Senate Approves Farm Bill Reform with Broad Bipartisan Support 

The U.S. Senate voted to approve the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012, a bipartisan Farm Bill authored by Senator Debbie Stabenow, Chairwoman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, and Ranking Member Senator Pat Roberts. The bill was approved with broad bipartisan support, on a vote of 64-35. The bill, which saves taxpayers more than $23 billion, represents the most significant reform of American agriculture policy in decades.

The bill reforms food and agricultural policy by eliminating direct payments and emphasizing the need to strengthen risk management tools for farmers, saving billions of dollars. Overall, the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012 will reduce the deficit by more than $23 billion dollars by eliminating unnecessary subsidies, consolidating programs to end duplication, and confronting misuse in food assistance programs. These reforms allow for the strengthening of key initiatives that help farmers and small businesses reach new markets and create American jobs.

"This Farm Bill is the most significant reform to farm programs in decades-it cuts spending, ends subsidies, improves accountability and strengthens healthy food systems," Stabenow said.  "This bill was developed through bipartisan collaboration, passed committee with broad bipartisan support, and we have now passed a bipartisan bill that supports 16 million American jobs. It is heartening to earn support from both sides on a major bill that cuts spending and helps create jobs. Passage of this bill shows that when people come together, Congress can still get big things done."  

You can read more about the specifics of the 2012 Farm Bill passed by the Senate by clicking here.

Capitol Hill and USDA React to Passage of Senate Farm Bill 

Reaction on Capitol Hill came quickly following the Senate's vote on the 2012 Farm Bill. Most statements were supportive that the Senate had acted so quickly to move the process along even if the bill itself could not be supported.  

Both of Oklahoma's senators voted against the bill, but have said they were hopeful the House version would be more to their liking.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas is pleased the Senate has finished the bill and said his committee will mark up their version of farm policy beginning on Wednesday, July 11th.

Click on the names below to read further comments about the Senate's passage of the Farm Bill:

Representative Frank Lucas

Senator Jim Inhofe

Representative Collin Peterson

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack

Ag Groups Glad Farm Bill Clears Senate Hurdle

Most of the major farm groups expressed their appreciation that the Senate was able to complete action on the Farm Bill so quickly.  As you might imagine, some groups were more pleased than others with the bill's contents.  Most were confident the House version would address some of their concerns.

A good example of that hope was seen in the statement from the National Cotton Council as they looked to improvements for southern crops  to come from the House Ag Committee and Cotton Belt Lawmakers. 

Click on the name of the group to read their full statement:

American Farm Bureau Federation 

American Farmland Trust 

Dairy Farmers of America 

Environmental Defense Fund 

Environmental Working Group 

National Association of Conservation Districts 

National Cattlemen's Beef Association 

National Corn Growers Association 

National Council of Farmers Cooperatives 

National Farmers Union 

National Cotton Council   

June and July Provide Great Opportunities to Promote Benefits of Dairy, Allen Says

June is National Dairy Month and it is an opportunity to "celebrate your local dairy farmer and remind consumers that they need to get three servings of dairy every day. And some great ways to do that are with milk, cheese and yogurt," says Susan Allen of Dairy Max.

Allen visited with us recently and says another important observation comes in July.

"Of course, next month is our favorite celebration, National Ice Cream Month. Ice cream is a good summer time treat that we all love."

These are just two of the events that Dairy Max promotes in its capacity of speaking for the dairy industry.

Allen has a lot to more to say and you can catch her conversation with us on "In the Field" by clicking here.

White House Opposes House Version of Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA and Related Agencies Bill

The White House released a statement outlining its strong opposition to H.R. 5973, the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. The statement outlines cuts in spending which are unacceptable to the administration.

The statement threatened a veto by the President if the final bill does not include changes in a number of areas.  Among the programs the Obama administration wants funding restored to are the WIC program, rural development, grants funding, renewable energy, and international food aid. 

Click here to read more about the specific changes the Obama administration wants to make in this bill.

Kim Anderson Explains Why Wheat Prices are Climbing Just After Harvest

Wheat prices are on the rise, not the usual state of affairs just after harvest. Kim Anderson, OSU's small grain marketing specialist, says there are a number of factors pushing prices higher.

"One is the spring wheat area. They're getting too much rain. That rain is lowering the yield expectations. Spring wheat stocks are already ten percent below last year's level and they were already looking at a relatively good crop to offset some of those.

"You've got the corn production-rather than too much rain, they're not getting enough moisture over a large part of the corn area. The market is again lowering production expectations.   Corn prices have been going up supporting wheat prices."

The financial crisis in Greece is "the joker in the deck," Anderson says, and is affecting market volatility.

We have a preview of Kim Anderson's comments on this weekend's SUNUP program along with the full lineup for the show on our website.  Click here to go there.

This N That- Beef Buzzing with Colin Woodall, Cattle on Feed Cometh and CanolaTV Correction

One of the agricultural groups that seem to be as happy as anyone with the work of the Senate this week in crafting their version of the 2012 Farm Bill is the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.   Lead lobbyist for the group in Washington is Colin Woodall- and we talked with him on Thursday afternoon- he tells us it's all about what is NOT in the Farm Bill passed by the Senate.  

NCBA said all along that their number one goal for the 2012 Farm Bill was to have NO Livestock Title- and they achieved that goal in the body that got it included in the 2008 farm law. The cattle organization is also delighted that two amendments Woodall called "dealbreakers" were not even allowed to be debated and voted as a part of the 73 amendments that were brought forward. Those amendments were a ban on packer ownership and the HSUS-UEP egg bill. Click here for our Friday Beef Buzz which features some of our conversation with Woodall on this bipartisan measure.  

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Cattle on Feed numbers will be released by USDA this afternoon at 2 PM central time.  One of the analysts that has offered up a pre report guess is Rich Nelson with Allendale. Nelson tells us that they expect May Placements to be 13.8% higher than last year. Dry weather in the Plains in May brought a few extra cattle to the feedlots. There are two issues to keep in mind with this placement number. 1) This is a comparison to May of 2011. Last year's May placement was a low number. 2) This year's May held one more weekday than May of last year. That skewed numbers artificially high.

Allendale anticipates a Marketing total 5.0% higher than May of 2011. Much of this came from the additional weekday in this year's May compared with last year.

If Allendale nails the USDA number- Total Cattle on Feed as of June 1 will be 0.3% higher than last year. This is a slight increase from the 0.6% decline vs. last year reported last month.

We will have details of the actual report on Friday afternoon on our website- go to OklahomaFarmReport.Com and check it out.  

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Finally, we wanted to mention one small correction to the CanolaTV story that was in yesterday's email- we reported that seven counties in Oklahoma have canola listed as an insurable crop- the actual number is ten.  Check with your crop insurance agent to see if you are in a county that has canola as a listed crop or not- if you are not- you definitely need to watch our CanolaTV segment with Bambi Sidwell on their efforts to get a written request to RMA as soon as possible this summer for their clients.  Click here to check out this episode of CanolaTV, a service of the great folks at PCOM.