The Governor's Excellence in Agriculture Awards will be presented during a special ceremony hosted by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry on April 1 at 2 p.m. in Senate Assembly Room 535 in the state capitol. The public is invited to attend.


The award that includes the designation of becoming a member of the Oklahoma Ag Hall of Fame will be given to an Oklahoma Panhandle rancher. Joe Mayer will be honored with the Outstanding Achievement Award in Agriculture- and becomes the 18th Member of the Oklahoma Ag Hall of Fame. He and his family are actively involved in all aspects of a prosperous grain and cattle business in the Oklahoma Panhandle. Mayer is at the forefront in the beef industry utilizing and adapting the latest technologies to improve his own operation and benefit beef consumers. He has received numerous awards including the Certified Angus Beef Commercial Producer of the Year. Locally, Mayer has benefited his home area by serving on the Texas County Election Board, the Texas County Excise and Equalization Board, Texas County Farm Bureau Board and the TriCounty Electric Cooperative Board.
 

Three other leaders will be honored in specialty categories on the first of April at Ag Day as well. Leland Walker of Red Oak will receive the Outstanding Public Service in Agriculture Award for for his lifetime of service in the Ag Education arena- much of that time at Eastern Oklahoma State College.

The Environmental Stewardship Award will honor the life of  Mike Thralls. Mike served 17 years as Executive Director of the Oklahoma Conservation Commission- before his retirement at the end of last summer.  He lost his battle with cancer just a few months ago.

Finally, the Legacy in Agriculture Award will be presented posthumously to Dr. Bob Totusek who promoted agriculture for over 65 years. He obtained his Ph.D. at Purdue University before joining the Animal Husbandry faculty at Oklahoma A&M College in 1952 where he served 38 years. He served as Animal Science Department Head from 1976 until retiring in 1990.  

If there was ever a global figure in Oklahoma Agriculture- it was Dr. Tot.   

Learn more about all of these legendary leaders and the awards they are receiving April first by clicking here.

Oklahoma Tops EPA Charts for Pollution Reduction to Waterways

Oklahoma ranks second among the states for protecting waterways from harmful nutrients according to new EPA data. This is the sixth year in a row Oklahoma has ranked in the top five states for nonpoint source (NPS) pollution reductions.


Oklahoma ranks second for phosphorus reduction (358,469 pounds) and third for nitrogen reduction (856,906 pounds) to streams. These nutrients are major contributors to algal bloom issues in the state's reservoirs which can challenge water treatment facilities, lead to fish kills and, in rare cases, pose a risk to human health.


Oklahoma receives less than two percent of EPA Clean Water Act Section 319 funds, yet meets between 20-30 percent of EPA's national NPS reduction goals annually. The state's NPS reduction numbers are based solely on the voluntary implementation of conservation practices by farmers and ranchers across the state-no regulation is involved. "This success is proof that voluntary, incentive based conservation is the best method of protecting our soil and water resources," said Trey Lam, Oklahoma Conservation Commission (OCC) executive director. 

Click here to read more about conservation practices that promote soil health drastically reduce the amount of runoff that flows into streams.  

Oklahoma's wheat crop improved over the last week. In the latest crop weather report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the state's wheat crop rated 44 percent good to excellent, 41 percent fair and 15 percent poor to very poor. The crop gained one point in the excellent category and three points in the good category. Jointing of winter wheat reached 38 percent as of Sunday. The canola crop rated 64 percent fair to good. Conditions of small grains improved in areas of the Northeast, but significant moisture is needed in the North Central for wheat development. Pasture and range conditions rated 68 percent fair to good.  Click here for the full Oklahoma report.

Winter wheat is showing progress in Texas in the Northern High and Low Plains with the arrival of warm temperatures. Wheat rated 55 percent good to excellent, 35 percent fair and 10 percent poor to very poor. The crop gained 4 points in the good to excellent category. Corn and Sorghum planting has been slow, gaining only three points since last week. Corn was 14 percent planted and sorghum planting was seven percent complete. Range and pasture rated mostly good - fair.  Click here for the full Texas report.

Temperatures were warmer than normal and moisture is limited in Kansas. Light precipitation was reported in southwest and northeast, while precipitation is needed in western Kansas. The winter wheat crop rated 41 percent good to excellent, 42 fair and 17 percent poor to very poor. The crop gained 1 point in the excellent category and gained four points in the poor to very poor category.  Click here for the full Kansas report.

