With a new Congress and president this year, American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall remains optimistic about the chance to make progress on key ag issues from regulatory reform to tax reform and trade.


"Rural America showed up in November," Duvall said Sunday. "This election should send a strong, loud and clear message to the politicians in Washington: you ignore rural America at your own risk."


During his first annual address as president at the 98th AFBF Annual Convention, Duvall led the crowd of Farm Bureau leaders through an exercise to instantly e-mail their elected official urging support of a regulatory reform bill. In all, more than 1,500 messages were sent Sunday morning.


Duvall told Farm Bureau members that one of his goals for his first term as AFBF President is to visit all fifty states and learn more about their agriculutural enterprises. In his first year, he has visited 33 states and Oklahoma is on his list to visit in the coming year.

Click here and read more of Duvall's first AFBF Convention speech as President of the nation's largest general farm organization- and as a part of our Top Ag Story- we have the link to the script of the speech and the audio of the speech as well.

 

 

Members of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau participating in the 2017 American Farm Bureau Convention in Phoenix are sharing a positive story about OFB's high regard for Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, nominated to be Donald Trump's Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency.


We talked with Oklahoma Farm Bureau's John Collison about what Oklahoma is telling the rest of the Farm Bureau members across the country when it comes to Scott Pruitt, saying "this guy's awesome- we know General Pruitt well- he's a great friend of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, we couldn't be more excited- he's going to be fair on RFS, he's going to be fair on the environment, he's going to go up there and move America forward. For the farm states that are out there that don't know him, you couldn't have a better friend for agriculture working for us at EPA."

Oklahoma Farm Bureau President Tom Buchanan has been talking with his counterparts in many states across the country while in Phoenix about Scott Pruitt- and signaled at the OFB Reception Saturday evening in Phoenix that they are hoping to sponsor a resolution that will go before the delegate body on Tuesday putting the American Farm Bureau strongly in favor of Scott Pruitt being confirmed by the Senate in the days ahead.

Click or tap here to read more- and to listen to our visit with John Collison about how OFB is beating the drum for Scott Pruitt.

On Friday of this past week, several Oklahoma groups in the agricultural industry, released a joint statement expressing their collective support for the Oklahoma Beef Council as it deals with an ongoing investigation into the embezzlement of $2.6 million from the coffers of the Oklahoma Beef Checkoff.

"As Oklahoma agriculture organizations, we wish to express our support for the Oklahoma Beef Council board of directors and staff. They have briefed us on the steps they have taken to address the matter of embezzlement by a former employee. It is a highly unfortunate situation, but we are confident that the Oklahoma Beef Council has taken swift and aggressive action to correct this matter, seek justice and move forward with their mission of enhancing beef demand for producers.

"This is a serious matter, but we must not let this distract us from continuing the good work of the Oklahoma Beef Council on behalf of beef producers-from investing in export markets to promoting US beef to educating medical professionals about beef nutrition and other industry issues."

The organizations that signed the statement included American Farmers and Ranchers, Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association, Oklahoma CattleWomen, Inc., Oklahoma Dairy Producer's Association, Oklahoma Farm Bureau, Oklahoma Livestock Marketing Association.

To read the full statement and for more information from a related story on the investigation, click here.

In a letter to President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence Friday, the American Soybean Association and a coalition of 15 other farmer organizations called on the incoming administration to protect and enhance the positive impact of agricultural trade on jobs and growth in rural America. The groups also noted the special importance of trading relationships with China, Canada and Mexico, U.S. farmers' and ranchers' first, second and third largest export markets.


