Ag Secretary Visits Oklahoma

Ag Secretary Visits Oklahoma

Last Wednesday morning, I made a mad dash to El Reno to hear and observe the rural forum held by United States Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack. The meeting was held at Redlands Community College and the room was packed. Several Oklahoma legislators were in attendance. Francie Tolle, State Farm Service Agency Director for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and former house member and USDA Field Representative Ryan McMullan were also in attendance at the forum. Folks from all over, representing all different farm organizations, were there to hear the views of Secretary Vilasck, who is a former governor of Iowa. You would think, with Iowa’s farm production, he would be a fairly agricultural guy. Several questions were posed by the audience and everyone was extremely polite. Like we talked about last week, the rank of the position alone should be respected.

I sensed that Secretary Vilsack’s views might be a little bit different than many of us here in Oklahoma. Particularly disturbing to me were his comments on global warming. Even though science says otherwise, he still believes that global warming is a real issue. So while nobody jumped and heckled the secretary of agriculture, I saw a lot of indicators that Oklahomans were not necessarily buying into his theory. The thought that agriculture can negatively impact the environment does not sit well with those of us in the business. Now, to Secretary Vilsack’s credit, he is appointed by the Obama administration and I feel that maybe his remarks were carefully thought out so as not to inflame the people who put him in his position. It makes you wonder if he really believes in what he is saying.

All in all, the meeting went fairly well. And again, folks were polite. But, it does give me a slight hesitation to think that the current head of agriculture for the entire country buys into the global warming theory. One positive thing is that we did get a visit from a national figure and relationships were formed. At least there is now an open line of communication, which is a very good thing. Secretary Vilsack has now been face-to-face with Francie Tolle, who is from a farm family in northwest Oklahoma. I truly believe that with her agricultural background and a direct line to the top, she at least has a chance to tell Oklahoma’s story when the time comes. So, the meeting was definitely not a waste. At least we know that the lady in charge of our state USDA now has a direct link.

As this article is being written, we are heading to the first stop of the water tour that we spoke of last week. It is interesting that my goal was to show urban legislators and the speaker of the house how dry it can get down here in southwest Oklahoma. Ironically enough, we have had a huge rain in the past week. However, I will take the rain over a tour any day of the week. And, I still think that we can show those folks what they need to see. Hopefully by this time next week we will be able to tell you some of the reactions of the folks from all different parts of the state. Next week, we will talk more about what was learned on the tour.

If you would like to contact me while I am at the Capitol, please do not hesitate to call
1-800-522-8502 or send an e-mail to donarmes@okhouse.gov.

And here’s a little something to think about as you go down the road:

“It is a thousand times better to have common sense without education than to have education without common sense.” - Robert Green Ingersoll