Category: Top Ag News

Thu, 08 Sep 2022 09:06:15 CDT

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KC Sheperd, Farm Director, had the chance to visit with Merlin Schantz from Schantz Farms talking about the upcoming Schantz Farms Field Day in Hydro, Okla. on September 15…

Thu, 08 Sep 2022 07:39:27 CDT

Gross Receipts to the Treasury in August set a number of new records as signs point to a robust Oklahoma economy, State Treasurer Randy McDaniel announced today.

August gross receipts set record highs for…

Thu, 08 Sep 2022 05:18:44 CDT

The war of words over California’s Prop 12 continues as the National Pork Producers and the American Farm Bureau are getting closer to their day in court over the legality of California’s efforts to regulate the pork industry across the United States. Wednesday evening- the National Pork Producers released this statement from Terry Wolters, NPPC president and owner of Stoney Creek Farms in Pipestone, Minnesota

“Today’s filing of our reply brief to petitioners brings the National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation one step closer to the Supreme Court hearing our case on how California Proposition 12 violates the U. S. Constitution.

In the Argument of the Brief that was filed on Wednesday September 7th- NPPC and AFBF blast California for it’s ignorance of the US Pork Industry. “Respondents and amici label “implausible” any allegation they disagree with. They fail to acknowledge that California imports 99.9% of pork consumed there.

“They ignore that every part of a pig bears Proposition 12’s costs, wherever that part is sold. And they devote scores of pages to arguing that Proposition 12 will not affect interstate commerce, and will promote sow welfare and human health, contrary to petitioners’ specific allegations.

“Had the case below turned on contesting petitioners’ allegations, the district court would have treated respondents’ motions as motions for summary judgment, and would have denied summary judgment because it is impossible to conclude that there is “no genuine dispute as to any material fact.”. Respondents’ factual assertions are wrong, showing a lack of knowledge of pigs, the industry, its markets, and federal oversight—and petitioners would so prove at trial. But respondents’ assertions are irrelevant here, given the posture of the case.”

Wolters goes on to add in the Wednesday night statement “Ironically, California’s Department of Food and Agriculture also announced today it finally completed the Proposition 12 implementation rules, more than three years after the original statutory deadline. This delay unnecessarily exacerbated pork supply chain disruptions and now creates significant concerns for farmers that these arbitrary regulations put the nation’s pig herd at risk of disease. Any farmers raising pigs that provide pork products to the California market must register and will be required to have California agents inspect their farms, which will create serious biosecurity threats across the country.

“We look forward to presenting our case before the Supreme Court on October 11 to defend the livelihoods of America’s pork producers.”

As mentioned in the statement from NPPC- the California Department of Ag has now released their final regulations on enforcement of Prop 12- details on that are available here.

Wed, 07 Sep 2022 08:51:29 CDT

This coming Friday- the Oklahoma State University Alumni Association will honor six alumni of OSU with their 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award. This award recognize alumni who attain distinctive success in his or her chosen field or profession, perform outstanding service to their community or both. Service and contributions to the advancement of the university, the OSU Alumni Association or both may be considered.

The 2022 honorees will be recognized at a public reception Friday, September 9 inside the ConocoPhillips OSU Alumni Center. All are welcome to attend, and registration is requested- click here to register.

The Ferguson College of Agriculture is well represented as three of the six honorees are from the College of Ag. One of the six is 1967 Ag Education graduate- former State Senator Ron Justice.

From the OSU Alumni Association News Release:

The Honorable Ronald Justice graduated from OSU with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education in 1967. He went on to earn his master’s degree in agricultural education from OSU in 1968.

After graduation, Justice moved to Kansas City, Kansas, where he served as the Wyandotte County 4-H agent for three years. He then returned to Oklahoma where he served as a 4-H agent in Muskogee County, county agriculture and 4-H agent in Alfalfa County, and agriculture agent and county director in Grady County. He served 24 years in Grady County and retired in July 2003 after a total of 33 years in county extension work. Justice then decided to continue serving Oklahoma and spent 12 years as the Oklahoma State Senator for District 23. He later served as vice president of public policy at Oklahoma Farm Bureau.

