We invite you to listen to us on great radio stations across the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network weekdays- if you missed this morning's Farm News - or you are in an area where you can't hear it- click here for this morning's Farm news from Ron Hays on RON.
Let's Check the Markets!
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Today's First Look:
mornings with cash and futures reviewed- includes where the Cash Cattle market stands, the latest Feeder Cattle Markets Etc.
Okla Cash Grain:
Futures Wrap:
Feeder Cattle Recap:
Slaughter Cattle Recap:
TCFA Feedlot Recap:
Our Oklahoma Farm Report Team!!!!
Ron Hays, Senior Farm Director and Editor
KC Sheperd, Associate Farm Director and Editor Sam Knipp, Farm Editor Pam Arterburn, Calendar and Template Manager Dave Lanning, Markets and Production
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Oklahoma's Latest Farm and Ranch News
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON
Monday, February 17, 2020
President's Day 2020
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Howdy Neighbors!
Here is your daily Oklahoma farm and ranch news update.
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American Farmers & Ranchers/Oklahoma Farmers Union hosted the organization's 115th annual state convention at the Embassy Suites & Conference Center - Norman Feb. 14-16. The event features educational speakers and entertainment, the annual business meeting of Oklahoma Farmers Union and American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance Company, discussion and adoption of AFR/OFU legislative policy and officer elections. This year's convention theme is "Focused in 2020."
This year, member delegates voted on three contested seats on the AFR/OFU Board of Directors-Northwest Independent Director District 1, Southeast Independent Director District 4 and Northeast Agent Director District 3. In addition, AFR/OFU Secretary Paul Jackson, Ringling, ran unopposed and will retain his current position for a three-year term.
In the race for Northwest Independent Director District 1, incumbent Terry Peach, Mutual, was challenged by Eric Bilderback, El Reno. Peach won the race and will retain his seat for another three-year term.
Peach has been an AFR/OFU member since 1998. He has served as the Oklahoma Secretary and Commissioner of Agriculture and as the USDA Farm Service Agency State Executive Director. He has also served as president of the Southern U.S. Trade Association. He is currently focused solely on farming and ranching; he is the third generation to operate his family's 1898 homestead.
The Southeast Independent Director District 4 seat did not have an incumbent-AFR/OFU Director Bob Holley retired this year, choosing not to seek an additional term. In that race, former AFR/OFU Director Billy Perrin, McAlester, was defeated by newcomer Mike Goodwin, Roberta.
Goodwin has been an AFR/OFU member since 1988. He has a lengthy career as an educator, including stints as a high school instructor, a superintendent, and a Career Tech administrator. He was twice named the Bryan County Administrator of the Year. He also served in the U.S. Army Reserves for 36 years. He is a lifelong resident of Bryan County.
The race for the Northeast Agent Director District 3 was hotly contested with four candidates vying for the seat-Garrett Barnett, Tulsa, incumbent; John Ogden, Oktaha; Johnie Brown, Sapulpa; and Carl "Bud" Hembree, Haskell. John Ogden won the seat and will begin a three-year term.
Ogden, a rancher from Muskogee County, has been involved in AFR/OFU leadership previously, including serving as an AFR/OFU Director most recently from 2001-2011. He has been owner/agent of the Ogden Insurance Agency in Muskogee since 1976 and has served as a Muskogee County AFR/OFU board member for 43 years. He has also served on the Governor's Task Force for Small Businesses.
Click or tap here to read more about the election results at the 2020 AFR/OFU meeting ithat will keep you figuring out what's going on,
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Sponsor Spotlight
Midwest Farm Shows is proud to produce the two best Farm Shows in the State of Oklahoma annually- the Tulsa Farm Show each December and the Oklahoma City Farm Show each April.
They would like to thank all of you who participated in their 2019 Tulsa City Farm Show.
Up next will be the Oklahoma City's premier spring agricultural and ranching event with returns to the State Fair Park April 23-24-25, 2020.
Now is the ideal time to contact the Midwest Farm Show Office at 507-437-7969 and book space at the 2020 Oklahoma City Farm Show. To learn more about the Oklahoma City Farm Show, click here.
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Strength in farm real estate markets provided support to the agricultural sector amid ongoing financial challenges. According to the Tenth District Survey of Agricultural Credit Conditions, nonirrigated cropland
values and cash rents increased slightly in the fourth quarter. Credit conditions in the District remained weak, but deteriorated at the slowest pace in more than four years.
Despite some signs of stabilization, geographic disparities persisted across the region. Land values were stronger on the eastern side of the District, while farm income and credit conditions
were weaker in the west. Bankers commented that trade relief payments provided notable support to farm finances in 2019, but many also indicated that underlying weaknesses in the sector continued to be driven by low agricultural commodity prices.
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Climate change is always a hot topic on Capitol hill, and always something beef producers have to watch.
Chief Environmental Council, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association Scott Yager, says there is always lots of interest in moving climate change legislation, and this year is no different.
Right now, the House Energy and Commerce Committee has put out a climate change bill called the Clean Future Act, and that is just one of the many pieces of legislation that deal with climate policy. Yager says his job is to oppose misguided climate policies that negatively impact beef cattle producers, " The good news is that it's had some success. The Green New Deal went down in flames last year, so that failed in the Senate, and the House actually never took it up, but the house has all kinds of other bills that they're working on. So we're using our advocacy as a platform to oppose those bad policies. Still, we're just not going in there raining on everybody's parade. We're also talking about how cattle are part of the climate solution."
