Featured Story:

A special Ag Townhall meeting featuring a conversation with the Chairman of the House Ag Committee, Frank Lucas is planned for Saturday morning April 5th, 10 AM at the Oklahoma City Farm Show.

We invited the Chairman to come and sit down with us and talk about the passage of the 2014 Farm Law, how implementation is going, the future of Crop Insurance and what might need to be tweaked as implementation unfolds.

We also plan to have time for your questions!   

Our special Ag Townhall with Chairman Frank Lucas will happen Saturday morning, April 5th, 10 AM in the Carriage  Hall as a part of the OKC Farm Show!   

Of course- admission and parking are free- plan to come and take part in the Townhall, which will leave you plenty of time to walk through and enjoy the 2014 OKC Farm Show.

More details to come.

House Speaker Jeff Hickman Wins Legislative Showmanship Contest- Eighty Lawmakers Celebrate OYE  

Eighty lawmakers traveled over from Lincoln Avenue to State Fair Park in Oklahoma City on Tuesday afternoon to be a part of the 2014 Oklahoma Youth Expo Legislative and Celebrity Showmanship Contest. The lawmakers received a quick education about how to show a pig, lamb, goat or steer- and then took part in the contest. When the dust had setted on the floor of the Jim Norrick Arena, the judges declared the winner of the 2014 contest to be the Speaker of the Oklahoma House- Jeff Hickman of Fairview.

We talked with Hickman as he prepared to lead a lamb around the show ring as he remembered his days as a member of the Cherokee FFA Chapter and his days at the Junior Livestock Show in Oklahoma City each spring. He called the Tuesday night event a wonderful opportunity to allow lawmakers, both rural and urban, to interact with young 4-H and FFA members- and to get insight into the work it takes to be successful in the show ring- and the lessons that these young people learn and will carry with them for a lifetime.  

Click here to hear our visit with Speaker Hickman as well as with the Emcee of the Celebrity Showmanship Contest- Representative Don Armes- they talked with us about the show and more.

ALSO- We have lots of pictures from the Tuesday night event as well as photos from the Beef Showmanship, Barrow show, Ewe Show, Doe Kid Show and even the finals of the Fitting Contest won by the Comanche County #1 team- Vivienne Hasenbeck, Tommy Glover and William Hasenbeck!  Click here for our set of photos on FLICKR.

And- we have results up on our Blue Green Gazette- click here and go and check our the latest from all four species!

Survey Shows Consumers Willing to Pay More for Hamburger, Deli Ham and Pork Chops

Americans are more willing to pay higher prices for hamburger, deli ham and pork chops than they were last month. That's according to the latest willingness-to-pay survey conducted as part of Oklahoma State University's monthly Food Demand Survey. The survey also showed consumers were less tolerant of high prices for chicken and steak in March than they were in February.   

Survey respondents said they would pay an average of $2.20 for deli ham in March. That was up 23 cents from the month before. They also said they would pay 22 cents more for a pound of hamburger and eight cents more per pound of pork chops.

Their willingness to pay for beans and rice dropped nearly 24 percent in this latest survey.

The survey was conducted with at least 1,000 shoppers and was weighted to match the U.S. population in terms of gender, race, age, education and region of residence. 

You can read more of this story and find a link to the full survey results by clicking here.   

New Report Shows American Produce Farmers Losing Market Share to Imports

The Partnership for a New American Economy and the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform today released a new report showing how American families are eating more imported fresh produce today than ever before, in substantial part because U.S. fresh produce growers lack enough labor to expand their production and compete with foreign importers.

"American consumers want fresh U.S grown fruits and vegetables, but our farmers don't have the labor force available to meet that demand," said John Feinblatt, Chairman of the Partnership for a New American Economy. "This means more produce is imported, and our economy loses millions of dollars and thousands of jobs every year. We need to pass immigration reform now, so our food remains homegrown and our economy strong."

"On the issue of farm labor, we have a growing amount of evidence that all points in the same direction: Farmers and consumers both need responsible immigration reform," said American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman, a cattle and rice farmer from Texas. 

