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Longtime lobbyist for the American Farm Bureau, Mary Kay Thatcher, applauds Senate Ag Committee Chairlady Debbie Stabenow and her ranking minority member, Pat Roberts of Kansas for releasing a "chairman's mark" farm bill draft proposal this past Friday- saying these days in Washington, it 's the exception rather than the rule to see Democrats and Republicans working in the same direction. The Senate Ag Committee will take up the measure and consider amendments to it starting Wednesday morning, hoping to quickly pass a comprehensive 2012 Farm Bill out of their Committee.


Thatcher says that the Commodity Title will be the focus of most debate and possible changes, as she considers the rest of the package "very well done." Thatcher especially thinks the Conservation Title protects the working lands programs well, consolidates regional specialty programs into one larger pot of money that will be more efficient and downsizes the Conservation Reserve Program gradually over a five year period from 32 million acres down to 25 million acres. Mandatory research dollars are actually increased compared to the 2008 farm law-another positive for Thatcher.


As for Title One- the Commodity Title, Thatcher says the leadership has approached a farm safety net as a three legged stool- crop insurance, marketing loans and the so called "shallow loss" program. It's that third element that concerns many in the farming community, and Thatcher says that her group would still rather have a "deep loss" program instead. 

Click here for our story on our visit on Monday afternoon with Mary Kay Thatcher- and a chance to hear our full conversation with her- beyond the farm bill- we talk about challenges ahead in getting several tax issues dealt with before the end of the calendar year- including the so called Death Tax- and also the ongoing concerns of regulations on farmers and ranchers.

Crop Weather Conditions Continue to Favor Small Grains 

 Most of the week was clear with average highs in the low 70s. Small grains and canola continued to thrive amid spring temperatures and replenished soil moisture from the previous week's rain. Conditions continued to be rated mostly good for all small grains and canola; three-quarters or more of each crop was rated good to excellent. Progress continued to outpace the five-year average.

Wheat conditions across Oklahoma show 53 percent in good condition, 24 percent in excellent shape, 19 percent in fair condition and four percent rated as poor or very poor.

Canola in Oklahoma posted similar numbers with 52 percent in good shape, 23 percent in excellent condition, 20 percent in fair condition, and five percent doing poorly or very poorly.

The Kansas wheat crop is continues three weeks ahead of average with 51 percent in good condition, 25 percent fair, 17 percent is listed as excellent, and 7 percent is poor or very poor.

Thirty-two percent of the wheat crop in Texas is in fair condition, 28 percent is listed as good, 32 percent is in poor or very poor shape, and only eight percent is excellent.

You can read the full Oklahoma Crop Progress Report by clicking here.

Favorable Weather Could Mean Early Cotton Planting

Cotton planting for the 2012 season will begin soon. Thankfully, it has been raining this year as opposed to the severe drought in 2011. A lot of factors need to be considered this year as cotton producers get ready to plant. Dr. Randy Boman, Oklahoma State University Research Director and Extension Program Leader, has this advice to share with producers this year:

The 2012 cotton planting season is just around the corner. We have been very fortunate to receive badly needed rainfall in any areas of southwestern Oklahoma. The Altus Mesonet has recorded about 12 inches of rainfall since October 1. This rainfall has provided considerable relief for a lot of producers and we do have some good wheat in the area. March and early April rainfall has been highly beneficial in this situation. Weed pressure has steadily built over the last several months and producers have been busy trying to rein in this growth with herbicide applications. With all of this said, in the cotton patch we are still a long way from being healed up from the Great Drought of 2011 and we are certainly in much better shape than one year ago. We have aquifers which need recharging and we also badly need runoff in the North Fork of the Red River watershed which feeds Lake Lugert. Currently, the reservoir is about 22 percent of capacity. We need substantial runoff in the watershed soon. March, 2012 ended as the warmest on record across Oklahoma, going back to 1985. This indicates things are moving along at an accelerated pace. If this warming trend continues, I wouldn't be surprised to see producers watching the soil thermometers and soil moisture conditions and getting anxious to plant by the end of April.

You can read more of Dr. Boman's extensive advice for this year's spring cotton crop by clicking here.

