U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt continued his multistate action tour in Oklahoma this past week, following visits to Utah, Minnesota and Arkansas earlier in July. The visit highlights the administrator's recent decision to begin the process to redefine the "Waters of the United States" (WOTUS) rule to help return power back to the states and provide regulatory certainty to farmers, landowners, and ranchers across the country.


While in Oklahoma, Pruitt made stops in Bartlesville, Guymon and Oklahoma City. In Oklahoma City, the Oklahoma Association of Electric Coops and Oklahoma Rural Water Association hosted a meeting of over a hundred Oklahoma Ag Leaders and Government Officials to discuss what a new WOTUS Rule should look like. Bill Sims, President of the Oklahoma Rural Water Association, told Pruitt that he is hoping for a rule that is "simple and understandable and be easily administered."


As for Pruitt, he spoke of the need for "regulatory certainty" which he told yours truly would result in "folks knowing whether the rule applies to them or not so they will know how to allocate resources to comply and do what is necessary." Pruitt adds "we want to make certain that the regulations and statue mach and that we have objective criteria so that people will know what is expected of them."

Click or tap here to read more and listen to our overview that features Q&A with Scott Pruitt following the listening session in OKC as well as comments from Bill Sims of ORWA.

Pruitt promised the group that proposed language for a new WOTUS will be coming in September- and he is hoping for a final new and improved WOTUS in the first quarter of 2018.

As part of a continuing series of stories on Significant Women in Oklahoma Agriculture, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food & Forestry and Oklahoma State University are recognizing and honoring the impact of countless women across all 77 counties of the state, from all aspects and areas of the agricultural industry. The honorees were nominated by their peers and selected by a committee of 14 industry professionals. This week Lynda Lucas of Cheyenne, Okla. is featured this week as a Significant Woman in Oklahoma Agriculture.


"Lynda Lucas has been running the Lucas' cattle operation in Cheyenne consisting of about 100 head, primarily adult females, since her husband, Congressman Frank Lucas, first took office in the Oklahoma House of Representatives in 1988.


"Lynda recalls the challenges she faced as she transitioned into running the operation on her own. Even before Congressman Lucas was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, he was gone during calving season.


"Luckily, her dad raised cattle, so she asked him a lot of questions.


"'I really didn't have any experience with cattle calving, and I called my dad frequently,' she said. 'After about the fifth call he said, 'Lynda, if you were going to do this for a living you should've paid more attention when you were at home.'


"She said she looked at him and said, 'You're the man who told me when I was a junior in high school that girls couldn't be farmers.'


"'His response was, "Well, you're doing it now, so you should've paid attention.'


"Lynda said her dad still never says much, but he did refer a buyer to her because she was 'raising some pretty good cattle.'"

The US Meat Export Federation reported last week on the Japanese government's claim that enough frozen beef had been imported into their country during their fiscal year's first quarter, to trigger tariffs under their "safeguard mechanism."

By only a margin of 113 metric tons, the "safeguard mechanism has been triggered which will result in a rate increase from 38.5 percent to 50.0 percent for the remainder of the current fiscal year.

"USMEF recognizes that the safeguard will not only have negative implications for U.S. beef producers, but will also have a significant impact on the Japanese foodservice industry," explained U.S. Meat Export Federation President and CEO Philip Seng. "USMEF will work with its partners in Japan to mitigate the impact of the safeguard as much as possible. We will also continue to pursue all opportunities to address the safeguard situation by encouraging the U.S. and Japanese governments to reach a mutually beneficial resolution to this issue." Continue reading Seng's remarks here.

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association weighed in on the matter, underscoring the urgency under which the US needs a bilateral trade deal with Japan, since TPP has been made a non-option.

"We're very disappointed to learn that the tariff on frozen beef imports to Japan will increase," said NCBA President Craig Uden. "Japan is the top export market for U.S. beef in both volume and value, and anything that restricts our sales to Japan will have a negative impact on America's ranching families and our Japanese consumers. NCBA opposes artificial barriers like these because they unfairly distort the market and punish both producers and consumers. Nobody wins in this situation. Our producers lose access, and beef becomes a lot more expensive for Japanese consumers. We hope the Trump Administration and Congress realize that this unfortunate development underscores the urgent need for a bilateral trade agreement with Japan absent the Trans-Pacific Partnership."

