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 have KIS Futures as a regular sponsor of our daily email update. KIS Futures provides Oklahoma Farmers & Ranchers with futures & options hedging services in the livestock and grain markets- Click here for the free market quote page they provide us for our website or call them at 1-800-256-2555.

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The OWC reports that the Frederick area is virtually done with harvest- and that the number of acres actually combined this year was somewhat short- lots of abandonment. Quality seemed to be pretty good in and around Frederick of the fields that were cut for grain.
The report from the Rocky area actually indicated some good protein numbers. "Test weights are averaging 61 pounds. Harvest in this area is progressing with producers in the fields cutting this week. Protein levels seem to be doing better in this area; we have had some 12 and 13 percent reports."

Around Kingfisher- "Test weights are averaging 63.5 pounds today. Harvest east of town and east of Okarche is progressing at full speed with 40 to 50 percent of the region cut. Producer yields are ranging from the mid 20's to mid 40's bushels per acre in places."

Up close to the Kansas line- farmers are on the sidelines due to the rains from the beginning of the week "Today's forecast of sunny, windy and 46 percent humidity has most farmers out of the fields. They also have a 30 percent chance of rain this evening and into tomorrow. The few producers that are cutting and bringing in test loads report moisture up to 13.8 to 14 percent opposed to the 11 to 11.5 percent reports on tests loads this past weekend. Test weights are still in the 62 to 65 pound range, with predictions they will get heavier as the moisture goes down."

Click here for the rest of the locations that the OWC has details on- plus listen to our conversation with Executive Director Mike Schulte.

The Washington Post writes of her victory last night "She insisted to the end that voters would stick with the middle-of-the-road senator they had elected twice before. She was right, by a comfortable margin, and in her jubilant victory remarks, she made clear that the liberal organizations and the national labor unions that invested millions of dollars and much manpower to defeat her had come up empty."
"Not only can my vote not be bought," Lincoln crowed. "Yours can't be, either."

Her effectiveness as a Chairman of the Senate Ag Committee could have been compromised if Lt Governor Halter had knocked her off in the primary- but instead she remains as a credible player for the remainder of the calendar year as the Chairman of the Committee.
Being forced into a runoff did make her pay more attention to the farm community, as she suddenly decided after the regular primary election day that she would join Chairman of the House Ag Committee, Colin Peterson, and hold farm policy hearings this year in advance of a possible writing of the 2012 Farm Bill next year. The first of those hearings will be held on June 30.
The Post concluded their election night story with this observation "In her final television ad, a humbled Lincoln stood in a field of tall grass, a red barn in the background, and told viewers that she had heard their anti-Washington anger. She promised to heed the lesson. Enough Democrats believed her. "

Click here for one of the many articles on the Blanche Lincoln win- this one from the Memphis Newspaper which speaks of former President Bill Clinton calling her the "New Comeback Kid."

In a letter to Senators, who are expected to consider the resolution on June 10, NCC President/CEO Mark Lange stated that without relief from Congress, EPA regulation of greenhouse gases under the CAA would impose a severe economic impact on the U.S. cotton industry including "increased costs of production, inability to generate off-sets, increased processing costs for ginning and textile production, and market disadvantages with its international competitors in India, China, and Brazil who do not incur such regulatory burdens."

Lange's letter noted that Senator Lisa Murkowski's (R-AK) resolution was filed in accordance with the Congressional Review Act of 1996, which provides Congress with an opportunity to veto rules and regulations developed by federal agencies. The letter stated that the resolution, which currently has 40 co-sponsors, has drawn strong support -- in January, 138 agricultural organizations sent a letter to Senator Murkowski in support of her resolution.

Click here for more of what the National Cotton Council is telling Senators about this Resolution Vote that will happen on Thursday.

To combat this growing problem in Oklahoma, researchers at Oklahoma State University's Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources are investigating the possibilities of usefulness for Eastern redcedar. One of those studies is looking at the properties of three-layer particleboard made from the tree.

Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of the study compared the damage of Eastern redcedar samples with Radiata pine control samples after these wood samples were placed in contact with Oklahoma's most widespread structural pest, the eastern subterranean termite. Initial results demonstrated that these widespread pests of wooden structures prefer feeding on the pine over redcedar. Even the termites think the stuff is nasty!

Click here for more on this OSU research effort to make something useful out of the Eastern Red Cedar.

The duties are scheduled to sunset after five years, but can be continued upon a request for review by an interested party. Such a request was successful in 2005 and was recently filed again, triggering this year's review. Late last week, however, the association of Mexican cattle producers who requested the latest review (Confederación Nacional de Ganaderos, or CNOG) notified the Ministry of the Economy of its decision to withdraw the request.

We have details about this change of heart by the Mexican cattlemen- with comments from Thad Lively of the US Meat Export Federation on our daily beef industry radio program, the Beef Buzz. Click on the LINK below to jump to this Beef Buzz- and read more- plus hear more about this story from the USMEF perspective.

Click here for more on this story as heard on the Beef Buzz- comments with Thad Lively of the US Meat Export Federation.

"Last year, I decided to visibly remind folks that gardening is at the front and center of what we do here at USDA," said Secretary Vilsack. "To have 'People's Garden' in every state is a tremendous achievement and just one example of the dedication and commitment of all USDA employees in collaboration with their communities. But the ideas behind the People's Garden were not born here in Washington - and we will continue to ensure that they are adopted and improved upon in communities across the country."

The only People's Garden that is located within the borders of the state of Oklahoma is at the Lane Research Center - Choctaw Community Garden, with Vegetables including corn, peppers, cucumber, okra, tomatoes and eggplant all are being grown.

To read more about the People's Gardens that USDA is promoting- complete with a link to see where all of these gardens are located- click here.

While normally when a group does this typeof makeover- only the membership cares. NCBA leadership seemed to think that would be the case as they worked on reducing the size of their board of directors and more. What turned this into a wider issue was the conscious decision by those writing the plan to actually bring the Federation of State Beef Councils ever closer to the Policy side of the organization. That got the attention of the American Farm Bureau, National Farmers Union, the Livestock Marketing Association and others.

These groups cried "foul" to the overseer of the Beef Checkoff- the USDA- and NCBA has been scrambling to explain to USDA and these groups how their plan keeps the dividing wall (some call it a firewall) in place between policy and checkoff. What NCBA did not figure into this battle was who is now running the body that oversees the checkoff- the Obama Administration. As has been pointed out to me- the pork checkoff was almost eliminated when the Democrats were last in charge at USDA when a lady by the name of Kathleen Merrigan was the head of the Ag Marketing Service- the Agency that deals with all of the checkoffs. Ms. Merrigan, of course, is around this time as well, this time as the number two at USDA. She and others at USDA are pushing all of the checkoffs to turn over more control of their boards to minorities in the name of diversity- and the chance to weigh in on the workings of the Beef Checkoff is a dream come true for the progressives working in and around the Deputy Secretary.

Click here for more on the NCBA Governance Plan- including your chance to see the latest details as released by NCBA.

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.