Ag Coalition Urges Congress to Act on Tax Extenders

America's farmers and ranchers are ready for Congress to act swiftly to restore tax provisions essential to boosting small businesses and rural economies. A number of agricultural groups including the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, American Farm Bureau Federation, Public Lands Council, among many others sent a letter to House and Senate leadership Tuesday urging both houses to act on expired tax policies before the end of the year. The groups urged members of both chambers to work across the aisle to renew and preserve important tax provisions that expired at the end of 2013.


"Farmers and ranchers rely on tax provisions that allow them to manage their cash flow and put that money back to work for their businesses," said AFBF President Bob Stallman. "Section 179 and bonus depreciation are important tools that lend stability and help minimize risk in an unpredictable industry."


Agriculture is overwhelmingly united in its support of Section 179 and bonus depreciation, which provide flexible means for farm and ranch businesses to write off and deduct business expenses.  


Producers rely on a stable and predictable tax code in order to plan purchases, make investments and grow their business," said NCBA President and Victoria, Texas cattleman, Bob McCan. "We are already at the eleventh hour for tax planning, and it is incredibly important that Congress pass these extenders as quickly as possible."


Click here to read more from AFBF & NCBA and to read the full letter submitted by a coalition of more than 500 organizations.   

EQUIP Applications Due January 16, 2015 

Gary O'Neill, USDA-NRCS State Conservationist for Oklahoma has announced that EQIP applications for 2015 are due in the local NRCS offices on January 16, 2015. He said that the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is available to producers and landowners active in agricultural or forest production engaged in livestock, agricultural, or forest production on eligible land that have a natural resource concern to be addressed.


The EQIP provides financial assistance for elibible producers to help plan and implement conservation practices that address existing natural resource concerns and for opportunities to improve soil, water, plant, animal, air and related resources on agricultural land and non-industrial private forestland. Another purpose of EQIP is to help producers meet Federal, State, Tribal, and local environmental regulations.


O'Neill added "The EQIP is an important Farm Bill conservation program that helps established famers as well as beginning, historically underserved, and limited resource producers. This is another example of the work of NRCS in Oklahoma and our efforts together with our partners to adddress environmental conservation issues and strengthen Oklahoma's rural economy."


Click here to read more about applying for the EQUIP program and the ranking process.   

Mike Conaway Named as 50th House Ag Committee Chair

On Tuesday, word came from the Republican Steering Committee that Texas Republican Congressman Mike Conaway will serve as the new Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture in the new Congress.  He succeeds Congressman Frank Lucas of Oklahoma's Third District as the Chairman.  Lucas termed out as the top Republican of the Committee after serving as both ranking member of the Committee and over the past two years- as its Chairman.

Conaway's office issued a statement that he is "humbled and honored" to be named Chair and looks forward to being a strong voice for rural America in this role.  

After word came from the Republican Steering Committee, House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson Tuesday made the following statement:

"I congratulate Congressman Conaway on his election to Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. As a fellow CPA, I think we can find common ground as the Committee oversees farm bill implementation and reauthorizing the CFTC during the next Congress. The Agriculture Committee has a strong bipartisan tradition, which I look forward to continuing under Chairman Conaway.


"I would also like to commend Chairman Lucas for his leadership. While he will no longer be Chairman, I have no doubt he will remain a strong advocate for America's farmers and ranchers and a respected member of the Agriculture Committee."   

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association said it's time for the US to deal with reality that this country needs to do something about Country of Origin Labeling (COOL). Recently the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled against the US again in the case brought by Canada and Mexico. NCBA Vice President Government Affairs Colin Woodall said its time we get around to addressing the problems with COOL.


"We do expect the administration to appeal this WTO decision that came out in October," Woodall said. "Just given the backlog that we have at the WTO it could be this time next year before we get that final decision, that final adjudication. At that point and time then we will transition into retaliation. So we are looking at retaliation at the earliest probably the first quarter of 2016. So unfortunately until we get to that point its going to be hard for some of the Senate Democrats and this administration to understand that they have to sit down and fix this or if not we are going to have an economic problem on our hands because the retaliation is not just against beef, it's against a whole slew of products."


