President Elect Donald Trump has wasted little time in assembling his team at the Cabinet level when he takes the oath of office on January 20, 2024. And- apparently- things have heated up in his choice for Secretary of Agriculture. That has led to a dark horse candidate gaining traction and has interviewed for the office- Jimmy Emmons of Leedey, Oklahoma.

Emmons tells Senior Farm and Ranch broadcaster with the Oklahoma Farm Report, Ron Hays, that he had been in discussions with the Trump Transition team and the Kennedy Transition Team about an under secretary USDA position in recent days-but late this past week- he tells Hays he was asked to consider "upping the game" and submit his name for Secretary- and has been working in that direction since Thursday afternoon.

Emmons says “the (incoming) administration of Donald Trump and Robert Kennedy, Jr are trying to change the way we look at farming and practices to make the soil healthy and land healthy and to make the food healthy to make our bodies healthy- and what I have been working on these last several years have put me in that arena.” He adds that he has been in negotiations- has been interviewed and he says “things are moving along. We’re excited- nothing is done until it’s done and we don’t want to be over optimistic but things look well and we are waiting for the next step.”

Emmons does believe that we are close to hearing about who might be Donald Trump’s Secretary of Agriculture- and he says no matter who might be chosen- it has been an honor to have been in consideration. As of late Sunday evening- Emmons indicates there is nothing to update.

The Oklahoma Wheat Commission promotes greater use of wheat in domestic and international markets through research, market development and public education.

Our Commissioners develop policy and programs, direct the funding, represent producer interests and, of course, promote Oklahoma wheat!

Learn more about the Oklahoma Wheat Commission by clicking here for their website.

Senate Ag Committee Chair Stabenow to Release Her Farm Bill Text THIS MORNING

According to Politico- "Senate Ag Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) is planning to release the text of her own farm bill legislation after months of impasse in the talks with Republicans, according to three people familiar with the plans.

"Stabenow held a virtual meeting with Democrats on the Senate Agriculture Committee on Sunday evening and told them she plans to release the text Monday morning, according to the three people.

"The move appears to be an effort to spark some movement in the talks, or at least force a floor vote on the legislation, even if lawmakers ultimately decide instead to add a one-year farm bill extension to a year-end funding package."

The House Ag Committee has already marked up and passed GT Thompson's farm bill- and Stabenow's text will at least give us an idea of how far apart the two sides are as they search for ways to pull off a Farm Bill miracle and pass a full fledged bill in the Lame Duck ahead of the GOP's Trifecta of holding the White House, the Senate and the House in 2025. (See the Beef Buzz story below with Ethan Lane as he talks about maybe- just maybe Chairman Stabenow being willing to talk- prophetic talk!)

While attending the National Association of Farm Broadcasters Convention, Farm Director KC Sheperd spoke to the Associate Administrator of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, Joe Prusacki, about current events in the organization.

Early this year, the 2022 Census of Agriculture was released to provide comprehensive data on the agricultural economy down to the county level. Since its release, State and County Profiles, Congressional Districts, and Zip Code Tabulations have also been released.

Coming up in the spring of 2025, the Agricultural Resource Management (ARM) Survey will be released which NASS partners with the Economic Research Service to conduct. The survey’s goal is to gauge the economic health of the farmer, but this year, it will be different. In conjunction with the Census of Agriculture, it will be called the Tenure Ownership And Transition of Agricultural Lands (TOTAL) Survey.

“The idea is that normally, we collect information from producers, but a lot of producers rent land,” Prusacki explained. “What we do with this TOTAL Survey is collect information from the landlords because, in many cases, there are contributions to the farming entity from landlords that are not necessarily captured in any other place. It’s been ten years since we last did this, and it gives us a snapshot of the landlord and operator relationship.”

NCBA’s Ethan Lane talks Lame Duck and 2025 Priorities

Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, spoke with the Vice President of Governmental Affairs at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Ethan Lane about what needs to happen in the lame duck session. In an earlier BeefBuzz, they talked about the impacts of Trump’s popular vote on the cattle industry.

