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On Saturday, three hundred fifty nine delegates set the policy for the coming year for Oklahoma's largest general farm organization, the Oklahoma Farm Bureau. Two resolutions were designated as "priority" items by the Resolutions Committee and were adopted as such by the delegates- the first having to do with right to farm and ranch legislation and the other condemning EPA's massive land grab, the Waters of the US Proposed Rule. For the Right to Farm and Ranch issue, the delegates approved the following language "We strongly support the Right to Farm and Ranch legisation that includes normal farming and ranching and other agricultural practices, defined as described by our land grant universities." Language for an amendment to the State Constitution was passed by the House and Senate last year- however, the language was not exactly the same and the bills were never reconcilled in 2014. 


In talking with state President Tom Buchanan, he told us that he believes "it's an issue very important to modern production agriculture, not only in Oklahoma but across the nation." He did signal that they were looking at ways to get folks outside of agriculture comfortable with the language and would be working on that moving forward. 


As for the other priority issue, delegates approved the following- "OKFB and AFBF need to continue to take the lead on making it a priority to continue combating EPArules and regulations like the proposed "Waters of the United States." We support AFBF's Ditch the Rule campaign." The Resolutions Committee noted that language that pointed this direction came from at least 28 counties from across Oklahoma.  

Click or tap here to hear our conversation from Saturday afternoon with President Buchanan- and to read more about other key policy decisions made by the delegate body.

Krehbiel and Williams Families Top the List of Honorees in Tulsa for Oklahoma Farm Bureau 

A whole series of awards are traditionally a part of the annual meeting of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau- and this past weekend was no exception.  

The premiere award handed out by the general farm organization recognizes their Farm Family of the Year, with nominations coming from County Farm Bureaus- a top family is selected at the district level and those families are spotlighted at the convention, with one of them named as Farm Family of the Year. 

In 2014- the Krehbiel name was called. Karen and Brittany Krehbiel were named as the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Farm Family of the Year.  Along with her in laws, Wayne and Fern, Karen and her daughter Brittany operate the family farm in Caddo County.

The Krehbiel family farm has a rich history in Oklahoma agriculture, which includes five generations of dedicated farmers. Karen and Brittany farm approximately 2,300 acres of land near Hydro. Karen chose to remain on the farm after her husband Jeff lost his battle with cancer in 2011.

The Krehbiel family raises wheat, grain sorghum, peanuts, canola and alfalfa on their operation along with 250 head of commercial Dorset ewes. Besides production agriculture, the family also sells and services center-pivot hydraulic drive systems. 

For the Young Farmer and Rancher Committee of OFB, their highest award is called the Achievement Award- and goes to the top young farm/ranch family in the state.  The 2014 award winners were Marty and Crystal Williams of Noble County- who have just finished a year of service as the Chairman of the state YF&R.

Marty and Crystal grow a variety of crops including wheat, corn, grain sorghum, canola, soybeans and native grass pastures on their farm near Red Rock. The couple also manages a cow/calf operation. 

We talked with Marty soon after the Williams family was named as the Achievement Award winner- click here to listen to our visit and at that same link- we also have the video that was shown at the convention of their operation. 

Other folks were also spotlighted at the meeting- click on their names to read more- 

First Gentleman Wade Christensen was saluted as an Agricultural Advocate.

Roland Pederson was presented the Distinguished Service Award.

JT and Sara Bain of Pittsburg County were presented the Excellence in Ag Award by the YF&R.

Brent Haken was the winner of the YF&R Discussion Meet.

NCBA CEO Pushes for Further Improvement to Original Beef Checkoff

Beef Industry leaders are beginning to weigh in on a proposal by the US Department of Agriculture to create a second beef checkoff. I caught up with National Cattlemen's Beef Association Chief Executive Officer Forest Roberts at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting meeting going on this past week in Kansas City. 


We asked Roberts specifically what NCBA's message will be to US Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack who has called upon farm organizations and individual cattle producers to answer specific questions about the beef checkoff proposal in the Federal Register. Vilsack's proposal would create a duplicative, separate beef checkoff, under the 1996 Generic Act, instead of under the original 1985 Act and Order that created the current $1 per ahead checkoff used today. Roberts said NCBA does not support creating a new checkoff, but would rather continue to make changes and improvements to the current checkoff.   


"The message is very straight forward and that is allow us to continue working to bring a solution forward that is supported beef producers and not try to take a approach that is a solution that's delivered by the federal government," Roberts said. "Producers want to be able to have a continued say in what as to what is their program and have ownership in those decisions. So that's our ask, that's our perspective and that's how we are going to continue to lead forward."   

Roberts is our guest on the Beef Buzz- and you can hear our give and take on the Beef Checkoff issue by Clicking here.  The NCBA CEO seems intent on continuing the Beef Checkoff Working Group meetings- and indicates the next of those meetings will be in early December.

Governor Mary Fallin Friday called on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to withdraw their current proposal to change the definition of "Waters of the United States" (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act.  