Click here for a summary of the report's key findings and a link to the full report.
 

Checkoff Helps Bring Beef's Answer to Bacon to Market

Global food industry leaders recently pronounced Schmacon™ smoked and cured glazed beef slices, an award recipient of the prestigious 2014 Food and Beverage Innovations Award (FABI) presented by the National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show.

Schmacon, one of the latest checkoff-funded Beef Innovations Group projects, looks and smells as tantalizing as bacon; crisps up like bacon; cooks like bacon (in only a fraction of the time); and fully satisfies with delicious all-beef flavor, but is a much healthier alternative. A serving of Schmacon contains 30 calories, 2 g fat, and 60 mg sodium, whereas a serving of pork bacon averages 60-90 calories, 4.5-7 g fat, and 190-360 mg sodium.

As a 2014 FABI Award recipient, Schmacon is heralded as a product with "bold imagination" and "great potential to help operators capitalize on consumer trends and drive operator success." The whole muscle beef slices use a patent-pending process and a proprietary spice blend to deliver a smoky, slightly sweet flavor. They are pre-cooked and ready for crisping in an oven, microwave or on a flat-top griddle. As a revolutionary new menu item, Schmacon helps operators deliver flavorful, innovative, signature items for breakfast, burgers, sandwiches, salads and beyond.

I interviewed Schmacon's inventor, Howard Bender, at last year's Cattle Industry Convention.  Click here to listen to our conversation or read more of this story.
 

Clint Rusk Sees Future of OSU and Oklahoma in OYE Exhibitors and their Livestock

Livestock exhibitions continued Tuesday at the Oklahoma Youth Expo in Oklahoma City. On hand for this year's event is Dr. Clint Rusk, head of the Animal Science Department at Oklahoma State University. He tells me he's been very impressed with the students and the animals that he's seen so far.   

"This is an excellent set of young people. And I think the first two days we showed 1,000 gilts each day. And lots of heifers here. We're in the commercial heifers now, our final division. I believe there's 190 head of commercial heifers.

"And the students range in age from those who are seniors in high school and are potentially going to come to college next fall to some youngsters that are just getting started at their first OYE and it's exciting to see both groups here. I just enjoy the opportunity to come work with young people and animals."

Rusk says his work at OYE is a very worthwhile investment of his time for a number of reasons.

"This is our future. When we think about the fact that we're in the education business and these young people are going to go somewhere-a lot of them-to further education after they get out of high school. We want to be the 'go to' place at Oklahoma State. It's natural that these young people who have an interest in animals might be potentially interested in coming into animal science."

You can catch my interview with Clint Rusk or read more of this story by clicking here. 

A total of 452 items will sell on Bigiron.com today.  Sales will begin closing at 10 a.m. and continue until they are all gone.

You can view numerous pictures and a full description of each item by clicking here.

Mike Wolfe, BigIron.com's regional manager, is happy to help newcomers learn how to sell and how to buy.  Just give Mike a call at 580-320-2718 or catch him via email at mike.wolfe@bigiron.com.

***************

On Friday, Allan Savory will speak at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.  He will present a unique perspective that drastically increasing the number of properly-managed cattle can reverse the trend of desertification in the American west.  Savory also believes such a move would revive western culture, rural towns and end the public vilification of cattle.

His talk is part of a symposium focusing on land and water issues.  A $10 registration fee includes lunch.  Reservations are required and can be made online at http://www.survivingtheelements.org or by calling 405-478-2250, Ext. 280.

***************

Coming up this weekend is Pollard Farms' 15th annual "Performance Genetics" bull sale, Saturday, March 22nd.  The sale begins at 12 p.m. on the farm in Waukomis, Oklahoma.

Up for sale are 90 home-raised service-age Angus Bulls and five Hereford Bulls.   Also selling are 45 registered Angus females and 15 commercial open heifers.

For more information, contact Eddie Sims at National Cattle Service, 580-595-1926, or go online at www.pollardfarms.com or www.nationalcattle.com.