2012 Lucas-Peterson Farm Bill Moves to House Floor for Markup 

Coming up this morning is the markup of the Lucas-Peterson 2012 Farm Bill proposal- known as FARRM, the Federal Agricultural Reform and Risk Management act. We have had several stories since last week when Chairman of the House Ag Committee, Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas, revealed details of what he and Ranking Minority member Collin Peterson have called their "Draft Proposal." That includes our ten minute audio interview with Chairman Lucas that we conducted on Monday afternoon- click here to jump to that conversation- the Congressman talked about how he intends to walk through the Committee process today for as long as it takes- and then what arguments he has ready for the House leadership to convince them that the 2012 Farm Bill is deserving of floor time before the November general elections.  

The House Ag Committee has prepared an excellent summary of the 2012 Farm Bill proposal- click here for that.

Yesterday, the American Farm Bureau sent a letter to House Agriculture Committee members supporting the draft farm bill, but suggesting improvements in several areas including improving equity across all commodities and re-instituting payment limitations and Adjusted Gross Income provisions from the current law. Click here from more from the AFBF.  

Other farm groups and conservation organizations issued statements in support of the farm bill draft as well. Click on their names below to read their statements:

National Cotton Council

National Farmers Union

National Sorghum Producers

Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts

Oklahoma Farm Bureau

Oklahoma Wheat Growers

Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance

There were a couple of organizations that were not happy campers with the draft of the farm bill. The Environmental Working Group was not pleased that funding for feeding programs and environmental measures would be reduced.

And the National Council of Farmers Cooperatives expressed its opposition to an amendment that has been proposed by Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia that would gut the sugar program.

Texas A&M University has authored a comprehensive study on the economic safety net provisions of the farm bill. Click here to read the study. 

NFU Leads Coalition Calling for Action on 2012 Farm Bill 

National Farmers Union (NFU) led a coalition of agriculture, conservation, energy, forestry, livestock, hunger and rural organizations thanking U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., and Ranking Member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., for their leadership on the 2012 Farm Bill so far. The coalition also urged the full Committee on Agriculture to work together in a cooperative, bipartisan fashion.

"This letter demonstrates the strong support for completing a bipartisan farm bill before the Sept. 30 deadline," said NFU President Roger Johnson. "Every voter in this country depends on the farm bill, so we cannot lose sight of the bigger picture."

The coalition letter was signed by 77 organizations.

Click here for more and link to the full letter.

Renewable Fuels Association Chief Offers Strong Defense of RFS

In testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Energy and Power, Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Bob Dinneen underscored the importance of domestic ethanol in the nation's fuel supply and the important role the Renewable Fuel Standard plays.

"One important alternative fuel - ethanol - is already helping to address these national concerns," Dinneen wrote in prepared testimony. "America's ethanol industry - buttressed by a visionary Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) - is already decreasing our reliance on foreign oil, already exerting downward pressure on gasoline prices, already employing tens of thousands of American workers, and already cleaning up our air. As a result of the forward-looking nature of the RFS, the industry is poised to make even more significant contributions to our nation's economic and environmental security in the future." 

You can read more of Dinneen's comments and find a link to his full testimony by clicking here.

Australia, New Zealand, U.S. Uneasy Over Canada's Inclusion In Trans-Pacific Partnership

The recent decision at the G20 summit to include Canada in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has the United States, New Zealand and Australia up in arms over Canada's open agricultural subsidy schemes, in particular its programs for Canadian pork production.

The TPP countries - the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam - also voted to include Mexico in the TPP. The nine economies have a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of nearly $17 trillion, a GDP per capita of $33,546 and a population of 505.8 million people.

The inclusion of Canada and Mexico now takes the 11-member TPP group to nearly 30 percent of global GDP, a substantially larger trading power than the 27-nation European Union (EU) bloc.

Click here to read more.

When Less Means More--Maximizing Beef Yields Based on Production Environment

In the latest issue of the Cow-Calf Newsletter, Dr. Megan Rolf, Oklahoma State University Extension Beef Management Specialist, addresses the issue of properly matching cow frame size to available resources:

Hot, dry summer months can create great hardships for management of beef heifers and cows. One way to help minimize stress on the land and resources available to you and your cowherd is to choose animals which have performance that is optimized for your production environment.

It is tempting to think about selection of herd sires and replacement heifers with the goal of maximizing production and the output from your herd. However, increased output has an associated cost and may not increase overall profitability. It only makes fiscal sense to continue to select for increased performance in a trait if the benefit outweighs the increased cost.

You can read more of Megan Rolf's recommendations on our webpage by clicking here.

Oklahoma Farmer Named 2012 Peanut Profitability Winner

Tillman County peanut producer, Joe D. White of Frederick has been named the Farm Press Peanut Profitability Award winner for the Southwest Region (New Mexico, Oklahoma & Texas). Marking the first time a producer from Oklahoma has been selected. White will join I.C. Terry of Lake City, Fl and Bud Bowers of Luray, S.C. as 2012 regional honorees during the 14th annual Southern Peanut Growers Conference in Panama City, Fl, July 19-21.

"The Peanut Profitability Award isn't simply a 'top yield' prize", stresses Greg Frey, publisher of Farm Press Publications; founders of the award. "The distinction of being named a Peanut Profitability winner is reserved only for those producers who balance production costs with excellent yields and quality, across their entire peanut production system.

"Our Southwest winner does an excellent job of managing fixed costs, which is an important component of the award criteria", says Marshall Lamb, research director for the National Peanut Research Lab in Dawson, Ga., and advisor for the Farm Press Peanut Profitability Awards.

Click here for more on this year's Peanut Profitability Award winner.

This N That- Wheat Commission Meets After Lunch Today- and a Few More Farm Bill Tidbits

It's their first meeting of the new Fiscal Year for the Oklahoma Wheat Commission- and they have a lengthy agenda as a result for their July Board meeting- which is scheduled to start at 1:00 PM this afternoon at the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture. Click here for our calendar item on this event- which will take you over to their full agenda for you to see as well. 

Speaking of the Calendar- thanks to many of you that have sent us calendar items to include on our website's calendar listing- we encourage you to keep those items coming- best way is to email me- just click here and that will jump you over to your email program- or use the email address listed at the bottom of the email and send your info that way- Thanks in advance for keeping us in the loop on things in your part of agriculture! 

FINALLY- a couple of more notes on the upcoming House Ag Committee Farm Bill markup- one reason, we are placing a little bit of extra attention on this is the historic nature of today- for the first time in the history of the state of Oklahoma- we have an Oklahoma Congressman chairing a markup of federal farm legislation- Frank Lucas is our first ever Chairman of the House Ag Committee- (Have never had a Senate Ag Committee Chair) and the crowning achievement of any Ag Committee Chair is to shape federal farm policy as it is written every four, five or six years. The farmer-rancher from Roger Mills County is in the eye of that storm as his "Chairman's Mark" is advanced today.   

The late word we have from Committee staff is that they have about 30 amendments they knew about as of late yesterday afternoon- they will start at 9 AM central time- you can watch on Cspan 3- or on the House Ag Committee website- and we will be posting periodic stories on our website- OklahomaFarmReport.Com as well as "Tweeting" throughout the process. Click here to follow our tweets- even if you don't have a Twitter account- this link will allow you to see our stream of comments as debate unfolds.  It should be an interesting process.