William Maltbie of the Burlington FFA Chapter has enjoyed a great FFA career- and his time in the Blue and Gold jacket has included hearing his name called three different times as the winner of a national Proficiency Contest.  

Using his lawn mowing business as his SAE(Supervised Ag Enterprise)- William won over a national team of judges in 2010, 2011 and 2012 to win three different National Proficiency awards- and now his business has captured the attention of the National FFA one more time- this time as a National Finalist in pursuit of becoming an American Star in Agribusiness. 

We talked for a few minutes with William this past week in Stillwater where he is a Senior at Oklahoma State- majoring in Ag Business with a minor in Agronomy. William was getting ready to practice with a set of mock judges what he will be telling the real set of judges this week in Louisville as he describes his business. 

You can read more and listen to our conversation with William by clicking here.

Meanwhile- the first information on how Oklahomans are doing in Louisville comes this evening when the announcement is made about the National Officer selection process. The field of possible officer candidates will be trimmed in half- and from there- the Nominating Committee will select the six national officers that will be introduced this coming Saturday afternoon.  Logan Johns of Morrison FFA is the National Officer Candidate representing Oklahoma this year- we wish him the best as we hope to hear his name called tonight- a prelude to hearing his name called on Saturday.

We remind you that our coverage from the 2015 National FFA Convention is brought to you by ITC- we are your Energy Superhighway- and also by the Oklahoma FFA Alumni and the Oklahoma FFA Association. 

For the first time, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) included in a report on agents causing cancer the relative risk of getting the disease, a significant development, according to numerous observers at a recent meeting of the group.


The World Health Organization agency at an Oct. 6-13 meeting in Lyon, France, concluded that the relative risk of contracting cancer from consuming red or processed meat is low. It did classify processed meat as a cause of colorectal cancer and a possible cause of gastric cancer and red meat as a probable cause of colorectal cancer and a possible cause of pancreatic and prostate cancer. IARC previously has classified as carcinogens such things as sunlight, alcoholic beverages and being a barber.


"You know, my mother used to say, 'Everything in moderation,'" said National Pork Producers Council President Dr. Ron Prestage, a veterinarian and pork producer from Camden, S.C. "She was a very smart woman, and the smart people out there know you don't eat a pound of anything every day. So take this IARC report with a grain of salt, but not too much salt because that would be bad for you."


The IARC classifications on meat, said NPPC, were reached after including studies that did not have statistically significant results, meaning the conclusions are questionable. In fact, IARC's conclusions were based on "relatively weak statistical associations from epidemiological studies that were not designed to show cause and effect." In many of the studies, cancer risks were only associated with high levels of consumption.  Click here to read more about the review of epidemiological studies on cancer and meat.

The nation's corn, soybean and sorghum harvest continues to push ahead of the five-year average. On Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported the nation's corn harvest was 75 percent complete. That's eight points ahead of average. Soybean harvest has reached 87 percent complete. That's seven points ahead of average. Sorghum was 71 percent harvested. That's ten points ahead of average. Peanuts were 58 percent harvested. That's nine points behind average. Cotton harvest was 42 percent complete. That's near the five-year average.


This was the first week USDA has rated the condition of the nation's winter wheat crop. This year's crop doesn't look as good as a year ago. Nationally, the winter wheat crop was rated 47 percent in good to excellent condition, 39 percent fair and 14 percent poor to very poor. That's well behind last year's crop condition of 59 percent good to excellent, 34 percent fair and seven percent poor to very poor. The nation's winter wheat crop was 83 percent planted. That's two points behind average. Sixty-two percent of the crop has emerged. That's in line with the five-year average. Click here for the full National Crop Progress report.

Click here for the full Oklahoma report.

Click here for the full Texas report.

Click here for the full Kansas report.

The U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Monday announced that beginning today, nearly one half of the 1.7 million farms that signed up for either the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) or Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs will receive safety-net payments for the 2014 crop year. 

Unlike the old direct payments program, which paid farmers in good years and bad, the 2014 Farm Bill authorized a new safety-net that protects producers only when market forces or adverse weather cause unexpected drops in crop prices or revenues," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "For example, the corn price for 2014 is 30 percent below the historical benchmark price used by the ARC-County program, and revenues of the farms participating in the ARC-County program are down by about $20 billion from the benchmark during the same period. The nearly $4 billion provided today by the ARC and PLC safety-net programs will give assistance to producers where revenues dropped below normal


The ARC/PLC programs primarily allow producers to continue to produce for the market by making payments on a percentage of historical base production, limiting the impact on production decisions.  Nationwide, 96 percent of soybean farms, 91 percent of corn farms, and 66 percent of wheat farms elected the ARC-County coverage option. Ninety-nine percent of long grain rice and peanut farms, and 94 percent of medium grain rice farms elected the PLC option. Overall, 76 percent of participating farm acres are protected by ARC-County, 23 percent by PLC, and 1 percent by ARC-Individual. For data about other crops, as well as state-by-state program election results, final PLC price and payment data, and other program information including frequently asked questions, visit www.fsa.usda.gov/arc-plc.


Crops receiving assistance include barley, corn, grain sorghum, lentils, oats, peanuts, dry peas, soybeans, and wheat.  In the upcoming months, disbursements will be made for other crops after marketing year average prices are published by USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service.  Click here to read more.

It is called America's Greatest Homecoming- but this past Saturday morning will always be remembered as one of the saddest Homecoming Saturdays ever in Stillwater.

The lives of four people ended in a moment- many others injured and a lot more wondering what if we had stayed in that spot for a few moments longer.

I have at least a couple of dear friends in that last category- and agriculture lost one of the early founders of the Oklahoma Mesonet when that car came crashing into the crowd of people watching the Homecoming parade.

Courtesy of our friend Gary McManus- he shares a few details of the live of Dr. Marvin Stone- as well as the life of his wife Bonnie. Both died on the scene Saturday morning.

One of the most economically important diseases is foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), a severe, highly contagious viral disease that can cause illness in animals with divided hooves, such as cows, pigs, sheep, goats and deer, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Although it is not a human health or food safety threat, FMD could lead to significant economic losses from depopulation of infected or potentially infected livestock and trade shutdowns.


While FMD has been found in some parts of the world, North America, Central America, Australia, New Zealand, Chile and many European countries do not have the disease, according to APHIS, but the potential for the disease exists globally. Simulation models can help prepare for potential outbreaks, such as the one used in recent research led by Dustin Pendell, a Kansas State University agricultural economist who specializes in animal health economics.  Pendell used output from FMD spread models to examine the economic impact of an outbreak under 15 different emergency vaccination strategies in the U.S. Midwest. The models included economic linkages from different species of livestock and crop production all the way to the final consumer, including international trade partners.


If a FMD outbreak were to occur in this region and no emergency vaccination program was implemented, the research found estimated losses to producers and consumers at approximately $188 billion and additional government losses at $11 billion due to controlling livestock movement and depopulating infected livestock.

Click here to read more about this study, including how an emergency vaccination program could reduce the economic impact.