OKAgPolicy Today is a morning email containing the day’s top agriculture and policy headlines. The inclusion of a particular story does not equal an endorsement. Subscribe to the email here.
TOP HEADLINES
Tone matters to those who cast votes (editorial):
Tuesday’s runoff elections in Oklahoma cleared the way for the November general elections, and left a few impressions. To wit: Tone matters [The Oklahoman].
Gods, guns and survival, deep in the heart of the Dust Bowl:
The familiar narrative of small town America: jobs drying up, young people leaving, aging population—holds true in Boise City. Agriculture and ranching are still the largest industries but family farms and ranches have dwindled. There is fierce pride here, devotion to the land, loyalty to community. But underneath runs a current of anxiety, a heels-in-the-dirt resistance to change, a fear that Boise City will lose itself [Literary Hub].
STATE
What this panhandle county tells us about the future of Oklahoma:
The average Oklahoman probably doesn’t know much about Texas County, OK (other than that it is next to Texas). Yet this small panhandle county could be a glimpse of the state’s future [Oklahoma Policy Institute].
Tax to fund a water pipeline passes:
Enid residents have approved a sales tax increase to fund a water pipeline from Kaw Lake. Preliminary election results Tuesday show the proposition for a new three-quarter percent tax, and the extension of an existing one-quarter percent tax passed 4,304-1,994, or 68.34 percent, in favor [Enid News].
DHS forced to make changes to SNAP program due to budget cuts:
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as SNAP, is changing the way it replaces cards. Cards were available immediately, but now cards have to be provided through a third party, delaying them for a week [Fox 25].
New Oklahoma tag hits sour note (opinion):
The new Oklahoma license plate design is our state’s New Coke. No one likes it. There was no need to change it [Tulsa World].
ELECTIONS
Rural-urban voters’ false dichotomy:
A recent wave of political stories seeks to explain the “rural” appeal of presidential candidate Donald Trump. But the analysis is marred by a fuzzy and often flat-out wrong definition of rural. Rural voters trend Republican, but in 2014, so did all voters except those in the largest metro areas [Daily Yonder].
Clinton, Trump supporters have starkly different views of a changing nation:
More than half of Clinton supporters (55%) view the TPP as a good thing for the United States, while most Trump supporters (58%) view the proposed trade deal as a bad thing [Pew Research Center].
Trump ‘softening’ on immigration? Many of his supporters don’t seem to mind:
Trump has been signaling for days that he might be open to a “softening” of one of his most extreme immigration positions and no longer call for the deportation of an estimated 11 million immigrants who are living in the United States illegally [Washington Post].
MISCELLANEOUS
U.S. approval of Syngenta deal brings GMO food a step closer to China:
The deal has arguably been more controversial in China: Syngenta has pioneered the manufacture of genetically modified (GMO) crops, and ChemChina’s interest is seen as spurred by the Beijing government eyeing Syngenta’s valuable GMO-seed patents. However, the Chinese public remains vehemently against GMO [Time].
