The United States International Trade Commission has been holding hearings this week on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and its "Likely Impact on the U.S. Economy and on Specific Industry Sectors." The TPP is multi-lateral trade agreement negotiated by the United States, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, Japan, Canada and Mexico.  Part of the hearing on Thursday focused on agriculture- and the testimony received by the group was mostly favorable for TPP. 

Kevin Kester, National Cattlemen's Beef Association Policy Division chair, testified before the ITC, stressing the importance of TPP for the cattle industry.

This agreement grants the greatest market access for U.S. beef ever negotiated into Japan," said Kester "Since Australia implemented their own bilateral trade agreement with Japan last year, the U.S. has lost five percent of the market share, about $100 million in sales, in Japan. We cannot afford to wait on TPP or we will continue to lose market share."  Click or tap here to read more from NCBA.

The poultry industry also told the Panel that TPP was an agreement they could support- although some previous trade deals have been disappointing to the sector.


Offering outright opposition to the deal was Bill Bullard, top hired hand for R-Calf USA.  It is usually safe to expect that if the NCBA is for something- Bullard and R-Calf will be opposed- and on TPP, that is the case.

Bullard testified "Under the TPP's product-specific rules of origin, the origin of beef is wherever the animal was slaughtered. This renders the origins of cattle irrelevant. It relegates U.S. cattle producers to nothing more than an undifferentiated global supply chain for meatpackers.


"The TPP allows U.S.-based meatpackers to float live cattle from Australia, slaughter them here, and export the duty-free beef to Japan with a 'Product of the USA' label. This extinguishes competition between U.S. cattle producers and cattle producers from around the world. So not only will the TPP destroy competition, it also allows multinational meatpackers to usurp the good name, image and reputation of the U.S. cattle producer."  The full release that details the problems seen by R-Calf with TPP is available here.

Overall- during the Thursday hearing- most of those testifying from agricultural groups or companies expressed support for the agreement- that included dairy interests, North American Meat Institute, Blue Diamond Growers, the Pet Food Institute, Sweetener Users Association and Cargill.

National Farmers Union (NFU) President Roger Johnson testified the day before(on Wednesday) that TPP will ultimately disappoint rural America because it is modeled after the failed agreements of the past.


"Unfortunately for this nation, when it comes to these enormous trade deals, the list of promises is quite long but the list of actual deliverables is often very short," he said. "Instead of helping curb the U.S. trade deficit, agreements like the TPP are actually making it worse."  Click or tap here to read more from NFU. The general farm organization was the only ag related group that appeared before the Commission on Wednesday.

Stocks and planted acres were the key highlights of this week's World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In this weekend's edition of SUNUP, Oklahoma State University Grain Marketing Specialist Kim Anderson said the quarterly stocks and the ending stocks came out 2.4 percent above trade expectations, which is negative for prices. In looking at the planted acres for the 2016 crop, he said all-wheat acres were 7.2 percent above last year and 6.8 percent above trade expectations. He said hard red winter wheat acres were 8.6 percent below last year and 7.7 percent above trade expectations. Soft red winter wheat acres were 6.7 percent below last year and 5.2 percent below trade expectations. After the WASDE report came out Tuesday, wheat prices made double digit gains because of the lower planted acres.


SUNUP host Dave Deken asks how low can the price of wheat go? Anderson said the bottom of the market was seen in 2007, 2009 and 2010 with prices around $4.30 a bushel. Kansas City wheat futures prices have been around $4.50 and the Chicago soft red winter wheat contract has gotten down to $4.20. In looking at the futures market for both soft and hard red winter wheat, Anderson said he doesn't look for prices to get any lower than $4.25. With large production and low quality, basis levels could weaken to 75 cents. He said the lowest possible cash price would be around $3.30 - $3.40 a bushel.


Deken also asks Anderson when wheat prices will begin ratcheting upwards versus getting only small rallies. Anderson said wheat prices will increase after losing a world crop, as world wheat production trumps U.S. production. He said that means having world production below 25.7 billion bushels and U.S. production below 1.9 billion bushels.  Click or tap here to listen to the full interview as Anderson talks about why producing quality wheat is so important in 2016.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) vehicle emissions modeling system is inadequate and unreliable as a tool for estimating the exhaust emissions of gasoline blends containing more than 10 percent ethanol, according to a new comprehensive third-party evaluation of the model.


The evaluation of EPA's latest Motor Vehicle Emissions Simulator (MOVES2014) model was conducted by scientists from Wyle Laboratories, Inc., and Volpe (part of the U.S. Department of Transportation), and commissioned by the Renewable Fuels Foundation.


