At Oklahoma Ag Day at the Capitol, Farm Director KC Sheperd caught up with the Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture, Blayne Arthur, and talked about the event and what is being accomplished to aid ag producers in the state.
Arthur said this day at the Capitol is a great opportunity for legislators to come out and hear about the importance of agriculture in the state of Oklahoma and meet some of the state’s producers.
“All of our commodity groups show up, and we have got lots of our Made in Oklahoma companies,” Arthur said.
Legislators have the chance to walk from booth to booth and talk with individuals about why production agriculture is important.
“We bring that story to them here at the Capitol,” Arthur said.
Ag Day at the Capitol, Arthur said, is another great opportunity to have more conversations about agriculture in a rural-dominated state.
Regarding legislative discussions currently taking place, Arthur said much of that discussion has been about education in the state.
“That is not in our lane so much in the ag piece, but that is taking up a lot of the discussion,” Arthur said. “Right now, from an ag perspective, we have had good conversations, I think, with members. Lots of work was done with the Emergency Drought Commission. We know that it has rained in some parts of the state. It certainly has not rained in other parts of the state.”
For those areas that have not received rain, Arthur said there has been discussion about long-term solutions within the drought commission.
“Lots of members talking about what a long-term mechanism looks like for that,” Arthur said. “Kind of changing up the makeup of the emergency drought commission board, which to us is very positive, because it is an acknowledgment that the folks here in this building still remember that what is happening out there is important to all of us farmers and ranchers.”
As budget conversations build up, Arthur said she feels like agriculture is in a good place.
Arthur also talked about her involvement with Food Export Midwest.
“I am actually very fortunate to serve as a chair for a group that is called, Food Export Midwest, which is a group of 14 different states whose focus is to get our ag products into international markets,” Arthur said. “So, I will be headed to Chicago, actually, this evening to be with that board and talk about what other things we can do to really expand those markets. We want to expand the opportunity for dollars at the farm gate, and we think those value-added ag products are a great way to do that.”
Later in the year, Arthur said she will have the opportunity to travel internationally with the goal of promoting Oklahoma and U.S. ag products to the world.
“Always, our goal is to help farmers have a way to be profitable and to stay on the farm, so we look forward to those opportunities,” Arthur said.
