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Here is your daily Oklahoma farm and ranch news update. 
 

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Better Late Than Never- Peanut Farmers Finally Getting Money From Peanuts Caught in Clint Williams Company Bankruptcy

 
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) Administrator Val Dolcini announced on Friday that USDA has begun making final payments to peanut producers in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Mississippi, helping to restore nearly 100 percent of the value of their peanuts after the bankruptcy of a peanut sheller and licensed warehouse operator.


"These farmers played by the rules, they honored their contracts, but because of circumstances outside their control, were put in a difficult position, which is why USDA stepped in on their behalf," said Dolcini. "Today's action illustrates how the basic protections of the 100-year-old U.S. Warehouse Act can still provide important safeguards for farmers today."

We reported on this back in the fall of 2014 when the Clint Williams Company filed bankruptcy- Mike Kubicek was the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Peanut Commission at that time- and talked with us about the devastation facing peanut producers in the four states because their funds were caught in in limbo- click here for our story from early 2015.

And- you can read more by clicking here about what USDA is doing now in finally preparing to get producers some money for their 2014 peanut crop.

Pork Delegates Unanimous in Message to Secretary Vilsack- Defend Other White Meat Slogan Sale to Pork Board 

 

In a historic move, 145 Pork Checkoff delegates representing 43 states and importers unanimously joined the North Carolina Pork Council in support of an advisement introduced at the National Pork Board delegate assembly. During the advisement's introduction and discussion, it was particularly noteworthy that every state represented in the delegate body added their name as co-sponsors to the advisement. The National Pork Industry Forum was happening in Indianapolis March third through the fifth.


We talked with the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Pork Council Roy Lee Lindsey about the advisement- and you canread more and hear his explanation about how the transaction came about ten years ago by clicking here. Roy Lee told us how HSUS has entered into the equation, suing USDA and Secretary Tom Vilsack who apparently told Congressman David Rouser of North Carolina about a week ago in the House Ag Committee hearing on the state of the rural economy that the USDA was simply taking it's cues from the pork industry on trying to settle with the HSUS on the lawsuit filed over the "other White Meat" advertising slogan.


This is a bigger story than just about the pork checkoff trying to protest their intellectual property.  This has impact on every checkoff if USDA is allowed to negotiate a deal with HSUS- as it could mean lots of litigation ahead in order to shape checkoff investments in the direction that activists want to see them taken- The National Pork Producers were told by USDA when they asked about getting a hard copy of all of the correspondence between USDA and the HSUS on this litigation and the issues surrounding it- USDA said we are talking thousands of pages- could you narrow your request down a bit? 

If you are interested in ANY Commodity Checkoff overseen by USDA- you should read this story and listen to our conversation with Roy Lee- and understand the attack on the Pork Board could happen if USDA does not stand up for a decision that they made years ago.

Looks Like It May Be a Dark and Stormy Week for Oklahoma

 
With apologies to the English novelist who has been mocked for well over a hundred years for writing "It was a dark and stormy night"- our headline this morning looks like it could easily describe our weather for much of this week across Oklahoma- Jed Castles with News9 has his nine day graphic out- with high chances of rain from tomorrow through Friday in the mix:



Meanwhile, Alan Crone with the News on 6 writes about what he calls an active pattern ahead in his Monday morning blog "The upper air flow will bring two distinct systems near the southern and central plains for the next few days.  The first arrives near the area later tonight into Tuesday, and the second arrives Wednesday through the end of the week, and possibly into the weekend.   The result will be increasing rain and storm chances."

Read his full outlook from his eastern Oklahoma perspective by clicking here.

From the State Capitol- Budget Woes and Cattle Theft Measure Hits Roadblock

 

In the latest Lincoln to Local, as produced by the Oklahoma Farm Bureau- LeeAnna McNally says that the budget woes impacting the state government of Oklahoma continue to mount- and that the real question now is what is the longer term plan for state government, fully expecting the curent economic downturn to remain a problem for a couple more years.

Click here to watch LeeAnna along with host Hannah Nemechek.


