State Chamber of Oklahoma Files Lawsuit Against EPA Over Clean Water Rule

The State Chamber of Oklahoma joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Federation of Independent Business, Portland Cement Association and the Tulsa Regional Chamber in a lawsuit filed Friday against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over the new Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule. The suit alleges the rule exceeds the authority granted to the agencies under the Clean Water Act and is unconstitutional because the agencies did not comply with the Regulatory Flexibility Act during the rulemaking process.


"The EPA's new rule is nothing more than the federal government trying to put a noose around the necks of business, agriculture and economic development," said State Chamber of Oklahoma President & CEO Fred Morgan. "In effect, WOTUS will make dry creek beds and rain puddles subject to federal regulation, preventing property owners from being able to use their own land. This rule cannot be allowed to stand and we will continue to work with our partners in the lawsuit and with Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to combat this overreach."


By broadening the definition beyond the historic navigable waters to include almost any body of water within the United States, the EPA will have regulatory control over almost any area where water pools, even temporarily. This expansion of federal power will lead to increased compliance and regulatory costs for all industries, including manufacturing, agriculture, oil and gas exploration and construction.


The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for Northern Oklahoma in Tulsa. A copy of the filing can be found on the State Chamber website by clicking here. 

Corn, Soybeans, Cotton Condition Holding Steady, Weather Impacting Corn Crop Maturity

The nation's corn, soybeans and cotton are holding steady. That's according to the latest crop progress report released Monday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The nation's corn crop is holding its condition, but still remains behind in terms of maturity. In the top 18 corn producing states in the nation, 69 percent of the crop rated in good to excellent condition. That is unchanged over last week's rating. Illinois dropped five points this week with 56 percent of the crop in good to excellent condition. Ohio's corn crop continues to struggle with only 41 percent of the crop in good to excellent condition. Corn silking was at 27 percent nationally, which remains behind the five-year average of 34.


"As wet conditions persist, it makes sense that maturity continues to progress at a slower-than-normal rate," said National Corn Growers Association President Chip Bowling. "Yet, with tasseling still ahead, a more advantageous mixture of sun, heat and well-timed showers could help the crop recover. As is so often true, the conditions prevalent during tasseling will play a sizeable role in determining the size of the crop at harvest."


The states tailing their five-year average of acres of corn silking by the greatest spread include Indiana, Michigan and Minnesota, which trail the five-year average by 13, 12 and 11 points respectively.


The nation's soybean crop is on track with average with 38 percent of the crop blooming and six percent setting pods. In the top 18 soybean producing states in the nation, 62 percent of the crop was in good to excellent condition. That's down one point from last week.
 

The condition of the nation's cotton crop is unchanged over last week. In the 15 main cotton producing states, USDA reported 57 percent of the crop rated in good to excellent condition. That's unchanged over the previous week. USDA reported 61 percent of the crop was squaring, behind the five-year average of 70 and 18 percent of the crop was setting bolls. That's behind the average of 24.


Click here for the full national crop progress report.  

Southern Plains Wheat Harvest Nearly Complete, Row Crops Showing Improvement

Oklahoma's corn crop is showing improvement in condition, but maturity remains well behind average. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Monday reported the state's corn crop rated 64 percent good to excellent condition. That's up two points over last week. Corn silking was 51 percent complete, down four points from last year and down 16 points from average. The state's soybean and cotton crop both dropped a point in the good to excellent category from last week. Soybeans rated 56 percent good to excellent, while the cotton crop rated 80 percent good to excellent. Cotton squaring reached ten percent, down 52 points from last year and down 35 points from the average. Sorghum rated 77 percent good to excellent with sorghum headed reaching 23 percent, unchanged from normal. The peanut crop dropped two points over last week rating 81 percent good to excellent. Oklahoma's wheat and canola harvest has reached 97 percent completion.Click here for the full Oklahoma report.


Kansas is on the homestretch of wheat harvest. USDA reports 93 percent of the crop has been harvested. That's ahead of last year's 87, but near the average of 94. The Kansas corn crop rated 55 percent good to excellent, unchanged over the previous week. Corn silking reached 47 percent, which remains behind last year, but near average. The state's soybean crop rated 48 percent good to excellent, down one point from last week. Blooming was at 17 percent, which remains behind last year and average. The state's cotton crop rated 62 percent good to excellent. That's up one point over last week. Cotton squaring was at 22 percent. That's near last year, but well behind the average of 51. Click here for the full Kansas report.


Corn and sorghum harvest is getting started in Texas, while wheat harvest has nearly wrapped up. USDA reports the state's sorghum crop gained three points over last week with 66 percent in good to excellent condition. Seven percent of the sorghum crop has been harvested, behind the five-year average of 21. The state's corn, cotton and peanut crops held steady over last week with 63 percent of the corn, 51 percent of the cotton and 56 percent of the peanuts rated in good to excellent condition. USDA reports wheat harvest is 95 percent complete. Click here for the full Texas report. 
 

Peel Says Unique U.S. Beef and Cattle Trade Situation Continues

Derrell S. Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, writes in the latest Cow/Calf Corner newsletter.


"The unique U.S. beef and cattle trade situation that developed in 2014 has continued in 2015. Falling beef production is keeping beef supplies tight and prices near record levels in the U.S. This discourages beef exports and attracts more beef and cattle imports. Both imports and exports are further enhanced by the strong dollar. Though dollar appreciation has leveled off recently, continued global macroeconomic uncertainty is likely to keep the dollar strong for the time being.