Regional Differences in Cattle Markets Continue to Grow, Peel Says 

OSU Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist Derrell Peel dug into the meat of the recent Cattle on Feed Report and came up with a few surprises. Here is his latest contribution to the Cow/Calf Corner Newsletter:

The latest USDA Cattle on Feed report contained few surprises in the overall numbers for placements and marketings. However, a closer look at the report reveals a continuation of recent trends that reflect more regional differences in cattle markets. No doubt the lingering effects of the drought, which continues in parts of the southwest, contribute to some of the observed differences but the changes may also reflect more long term shifts in market structure.

The contrasts between Texas and Nebraska in this Cattle on Feed report are striking. On April 1, on-feed inventory in Texas was equal to last year, but below the national total of 102 percent of last year, while Nebraska was 106 percent of last year. March Placements in Texas were down 12 percent from last year but Nebraska placements were up 13 percent from a year ago. Nebraska placements included more feeders over 800 pounds while Texas placed more under 600 pound feeders as part of smaller total placements in the state. 

Click here for more from Derrell Peel on regional differences in the cattle markets.

Farm Groups Praise Senate Action On Farm Bill Mark Up

A pair of top agricultural organizations sent letters to the Senate Agriculture Committee urging the committee to move forward with the proposed 2012 farm bill legislation. Both the National Corn Growers Association and the American Farm Bureau Federation commended the committee for its work so far and pledged to support the general framework that his in place while pursuing refinements in certain areas.

National Corn Growers Association President Garry Niemeyer praised the committees work thus far.

"The National Corn Growers Association is pleased to see the Committee listened to the concerns of our nation's corn growers and have done a great job keeping our priorities under consideration while drafting the legislation. NCGA believes the Committee print is consistent with what our members have been advocating.

"While we understand this is the first step in a very long process, we applaud the Senate Ag Committee for holding a markup and hope the House Agriculture Committee will swiftly follow suit."

AFBF President Bob Stallman echoed Niemeyer's praise, saying "Numerous provisions of the Senate Agriculture Committee's draft farm bill follow the American Farm Bureau Federation's core principles for "rational, acceptable farm policy," but there is room for adjustments to improve the legislation."

You can read more from the National Corn Growers by clicking here. You can also find more from the American Farm Bureau by clicking here.

A Nice Increase in Choice Boxed Beef Prices and Finished Cattle Prices - Audio with Ed Czerwien

In this week's beef report, according to Ed Czerwien, USDA Market News Office in Amarillo, Texas, said we saw the choice cut market end the week April 20, 2012 at $188.01 cwt, a ten dollar increase from the previous Friday. That price was supported by a fifty percent increase in the trimmings. However, the spot volume was down.
As far as the finished cattle trade last week, the trend was generally steady with the previous week. Business in the Southern Plains was mostly $121 to $122 cwt mark.

The average live weight of the cattle harvest from the Texas Panhandle was 1,227 pounds, up 3 pounds from the previous week.

Please click here for Ed Czerwien's full report on last week's cattle markets.

This N That- Express Ranches, Wheat Tours and Washington Notes 

The Grass Time Sale of Express Ranches is upon us- set for 1:00 pm this Friday, April 27. They will be offering 600 head - including 130 Angus bulls. They will also be selling spring calving registered Angus pairs, Show Heifers and Commercial Bred Heifers. Click here to jump straight to their website where you can go and view the catalog- see an Excel sheet of bull data and now check out a video of the bulls being offered this Friday.  

Wheat Field Tours are now underway across the wheat belt in Oklahoma- and we encourage you to go to our calendar pages- click here to do so- and find a field tour stop near you- you will see side by side comparisons of the latest wheat varieties and get updates from the OSU Wheat Improvement Team.  Tour dates stretch all the way to the end of May out in the Panhandle.

A quick word on where we are this week- we are in Washington through Wednesday for the annual National Association of Farm Broadcasters Washington Watch- where we are able to catch up and meet face to face with Administration officials, Congressional leadership and representatives of farm groups here "inside" the Washington beltway. Today- we will spend time at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House, visit the First Lady's Garden and then head out to the Chesapeake Bay to hear first hand from farmers there who operate under the shadow of governmental regulations. As we have the opportunity to do so- we will be tweeting today- click hereto watch for those tweets.