Howdy Neighbors!

Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. We are proud to welcome Big Iron Unreserved Online Auctions as our newest sponsor of the daily Email. Their next auction is this Wednesday, May 12- featuring Low Hour, Farmer Owned Equipment. Click here for their website to learn more about their Online Farm Equipment Auctions.

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Back to the 2010 wheat production numbers- The Oklahoma Crop Estimate is well under the average guess made just last week by wheat crop tour scouts across Oklahoma. The USDA estimates that Oklahoma will produce 128.7 million bushels in 2010, with the same average yield per acre that the crop scouts came up with- 33 bushels per acre. The difference for Oklahoma comes in the expected number of acres that will be harvested- the tour of last week estimated harvested acres would be 4.2 million acres, while USDA expects just 3.9 million acres to be combined in Oklahoma this season. If realized, the 128.7 million bushels would be a 66% larger crop here in 2010 than in 2009, when we harvested just 77 million bushels- and much of it was of a low quality. Perhaps the difference that USDA is counting on versus what the crop scouts considered is how many acres of wheat will be grazed out this year- because of strong cattle prices and poor wheat prices.

In Kansas, USDA is slightly more optimistic than the Wheat Quality Tour that just concluded last week, with an estimate of 344 .4 million bushels of production seen in Kansas this year- versus the 333 million bushels projected by the average tour guess. USDA expects 42 bushels an acre with harvested acres expected to come in at 8.2 million acres in 2010.
The USDA is also very optimistic about the Texas wheat crop- predicting a 122 million bushel crop this year, versus 61 million bushels harvested in 2009.

Click on the link below for more on the Crop Production and the Supply Demand Reports of Tuesday- we have audio comments on our website at the link below from Tom Leffler of Leffler Commodities on both reports. We also have links to the actual reports from the USDA .

Click here for more on the USDA Reports from Tuesday- Crop Production and Supply Demand.

"USDA put out its first estimate of the size of this year's corn crop today, and not surprisingly, it projects an all-time record 13.4 billion bushels of corn.
In fact, much of the report was as expected. Over the past two generations, corn farmers have shown an amazing ability to produce more grains - corn included - per acre of land. In 2010, that trend shows no sign of slowing.
Still, the numbers that USDA is projecting are quite impressive and go a long way towards putting an end to the food fight between corporate livestock interests and American farmers and ethanol producers.

"While corn for ethanol use continues to grow, so too do exports of both corn and DDGS. All of this increase in use comes simultaneously with a growth in year-end surpluses, demonstrating that there are ample supplies of corn available for feed and fuel use with nearly 2 billion of bushels to spare."

RFA adds this "dig" at the livestock industry- "Without ethanol production, rapidly growing supplies of corn would overburden the market, bottom out prices and force the federal government to spend billions in farm program payments. This may be the goal of the American Meat Institute and the Grocery Manufacturers of America, but it would be devastating to rural America."

Click here for the complete text of the email we received from RFA on the size of the 2010 corn crop and what it means for the feed vs fuel debate.

Here are the comments from Oklahoma Congressman Lucas: "Exports are critical to the vitality of rural America because they add much needed capital in rural communities for reinvestment and economic development. American farmers and ranchers work hard to produce an abundant supply of food and fiber for the U.S. and the world, which is evident by the fact that the agricultural industry has historically maintained a trade surplus. However, American farmers and ranchers lose economic opportunities every day that Congress fails to pass the Colombian free trade agreement. This report shows in one year, from 2008 to 2009, our farmers lost over $800 million in market access in Colombia. If the President is serious about developing the rural economy, there is no better place to start than by allowing our farmers and ranchers to benefit from the access we have already negotiated for their products, which provides an opportunity for them to reinvest in their own communities."

You can read the thoughts of Congressmen Camp and Brady as well by clicking on the link below. We also have on our website the link to the study that the House Republicans have produced about the ramifications of not getting these FTAs ratified and in place.

Click here for more on the House Republican Call for Action on the FTAs with Columbia, Panama and Korea.