Beef Industry At Forefront of Animal Ag on Measuring Substainability- Kim Stackhouse Lawson

America's beef industry is working to improve sustainability. One of the featured speakers at the Noble Foundation's Texoma Cattlemen's Conference Saturday in Ardmore was National Cattlemen's Beef Association Director of Sustainability Research Kim Stackhouse-Lawson.  She said globally the U.S. has a wonderful story to tell.


"We are certainly the most efficient and most sustainable industry in the global sphere, so being able to step up there and take a leadership role and educate other countries on the good things that we are doing and help them drive toward their goals of more sustainable beef really sets us apart and allows us to lead in a very meaningful way," Lawson said.


In comparing protein sources, the beef industry often comes under fire. Lawson said that criticism is unfounded as research funded by the beef checkoff in 2010 shows a different story. She said in five years the U.S. beef industry has been able to improve overall sustainability by five percent. In looking at environmental and social sustainability, she said the U.S. has improved seven percent. Farmers have also been able to reduce their emissions or pollution in water by 10 percent, along with reducing energy, greenhouse gas emissions and water use.


Sustainability looks at the entire production process from the field to the consumer.  To read more or to listen to my full interview from the conference, click here and enjoy.   

Derrell S. Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, writes in the latest Cow/Calf Corner newsletter.


The calendar says that spring is here and it's beginning to show in Oklahoma. Some pastures (and lots of weeds) are greening up and grazing cattle demand is also building. Calf and stocker prices have increased back to levels of early January. Large runs of heavy feeder cattle so far March, combined with modest feedlot demand, have limited price increases for heavy feeder cattle, though prices have increased from February lows.


About 70 percent of Oklahoma is currently in moderate to exceptional drought. Recent rains in the southeast portion of the state have removed some dryness that threatened to add to drought totals. Over the winter the southeast one-third of the state has received more or less average rainfall along with a portion of the Panhandle that had above normal rainfall totals for the last 120 days. The area north and west of a line from the southwest corner of the state diagonally to the northeast corner of the state has received only 20 to 80 percent of normal precipitation through the winter resulting in exceptional drought in the southwest corner of the state with extreme and severe drought north through the western tier counties and eastward across the north central region.


Spring means that the severe weather season is approaching and Oklahomans know to keep an eye to the sky. Since 1950, Oklahoma has averaged 55 tornados per year. There is a threat of tornados in Oklahoma this week that may mark the beginning of the 2015 tornado season.  Click here to read more about Oklahoma's severe spring weather.   

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.

OYE Animals Donated to Oklahoma Food Banks

Behind the scenes of the Oklahoma Youth Expo this week is an exhibition of a different kind: the generosity of youths donating their animals to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma and the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma.


The donated animals are actually being handled by Oklahoma Farm Bureau's Oklahoma Farming and Ranching Foundation, which processes the animals through the foundation's
Beef for Backpacks and Pork for Packs programs.


The Beef for Backpacks and Pork for Packs programs use donated cattle and hogs to produce beef and pork sticks for the Food Banks' Food for Kids program. Together, the two food banks provide backpacks with non-perishable, kid-friendly food to students in 596 schools across all of Oklahoma's 77 counties.


So far this week, 179 animals, mostly pigs, have been donated by students participating in OYE. 

"The generosity of these young people is incredible," said Amanda Rosholt, director of fundraising and public relations for the foundation.

Click here to read more about  these programs.  

This N That- Funeral Services for John Kane Set for Later this Morning, Deadline Nears on Farm Safety Net Decisions and Women in Ag Meet Today

Word comes from the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association that one of their past Presidents, John Kane of Bartlesville, passed away over this past weekend.  

Kane passed after a brief unexpected illness on Saturday night, March 21st.  The funeral has been planned for Tuesday, March 24th at 11:00 am at the First Presbyterian Church of Bartlesville.   

John served as president of OCA in 1991-92 

An extensive look at his life is available here. 

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You have one more week to get into your local FSA office and make your final decisions on yield and base acres as well as the choice between PLC and ARC- we have written a great deal about these choices- now is the time to be getting into contact with your local FSA folks and make known your choices to you.

Some counties have be facing a backlog- many counties do not have a backlog and will NOT have a Register which might buy you a few additional days.

Don't count on an extension- get in and get er done!

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Visions for our Future is the Theme of a Women in Ag Conference planned for later today at Redlands College in El Reno.  

Among the speakers at today's all day event- Tammy Gray-Steele, Executive Director, National Women in Ag Association will be speaking.

More details can be had by clicking here- we invite you to go and check it out.