFA convention on that newly named section- and we invite for you to check it out. 

If you have not yet downloaded the APP- we have links to make it easy for you to do so in the left hand column of our email towards the top.