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An Oklahoma cattle producer is entering the officer rotation of the Cattlemen's Beef Board, as Brett Morris of Ninekah was elected as the new Secretary-Treasurer of the CBB at their Saturday Board meeting in San Antonio, Texas. The CBB is the national board that is responsible for collecting and investing the dollar a head beef checkoff on behalf of their fellow cattle producers.


Morris is a third-generation dairy farmer and runs a dairy, cow/calf and stocker operation, as well as the Washita Fertilizer Company, in partnership with his father. Theirs is a diversified farm operation, including about 1,000 acres of alfalfa, wheat and grassland, 65 registered Holstein cows for milking, 100-125 beef cows, and 200 stocker calves. Morris has served as chairman of the Oklahoma Dairy Commission, vice chairman of the Oklahoma Johne's Advisory Committee, as a district voting delegate to DFA, a director of the Federation of State Beef Councils, and as vice chairman of the Oklahoma Beef Council. He has also been active as the Chairman of the Policy Committee of the American Farmers and Ranchers- and has represented over this past year Oklahoma on the National Farmers Union Policy Committee.


With his election as an officer to the CBB, Morris will also be a part of the Cattlemen's Beef Board Executive Committee- and will be one of the ten members of the Beef Promotion Operating Committee, the body that decides which projects will receive Checkoff funding on an annual basis.

We talked with Brett after his election this past Saturday in San Antonio- click here to hear his comments and to read more about the other officers that he will be serving with here in 2015.

Food and Agricultural Groups Urge Quick Passage Of TPA 

A wide variety of groups and companies- from Walmart and Campbell's Soup to the American Farm Bureau and National Association of Wheat Growers were all a part of 70 food and agricultural organizations in urging Congress to quickly introduce and approve legislation renewing Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) so that major trade deals can be finalized and implemented to help the U.S. economy.


TPA defines U.S. negotiating objectives and priorities for trade agreements and establishes consultation and notification requirements for the president to follow throughout the negotiation process. Once negotiators finalize a deal, Congress gets an up or down vote - without amendments - on it. Congress has granted TPA to every president since 1974, with the most recent law being approved in August 2002 and expiring June 30, 2007. 

In the letter, the groups pointed to TPA as a critical tool in establishing and expanding trade agreements with foreign partners, without undue legislative and bureaucratic barriers. Specifically cited were the ongoing negotiations over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

In a letter sent to all 535 congressional lawmakers, the food and agricultural groups said the farmers, ranchers, food and agricultural companies - and workers - they represent are heavily dependent on trade for their livelihoods.

 

A pair of ag groups offered statements to the media about the letter- you can read the comments from the American Soybean Association, click here.  To read more from the National Pork Producers Council, click here.   

2014 Proved to be a Historic Year for U.S. Beef Exports
 

One of the things that was going on this past week at the Cattle Industry Convention in San Antonio, Texas was a celebration of what went right in 2014 for the cattle industry. Cattlefax's Randy Blach called 2014 a  "perfect storm" when it came to record high prices and profitability- and part of that profitability can be traced back to the export market for U.S. beef. According to U.S. Meat Export Federation Chairman Leann Saunders of Castle Rock, Colorado, 2014 was quite a year.


"It's been a tremendous year, we're seeing record numbers across the board, so $7.1 billion in value for exports this year across the beef complex," Saunders said.


With record beef prices in 2014, it was predictable thart the value of exports could be at record levels. Beef export value ended up with an increase of 16 percent and nearly $1 billion over the previous record set in 2013. Export volume also remained strong, coming in at 1.2 million metric tons in 2014. That was short of the 2011 record, but up 2 percent year-over-year. Saunders said both the value and volume numbers were quite remarkable and it speaks to the demand for high quality beef in these international markets.


Read and have the opportunity to listen to the full interview with Leann Saunders on how exports have remained strong with record beef prices and the outlook for 2015, by clicking here.   

Secretary Vilsack Celebrates Report Showing Ag Exports Support One Million Plus Jobs

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Friday released the following statement after USDA's Economic Research Service issued new data showing that agricultural exports support more than one million jobs here at home:


"More than one million people go to work every day thanks to exports of American-grown products. Expanded U.S. agricultural exports mean more new jobs, but our farmers and ranchers will miss out on new markets for American products if Congress doesn't act on Trade Promotion Authority early this year."


