Oklahoma voters will face a variety of decisions next week as they head to the polls on Nov. 6, to collectively decide who will be the state's next governor, state officials, state senators and state representatives, as well as the outcome of five state questions. To help you make these tough decisions, the Oklahoma Farm Bureau has provided a variety of resources to aid you at the ballot box.

 

Included in these resources is useful general information about the election that will help you confirm your voter registration, find your polling place, and view your sample ballot using the Oklahoma State Election Board's online voter tool. OKFB has even made it easy to request an absentee ballot - as long as you do it before Oct. 31st. The OKFB Voter's Guide also has information about this year's State questions that will be included on the ballot and how they will impact rural Oklahoma and agriculture. Plus, you can also review a comprehensive list of those candidates in each race that OKFB's political action committee, OKAgFund, has endorsed this year. Review all this information and download and print your own guide to help keep things straight at the polls, by clicking here.

 

Keep in mind, early voting will be held at county election board offices on Thursday, Nov. 1 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday, Nov. 2 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and on Saturday, Nov. 3 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. On election day, polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

US Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue visited FFA members during the 91st National FFA Convention in Indianapolis this past week, to highlight the national ag-centric youth organization and its impact in communities across the country. He spoke briefly with Farm Broadcaster Tom Brand of Brownfield Ag News, about some of the more pressing issues that his team at the United States Department of Agriculture is working on currently to help farmers through the challenging economic times they are facing. Overall, the Secretary says, "things are going well" at USDA.

Among the many issues covered in Brand's conversation with the Secretary, Perdue addressed several topical issues like the progress being made on getting the next Farm Bill passed, the expected time frame for the next round of payments to farmers hurt by tariffs through the Market Facilitation Program and the ongoing trade dispute with China - which he believes will ultimately be resolved once China realizes the inroads the US is making with other nations and that President Trump and his administration is serious about playing fairly on the world marketplace.


Regarding the Farm Bill, Perdue says the House and Senate are still working to resolve their differences in opinions when it comes to nutrition work requirements. He insists that the Administration wants to empower able-bodied citizens to break their dependence on government subsidy and help them prepare themselves for proper employment. Perdue stated, "In this environment, we have more jobs available and people to fill them," he said. "We want to help these people to get back into the workplace and to get back going for their families. There's dignity there and their families are going to be better off." Perdue says he is optimistic that the Farm Bill will be completed before the end of the year.


Listen to the complete conversation between Brand and Perdue, by clicking or tapping here. Special thanks to our sponsors of this year's National FFA Convention coverage at ITC - Your Energy Super Highway and the Oklahoma FFA and Oklahoma FFA Alumni Associations.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed a rule yesterday, exempting livestock farmers from reporting to state and local authorities the routine emissions from their farms. The National Pork Producers immediately released a statement praising the move by the EPA. The rule is the final piece in the implementation of the FARM Act, which passed Congress earlier this year and eliminated the need for livestock farmers to estimate and report to the federal government emissions from the natural breakdown of manure.

NPPC President Jim Heimerl remarked in his statement about the common sense this measure brings to the industry and that it was approved in a bipartisan fashion because "it was unnecessary and impractical for farmers to waste their time and resources alerting government agencies that there are livestock on farms."


The Fair Agricultural Reporting Method, or FARM, Act fixed a problem created last April when a U.S. Court of Appeals rejected a 2008 EPA rule that exempted farmers from reporting routine farm emissions under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) used primarily to clean hazardous waste sites. The appeals court ruling would have forced tens of thousands of livestock farmers to "guesstimate" and report the emissions from manure on their farms to the U.S. Coast Guard's National Response Center and subjected them to citizen lawsuits from activist groups.


The pork industry is working together currently on achieving a goal recently announced that it will strive to reduce the industry's greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by the year 2025. Click here to jump to the original story to learn more about this project and the new rule announced by the EPA.

In his article included in this week's Cow/Calf Corner newsletter, OSU's Dr. Derrell Peel checked in on the progress of Oklahoma's wheat pasture situation in the wake of extended wet weather and the impact it will have on the state's beef industry. According to him, there is a lot of wheat currently- some ready to graze. With all the moisture we have received, too, he says there should be an abundant amount of wheat pasture very soon. However, it is still very wet with standing water in fields in some areas which has caused some plots to turn a bit yellow due to a lack of sun. But, with a few days of sunshine, Peel is confident fields will dry and "the wheat pasture will be off to the races." The recent favorable weather has jump started feeder markets also, at least for stocker calves, he says.

"Oklahoma auction prices for four-weight steers were higher by $9-11/cwt. last week. Prices for steers 550 pounds and up were mostly steady with the previous week," Peel wrote. "Auction volume jumped sharply last week, up 27 percent from the same week last year. This follows the two middle weeks of October when Oklahoma auction volume was down 34 percent from the same two weeks one year ago. Total combined Oklahoma auction volume last week was up 83 percent over the prior week."


With ample wheat pasture virtually assured at this point, Peel speculates that producers may stock wheat pastures a bit heavier than usual leading to additional stocker demand in the coming weeks.   


Click here to read Peel's complete article in this week's Cow/Calf Corner newsletter for more of his insights into the Oklahoma's cattle market.