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Congressman Frank Lucas believes that rural America is worse off because of the rules that have been ginned up from "Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act " that has now been the law of the land for five years. The Third District Congressman that represents the northwestern half of the state of Oklahoma has two perspectives on the Dodd Frank law from his seat in the US House. From his position as the Past Chairman of the House Ag Committee, he has been involved in the Dodd Frank regulation of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. In addition, he is a member of the Financial Services Committee- and from his experience on that Committee, he worries about the growing mountain of red tape that is engulfing the smaller community banks across the countryside.


Congressman Lucas told us Thursday morning that he has participated in oversight hearings held by both Committees to call the Obama Administration regulators to task over excessive rules that have impact on both the CFTC and the ag futures business as well as the smaller banks that serve rural America.  

Beyond Dodd Frank- we also talked about the implementation of the 2014 Farm Law, regulatory battles on issues like Dietary Guidelines, Fresh Beef Imports from South America and of course, WOTUS.

The full interview can be heard on our website by clicking here.  

EPA Wins a Consolidation of Lawsuits Over WOTUS- Litigation to be Heard by Federal District Court in Cincinnati 

According to Agri-Pulse, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers asked for and have received a consolidation of the dozen lawsuits filed against the Federal Government as they all will apparently will be heard together in front of the 6th District Court in Cincinnati, Ohio.   

Some of the plaintiffs want more pollution control under the rule, while others are claiming that the Agencies overstepped their authority granted to them by Congress under the Clean Water Act of the 1970s.  

Agri-Pulse reports "Because the suits address common issues, EPA and the Army Corps asked to have the petitions consolidated by the Judicial Panel on Multi-District litigation. The panel agreed, and then randomly selected a circuit court to hear the challenges. The lottery winner - the 6th Circuit Court, which covers parts of Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee - is known to be relatively moderate, particularly in comparison to the more traditionally liberal 9th and 2nd Circuit Courts, where environmental groups filed petitions at the outset."

Consolidating the challenges to the rule could speed up the ultimate resolution on the WOTUS rule; but there's no telling when such a resolution will be delivered.

To read the more on this- click here for the story found on the Agri-Pulse website.

House Ag Subcommittee Looks at Avian Influenza Response and Strategy for Fall

Congressman David Rouzer of North Carolina, Chairman of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture, held a public hearing on Thursday to examine the federal and state response to avian influenza.

The Chief Veterinary officer of USDA, Dr. John Clifford, was among those testifying to the subcommittee. Dr. Clifford told the lawmakers that USDA considers this the " largest animal health emergency in this country's history" and that HPAI has the full attention of the Department. And Dr. Clifford says that USDA has thrown a lot of the APHIS budget at HPAI- All told, USDA has committed over $700 million- an amount more than half of APHIS' yearly discretionary budget- in addressing this outbreak."   

More on this hearing is available here- including links to the archived webcast and Dr. CLifford's complete testimony before the Committee.

Beef Cow Numbers Being Rebuilt Aggressively by Cattlemen- Jim Robb of the LMIC

US Cattle Producers are holding back many of the heifers being born on their ranches and plan to breed them and add them to their mama cow herds this year and next. That's how Jim Robb with the Livestock Market Information Center is interpreting the latest snapshot of the US beef cattle herd that was released by USDA this past week.  

Robb, in a conversation with Eric Atkinson of Agriculture Today, says that about 200,000 beef heifers have been retained with the intention of adding them to the US Beef Cow herd. This is the second year in a row where weather has cooperated in the southern great plains and allowed Texas and Oklahoma to be the epicenter of the of beef herd rebuilding in the US.

We featured Jim Robb's comments in this edition of the Beef Buzz.

The mid year Cattle Inventory report shows that the US Beef Cow Herd is back above thirty million head for the first time since mid year 2012- when drought caused massive liquidation in the southern great plains in the months following the July 2012 cattle industry count.