"We know that securing positive benefits for American farmers, ranchers, and workers in trade will be a priority in your Administration. This includes enforcing existing agreements so that other countries abide by their commitments, as well as expanding market access for U.S. producers through new agreements. As the Trump Administration assembles its team and policies, U.S. agricultural trade interests must be maintained, not only in existing markets but by expanding access to new markets," wrote the groups. "Existing markets include China, Canada, and Mexico- U.S. farmers' first, second, and third largest foreign customers. U.S. agricultural exports in FY-2016 were nearly $27 billion to China, over $24 billion to Canada, and nearly $19 billion to Mexico. Disrupting U.S. agricultural exports to these nations would have devastating consequences for our farmers and the many American processing and transportation industries and workers supported by these exports."

The groups further highlighted the significant economic contributions and job creation of the U.S. farm sector, as well as the critical nature of expanding overseas markets for American agricultural products.


"Agriculture and agriculture-related industries contributed $835 billion to the U.S. GDP in 2014, a 4.8 percent share. Our industry employs millions of hard working Americans. In 2014, 17.3 million full and part-time jobs were related to agriculture - about 9.3 percent of total U.S. employment. Food manufacturing accounts for 14 percent of all employees - the largest single sector," wrote the groups in the letter.

Read the full letter to Trump and Pence by clicking here.

Under the 1906 Antiquities Act, the President has the power to unilaterally designate national monuments without the consent of Congress, state or local governments, or impacted stakeholders. These designations often come with overreaching and restrictive management provisions in the name of environmental protections. President Obama has taken full advantage of his executive power, using the Antiquities Act more than any other president before him and locking up millions of acres.

To curb this abuse, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski introduced the Improved National Monument Designation Process Act. The bill, which has 25 co-sponsors, would require congressional and state approval for the designation of any new monument.

This action was applauded by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and the Public Lands Council and these organizations are now urging Congress to pass the bill to help farmers and ranchers that manage public lands as part of their operations.

"Executive branch abuse of the Antiquities Act has moved far beyond its original intent, with devastating effects for local economies - particularly in rural areas of the West," said Tracy Brunner, NCBA president. "It's unacceptable for any President to have this much unilateral authority over land management decision-making; impacted local communities and the American people deserve a seat at the table as well."

Click here to continue reading about this issue in a release from both NCBA and PLC.

A few hard to find bright spots were not enough to sway the opinion of Jim Robb, senior director of the Livestock Marketing Information Center, that 2016 will go down in the books as a disappointing year for the cattle business. He and I spoke this past week about his thoughts looking back on this past year.

"I would put 2016 kind of in the disappointing category," Robb confided. "Prices eroded and fell more quickly than anticipated. We had more beef production coming on line than we thought there was and more pork production - took a while to adapt to that."

He says by the end of 2016, the markets had found firmer footing. However, while year-to-year decreases were expected, they were not anticipated to the extent that they eventually fell to. Robb explains though that it is important to remember that this was the first time we have seen year-over-year increases in US beef production since 2010.

"We're swimming upstream now in a sense," he said, "and we have been for a couple of years, where prior, we had smaller supplies keeping us looking ahead and being positive on the price front. Then we really flipped that corner."

In contrast, though, Robb does believe we witnessed some positives in 2016. To find out what some of those positives were and for a chance to listen to our entire conversation reflecting on this past year, click here.

At CES, the largest consumer electronics show in the world, U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance introduced a new communications concept, called SMART Farm, aimed at bridging the gap between the acceptance of innovation that's a part of consumers' everyday lives with the science and technology happening on today's farms and ranches.

"Science and technology are embraced by consumers in all aspects of their lives," said Brad Greenway, USFRA Chairman and South Dakota crop and pig farmer. "We want to demonstrate that farmers and ranchers are using similar technology to produce food in a way that is good for the soil, air, habitat and water on and around our farms and ranches - without compromise on cost, quality or taste."

Today's SMART Farms use data and technology to help farmers and ranchers become more efficient, nimble, and more equipped to protect the planet's resources while producing food.

In the coming year, USFRA will incorporate programs and activities, such as 360 videos, infographics, events, speaking opportunities and more, to demonstrate SMART Farming practices.

Click here to read more about USFRA's SMART Farm concept.