Agricultural News
OKFB's Rodd Moesel Honored to Stand with Others in Ag Community to Support John O'Connor for Attorney General
Thu, 02 Jun 2022 13:18:10 CDT
KC Sheperd, Farm Director, met up with Rodd Moesel, Oklahoma Farm Bureau President, at the Oklahoma National Stockyards as Farm Bureau joined two other ag groups in jointly endorsing John O'Connor to be elected for a four-year term as Oklahoma Attorney General.
"We are hoping to create some momentum that will help propel the Attorney General into a full four-year term as Attorney General," Moesel said.
With the 2022 state legislative session wrapping up last Friday, Moesel said most of his biggest wins have been keeping certain things from happening.
"There was a lot of defensives played in committees on the floor, so we were able to stop some counties owning initiatives and a number of other things were on the table that we caught at earlier stages," Moesel said.
One of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau's biggest successes was receiving extra funds for the animal diagnostic laboratory and vet school at Oklahoma State University.
"We are trying to make sure that we protect and grow that asset that we have at OSU at the vet school," Moesel said.
Moesel said the Farm Bureau was able to continue some extra help with the extension service that they are very excited about. Moesel also mentioned the marijuana issue.
"We got through some of the bills that help clean up the cannabis or marijuana situation, so those are probably some of the key successes of this session," Moesel said.
With talk of Oklahoma having 95 percent broadband by the year 2027, Moesel said even with federal funding they may still be limited.
"Nobody knows exactly what that price tag will be, so that is going to be limited I'm sure by how much state and federal dollars come into that and how competitive our efforts are on that at the federal level," Moesel said. "Most of that money comes from the federal level, although the state has stepped up and has been making some commitments there. Even though they sound like big dollars, they get lost pretty quickly with what the cost of broadband is."
For the part of the state that has not received broadband yet, Moesel said it may be because there are not enough people.
"They keep telling us they 8 to 12 paying customers per mile to make it work, even with the federal incentives, and we have a large part of the state, especially in the central and western part of our state, where we don't have anywhere near 8-12 people per mile, so those get exceptionally expensive, and it is going to be a battle."
For the 2023 farm bill, Moesel said his main goal is protecting what producers have and preserving the risk and insurance programs. Extension and research efforts, Moesel added, are also a priority.
"We are hard at work already, we have a committee at the federal level that is working on that and at the state level," Moesel said. "It is probably not going to get really serious until the fall elections because most everyone expects a change at least on the house side."
Click the LISTEN BAR below to hear more from KC Sheperd and Rodd Moesel on the latest Oklahoma Farm Bureau priorities.
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