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Rejuvenated! That's a word that describes the 2015 Oklahoma Wheat Crop- especially north of Interstate 40. Extension Wheat Specialist Dr. Jeff Edwards calls the recent rains and cooler weather a "real shot in the arm" for the Oklahoma wheat crop. He cautions though- that while the wheat crop has responded state wide to the moisture- so have the foliar diseases that have been hanging around most of the growing season. Edwards says that farmers who did not use a fungicide and have a susceptible variety to stripe rust or leaf rust will likely pay with a reduced yield come harvest.


One OSU bred variety that is in the category of being vulnerable to foliar disease- especially stripe rust- is Ruby Lee. Dr. Edwards pointed out to wheat farmers gathered at the Lahoma Wheat Field Day on Friday the difference seen in the station's Ruby Lee plots that were sprayed versus the plots that were not sprayed. He believes that there could be a twenty five percent yield difference in the treated versus untreated plots.


One variety that appears to be holding up well to the stripe rust invasion- sprayed or not- is Gallagher. Iba is also showing at least some level of stripe rust resistance.

We talked with Dr. Edwards at the Lahoma Wheat Field Day on Friday- and besides stripe rust- we talked about the size of the 2015 Oklahoma crop- which, Dr. Edwards now believes could be at least the 108 million bushels predicted by the Oklahoma Grain and Feed Association scouts who reported last week on the size of the crop- and in fact- Edwards thinks if we get another week or so of mild temperatures and a little more rainfall- the crop could be bigger than that.

Click here for our Top Ag Story of the morning with Jeff Edwards- and be sure and jump over there to take a listen to our conversation!

AND- you may also want to go review the latest WHEAT DISEASE report from Dr. Bob Hunger- we have it posted and available here.

Key Global Trends Define Future of Food Safety

A Walmart food safety executive for global brands and expert in food safety culture shared insights about key global trends in food safety, helping Oklahoma State University's Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center to identify ways to better focus FAPC programs serving Oklahoma agribusinesses.


Frank Yiannas, vice president of food safety and health for Walmart discussed the six trends - changing food systems, foodborne surveillance, globalization, ingredients, social media and criminalization - during a recent visit to the OSU-Stillwater campus.


"People say, 'Frank, you like to think of yourself as a food safety futurist,'" he said. "It is a compliment because I do spend a lot of time thinking about the future. One thing I have learned is to be a good futurist, you must understand and learn from the past."


Yiannas, author of two books, Food Safety = Behavior: 30 Proven Techniques to Enhance Employee Compliance and Food Safety Culture: Creating a Behavior-Based Food Safety Management System, said during the history of food processing, manufacturers and researchers have made progress in winning the battle against foodborne diseases.
 

Click here to read more about the future of food safety.  

Protect the Harvest Ready To Get Behind "Vote Yes" Campaign and Support Right to Farm

Protect the Harvest has become a growing force in standing up against activist groups that are against agriculture. During the 2015 Oklahoma Legislative session, Protect the Harvest got behind the "Right to Farm" initiative. With strong passage in both the House and Senate, Protect the Harvest Executive Director Brian Klippenstein commended the efforts of the members of the state legislature and the authors of the legislation, Representative Scott Biggs and State Senator Jason Smalley for their efforts.


"The vote totals were overwhelmingly one sided in our favor, so it's great to have an advisory role this process," Klippenstein said.


During the legislative session, the animal rights group the Humane Society of the United States came out against the "Right to Farm" initiative through lobbying, along with an email and television campaign. Protect the Harvest responded against their tactic in standing up for Oklahoma agricultural producers.


"You have tell the competing side of the story and they are not used to that," Klippenstein said. "They are used to coming in, bullying their way, silencing their opponents and carrying the day. But when the full story is told, we find that we prevail."


Protect the Harvest will be involved in "Vote Yes Campaign" for the "Right to Farm" initiative in Oklahoma. Klippenstein said there will be a lot of information to share, a lot of disinformation to counter and coalitions to build. In states where the animal rights agenda has passed the biggest loser has been the consumer. For example in California, the price of eggs has gone up substantially, so Klippenstein said there is a lot at risk.    

Click here to read more or to listen to my full interview with Brian Klippenstein. 

Friday Was Last Day to Submit Comments on Dietary Guidelines- and Ag Groups and Leaders Weighed In 

Thousands of comments were provided to the Secretaries of Agriculture and Health and Human Services in recent weeks- in response to the recommendations that came from the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.  These recommendations form the basis to begin the shaping of new dietary guidelines that will be in place for the next five years- and will impact decisions in areas like School Lunch programs, Nutrition Advice promoted by the Federal Government and more.  

As a result, the Committee's recommendations that removed lean meats from what Americans should be consuming as a part of a healthy diet infuriated animal agriculture supporters.