Fiscal years 2009 to 2014 represent the strongest six years in history for U.S. agricultural trade, with U.S. agricultural product exports totaling $771.7 billion, despite the fact that many other countries' markets are not as open to American products as our markets are to theirs. Agricultural exports last fiscal year reached $152.5 billion, the highest level on record. U.S. agricultural exports now support more than one million jobs here at home, a substantial part of the nearly 11.3 million jobs supported by exports all across our country.


For the complete USDA ERS ag export report, click here. 

Award winning broadcast journalist Jerry Bohnen has spent years learning and understanding how to cover the energy business here in the southern plains-  Click here for Jerry's website where there is a link on the Left Hand Column where you can subscribe to his daily update of top Energy News.  

Beef Checkoff MOU Wins Easy Approval from NCBA Board During Saturday Session 

With no opposition expressed during the voting on Saturday morning, both Divisions of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association voted to endorse the Memorandum of Understanding that came from the Beef Checkoff Working Group. The MOU is designed to provide a pathway to increase the current beef checkoff assessment rate from one dollar to two dollars, if the current law authorizing the checkoff is modified by Congress and if producers then vote in favor of a new higher assessment.  

The vote of support came during the closing Business meeting of the NCBA Board of Directors as the Cattle Industry Convention in San Antonio came to a close. The votes were held by first the Federation Division and then followed by a separate vote by the Policy Division of the NCBA.


NCBA Past President Scott George has been representing the NCBA in the meetings of the Beef Checkoff Working Group over the last three years- and he told NCBA members that the next meeting of the Working group is scheduled for March 12 and 13. George says that is one day after the American Farm Bureau will hold a Board of Directors meeting that will consider the MOU- after the delegates at the Farm Bureau convention in San Diego changed the group's policy which could pave the way for their board to potentially support the MOU. 

You can hear the comments (by clicking here) that Scott George and Jennifer Houston of Tennessee offered to the NCBA Board on Saturday regarding the Beef Checkoff MOU- and review additional interviews that we did this past week regarding the Checkoff debate within the industry.  In the story we jump you to above- we also have a link to a copy of the Draft MOU that was voted on by NCBA and ANCW this past week.

This N That- McGee Creek Recreation Area Closed This Week, Canola Looking Better in South Versus North and Hall of Fame Entries DEADLINE Nears 

Later today, weather permitting, the Oklahoma Forestry Services (OFS) will conduct a prescribed burn on approximately 1890 acres in the McGee Creek Natural Scenic Recreation Area (NSRA) near Antlers, Oklahoma in southeastern Oklahoma.


The entire McGee Creek NSRA will be closed to the public Monday through Thursday. A determination of when to reopen the NSRA will be made Thursday evening.


More details are available here about the expected prescribed burn planned in this southeastern Oklahoma scenic area.

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Heath Sanders of the Great Plains Canola Association released his perspective on the condition of the winter canola crop across the southern great plains at the end of this past week- here are some of the highlights of his report:

Southern OK: Canola Plants had greened up, moisture was adequate, and stands looked good. Late planted or emerged canola didn't look as good, but don't count it out yet.


Central OK: Some plant green-up, canola stands look good, drier soil conditions, especially driving north.


Northern OK and Southern KS: Dry soil conditions, very little plant tissue green-up, canola plant stands have thinned, but most stands remain acceptable for the potential of a good crop, Late planted or emerged canola is struggling, but should not be neglected or abandoned. Varietal differences can be seen. 

More on the status of the 2015 Canola crop is available here. 

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Time is getting short for groups and individuals who want to nominate someone for the Ag Hall of Fame in the State of Oklahoma.  In addition, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture has added three new awards that you can nominate people for here in 2015 for the first time.

The award that is tied to the Ag Hall of Fame is called the Governor's Outstanding Achievement Award in Agriculture- this award was established back in 1998.

Additional awards being presented for the first time this year are the Agriculture Environmental Stewardship Award, Outstanding Legacy in Agriculture Award and Outstanding Public Service in Agriculture Award. The Legacy in Agriculture Award is the only one strictly for posthumous nominees.

Deadline for nominations is this Friday, February 13th.

Read more about the awards at our earlier story that is available here- and in that story is the link to the application needed to nominate someone.