In addition to his career, Justice has been an active member of several county and state organizations, including the Grady County Cattlemen’s Association, Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association, Mineral Owners’ Association and the Alfalfa Hay Association. He was a member and former president of the Chickasha Lion’s Club. He is also a member of the Chickasha Chamber of Commerce, past president of the Oklahoma Association of Extension Agriculture Agents and member of the Epsilon Sigma Phi National Honorary Extension Fraternity. Justice is currently serving on the Oklahoma Water Resource Board and the Oklahoma 4-H Foundation Board.

He was recognized with both the Oklahoma and national Epsilon Sigma Phi Friends of Extension Awards in 2020, the OSU DASNR Distinguished Alumni Award in 2016 and the OSU Agricultural Education Graduate of Distinction Award in 1998.

Justice and his wife, Darlene, have three children: Greg, Yvonne and Yvette. Along with their three children, they also have nine grandchildren.

Justice is a life member of the OSU Alumni Association.

From 2016- click on the video below to see more about Senator Justice’s life- this is the video from the OSU Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources when he was honored as a DASNR Distringuished Alum.

Tue, 06 Sep 2022 17:19:50 CDT

Corn and soybean conditions held steady, USDA NASS reported in its weekly Crop Progress report released Tuesday, Sept. 6. The report is normally released on Mondays but was delayed this week due to the Labor…

Tue, 06 Sep 2022 15:23:18 CDT

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Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, is featuring content from Farm Broadcaster, Ken Root’s podcast during his visit to the Farm Progress Show in Iowa as he s…

Tue, 06 Sep 2022 12:21:08 CDT

Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, is featuring content from Farm Broadcaster, Ken Root’s podcast during his visit to the Farm Progress Show in Iowa as he speaks with the President, CEO, and …

Tue, 06 Sep 2022 08:16:50 CDT

This coming Friday- the Oklahoma State University Alumni Association will honor six alumni of OSU with their 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award. This award recognize alumni who attain distinctive success in his…

Mon, 05 Sep 2022 09:07:30 CDT

This coming Friday- the Oklahoma State University Alumni Association will honor six alumni of OSU with their 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award. This award recognize alumni who attain distinctive success in his or her chosen field or profession, perform outstanding service to their community or both. Service and contributions to the advancement of the university, the OSU Alumni Association or both may be considered.

The 2022 honorees will be recognized at a public reception Friday, September 9 inside the ConocoPhillips OSU Alumni Center. All are welcome to attend, and registration is requested- click here to register.

The Ferguson College of Agriculture is well represented as three of the six honorees are from the College of Ag. One of the six is Dr. Robert Eugene Walton, who grew up in Shattuck, Oklahoma..

Dr. Robert Eugene Walton Sr. graduated from OSU (then Oklahoma A&M) in 1952 with a bachelor’s degree in dairy science. He went on to receive his master’s degree in animal breeding and genetics from OSU in 1956 and his doctorate in animal breeding, genetics and statistics from Iowa State University.

During his time at OSU, Walton worked at the OSU Dairy Farm. He was elected as chancellor of Alpha Zeta, was a member of FarmHouse fraternity and competed on the dairy cattle judging team. Walton also attended Royal Agriculture College in Sweden as part of an exchange program.

Dr. Robert E. Walton served as president and general manager of American Breeders Service (ABS), De Forest, Wisconsin from 1967 until 1992 . Walton joined ABS in 1962 as a dairy geneticist. In 1965, he was named director of the marketing and breeding division. He was promoted to his current position in 1967. Prior to joining ABS, he was an assistant professor at the University of Kentucky and also while still in college he worked as estate manager for Westhide Farms, Hereford, England. At ABS, his original responsibility was to design and implement the first progeny-testing program for dairy cattle. This included the selection of sires and dams for 100 young sires each year. The program also included the sampling of young sires in 800 herds, representing 100,000 cows in 25 states. The final phase was the selection of the top 20 percent of the program graduates, based on genetic transmitting ability for higher levels of milk production.