Hays explained that, in congressional terms, a lame duck session is the period of time between the November election and the reorganization of Congress in early January of the next year. Lane listed the unfinished items of business as the farm bill.

“If I am a Democrat in the House or Senate, my prospects for a reasonable farm bill don’t get better next year,” Lane said. “They were steadfastly refusing to talk about anything to do with G.T. Thompson’s bill up until now, but I would be shocked if there wasn’t just a little more interest in a lame duck conversation on getting that bill moved.”

Lane admitted that he isn’t sure if there is enough bandwidth to get that done in the lame duck session, but the resolutions of leadership changes, such as Senator John Thune’s election as Senate Majority Leader, clears things up for greater progress of such issues.

At the National Association of Farm Broadcasters Convention, Farm Director KC Sheperd visited with Ian Loar at the Farmer’s Business Network’s booth. FBN is celebrating its tenth year of business.

“We deliver crop production inputs, lending solutions, sustainable grain marketing, and risk management solutions for farmers,” Loar stated. “We are up to a hundred thousand members now.”

FBN’s 8th Annual Cyber Sale kicked off this month and offers zero percent interest on input purchases.

“At FBN, we have a history of providing a tremendous amount of transparency regarding pricing in the marketplace and input trends,” Loar added. “This year, crop protection pricing is back to all-time lows, and looking forward into 2025, there is some uncertainty on the horizon so our advice is to start hedging some of that risk.”

Ten projects totaling $29.8 million for high-speed internet expansion were officially launched Thursday afternoon in Coalgate in southeastern Oklahoma by the Oklahoma Broadband Office (OBO) and Chisholm Broadband. 

The projects, funded through $23.8 million in federal grants administered by the OBO coupled with $6 million in matching funds from Chisholm, will connect 2,046 homes and businesses with broadband internet using fixed wireless service. The award from ARPA State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) was made earlier this year by the Oklahoma Broadband Governing Board.

Thursday’s event is but one example of the progress being made statewide to get high-speed internet access to all Oklahomans. The Chisholm projects are in Alfalfa, Beckham, Choctaw, Coal, Grant, Greer, Harmon, Latimer, Major, and Roger Mills counties.

OBO and Chisholm officials, along with local officials and legislators attended the event in Coal County.

A new research laboratory tied to the Oklahoma State University Innovation Foundation is advancing the mission of OSU Ag Research.

OSU Agriculture is responsible for technological discoveries in animal and crop production, 37 wheat varieties resistant to pests and diseases, and 10 turfgrass varieties resistant to drought and freezing. However, the OSU Ag Research lacks certain technologies and resources that would allow it to streamline and speed up research related to human, animal and plant health, an initiative known as One Health.

One such OSU research achievement is DNA sequencing technology used to determine the precise order of nucleotides within a DNA strand. This specific arrangement of DNA nucleotides encodes valuable information about genetic or biological functions. By analyzing these data, scientists can better understand the genetic makeup of an organism and offer insights into how genes influence plant growth and adaptation, which is key to agricultural productivity. 

The One Health Innovation Lab, established at the Innovation Park in Stillwater earlier this year, provides DNA sequencing services to OSU scientists. Until now, the university’s wheat breeding program has outsourced its gene sequencing to external institutions due to a lack of local technology and infrastructure to support such capabilities.

Stormy Morning Bringing More Rainfall Into Oklahoma

Here's your rainfall totals as of a little after 5 AM this morning- I have linked it to the real time graphic on the Mesonet site- I used the 2 day total rainfall graphic which will allow you to see rainfall totals from this current system all day long.

Arnett in Ellis County has already piled up 2.74 inches of rain, while Camargo has just topped the 2 inch mark with this graphic at 5:15 am- rainfall totals will grow in central Oklahoma as it is storming as we write this on this Monday morning. The line in Eastern Oklahoma has lots of one inch plus totals- Vinita reports 1.92 inches of rain this morning.

Stay safe as this system moves across the middle of Oklahoma.