Rep. Tracey Mann (R-KS) has helped introduce legislation to remove the lesser prairie chicken from the Endangered Species List and prohibit its future relisting.
He explains how the listing has impacted his state’s cattle producers.
“I had a farmer in Morton County, which is about as far south and west in Kansas that you can get, who told me that after these regulations went through, somebody spotted a lesser prairie chicken in his pasture,” Rep. Mann said. “He had to immediately remove all of the cattle in that pasture and each of the adjoining measures as well to protect this bird. It just makes no sense at all.”
Mann says that burdensome regulations are unnecessary when rural Americans are already committed to the cause.
“These programs need to be, these efforts need to be bottom-up, producer-driven,” Mann explained. “I’ve never met a farmer, rancher, or ag producer that doesn’t care about the land, doesn’t care deeply about the environment, doesn’t care deeply about their soil. When you really look at the population of the birds, they go up and down based really on rainfall. In years that we drought, which we’ve had some severe droughts the last three or four years, the population goes down, and when the rainfalls up, the population goes up. But these heavy-handed, top-down, burdensome regulations make no sense.”
It is believed that lesser prairie chicken populations today exceed 30,000 animals in five states.
Farm Legal Expert Roger McEowen with the Washburn School of Law joins us to share more about the North Dakota court decsion and the its larger impact on agriculture.
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Fertilizer markets face uncertainty after President Trump raised the possibility of tariffs on Canadian imports, with analysts warning of supply and pricing risks. Josh Linville with StoneX provides a fertilizer industry outlook.
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A new study found that retaining the EPA’s half-RIN credit protects soybean demand, farm income, and crushing-sector strength while preserving biofuel market flexibility.
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Rising federal debt is increasing pressure on Washington to limit spending, which could tighten future funding and delivery for agricultural programs.
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Western Caucus member Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR) details the SPEED Act on Champions of Rural America. The legislation aims to reform NEPA, streamline permitting, and expand domestic energy development.
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“I’m not sure where this bridge goes,” trader Brady Huck with Advanced Trading told RFD-TV News earlier this week.
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The specific provision in the CO₂ storage law allowed the North Dakota Industrial Commission (NDIC) to authorize carbon storage projects to proceed even if they lacked unanimous consent from all affected landowners.
December 11, 2025 04:15 PM
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Experts say flooding the zone with more money could have unintented consequences without opening new markets for planted crops and inputs under significant pressure.
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Julie Callahan was nominated earlier this summer by President Donald Trump, and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told lawmakers she is ready to hit the ground running.
December 11, 2025 11:35 AM
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