"Overall, it was found that the predictive emissions results generated by MOVES2014 for mid-level ethanol blends were sometimes inconsistent with other emissions results from the scientific literature for both exhaust emissions and evaporative emissions," according to the study. "...results and trends from MOVES2014 for certain pollutants are often contrary to the findings of other studies and reports in the literature."

Click or tap here to read more.

Ag issues were a part of the debate seen last night on the Fox Business News channel, with Florida Senator Marco Rubio taking shots at Texas Senator Ted Cruz over what he contends are Cruz flip flops on Crop Insurance and Ethanol.

Rubio blasting Cruz over his Conservative credentials on these issues ahead of the Iowa vote that comes at the first of next month- saying that the Texan has put political calculations ahead of Conservative principles.

According to Phillip Brasher in Agri-Pulse, Rubio said "You used to support TPA (Trade Promotion Authority). Now you say you're against it.  I saw you on the Senate floor flip your vote on crop insurance because they told you it would help you in Iowa. Then last week we all saw you flip your vote on ethanol in Iowa. That is not consistent conservatism. That's political calculation." 

 

A fourth generation California farmer shared his personal experience of how the federal government is coming down on family farms. In speaking at the American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Convention, John Duarte of Duarte Nursery talked about his family farm that sells trees and vines throughout California. Their family sells new stock to farmers that are planting almonds, grapes, walnuts, pistachios and citrus. The family also grows some wheat. In February 2013, they were contacted by the Army Corps of Engineers contending that Duarte broke the law simply by plowing his land in rural Tehama County.   The agency came back and issued a cease and desist letter against him and Duarte Nursery alleging that the act of plowing his field was an illegal "discharge of dredged or fill material." That's when Duarte's attorney contacted the Pacific Legal Foundation and they found it was a clear violation of due process.


"A government agency cannot simply tell us to quit farming our land without providing a hearing and some kind of administrative process to come to their conclusions, much less withhold any information, if collected on our land, that would have led them to their decision to tell us to quite operating on our farm," Duarte said.  


This case started before the implementation of the Waters of the U.S. rule. Duarte told us that he believes that the regulatory climate for farmers will likely become much worse and will encompass the entire nation in the future. He said right now there's a commingling of several different pieces of law that are going to strangle farmers and threaten rural communities.


I caught up with Duarte at the AFBF annual meeting this week. Click or tap here to hear more about the challenges this farmer has faced with the government.

Stewardship of medically-important antimicrobial drugs in food animals is the subject of a free workshop to be offered Saturday, January 16, at the National Western Stock Show (NWSS) in Denver, CO.


The workshop is targeted to youth raising and showing cattle, livestock producers, veterinarians, feed suppliers and educators. The workshop will be 9 a.m. to noon at the Beef Palace Arena on the NWSS grounds.


A collaboration of Farm Foundation, NFP and the Livestock Division of the NWSS, the workshop will focus on two Guidance for Industry (GFIs) issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding the use of medically-important antimicrobial drugs in food-producing animals, as well as the FDA's revised Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) rule.  For those not able to participate in person, this workshop will be webcast live by BARN Media. Click here for access to the webcast.  The webcast will also be archived for later viewing.  Click or tap here to read more about this workshop. 

Temperatures will be going up and down for the next several days- with chances of moisture in the mix both this weekend and then the second half of next week- so says Jed Castles with News9 in Oklahoma City- we have his graphic to show you for the next nine days- and one thing to be thankful for- no arctic blasts of cold in the immediate future-



On the eastern side of Oklahoma- we have Alan Crone's Friday morning blog to share- and he focuses on the weekend- and colder temps and chances of precipitation.

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Our guest on Saturday morning this weekend for our In the Field segment to be seen on KWTV, News9 is Michael Kelsey with the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association- talking WOTUS, State Beef Checkoff and an invite to a Estate Planning Workshop planned for next month.

Tune in around 6:40 to check it out- and if you miss it, we will have the video on our website later in the weekend for you to see as well.

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Alfalfa County farmer and educator Roland Pederson has decided to throw his hat into the Senate race for north central Oklahoma in 2016. 

Pederson will be asking voters to vote for him in State Senate District 19- the seat that is held by Patrick Anderson of Enid- who has termed out.

The Alva newspaper did a nice job on the announcement by Pederson- click here to read more.  Pederson actually made his first public announcement of his intention to pursue the District Nineteen Seat last Friday at the AFR Farm and Ranch Forum at Agrifest.  He is a long time member of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, and served on their Board of Directors- and he and his wife Terry were honored a few years back as the Farm Bureau Farm Family of the Year.