OALP has been recognized as one of Oklahoma's top leadership programs for emerging agricultural leaders. The program is open to Oklahoma men and women between the ages of 25 and 50 who are engaged in production agriculture or a related agricultural business.
Applications for OALP's Class XV are available online- click here to jump to their website. The deadline for submitting an application and letters of reference is May 18.

Click on our link below for a story that we wrote a couple of weeks ago about the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program that features a conversation we had with Scott Neufeld of Fairview about the program. Scott is a graduate of the most recent class that has finished up the OALP experience- Class 14.

Click here for more information about the OALP- Time to Apply is NOW.

Which strategy yielded the most extra pounds per calf? And which strategy gives you the most bang per deworming buck?
Dr. Selk says that you get the most extra pounds of calf to sell when you deworm both the cow and calf- but probably not enough to justify deworming the Mama and her calf. Deworming just the calf is probably the way to stretch your dollars the most- but that does not take into consideration the benefits of a healthier mama cow and perhaps a better body condition score when it comes time to rebreed her.

Click on the link below to hear Dr. Selk with his analysis of this research- and some take-aways from it for cow-calf operations of all sizes.

Click here for our Wednesday Beef Buzz featuring the wisdom of Dr. Glenn Selk

In sifting through the National Weather Service data, the current system in the state may have the best potential anytime soon of yielding measurable rain to these counties. Storms could develop today or early this evening in this region- and some of those storms may become severe. However, they could also yield some heavy rains- just what the Doctor has ordered for the wheat crop that is looking rather blue from drought stress in that region.

There's another chance of rain at the end of the week- but the forecast discussion seems to indicate that southwestern and central counties have the better chances of rain at that point. And- the NWS is now saying the Upper Level Trough now over the Rockies that has brought rain chances into Oklahoma will be moving east by the beginning or next week- and that means chances of rain next week will be sliding lower.

Many states tax highly sweetened food and beverages as a way to discourage their consumption but recent research shows those tax rates on soda have had a relatively small impact on adolescent and adult weights, the report said. Administration officials said the task force suggested studying the impact of state and local taxes to further good nutrition, but there was no proposal for a federal tax on sugary sodas in the report. A higher tax rate would likely have greater impact on consumption "as evidenced by the effects of the substantial rise in tobacco taxes," the report said. (Does that mean to force behavior the way they want it go a $5 tax on a Milky Way?)

The report's recommendations include encouraging the food and beverage industry, the media and the entertainment industry to market healthier foods to children.
Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz said regulation should be a last resort. "We have seen to some extent marketing of healthier foods to kids," he said. "But I also think that a regulatory approach is certainly not where we want to start."
There are important First Amendment concerns and if the government tries to regulate what foods can be marketed, "that would be a matter that would be in litigation for quite some time," Leibowitz said. Instead, he suggested commending companies that are "really stepping up to the plate" and sometimes "shaming companies that aren't doing enough."

Click here for a CBS News piece on the Michelle Obama push to get her view of the world enforced when it comes to Childhood Obesity.

We also invite you to check out our website at the link below to check out an archive of these daily emails, audio reports and top farm news story links from around the globe.

Click here to check out WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com

Here are some links we will leave in place on an ongoing basis- Click on the name of the report to go to that link:
Our Daily Market Wrapup from the Radio Oklahoma Network with Ed Richards and Tom Leffler- analyzing the Futures Markets from the previous Day-
Ron on RON Markets as heard on K101 mornings with cash and futures reviewed- includes where the Cash Cattle market stands, the latest Feeder Cattle Markets Etc.
Previous Day's Wheat Market Recap- Two Pager From The Kansas City Board of Trade looks at all three US Wheat Futures Exchanges with extra info on Hard Red Winter Wheat and the why of that day's market.
Daily Oklahoma Cash Grain Prices- As Reported by the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture. <
The National Daily Feeder & Stocker Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
The National Daily Slaughter Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
Finally, Here is the Daily Volume and Price Summary from the Texas Cattle Feeders Association.