"In May, beef exports decreased 14.4 percent year over year with exports to all major export destinations (Japan, Canada, Mexico and Hong Kong) down except South Korea which was unchanged from last year. Year to date beef exports are down 9.5 percent from last year. May beef imports continued larger year over year with the monthly total up 24.8 percent from one year ago and up 37.3 percent for the year to date. Beef imports in May were up most from Australia and Mexico among major sources and were also up sharply from smaller sources including Brazil and Uruguay. Total cattle imports in May were down 10.3 percent from last year and are down 9.2 percent year over year for the year to date.


"The dramatic increase in U.S. beef imports in 2014 and so far in 2015 has been led by increased imports from Australia. This is the result of unique circumstances in Australia as well as the U.S. U.S. imports of Australian beef were up 41 percent year over year in May and are up 64.8 percent for the year to date. This follows a 74 percent year over year increase in 2014. A prolonged drought in Australia has led to increased slaughter, beef production and beef exports along with decreased herd inventories. The Australian beef cow herd has declined over 1 million head since 2013. Though the drought continues in Australia, it appears that cattle slaughter and beef production have peaked. Beef production is expected to decrease in 2015 and may lead to decreased U.S. imports of Australian beef in the second half of the year. At the current pace, Australia could hit the beef tariff rate quota by this fall.  

"Beyond 2015, U.S. imports of Australian beef are not likely to grow and will decrease when drought conditions permit herd rebuilding in Australia."

Derrell's complete analysis for this week is available here.      

USDA Proposes New Ways to Help Low-Income, Seniors and People with Disabilities

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Monday announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is proposing to improve access to groceries for homebound seniors and people with disabilities who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. USDA is proposing for the first time to permit grocery purchasing and delivery services run by government and non-profit organizations to accept SNAP benefits as payment, allowing for home delivery to those unable to shop for food. Vilsack will announce the proposal today during the 2015 White House Conference on Aging. Nationally, only 42 percent of eligible elderly individuals participate in SNAP, compared to 83 percent for all people who are eligible.


"Home delivery of groceries is an important step forward in serving the needs of these vulnerable populations. Allowing homebound seniors and people with disabilities to use their SNAP benefits through government and non-profit home delivery services will help ensure they have access to healthy foods," Secretary Vilsack said, noting that one in five SNAP participants is either elderly or disabled. "This issue has a particular importance for seniors living in rural areas, as America's rural population is older than the nation overall and rural seniors experience higher poverty than seniors nationwide."


Authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill, the proposed rule outlines eligibility and participation criteria for purchasing and delivery services serving the homebound elderly and disabled, and seeks comment from stakeholders.  Click here to read more about the proposed rule or to submit comments.

Click here to read a fact sheet on how USDA is helping older Americans.
 

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.

Great Plains Grazing Project Aims to Help Producers Mitigate Drought and Assess Carbon Footprint

Oklahoma is the center of a five year study looking at ways producers can better mitigate drought, along with addressing the carbon footprint of the beef industry. The Great Plains Grazing Project involves Oklahoma State University, Kansas State University, University of Oklahoma and Tarleton State University, along with the Noble Foundation and two Agricultural Research Service (ARS) locations. Dr. Jean Steiner of the Grazinglands Research Laboratory in Fort Reno, Oklahoma is the co-project director. Researchers have completed two years of the five year $10 million dollar U.S. Department of Agriculture research project. Researchers are working to put that information into a usable form for producers and other stakeholders. Steiner said researchers want to help producers identify animals that might be suited to meet the production potential of their land. She said producers are moving back to having smaller framed females that have lower maintenance requirements.


"We think this may have efficiencies in the system that could help the producers be more flexible and more resilient, particularly during those drought years," she said.


Oklahoma producers commonly use winter wheat as a forage resource for grazing. Steiner said there are several reasons why producers should look to diversify with alternate forages. While wheat has been a very productive resource for many years, it has it downsides. She said wheat offers poor soil coverage during the summer months when a lot of the soil carbon is lost to respiration. The project is looking at different ways producer's could diversify with the use of cover crops to protect the soil along with providing producers with alternate forages that can been grazed in different seasons when the current system is deficient in quantity or possibility quality of forage.


I featured Dr. Jean Steiner on our latest Beef Buzz, as heard on great radio stations across the southern great plains. Click or tap here to listen to this feature. 

Chipotle Decides Antibiotics Are Okay for British Pigs as They Begin to Source Canitas from Jolly Old England

Meatingplace is citing a news release from Chipotle Mexican Foods and their supplies of pork that they are buying. "Chipotle Mexican Grill, which stopped serving carnitas temporarily after firing a U.S. pork supplier for not giving its hogs outdoor access, is now importing pork from Karro Food, based in the United Kingdom, to supply most of its Florida restaurants.

"When it comes to antibiotics use, however, Chipotle explained the new supplier does not adhere to the "never ever" standard it demands of its U.S. suppliers."

The website for Karro describes those standards as being "optimal"  

"Chipotle acknowledged that while Karro's practices meet its animal welfare standards, their antibiotic use policy differs from the standard Chipotle demands of its U.S. suppliers.

"While Chipotle prohibits antibiotics use - even to treat illness in hogs - for the pork they purchase from U.S. suppliers, they allow such antibiotics use by Karro.

"In explain this, Chipotle said Karro's antibiotics use follows European standards that allow for antibiotics to be administered when necessary to keep an animal healthy. "

Meatingplace adds that the US supplier that Chipotle fired refused to cut a hole in the wall of their pig barns to give access to harsh winter conditions that included wind chills of 30 below. The Chipotle website now is featuring a video that includes photos of  Karro Farms showing their pigs outside with their mama sow.