Walton also developed the original ABS Program -Estimated Daughter Superiority System. Subsequently, in 1965 USDA adopted the same system. It was renamed Predicted difference and is used nationwide by the entire A.I. industry. Walton vigorously promoted the use of frozen semen as a means of making good genetic material available on a massive scale including remote areas where normal technician service was not economically feasible. This promotion led to the development of A.I. training schools and direct sales of semen to cattlemen and ranchers who breed their own cows. While at ABS, Walton was responsible for the design and implementation of the Genetic Mating Service (GMS). This professional computer application for commercial dairy herds determines and manages the specific genetic inputs for each herd. The ABS program grew to include the annual enrollment of more than 500,000 dairy cows.

Walton has earned many accolades throughout of his career. His most notable accomplishments include receiving the OSU Distinguished Animal Science Alumnus Award, founding director of Holstein Foundation, founding director of World Beef Expo, Distinguished Service Award from Wisconsin FFA, World Dairy Expo Industry Person of the Year, Distinguished Service Award from the American Dairy Science Association, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Cattleman’s Association. Walton also received the Iowa State Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2022.

In 2021, Dr. Walton finished part one of this autobiography, View from the Bull’s Eye.

Walton is a life member of the OSU Alumni Association.

Mon, 05 Sep 2022 09:00:14 CDT

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Farm Director, KC Sheperd, had the chance to catch up with the Professional Development Coordinator for Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom, Melody Aufill as she fills KC in on resources Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom has to offer and talks about Read an Accurate Ag Book Week taking place this week.

“Ag in the classroom is a really great program and I am one of the state coordinators along with Emily Ague, who serves southwest Oklahoma, and Annie Davis who serves northeast Oklahoma,” Aufill said. “I kind of do the other sections.”

Aufill said Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom is a three-way partnership between the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, the State Department of Education and OSU Extension. The Department of Agriculture is where they are based, she added.

“We have been trying to educate teachers about agriculture so they can educate their students,” Aufill said.

Aufill said by visiting agclassroom.org/ok, teachers can access resources and lessons. The nice thing about Ag in the Classroom, Aufill said is you can implement it as much or as little as you would like.

There are lessons on the website to assist in the teaching of any skill or subject including categories such as main idea or scientific principles, Aufill said. The activities and lessons, she added, are aligned to Oklahoma academic standards.

There are also recipes on the website, Aufill said, to help students make the connection to where their food comes from. For teachers in urban areas who feel like Ag in the Classroom would not make sense in their classroom because of location and students, Aufill said the lessons fit in anywhere.

“Everyone eats every day, and we all wear clothes, so we should know where our food comes from,” Aufull said. “We need to know about those farmers who raise and grow our food and our clothing.”

This week, September 6-9, Ag in the Classroom will have “Read an Accurate Ag Book Week” where teachers and anyone interested can sign up and read to students.

“We will also have some zoom options,” Aufill said. “Last year the Lieutenant Governor read a book and teachers could sign up to hear him read a book to their students.”

There are plenty of ways for anyone to participate in the “Read an Accurate Ag Book Week”, so Aufill encourages anyone who is interested in agriculture to reach out to a local classroom or a local school and see if they can participate.

Farm Director, KC Sheperd, will be participating in “Read an Accurate Ag Book” week on Wednesday via zoom!

Don’t know how to get started? Here are a few suggestions:

Teachers /Librarians/Early Childhood Centers etc. – register to read to your classroom, snap a picture, post on social media #okagclass & #readagbooks2022, or email a picture

Parents – ask to register the teacher of your child, kindly ask to be a guest reader, or ask a community member to read

Schools – read an accurate agriculture book week “school wide,” bring in community members to read, SRO school resource officers, retired teachers, FFA members, High Schools groups, or request a guest reader

Classrooms – Register and join a ZOOM “reader” we will spotlight during the week.

We will have a drawing for bushels of books for those who complete the steps below!
(2 classrooms, 1 FFA Chapter, 1 4H, and 1 FCCLA)

1. Register at https://forms.gle/3Q6ZHFhzB61DU7Qs5
2. Read an “Accurate Ag Book”
3. Post a picture on FB/Insta using
#okagclass & #readagbooks2022
OR email, emily.ague@ag.ok.gov

Register at:
https://forms.gle/3Q6ZHFhzB61DU7Qs5

Click the LISTEN BAR below to listen to KC’s conversation with Melody Aufill on Oklahoma Ag in the classroom and the upcoming conference.