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
Inhofe touts right to farm:
U.S. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Tulsa) paid a visit to Altus on Wednesday to meet with local farmers and policymakers concerning State Question 777, Oklahoma’s Right to Farm Amendment that will be on the ballot Nov. 8 [Altus Times].
SQ 777 will guarantee great products (letter to the editor):
If you want to keep having great beef, pork, chicken, turkey, bread, cakes, pecan pies, strawberries, peaches, watermelons and other great and safe food produced here in Oklahoma, vote yes on SQ 777 Nov. 8 [Tulsa World].
Group that studied Nebraska’s right to farm statute recommends constitutional amendment:
Just months after the Legislature’s Agriculture Committee nixed a proposed constitutional amendment for the right to farm, a group charged with studying the current law recommended the state indeed adopt a constitutional amendment to protects the rights of farmers [KTIC Radio].
FEDERAL
Obama lifts shipping restrictions on poultry exports to Cuba (audio):
Another measure lifts shipping restrictions that have hindered the U.S. poultry industry as exports rise to the island nation. Up until today, foreign-owned ships could not return to a U.S. port for 180 days after docking at a Cuban port, often complicating sales to the island nation that is just 90 miles off the U.S. coast [Agri-Pulse].
EPA postpones scientific review of glyphosate:
The Environmental Protection Agency has postponed its scientific review of the carcinogenicity of glyphosate in order to get “additional expertise in epidemiology” [Agri-Pulse].
MISCELLANEOUS
After ho-hum year for state political contests, 2018 will be “transformational”:
Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb will run for governor in 2018 and be the heavy favorite. Attorney General Scott Pruitt will either run against Lamb or try again for a seat in Congress. And a long list of current and would-be officeholders will try to replace Lamb and Pruitt. Those are the predictions of Oklahoma political experts polled by The Oklahoman with the promise of anonymity [The Oklahoman].
Oil baron behind opposition to farm animal cage ban:
Now the 74-year-old is turning his attention to Massachusetts, where he is helping fund an 11th-hour effort to defeat a ballot question that would ban the use of cage confinement for farm animals and retail sales of eggs and meat produced by them [Eagle Tribune].