Meanwhile, word comes from the Oklahoma Cattlemen that things got bogged down on the Cattle Theft bill that they have a lot of interest in.  From a email blast this past Friday afternoon- the OCA writes "Thank you to everyone that called in to ask your Representative to support HB 2504 with a 'yes' vote. Since we sent out the "Call to Action", HB 2504 has gotten bogged down a little and unfortunately, wasn't brought up on the House floor this past week even though it was on the calendar.  Michael and Jeff will be working with House leaders all next week to stress the importance of this bill and why we need it to be brought to the floor."

Precision Breeding Equals Sustainable Beef Cattle Production- Dr. Alison Van Eenennaam

 

It could be called Precision Breeding- the technology that is being worked on by scientists like Dr. Alison Van Eenennaam of the University of California in Davis. Her work in the gene editing arena was featured in a presentation at the Cattle Industry Convention earlier this year. We talked with her after her presentation about what lies ahead with these techniques she is fine tuning.


Dr. Van Eenennaam says that for example, "you could take your very best embryo of the next generation and then just tweak the DNA so that the animal will be resistant or less susceptible to Bovine Respiratory Disease or whatever trait you are after- and that is what I think the breeders of the world are excited about and would like to use this technology for applications that I think align with a lot of people's sustainability concepts with animals that are disease resistant, that don't get sick, they don't suffer, you don't need to use antibiotics and they are more productive and so it checks off all the sustainability boxes."

Click or tap here to read more and to listen to this second part of the interview we did with her in San Diego- and in our Beef Buzz, we have a link back to part one in case you missed it.

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Wheat Foliar Diseases Starting to Show In Oklahoma and Texas- Dr. Bob Hunger

 

Oklahoma State University Extension Wheat Pathologist Dr. Bob Hunger says with the warmer temperatures and some moisture in parts of Oklahoma- there is a pickup in disease in Oklahoma wheat fields. Here is his latest report and reports from some of his colleagues provided by Dr. Hunger as well:


Dr. Hunger writes "Foliar diseases are becoming active in Oklahoma. Around Stillwater I have found both leaf and stripe rust, powdery mildew, and septoria.  Incidence/ severity of all these foliar diseases is relatively light, but I am especially watching what happens to the leaf and stripe rust.  The leaf rust pustules are small and on lower/older leaves indicating that leaf rust likely overwintered in Central OK.  The stripe rust pustules were on the upper leaves of 'Pete' wheat (see photo) indicating the spores causing these initial infections likely blew up from the south.  With rain and cool wet weather in the forecast, I definitely expect for there to be an increase in foliar diseases.  Around Stillwater, I also have seen quite a few aphids (mostly bird cherry-oat but also a few greenbug) and many lady beetles.  However, no symptoms yet of barley yellow dwarf."

We have more from Dr. Hunger from the end of this past week- click here to read his full report.

This Week- OFB Legislative Conference, Oklahoma Irrigation Conference and the World's Largest Junior Livestock Show 

 
Oklahoma Farm Bureau is hosting its annual Legislative Conference today and tomorrow in Oklahoma City at the Aloft Hotel. The conference is designed to inform members of legislative issues at the state and federal levels.

Featured speakers include Oklahoma AG Scott Pruitt, State Insurance Commissioner John Doak and State Climatologist Gary McManus.

Details on the conference are up on our Calendar page- and also available here.

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Irrigation experts from Oklahoma State, Kansas State and Texas A&M are gathering Tuesday to talk about cutting edge technology and strategies at the 2016 Oklahoma Irrigation Conference.

The event will be held at the Woodward County Fairgrounds- we have details on our calendar page- and you can also contact your OSU Extension Office- they have details about the conference as well.

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The 101st Oklahoma Youth Expo kicks off later this week at State Fair Park- huge numbers have been entered- 17,000 animals in the four species that will be shown.  It's likely that closer to half that number will actually show up- but still there will be thousands of young people and their families and supporters heading for Oklahoma City for the World's Largest Junior Livestock Show- with breeding gilts starting to arrive this Wednesday!

More details about the 2016 show are available on our calendar- we have a detailed schedule on a day by day basis there- and we will be having reports from start to finish from the 2016 OYE. 

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