Following the delegate session of the American Farm Bureau Federation's 96th Annual Convention, which wrapped up last Tuesday in San Diego, the organization's board of directors set AFBF's strategic action plan to address public policy issues for 2015.


The board-approved plan focuses the organization's attention on: advancing legislation that addresses agriculture's long- and short-term labor needs; protecting farmers' abilities to use biotech plant varieties and other innovative technologies; opposing expansion of federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act; and advancing legislation that reforms the Endangered Species Act.


"We will work to advance all the issue positions approved by our farmer and rancher delegates this week, but this plan represents those issue areas where we believe the American Farm Bureau Federation and its grassroots members have clear opportunities to achieve success at this time," said AFBF President Bob Stallman. "These are high-stakes issues that we must advance to help safeguard our members and their abilities to operate their farms and ranches."

Stallman said farmers and ranchers know first-hand the importance of clean water. They usually live on the land they work, and in many cases their water resources are on or near their property. He said they typically adopt new technology related to conservation and frequently those moves also enhance the performance of their businesses. 


Click here to read the rest of American Farm Bureau's Strategic Plan for 2015.  

Shannon Ferrell- Planning and Communication are Tools to Help You Pass the Family Farm to the Next Generation 

Lack of communication is at the top of a list of several challenges facing families as they look into the future and work toward the passing of the family farm or ranch to the next generation. Oklahoma State University Department of Agricultural Economics Professor Dr. Shannon Ferrell says research at OSU is showing that fewer than 30 percent of farms and ranches are surviving intact in the first generation of transfer and even some estimates show that number is closer to 10 -20 percent.


In evaluating the farms and ranches that did not pass successfully from one generation to the next, Ferrell says that several common threads were that there wasn't enough of an estate plan in place, the farm may have been under capitalized to support multiple family members and there wasn't any communication between the generations on how the transition will take place. He adds that in many cases individuals were thrust into roles they were not prepared for as the estate plan was executed. To counter these obstacles to success, Ferrell believes that carefully planning well before the transfer happens provides the family a less stressful game plan of generational transfer.   

The old question of how you eat an elephant (one bite at a time) can be applicable to farm and ranch estate planning. Shannon Ferrell gave us some great insights on the challenges and how you eat them one bite at a time in the conversation that we had with him at the recent Agrifest in Enid.   Read more or listen my full conservation with him on how to plan ahead in passing down the farm by clicking or tapping here.  

USDA Funding Three Oklahoma Conservation Projects

Conservation efforts have been repackaged in Oklahoma and across the nation. This past week, US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made a funding announcement for USDA's Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) where state and federal funding is leveraged with private dollars to address regional conservation efforts. USDA will award more than $370 million in funding for 115 high-impact projects across all 50 states and Puerto Rico. The funding was made possible through passage of the 2014 Farm Bill.


On Friday, the Oklahoma Conservation Commission (OCC), USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts (OACD) announced three far reaching projects of the RCPP. Two OCC-led projects will assist farmers and ranchers with installing conservation practices in the Elk City Lake and Grand Lake watersheds and the OACD-led project will establish conservation demonstration farms across the state.


I was in Elk City for the announcement and talked with Oklahoma State Conservationist Gary O'Neill of USDA's NRCS. Click or tap here to learn more about these projects.  You can read or listen to our full conservation.  

Higher Protein Content Boosts Value of Soybean Crop

Farmers have often heard that higher-quality soybeans could generate more value. Now, a new soy-checkoff-funded study shows how much more.


The price of soybeans is driven by the combined value of soybean meal, oil and hulls, a measurement known as the estimated processed value (EPV). The study, conducted by Centrec Consulting Group LLC, shows how EPV increases when farmers raise the protein content in their soybeans. In fact, increasing protein content by 1 percentage point, when yield and oil levels remain the same, increases a crop's value per acre.


"Higher-quality soybean meal is a win-win for both the soybean farmer and livestock and poultry producers," says Laura Foell, chair of the United Soybean Board's Meal Action Team and a soybean farmer from Schaller, Iowa. "Farmers can provide animal ag with the quality of feed the industry demands, and the value farmers get in return will rise."   

The checkoff conducted the study in 13 states where EPV increased by between $7.70 and $12.96 per acre, depending on the state.  Click here to read the state by state results.  

NCBA Pushes for Trade Promotion Authority to Grow Exports

U.S. beef exports remained strong in 2014. When the final numbers come out,  it will likely show about $6.5 billion worth of U.S. beef export sales for the calendar year.   That will be a record for the value of beef exports, while volume will near or slightly lower than a year ago.


For beef exports to continue to grow, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association contends that Congress needs to pass Trade Promotion Authority to allow the Administration to negotiate more trade agreements. NCBA Associate Director of Legislative Affairs Kent Bacus is hopeful Congress may act on that this year.


"It's very important that Congress takes that up immediately and give our negotiators the legitimacy that they need to go out and work these deals with these other countries with the assurance that when they come back they will get a straight up or down vote from Congress in a very short time," Bacus said. "The last thing we need is to have a big negotiation take place, have an agreement filled and then come back have 535 different opinions on it in Congress."


I featured Bacus on our Beef Buzz- as heard on great radio stations across the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network. Read more and have the opportunity to listen to Beef Buzz by clicking or tapping here.   

Award winning broadcast journalist Jerry Bohnen has spent years learning and understanding how to cover the energy business here in the southern plains- Click here to subscribe to his daily update of top Energy News.

Oklahoma Deer Harvest Total Near Average

Harvesting white-tailed deer is quite a bit easier when they leave themselves vulnerable by scrounging around for something to eat. The dry, hot summers in years past, plus ample numbers of animals, sent deer harvest totals through the roof.  However, the cooler and wetter summers in 2013 and 2014 produced more native forage, leaving them to feast in private. This reduced deer harvest by hunters, particularly in 2013.


"Temperature also affects deer movement and therefore hunter success," said Dwayne Elmore, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension wildlife specialist. "With warm fall temperatures and abundant food, deer are not as likely to be seen during daylight hours. Of course, the rut also is related to deer movement."


While archery season just wrapped up Jan. 15, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation is reporting nearly 99,000 harvested for the 2014-2015 season. Since 2000, the average number of harvested deer per year is 105,000. The 2013-14 harvest was just over 88,000.  Click here to read more.

Martin Luther King Day Provides Federal Holiday in the US

It's a Federal holiday- as well as one that is being celebrated by state and most local governments as well. Banks are also closed for the day- and our ag futures and stock markets also take MLK day off, as well.

Some local businesses that you deal with may be closed- while others will be open on this January 19th- it's probably a good idea to check ahead.

While the ag futures are closed today- most of the livestock auction markets that trade on Monday are open- for example the Oklahoma National Stockyards in Oklahoma City is open today and is expecting to sell between eight and ten thousand head.  

One impact for agriculture is that the reports that are normally released by USDA on Mondays will be delayed by a day- and will come out this week on Tuesday because of the holiday today.