Senators Grassley and Johnson Introduce Rural America Preservation Act of 2012, Continuing Their Quest for a Hard Cap on Farm Program Payments  

Senators Chuck Grassley and Tim Johnson introduced legislation that would place a hard cap on the farm payments an individual farmer could receive in a year and would close long-abused and well-documented loopholes in the farm payment program. 

Roger Johnson, president of the National Farmers Union, was quick to applaud the measure.

"Farm bill programs are designed to help protect farmers in times of need, not to make farmers and ranchers rich," he said.

The proposed bill would cap loan deficiency payments and marketing loan gains at $75,000 each and impose a $50,000 limit on all other commodity programs. The combined limit for payments to married farm couples would be $250,000. The legislation would also improve the "measurable standard" by which the U.S. Department of Agriculture determines who should and should not receive farm payments.

Senator Grassley emphasized the safety net aspect of farm legislation and signaled lawmakers' intentions to return to the original purpose of farm programs.

"It's unacceptable that small- and medium-sized farmers get so little of the very program that was created to help them.  

"There's nothing wrong with farmers growing their operations. But big farmers shouldn't be using taxpayer dollars to get even bigger. When the largest 10% of farmers receive 70% of farm payments, something is wrong."

The senators had introduced similar legislation earlier this Congress, but wanted to be sure the legislative text would accommodate any type of safety-net program adopted in a new farm and nutrition bill. This is particularly important in light of the growing prospect that direct payments are unlikely to be included in a farm and nutrition bill.

You can read Senator Grassley's lengthy statement introducing the Rural America Preservation Act of 2012 by clicking here.

Click here to read Roger Johnson's full response.

Ag Groups Want  Comprehensive U.S.-EU Free Trade Agreement 

An ad hoc coalition of 40 food and agricultural organizations led by the National Pork Producers Council in a letter sent to the Obama administration and Congress expressed concern that a proposed free trade agreement between the United States and the European Union might fall short of long-established U.S. objectives for trade pacts.

"Some non-agricultural members of the business community have suggested that a U.S.-EU FTA negotiation should not be pursued as a 'single undertaking' with success in one area dependent on success in all the others," said NPPC President R.C. Hunt, a pork producer from Wilson, N.C. "The agriculture community, however, believes that, rather than creating a high-standard 21st century trade agreement that is central to the administration's trade policy efforts, approaches other than a single undertaking would assure the perpetuation of trade barriers to many U.S. products and sectors, including agriculture."

"The EU's free trade deals with other countries do not meet the high standards of U.S. trade agreements," added Nicholas Giordano, NPPC's vice president and counsel for international affairs, "and we doubt that the EU would ever agree to open its market to agricultural commodities unless it was obliged to do so as part of a comprehensive trade agreement." 

You can read more about proposals for a US-EU trade agreement by clicking here.

President Obama in Oklahoma for the First Time as President- Called the Man that is "All Hat and No Cattle" by Senator Coburn 

Barack Obama has spent the night in Oklahoma for the first time during his tenure as President of the United States- and is set to fly by helicopter up to Cushing first thing this morning to continue to sell his "All of the Above" energy plan.  

In Cushing, the president will announce a directive to federal agencies to fast-track an oil pipeline from the Oklahoma town to refineries on Texas' Gulf Coast. The project is part of the larger Keystone XL project that Obama rejected earlier this year. Obama continues to stonewall the pipeline plans to move crude oil from Canada down across the northern  plains- ending up in Cushing where this leg he is approving would take it on to the Galveston-Houston area.  

The 485-mile pipeline would remove a bottleneck in the country's oil transportation system, as rising oil production has outgrown pipelines' capacity to deliver oil to refineries.

Several Oklahoma officials have issued statements regarding the President's brief stay in Oklahoma- and typical of the responses come from Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn.  The Senator says he always glad to have Mr. Obama in the state- but offered criticism of Obama's energy flip flops.

In a statement this morning- Senator Coburn says "

While I am always happy to welcome any president to Oklahoma, taxpayers should understand that the Obama administration has been hostile to the very sector of the economy he wants to take credit for supporting.

"In Oklahoma, we have a phrase to describe the president's position: 'All hat, no cattle.'  The president offers big talk on domestic energy production but has offered little action to back up his claims. 

"In word and deed, this administration has consistently expressed an illogical and ideological hostility to oil and gas.  President Obama has even called oil the 'fuel of the past' even though government experts recognize our nation will rely on fossil fuels for nearly 70 percent of our energy needs through 2035.   