Several Ag leaders offered comments at the end of this past week to Secretaries Vilsack and Burwell- and called on them to repudiate the ideas of the Advisory Committee and bring the final set of Dietary Guidelines that will be released between now and the end of the year back to a more traditional view that a healthy diet does and should include lean meats- providing a source of protein and other key nutrients.

The Chairman of the House Ag Committee, Michael Conaway, has called on both Secretaries to pay attention to the public outcry.  He asked in a statement Friday that they "commit to a process to fully review and consider the public comments before publishing new dietary guidelines pursuant to the National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Act of 1990."

Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture Jim Reese weighed in- saying in a letter that "It is not the role of medical doctors and dieticians to determine how livestock should be raised. The very basis of the sustainability section refers to a United Nations - Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report that the FAO has already recanted. The reference to livestock's contribution to 30% of the nation's greenhouse gases (GHG) is now being promoted as 7%-18% by the FAO and as low as 3% of the GHG in the United States by the Environmental Protection Agency ("Inventory of US Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2007"). This means the basis of the sustainability report on GHG is inflated 900%. More importantly, why are medical doctors wading into livestock production to determine what food is best for us to eat?"

More on what the Oklahoma Ag Secretary shared is available here. 

Several livestock groups released what they shared with the Secretaries on Friday- click on the name of the group to read more of their comments made about the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee's recommendations.

National Pork Producers Council (and Oklahoma Pork Council also submitted similar comments) 

National Cattlemen's Beef Association 

Texas and Southwest Cattle Raisers Association 

Is it possible that we could see Trade Promotion Authority passed yet this month? Maybe, according to National Cattlemen's Association Vice President of Government Affairs Colin Woodall. The Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee passed their version of TPA, so the next step is the floor of the House and Senate. He said NCBA can support both bills and they are hopeful that TPA can get to the President's desk by the Memorial Day recess.


"If we can do that, then I think we definitely have the opportunity finish up the Trans-Pacific Partnership and now start looking at some new deals," Woodall said. 


With more bipartisan support for TPA in the Senate, Woodall said they would like to see the Senate vote first on TPA before it's brought up in the House. The House has some concerns with giving President Barack Obama Trade Promotion Authority.


In looking at trade and this Administration, Woodall said trade is a very positive area. In working with the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, he said they have had some great opportunities to move forward with expanding trade opportunities for cattlemen. 


Click here to read more or hear more about why NCBA supports TPA.   

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 to subscribe to his daily update of top Energy News.

National Initiatives Collaborate to Meet Growing Food Demands

The Soil Renaissance and Phytobiomes Initiative announced Friday a collaboration aimed at understanding how soil health and the broader phytobiomes in which plants exist impact food production for a growing population.


In December 2013, The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation and Farm Foundation, NFP, launched the Soil Renaissance to bring attention to soil health's critical role in feeding a global population that will increase from 7.5 billion people today to more than 9 billion by 2050. Likewise, the American Phytopathological Society (APS) recently initiated the Phytobiomes Initiative to understand the entire system of factors that affect crop plants, including living organisms (bacteria, fungi, viruses, insects, nematodes, etc.), soils and the environment.


"Soil and the plants that grow in it are the foundation of life. They work in unison to serve as the basis for all of life," said Bill Buckner, president and CEO of the Noble Foundation. "It only makes sense then that the two major initiatives - one focused on soil, one focused on the entire biome (i.e., a geographical area) that impacts plants - should work together to solve the pressing problem of how to increase food production."


Read more on these soil building efforts by clicking here.

House Rural Democrats Decry Possible Move to Raid County Bridge Fund to Plug State Budget Hole

Rural House Democrats urge their rural Republican colleagues to resist any attempt to siphon revenue from a popular county road/bridge fund to help plug a gaping hole in the state budget.

            
Negotiating behind closed doors, Republican House and Senate budget writers are debating how much money to withdraw from the state's "rainy day" fund and how much to divert from state agency savings accounts in order to make up a $611 million state revenue shortfall.

            
Rep. Earl Sears, R-Bartlesville, chairman of the House Appropriations and Budget Committee, and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Clark Jolley acknowledged last week that the County Improvements to Roads and Bridges (CIRB) fund is among the potential revenue sources "likely to be targeted."

            
The CIRB currently has $254 million, ledgers reflect.

"Protecting rural roads and bridges shouldn't be a partisan issue," said Rep. Steve Kouplen, House Democratic Caucus chairman-elect. "But with reliable sources indicating the GOP plans to take tens of millions of dollars from the CIRB in order to balance the state budget, rural Republican legislators need to act swiftly and join us in a bipartisan bid to stop this planned raid dead in its tracks." 

More on the Concerns Raised by the Rural House Democrats is available here.