Members of Governor Kevin Stitt’s Cabinet proceed to make common visits to the nation’s capital, on the governor’s urging, to satisfy with their federal counterparts and do their greatest to reap the benefits of accessible federal assets. Oklahoma’s Secretary of Agriculture, Blayne Arthur, is the newest to spend a couple of days in Washington.
It was a busy couple of days for Secretary Arthur on the finish of final week: she was tapped by USDA to be a presenter at its 99th annual Agricultural Outlook Forum and, as would be the case with any go to to D.C. this 12 months, there was dialogue of the 2023 Farm Bill.
“It is a Farm Bill year,” Arthur stated in an interview Friday, “and folks on the Hill are telling us that they’re going to get it done this year…we’ll see.”
Secretary Arthur stated the method can be difficult and Oklahoma farmers and ranchers are lucky to have their very own Frank Lucas again on the House Agriculture Committee.
“He is well respected, I think, by anyone that you will talk to,” stated Secretary Arthur, “especially when you talk about ag issues, he’s very knowledgeable, very steady, very level.”
Strengthening the protection internet via improved crop insurance coverage is a excessive precedence for this once-every-five-year piece of laws, however the hovering worth of eggs as a consequence of Avian Flu, Arthur stated, factors to a different precedence — the necessity for extra massive animal veterinarians.
“And we need the resources to make that happen because it has taken up a lot of time and energy, sometimes, from other programs as we’ve responded to the animal health challenges,” Arthur defined.
The 2023 Farm Bill might additionally increase help for impartial meat processors, a topic Arthur is aware of one thing about and addressed on the USDA discussion board on Friday.
“We certainly think that was a success in 2020,” she acknowledged. “We utilized CARES [Act] dollars to expand Oklahoma’s small and medium-sized meat processors.”
Arthur stated it was additionally crucial that the Legislature then supplied further funding to extend the variety of state meat inspectors.
“We have so many great stories of someone saying now, ‘I buy my beef directly from, you know, this beef producer, and that’s what I want, and I like the product’ and they’ve developed a relationship,” Arthur stated, “and that’s good for everyone on both sides of it.”
Bolstering impartial meat processors nationally isn’t solely a objective of agriculture leaders like Secretary Arthur, however of the Biden administration, as properly, as that might, in principle, assist stabilize and even cut back meat costs.
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