Texas Ag Secretary Comments on 2011 Drought Losses Topping $7Billion

Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples issued the following statement in response to the news that Texas agricultural losses attributed to the historical 2011 drought reached a record $7.62 billion. The updated total makes the 2011 drought the most costly drought in history, according to Texas AgriLife Extension Service economists.

"When you are one of the biggest agricultural producing states in the nation, a monumental drought causes enormous losses," Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples said. "While the pain and damage caused by this drought cannot be overstated, our state's farmers and ranchers are determined in their commitment and fierce in their resolve. We will rebuild and continue delivering the safest, most reliable and most affordable food supply in the world."
 

For a link to the details of the new Texas drought loss report, click here.

Peanut Pests Could Pose Challenges For Producers Following 2011 Drought

Warm and wet weather conditions across the state are giving farmers a glimmer of hope after last year's disastrous drought. Peanut farmers as well are contemplating what potential this year might hold for a good crop.

Dr. John Damicone, professor of entomology and plant pathology at Oklahoma State University, spoke with us at the recent Peanut Expo at Quartz Mountain. Damicone said the hot dry weather last year does have a positive side.

"I always try and tell peanut farmers that when the conditions are good for growing peanuts, they're also good for diseases, unfortunately. But that's when you start making good peanuts is when the conditions are favorable for disease. But when the temperatures are over 100 every day, that heat acts like a fungicide, so we didn't have major disease problems in peanuts last year because of that heat. We also didn't make very good peanuts so they go hand in hand, unfortunately."

If good weather conditions hold with adequate moisture, diseases will quickly become an issue, Damicone said. Unfortunately, there are few choices when it comes to nematicides and producers may have to fall back on other management practices. 

You can read more of our interview with Dr. Damicone or hear the full interview by clicking here.

OSU to Honor Virgil Jurgensmeyer with 2012 DASNR Champion Award

Virgil Jurgensmeyer will be honored by Oklahoma State University's Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources as a 2012 DASNR Champion Award recipient March 28.

The DASNR Champion award recognizes and honors those who are not graduates of OSU's College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources but who have brought distinction to the division while demonstrating a continuing interest in and commitment for agricultural sciences and natural resources.

Jurgensmeyer is the chief executive officer of J-M Farms in Miami, Okla., a mushroom production, processing, packaging and shipping facility that employs approximately 500 people and serves nine states. He served for many years on the Industry Advisory Committee of the OSU Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center.

"Virgil is a leader in the mushroom production and processing industry, and his Oklahoma-based company competes with the major mushroom businesses in the United States," said FAPC Director J. Roy Escoubas.

Click here to read more about Virgil Jurgensmeyer and his contributions to Oklahoma agriculture.

This N That- Farm Bill Hearings on the Road- Ag Airplanes Grounded and Thinking Back a Year 

The next two Fridays- Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas will be outside the Washington, DC beltway with his 2012 Farm Bill Traveling Road Show- this Friday the 23rd in Galesburg, Illinois  to get the Corn Belt's viewpoint on the farm policy needs of this country- followed by a March 30th stop in Jonesboro, Arkansas to check the pulse of the mid south and deep south when it comes to farm policy.  After that, it's an Easter break before the House Ag Committee travels to Dodge City, Ks to hold their four and final field hearing on farm policy on April 20th.  In a statement earlier this week on the Paul Ryan budget proposal- Lucas let it be known that further hearings would follow inside the beltway after the one planned for April 20.  Click here for the hearing webpage of the House Ag Committee- that's where you can get the link to listen live to the show tomorrow morning from the land of corn and soybeans and more corn.  

One bit of fallout from President Obama's stopover in Oklahoma- central Oklahoma farmers will not get any crop spraying done until POTUS has left the state- private aircraft are grounded in the area while Air Force 1 is here. It may not be a good morning for spraying anyway- and with the forecast for sunshine once the President is gone- in this case to use a basketball phrase- "no harm no foul."

We are spotlighting the three Champions of DASNR this week in our daily email- and in doing so- I think back to last spring when the first set of Champions of DASNR were announced- I remember the phone call from Dean Bob Whitson telling me about the award and thinking- he wants me to come and cover the event and report on who these gentlemen are- and then he got around to telling me that OSU's Division of Ag had selected me as one of the three award winners.  I was surprised- and very honored.  I must say that I still am- my friends who were honored at the same time deserved the honor (Terry Detrick and Mike Spradling) but I am still not sure how I got included in that special circle.  With that said- it was a great honor to be included in 2011- and I offer my congratulations to Bill, Virgil and Paul for their tremendous service to Oklahoma Agriculture- and to OSU's Division of Agriculture over many years.