Howdy Neighbors!

Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. We are pleased to have American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance Company as a regular sponsor of our daily update- click here to go to their AFR web site to learn more about their efforts to serve rural America!

It is also great to have as an annual sponsor on our daily email Johnston Enterprises- proud to be serving agriculture across Oklahoma and around the world since 1893. For more on Johnston Enterprises- click here for their brand new website!

And we are proud to have P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy as one of our regular sponsors of our daily email update. P & K is the premiere John Deere dealer in Oklahoma, with ten locations to serve you, and the P & K team are excited about their new Wind Power program, as they offer Endurance Wind Power wind turbines. Click here for more from the P&K website.

If you have received this by someone forwarding it to you, you are welcome to subscribe and get this weekday update sent to you directly by clicking here.

Thirty-two of the semi-finalists made it to Oklahoma City by qualifying at one of four quarter-final competitions conducted last fall. The top eight scorers in each competition move on to the WLAC. The 33rd contestant is Paul Ramirez, Tucson, Ariz., the current International Auctioneer Champion. LMA traditionally gives a "bye" into the semi-finals to the winner of that contest. The semi-finalists are judged on two elements: an interview on industry topics and issues, conducted during LMA's Annual Convention on June 18, and as they sell several drafts of cattle during the actual sale at the market on the 19th.

The ten finalists, as determined by their combined interview and selling scores, then return to the auction block for a final round of selling. The three titlists - world, reserve and runner-up - are announced at an awards banquet this Saturday evening.

In addition to the WLAC- the LMA will be talking about livestock handling issues and animal well being. LMA recently launched an innovative Online Animal Care Training Program, designed specifically for The unique handling challenges faced by livestock marketing businesses. This multi-media training and certification program will be demonstrated during the meeting of LMA's Membership Services Committee, Thursday, June 17, from 10 am until noon.

We have details of the Auctioneer Championship and LMA meeting as a calendar item on our website- click here to jump there for more info.

"It is clear that the road to both robust job and economic growth lies in expanding America's export markets," said J. Patrick Boyle, president and CEO of the American Meat Institute (AMI). Boyle noted that the trade expansion deals between the U.S. and South Korea, Panama and Colombia have been awaiting Congressional approval for years and the U.S. is losing market share as a result. "While the U.S. is waiting to enact these FTAs, our competitors are moving forward," said Boyle

In 2009, the value of exported meat, poultry and related products totaled $11.7 billion, up from $9.4 billion in 2007. According to ERS, U.S. meat exports are predicted to rise over the next decade, from 5.9 million metric tons in 2009 to nearly 7.1 million metric tons in 2019. "However, if we are going to realize this potential, we need to pass these trade agreements and move forward on expanding our export markets as well as exploring new trade opportunities," noted Boyle.

Click here for more details from this White Paper- and a link to the White Paper itself.

Although commercially available genetically modified (GM) wheat crops are likely to be at least a decade away, 80 percent of survey respondents said they would be likely to purchase bread, crackers, cookies, cereal, or pasta products containing GM wheat "if they were produced using sustainable practices to feed more people using fewer resources such as land and pesticides." And consistent with the 2008 survey, 77 percent of respondents said they would buy foods produced through biotechnology if they helped cut pesticide use.
IFIC said that these results suggested there would be "a receptive audience" to products containing GM wheat if or when they become commercially available.

These are interesting results- as one of the barriers to moving forward and developing genetically modified wheat several years back was the fear of a consumer backlash, both here domestically- but especially in several key international markets. The National Association of Wheat Growers and others have become proactive in calling for GM wheat- saying that if we don't have traits added into wheat to help with production efficiencies- fewer and fewer acres of wheat will be planted in the US annually, as other crops that have GM traits, often pencil out as better choices economically.

Click here for a link to an article with more on this study and some of the challenges the industry faces as the move begins towards GM Wheat.

"Specifically, Monsanto brings to the partnership technologies that will enable us to 'genetically fingerprint' those varieties," Pierzynski said. "It will help us select specific genetic markers to provide improvements, such as disease and pest resistance."

Allan Fritz, Kansas State University professor of agronomy and a wheat breeder said working with private industry will give K-State the ability to get improved varieties to market faster.
"For K-State's program, this will provide breeders with accelerated wheat breeding processes, focusing our selection on plants that matter and targeting for critical traits," he said.
Fritz said K-State will continue to work with other public wheat breeding programs, as it has in the past. "It is essential we continue our interaction between the wheat breeding programs at other Land-Grant universities."

You can read more about this agreement that K-State has made with Monsanto by clicking here for the K-State News Release.

The most interesting number that may surface is the May placements number. Allendale believes that "May Placements will be 15.2% larger than last year. Cattle feeders averaged profits of $107 per head from March through May and responded by increasing Placements. At the same time corn prices averaged 5 cents lower in May vs. April. Cattle placed in May will be marketed from September through January."

The marketings for May are expected to be a half percentage point higher than a year ago, with no real surprises expected from that number. The total number of feedlot critters as of June first is still expected to be less than June first of last year. "Total Cattle on Feed as of June 1 will be 1.3% smaller than last year. Our estimate is the lowest June 1 Cattle on Feed in 11 years," according to the email preview provided to us by Joe Victor of Allendale.

"The administration should focus on stopping the oil spill and preventing further damage to the environment and our economy, rather than to use the situation as an opportunity for political gain and to push a liberal agenda.

"Punishing those who live and work in rural America with a cap and tax policy that will result in lost jobs, higher energy costs and higher food prices does nothing to address the shortcomings of the administration's response to this crisis. "

We did a story earlier this week about the Beef Advocacy program where you can earn your MBA. Heather Buckmaster with the Oklahoma Beef Council reminds us that two MBA Graduation sessions are planned in Oklahoma June 23 and June 24. She adds that it's not too late for someone to sign up and enter the program. Click here for that Beef Buzz with details about the MBA program and how you can Cowboy up and get involved in telling the Beef Industry's story.

Check our calendar for the items happening this week and next- the TSCRA Summer Meeting, the LMA meeting, the OCA Summer Ranch Tour and more are all on the agenda in just the next few days. Click here for the calendar listings on our website, www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com and REMEMBER- if you have calendar info that we need to be including- crop us an email at ron@oklahomafarmreport.com. We always love to hear from our readers, listeners and viewers.

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.