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
Right to farm stays on November ballot, high court rules:
A state question seeking to enshrine the rights of farmers and ranchers in the state Constitution will stay on the ballot, according to an opinion released Monday by the Oklahoma Supreme Court [Tulsa World].
Harsh rhetoric, funding gap shape right-to-farm campaign:
StateImpact’s Logan Layden visited with OETA’s Lis Exon for the August 5 edition of Oklahoma News Report, after moderating a panel discussion on State Question 777 for the Oklahoma Policy Institute earlier in the week [StateImpact Oklahoma].
STATE
State question on farming methods to stay on ballot, Oklahoma Supreme Court rules:
The Oklahoma Supreme Court has upheld a lower court decision allowing the proposal on regulating farming methods to remain on the November ballot [The Oklahoman].
Oklahoma isn’t alone with challenging budget issues:
In recent years, critics have noted Oklahoma’s state government budget has increasingly relied on one-time funds as an ever-smaller share of money is run through the formal state appropriation process. A recent article in Governing magazine shows Oklahoma isn’t alone in that dubious category [The Oklahoman].
Special interest money fueled Oklahoma lawmakers’ campaigns:
Oklahoma’s five U.S. House members collected more than $345,000 from special interest groups in the last three weeks of June, tapping energy companies, defense contractors, the health care industry and many others to fund their Republican primary campaigns [The Oklahoman].
FEDERAL
Donald Trump adopts GOP tax cuts, but balks at trade pacts:
Donald J. Trump sought on Monday to move beyond a week of turmoil, using a major policy address to cast himself as a president who could bring new jobs and prosperity and warning that his rival, Hillary Clinton, would be a steward of stagnation [New York Times].
Grassroots democrats are making the TPP a big issue in congressional races:
Trade policy in general—and the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement in particular—has become a vital concern for Democrats up and down the ballot. Just ask Wisconsin Congressman Ron Kind, one of the few congressional Democrats who continue to make arguments for agreements such as the TPP [The Nation].
Big agriculture choking our waterways:
It is imperative that state and federal leaders stop bowing to industry pressure and start enforcing our clean water laws. Clean water and agriculture can go hand-in-hand, but not if we continue to allow agribusiness to pollute our nation’s water with impunity [Sun-Sentinel].
South Korea lifts ban on US wheat:
South Korea has lifted its hold on stores of U.S. wheat after testing the grain for the presence of unapproved genetically modified organisms, U.S. government and industry officials said. South Korea and Japan slapped restrictions on U.S. wheat after farmer recently discovered 22 unapproved genetically modified wheat plants growing in a field in Washington state [Agri-Pulse].
MISCELLANEOUS
The urban-rural divide: Deep roots in American history:
Anyone observing America’s ongoing culture wars, especially as they surface in the current presidential election cycle, is forcefully reminded that we are not a country divided by red and blue states; it’s an urban-rural divide that represents the political and cultural fault lines in the nation [Huffington Post].
N.D. ag commissioner takes aim at animal cruelty training for law enforcement:
North Dakota’s top agriculture official warned Monday that training provided by the Humane Society of the United States on how to handle animal cruelty cases poses a threat to the state’s livestock industry, but an HSUS spokesman said that’s untrue and trainers are only going where invited [Grand Forks Herald].
