U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced Wednesday that many FSA offices will reopen temporarily to perform certain limited services for farmers and ranchers. The USDA has recalled about 2,500 FSA employees to open offices on Thursday, January 17 and Friday, January 18, in addition to Tuesday, January 22, during normal business hours. The offices will be closed for the federal Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday on Monday, January 21.

 

According to Oklahoma's State FSA Director Scott Biggs, FSA staff will be available at all 46 local offices in Oklahoma to assist farmers and ranchers with existing farm loans and to process payments, financing statements and identify priority mail items.

FSA offices will also be able to endorse checks that are made out to both producers and the FSA which farmers have received in recent days.

 

Perdue stated that the USDA is doing its best to minimize the impact of the partial federal funding lapse on America's agricultural producers. In the meantime, he says his team will continue to examine its options to ensure services are provided at the greatest extent possible during the shutdown. While staff are available in person during this three-day window, most available services can be handled over the phone. Additionally, according to Perdue's announcement, farmers who have loan deadlines during the lapse in funding do not need to make payments until the government shutdown ends.

 

For a complete list of local FSA offices here in Oklahoma, or to review Perdue's original announcement, plus some brief commentary from State Director Biggs, click over to our website.

Panelists at a workshop hosted during the AFBF Convention this week, brought light to the rise in class-action lawsuits against production agriculture and how to fight back against these targeted attacks.

It was noted in discussion during this workshop, that four recent trials in North Carolina have resulted in more than $550 million in damages for 26 plaintiffs, with hundreds of other plaintiffs currently awaiting trials. One panelist remarked that such a suit can be levied against just about anyone that litigators might see as vulnerable to nuisance complaints - regardless of whether or not the operation is adhering to laws and standard practices.

With the Right-to-Farm agenda a back-and-forth process currently, panelists agreed that having a constant presence in the policy making process, like state and national Farm Bureau organizations, is imperative to ensuring farmers' rights are protected and to mitigate the varying legal environments across the country.

"The legal environment is important, and that's where Farm Bureau makes a difference," said Blake Hurst, president of the Missouri Farm Bureau Federation. "We have the ability to lobby and change laws. But if we lose the public's respect as family farmers, then we lose the ability to make legislative changes."

Listen to the full discussion that took place during this workshop by clicking or tapping here.

OKFB President Rodd Moesel was among those grassroots leaders at the American Farm Bureau Convention this week, elected by AFBF delegates, to serve as board and committee leaders for the organization.

Moesel, along with 13 other state Farm Bureau presidents, are being re-elected to a two-year term representing their regions on the board. In the Southern Region, Moesel is joined by Jeff Aiken, Tennessee; Ronnie Anderson, Louisiana; Russell Boening, Texas; Gerald Long, Georgia; Mike McCormick, Mississippi; and Larry Wooten, North Carolina 


For a look at the complete list of leaders selected to serve on the AFBF Board of Directors, click here.

Janice Person is a pioneer when it comes to blogging about agriculture. She has worked for years in the cotton segment of US Agriculture- for years as a part of the Monsanto team and now with the merger, she is getting used to saying she works for Bayer Crop Science. She had the chance to share her knowledge with novice agricultural advocates as a workshop presenter at this week's American Farm Bureau Convention in New Orleans. During her presentation, Person talked about effective story-telling.

"I've been working with farmers on this for a long time," she said. "We've told a lot of people to tell their story, but we haven't really stepped back enough to help them understand how to make sure you're doing it in a way that is impactful and memorable. Because, when you do a really memorable story, it'll be passed along to other people. That's really the power of story-telling."

One thing that gets in the way of effective story-telling, she says, is assuming that whoever you are talking to already knows or understands what you're talking about. To avoid falling into that trap, Person says an effective story-teller should refrain from using jargon and overusing facts and statistics. Instead, share personal experiences and appealing to your audience on an emotional level. By doing this, she says you will be able to establish trust - at which point the consumer will be more receptive to what you have to say.

Hear more of what Person has to say about effective story-telling, by clicking here to listen to my complete conversation with her after her presentation over the weekend in New Orleans.