"The EPA and the Corps are imposing an additional layer of bureaucracy instead of providing common sense and clarity in the WOTUS proposal," said Fallin. "This proposal is confusing and is going to delay development of critical infrastructure. It also makes development rights of Oklahomans more ambiguous and will have a negative impact on our economy. Since EPA and the Corps failed to provide meaningful consultation during development of the proposed rule with the states or the regulated community they have developed an unworkable solution that must be withdrawn."

The American Farm Bureau Federation filed formal comments with the EPA after rallying farmers, ranchers, other regulated industries and members of Congress behind its popular #DitchtheRule campaign. EPA keeps spinning its rule to sell it to different audiences, but individual regulators won't care about that spin when they're out enforcing the rule, AFBF said. Agriculture clearly isn't buying the spin, as 146 agricultural groups joined in the AFBF-led comments.


"EPA is hiding behind vague and confusing language, but that language can easily be read to regulate most any piece of land where rainwater pools or flows," AFBF President Bob Stallman said. "This proposal is a perfect example of agencies run amok-in this case, running far past the limits set by Congress and two Supreme Court decisions." According to Stallman, "There's no way to know which areas are regulated and, most importantly, which are not. That makes farmers, ranchers and other businesses and land owners vulnerable to arbitrary agency enforcement and even citizen lawsuits-regardless of any actual environmental impact of their activities."
 

Click here to read more from Governor Fallin.

Click here to read more from American Farm Bureau.

Reps. Lucas, Smith ask USDA for Answers on Importing Beef from Brazil, Argentina

The recently proposed rules by USDA's Animal and Plant Inspection Service to allow the importation of beef from regions in Brazil and Argentina continue to generate concern on Capitol Hill. This week House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) and Chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee Lamar Smith (R-Texas) sent a letter to Secretary Vilsack asking for the supporting documents and answers the pressing questions industry has been asking.


"It is our understanding that livestock groups have made repeated quests for the data used by the agency to complete the Brazil assessment only to be told it either didn't exist, or what was available could not be translated to English," the letter reads. An independent peer-review of APHIS' risk assessment undertaken by the industry concluded that agency's decision could not be supported due to a lack of both available verified data and a transparent site review process to collect necessary animal health data, which would form the basis for the conclusions in the risk assessment."
 

Click here to read the full letter from Reps. Lucas and Smith. 

Mark Hodges Offers 2015 Wheat Crop Update

Oklahoma had a disastrous year for wheat in 2014. While farmers had excellent quality, yields were down to record low levels due to ongoing drought. Plains Grain Executive Director Mark Hodges said 2014 was a unprecedented year.


"It's obviously the worst crop in my lifetime and I think if could probably talk to any farmer who is alive today, they would tell you its probably the worst they have ever seen as well," Hodges said. "You get under 50 million bushels in Oklahoma and that's an extremely bad obviously wheat crop."


The outcome was hard to take considering the crop got off to a decent start in the fall of 2013. Hodges said the crop had a good root system under the crop, good tillering and some soil moisture in the profile. Through the winter and spring little to no moisture fell. By the spring time a lot of acres were declared disaster and were zeroed out by crop insurance adjusters. In May Oklahoma began to receive rain events and that determined how much of the wheat crop was harvested. There was also a large amount that was seeded into another crop like sorghum, corn or soybeans. Many of those crops were not harvested in time for wheat planting. Hodges said that has reduced the number of acres planted to wheat this fall.


With some fall precipitation, the wheat crop is off to a better start than a year ago. Hodges said the crop is ahead of the five year average with emergence and plant development. The 2015 wheat crop though some what resembling last year's crop in having a good root system and tillering. Hodges believes this crop is better than a year ago in having more soil moisture and development, but how this crop turns out will be determined by mother nature.  

Hodges also serves as the Executive Director of Oklahoma Genetics Inc.  Click here to hear our conversation with Mark and to read more about the seed challenges OGI faced and new opportunities for Oklahoma wheat farmers.  

OCA Provides Their Comments About WOTUS Sent to EPA- We Share Them With You

In another story in this email- further up- we have details of the comments made to the EPA regarding WOTUS from Governor Mary Fallin as well as the American Farm Bureau.

Late Friday evening as we were in the middle of coverage from the Oklahoma Farm Bureau meeting- we got an email from Michael Kelsey that included a pdf of their complete comments submitted to EPA before the midnight deadline last Friday, November 14.

I finally had a few minutes to look at them early this morning and they are consistent with some of the conversations we have shared with you from their President, Richard Gebhart. 

OCA did go on the record back in July at their annual meeting regarding WOTUS- here's what they said in a resolution aimed at the EPA: "the proposed rules are an egregious overreach by the federal government of the private property rights of all Oklahoma cattle producers."

They added that "never has an issue so negatively stirred the grassroots food producing families of Oklahoma's beef cattle industry."

Click here for that PDF to read their full comments.