In the new Congress, the Republicans will have gained control of the Senate. Woodall said there are 53 Republican Senators, so that may not be enough to address COOL because of the need to have  60 Senators to end a filibuster and pass legislation.  Click here to listen to this Beef Buzz as Woodall address COOL as well as if NCBA will be commenting in the Federal Register on the proposed second beef checkoff.

Exciting Time to Sell Cattle at Joplin Regional Stockyards

Missouri has many small sale barns around the state with only a few regional sale barns that attract cattle from a four state region. The Joplin Regional Stockyards has a long history in serving cattlemen since the Great Depression. The largest stockyard in Missouri was purchased by Jackie and Kristy Moore and Steve and Shelly Owens in 1986. In 1995 the Joplin Stockyards moved to its current Carthage location. On Monday, I traveled to the Joplin Stockyards as Radio Oklahoma Network affiliate KRMO, Monett, Missouri had a remote at the sale barn. I interviewed Bailey Moore. 


Moore said the Joplin Regional Stockyards has several field representatives in covering the region area within 200 miles of Joplin which includes parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma.


"That causes us to have a bigger draw area," Moore said. "It's all about numbers here. We don't do percentages, we get so much ahead. The name of the game is to sell has many cattle as we can."


Like many livestock auction barns, Joplin Stockyards has also gotten involved with video auctions. Moore said they started selling via video auctions about 10 years ago. Annually Joplin Stockyards sells about 75 - 100 thousand head of cattle through video auctions. He said this has become an effective marketing tool. With the strong cattle market is helping producers especially cow-calf producers.  Click here to listen to Moore's comments on how these this is helping producers rebuild their cowherd.  

National Farmers Union Won't Support Two Beef Checkoffs

The National Farmers Union has supported reform of the beef checkoff program, but they are specific on how they would like to see that take place. This comes after US Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack announced recently the US Department of Agriculture has published a notice in the Federal Register soliciting comments and input on what the beef checkoff should look at. Vilsack has said one way to increase resources for the beef checkoff for research, promotion and education would be through the creation of a second beef checkoff.


NFU Senior Vice President Chandler Goule said while NFU supports reform, they will not be supporting Vilsack's proposal to create a duplicative, separate beef checkoff.

"We only want one checkoff program in the end ," Goule said. "Having two checkoffs is just to difficult to sell in the countryside and so reforming and having one is the answer."  He added that NFU would prefer to see a reformed Beef Checkoff readied to take effort- and then eliminate the old checkoff based on the 1985 Beef Checkoff Act.

In having a second checkoff created under the 1996 Generic Marketing Act, a producer referendum must be held within the first three years. That's another area of concern for NFU as the program could be up and running before producers have an opportunity to weigh in.  Our Leslie Smith talked with Goule at the National Association of Farm Broacasters annual convention last week in Kansas City.   Click here to listen to the full interview as he shared how they want to see the beef checkoff reformed.    

This N That- Scenic Rivers Review, Big Iron and Kudos to Dr. Hailin Zhang

An interim legislative study committee heard Monday the reasons for protecting Oklahoma Scenic Rivers, why the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission (OSRC) is needed and why both are valuable to Oklahoma. In a time of agency budget restraints and concern about the future of Oklahoma's streams, lakes and parks, presenters at the hearing expressed hope that lawmakers and the Governor will hear their plea to leave the tiny government agency in place.

OSRC Administrator Ed Fite sought the meeting which featured presentations by tourism experts, water quality researchers, and the OSRC's law enforcement director who pleaded for funds necessary to provide safety for over 100,000 visitors who come to the Illinois River each year. The meeting was chaired by Senator Ron Justice, R-Chickasha, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Natural Resources and Regulatory Services. Those attending included Sen. Eddie Fields, R-Wynona; Sen. Wayne Shaw, R-Grove and Sen. Mark Allen, R-Arkoma. 

Click here for more from this Interim hearing on the Scenic Rivers efforts in eastern Oklahoma.  

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It's Wednesday- and that means the Big Iron folks will be busy closing out this week's auction items- all 354 of them- starting at 10 AM central time.                  

 Click Here for the complete rundown of what is being sold on this no reserve online sale this week.

If you'd like more information on buying and selling with Big Iron, call District Manager Mike Wolfe at 580-320-2718 and he can give you the full scoop.  You can also reach Mike via email by  clicking or tapping here.