You can read NCBA's complete statement on the matter on website, by clicking here.

I had the chance to speak with Colin Woodall of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association's Washington, D.C. office, about a subject that generally makes those in the beef industry cringe - BSE. Recently, a cow in Alabama was found with BSE. In this case, though, the disease was of the atypical variety, known to occur randomly in older cattle and does not pose the same kind of threat that classical BSE does. Although it turned out to be benign, the incident is still a bit jarring for producers, now with China having just reauthorized US beef's access into their markets. Fortunately, says Woodall, the impact of the incident has been minimal and demonstrated the industry's preparedness for such a case.


"We were actually surprised how few inquiries we actually received on this," he told Hays. "Which I think is a very good thing for us. Because, we didn't want this to be a major media issue."


The fact is, this occurrence was not a surprise. Atypical BSE is recognized by world animal health organizations as something that happens - rarely - but still happens. Woodall points out that the cow's symptoms were identified, and the cow's origins were traced back in a timely manner.


"It's a huge win," Woodall asserted. "It shows that we have been prepared and we continue to learn our lessons from that original case back in 2003. But also, it shows that when we negotiate these trade deals that we always need to make sure we have clauses in there that will prevent any negative action, just because we have another case of BSE, whether it's classical or atypical. And, we did that in the most recent China deal."


Listen to Woodall and I discuss the impact of the recent atypical BSE case found in Alabama, on Friday's Beef Buzz - click here.

For some time now, the American Farm Bureau has advocated for comprehensive tax reform, unfortunately to no avail, as Congress has been preoccupied with other matters deemed more pressing.

However, Farm Bureau responded to a statement released by Congress and the administration that addressed several key tax issues, pertinent to relief of farm and ranch families.

AFB President Zippy Duvall said in a statement that, "This move sets the stage for Congress to put tax reform on its agenda. Not only will reform strengthen our economy, but by addressing key issues like overall tax rates, capital gains taxes and enhanced expensing, it will be good for farms and other businesses."

Duvall says that fixing our tax system is now more crucial than ever, to help those in the agriculture business who have been faced with ongoing economic challenges.

The statement released by Duvall, assured that the organization would continue its efforts to educate lawmakers and help them recognize the challenges and opportunities at hand, as they work together to repair the tax code in a manner benefitting agriculture and the whole of the business community.

Click here to see the full response by Farm Bureau on Congress' intentions to reform the nation's tax code.

Later this coming August, American Farmers & Ranchers is hosting an informal BBQ, near you. If you are an AFR member or interested in becoming one, you're invited to take part in the fun and the discussion.

Five different BBQs will be happening between Aug. 21-29. Dinner will be served at each BBQ promptly at 6:00 pm, followed by discussion over any issues brought up by those in attendance. The AFR staff will be on hand to answer any questions they can about policy matters for the upcoming year.

"The thoughts and ideas surfaced at these barbecues will be used by our members to formulate policies to be voted on at our annual convention in February," AFR President Terry Detrick, said. "These policies are important as they will guide our organization throughout the coming year."

For more information including a schedule with location details, or for RSVP instructions, click or tap here.

 

This is the week for Superior's Video Royale- featuring 158,000 head selling today from Ft. Worth and then Wednesday thru Friday from Nevada- with all four days to be seen on DISH Net Channel 232 and on Superior Click to Bid. 

Details of the sale are available here.

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Lots of other stuff are on tap for the first few days of August- included are the following- click on the name of the event and you will jump over to our calendar page found on the OklahomaFarmReport.Com.

Cimarron Valley Research Station Tour on Tuesday, August first

Cattle Trails Wheat and Stocker Conference in Lawton, August First

Oklahoma Wheat Growers Annual Meeting at Redlands Community College on August Third

Oklahoma Women in Ag Conference in south Oklahoma City on August third and fourth