Robb adds that while beef heifers are being held back for herd rebuilding and, as a result, have been removed from the beef pipeline that delivers beef eventually to the consumer- there is still enough of an increase in the calf crop that means there are several hundred thousand more calves not yet in US feedlots and more beef on the hoof is now being produced and will push cattle prices slightly lower this fall and into 2016 in the face of rising beef supplies and huge amounts of competing meats.  

Click here to read more- and the chance to listen to Jim Robb's comments on how we are doing in holding back heifers to rebuild the US Beef Cow herd.

OSU Economist Kim Anderson Reviews Hard and Fast Slide in Grain Prices for SUNUP 

Most Oklahoma grain farmers are very happy to say goodbye to the month of July, based on the hard down that most grain prices have taken since the end of June. Oklahoma State University Extension Grain Marketing Economist Dr. Kim Anderson told Dave Deken during their recording of Kim's SUNUP segment for this weekend that wheat, feed grains and soybeans all were in full scale retreat for most of July.

For example, wheat prices dropped from $5.79 down to around $4.65 from the end of June to the end of July- basis the September KC Wheat contract. Spring planted crops did not fare not much better- with corn dropping around 75 cents a bushel for the month, milo tracking corn downward and soybean prices falling over eighty cents per bushel for the month.  

Kim Anderson's complete comments can be heard by clicking or tapping here- and you can also check out the complete SUNUP lineup for this weekend at this same link.

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.

Wetlands Remain an Important Part of the Oklahoma Ecosystem 

They have been there all along, but the stretch of consecutive years of intense drought left much of Oklahoma's wetlands dry.

Just because they did not have standing water in them at the time, they were and still are wetlands, said Oklahoma State University Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management Professor and Bollenbach Wildlife Chair, Craig Davis.

"The rain much of the state has received this year has done wonders for the wetlands we still have," he said. "Even though we've lost 60 percent to 70 percent of our wetlands since statehood, the remainder serve many purposes."  

More on Oklahoma's wetlands- as described by Dr. Davis is available by clicking or tapping here.  

This N That- In the Field to Feature 777 Strategy, OCA Honors Scott Pruitt and Women In Ag Conference Registration Deadline 

This weekend- we are excited to have Glenn Coffee joining us for our In the Field segment that will be seen on KWTV, News9 on Saturday morning around 6:40 AM.

Senator Coffee was the first Republican Senate President in the history of our state- and has also served as Secretary of State for Governor Mary Fallin.

Now, he is working with ag groups in building the Coalition that will seek a "Yes Vote" on State Question 777- Right to Farm- next fall.

We will be talking about the building of the team that will ask Oklahoma voters to approve this measure- and how agriculture in the state is coming together to get this done.

If you miss the early morning broadcast- we will have the video posted on our website later on Saturday for you to check out.

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The Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association (OCA) honored Oklahoma's Attorney General Scott Pruitt as the OCA Distinguished Service Award honoree. The award was presented last week during the 63rd Annual OCA Convention and Trade Show in Midwest City.

"General Pruitt's strong stance against the EPA's assault on private property rights in unparalleled," said Charlie Swanson, OCA President. "On July 8th, Attorney General Pruitt filed suit against the EPA for their redefinition of the Clean Water Act through the proposed Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule."

"General Pruitt also knows the deceitful tactics of special animal rights groups like the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and has fought hard against their false and misleading fundraising schemes," added Swanson.  

To read more on this award- click here.  

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Oklahoma's Statewide Women in Agriculture and Small Business Conference is happening next week on August 6th and 7th at the Moore-Norman Technology Center located at 13301 S. Pennsylvania Ave in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area.

Deadline for early registration is tomorrow- you save ten dollars by registering before August first.

Click here for more details- including info on registration.  

One of the featured speakers for next week's event is one of my favorite bloggers- Dairy Carrie.  

A number of concurrent sessions will be offered during the conference. Sessions will focus on a variety of high-profile topics about agriculture, alternative enterprises and business and finance. Participants will be able to attend sessions of most interest and value to them.