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.
Right to Farm was right for Oklahoma, AG Pruitt says
Though State Question 777, the Right to Farm, was rejected by Oklahoma voters, Attorney General Scott Pruitt – speaking Friday at the 2016 Oklahoma Farm Bureau Annual Meeting in Oklahoma City – applauded farmers and ranchers for standing up for themselves. “It was right to take the risk,” Pruitt said. “It was right to advance (SQ 777) because there are out-of-state interests that try to come in and dictate farming and ranching practices that we need to be on guard against” [OKAgPolicy].
TOP HEADLINES
Vilsack: Ballot issues show need for ag literacy:
After a couple of ballot issues went against the will of many in agriculture, the country’s top ag official say the industry should take some responsibility [Agri-Pulse].
President Obama says pulling US out of trade deals a tough task:
The president, in an afternoon press conference, warned that pulling the United States out of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) could unravel vital alliances and damage the U.S. economy [The Hill].
FEDERAL
20 things Donald Trump said he wanted to get rid of as president:
Here are some of the parts of the government that Donald J. Trump promised to dismantle if elected [New York Times].
Time spent negotiating TPP wasn’t wasted:
The immediate future of the TPP may look dim, at least in the United States, but U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady both maintain that aspects of it — if not the deal itself — can and should be preserved and revived later on down the road [Politico].
Harold Hamm on shortlist for Trump’s energy secretary:
Those under consideration for energy secretary include Harold Hamm, an Oklahoma oil tycoon and leading proponent of fracking, and North Dakota Rep. Kevin Cramer, an early Trump supporter from a major oil drilling state [AP].
Local bankers hope Trump unwinds Dodd-Frank:
Oklahoma bankers are pleased that President-elect Donald Trump wants to reduce industry oversight under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, but others in finance are undecided about how much needs to be done [Journal Record].
MISCELLANEOUS
Republicans dominate the Oklahoma Legislature, but can they get along?:
But the question will be whether GOP lawmakers can form a consensus around priorities important to Republican Gov. Mary Fallin like a tobacco tax, a teacher raise, school administrative consolidation, school vouchers and broadened state sales and use taxes [The Oklahoman].
GMO crops headed for ban in Sonoma County:
Sonoma County voters appear to have banned genetically modified crops in unincorporated areas of the county, approving Measure M by a margin of 56-44 percent in unofficial results [KQED].
Democrats turned their backs on rural America:
The crushing defeat that Donald Trump delivered to the Democrats, mostly from a beat down in the boondocks, has many in my party asking if they should even bother trying to woo white working class and rural voters anymore. The thinking among coastal elites is that with coming demographic changes in the years ahead, the “coalition of the ascendant” that powered Barack Obama to the White House will turn red states blue. This mindset is deeply flawed [Daily Yonder].