In a move to be proactive, Yager and his team have developed a set of talking points for cattle producers to use to defend the cattle industry against critics. Yager said some of the highlights of those talking points include the fact that US Beef greenhouse gas emissions are 10 to 50 times lower than other regions of the world. Yager said they've also reduced emissions from beef cattle by 30%, "Through improved genetics and technologies, areas that continue to improve over time and ruminants differ from industrial greenhouse gas because cattle recycle co2, by a national carbon cycle. Cattle eat grass, they belch methane, but that methane breaks down in the atmosphere back into a co2 molecule that's taken up by the grass through photosynthesis. So is all part of a closed natural cycle.
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The Sirloin Club of Oklahoma is proud to award five deserving, young agriculturalists with the Today's Agriculturalists Under 40 award for those who excel as ag educators, crop farmers, livestock producers, as an ag professional or as an agricultural business owner.
The 2020 recipients include, Brady Sidwell, Agriculture Business; Travis Bradshaw, Agriculture Educator; State Representative Trey Caldwell, Agriculture Professional; Cody Goodknight, Crop Farmer; and Kelsey Pfeiffer, Livestock Producer.
Today we want to feature Trey Caldwell, Agriculture Professional. Caldwell says its so imporant to tell the local stories of Agriculture,
"I think the biggest thing in Ag going foward is that we have to make sure as production agriculturists, and as rural Oklahomans that we tell our story. We have to tell our story every single day, because if we don't tell our story someone from California is going to tell our story for us in their eyes, and not ours. We have to tell our story about how we are conservationists. How we want to pass the land on to the next generation. How we don't want to make our customers sick. We have to defeat so many of these narratives, and we have to be proactive, and we need to explain to people what production agriculture is, and what our way of life is."
The five recipients were recognized at the Sirloin Club of Oklahoma's Annual Banquet and Chalice Auction on February 13, 2020 at The Springs in Edmond, Oklahoma.
The Radio Oklahoma Ag Network talked to all five honorees and will be individually featuring each winner in the next week on the website Oklahoma Farm Report, in the Ron Hays Daily Email and on the statewide radio network.
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Sponsor Spotlight
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American Farmers & Ranchers/Oklahoma Farmers Union set legislative policy for the upcoming year at the 115th Annual AFR/OFU Convention Feb. 14. Policy topics ranged from production agriculture and rural Oklahoma to topics addressing urban areas and the U.S. as a whole. Key issues included mandatory electronic identification of livestock and antitrust issues in the beef industry, as well as consumer-related issue like truth in labeling for food products. Additional significant directives included international trade issues and farm stress management.
Each year, organization policy includes "special orders of business" that address recent, current or future issues of significant importance to rural Oklahoma and agriculture at large. This year's additions to AFR/OFU Special Orders include:
At the top of the list of Special Orders was one on Electronic Animal Identification: "We support a producer's voluntary application of technology, age verification and trace back methods which can enhance producer profits. We support current non-electronic animal identification methods. We oppose any mandatory electronic animal identification requirements, whether mandated by state or federal authorities."
Citing strong concerns over market manipulation, producer autonomy and data security, the 2020 AFR/OFU Policy Committee took a strong stance again mandatory electronic animal identification. Unlike other special orders, there was a strong enough sentiment against mandatory electronic animal identification to also include this passage in permanent organization policy.
Read more about the policy adopted by delegates at AFR/OFU at their annual meeting- click or tap here.
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Bayer announced today pipeline project advancements and newly unveiled research in a dedicated research and development (R&D) pipeline update for the Crop Science Division.
In 2019, Bayer's pipeline delivered 55 key project and formulation advancements while providing farmers around the world with more than 450 newly commercialized hybrids and varieties of corn, soybeans, cotton and vegetables. Bayer's annual investment of 2.3 billion euros in crop science R&D powers the most productive pipeline in the industry. With an estimated peak sales value of up to 30 billion euros, Bayer continually converts its R&D investment into innovative products that match the complexities farmers, consumers and the planet are anticipated to face.
"At Bayer, we are driven to help solve some of the world's toughest challenges. In agriculture, this means helping feed the world without starving our planet. Farmers with operations of all sizes need innovation not only to grow enough nutritious food, but also to do this in a sustainable manner that respects our planetary boundaries," said Liam Condon, member of the Bayer Board of Management and president of the Crop Science Division. "Our employees are united around this goal, and our unrivaled pipeline is delivering against it."
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U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue issued a proclamation naming February 16-22 as Grain Bin SafetyEarlier this week, the Secretary sat down with the Governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem, to talk about the importance of grain bin safety on the farm. Governor Noem grew up on a farm in Hamlin County, South Dakota and has a personal connection to farm safety. She has been an advocate for increased grain bin safety efforts for years. "We hope grain operators, farmers and community leaders will join us in expanding knowledge of safe practices not just during National Grain Bin Safety Week, but year-round," said Secretary Perdue. "Tragedies like the one Governor Noem's family experienced happen too frequently and call for greater action, which is why I have signed a proclamation naming February 16-22 Grain Bin Safety Week." "I'm grateful for Secretary Perdue's leadership in highlighting this important issue," said Governor Kristi Noem. "My life changed forever when we lost my dad in a grain bin accident, and while farmers are often in a hurry to get things done, nothing is worth losing a life. This Grain Bin Safety Week, I want to encourage producers to evaluate safety procedures on their farms and ranches. Slow down and be safe - your family will thank you for it." |
 Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program International Trip Now Underway in Chile
First stop for Class nineteen of OALP is the capital city of Santiago- we arrived Sunday morning to clear skies and lots of sunshine.
The group spent the day checking out the the city where about half of the country's population lives- Santiago has a population of over 8 million- and while we observed some shanty town neighborhoods driving in from the airport- we noticed even more high rise apartment/condo buildings to house that many folks.
And we noticed graffiti- HUGE amounts of it that it appears that a good bit of it generated after the riots of last fall in this South American country.
Today- we will jump into the business of learning more about the agriculture of Chile and we will be tweeting and facebooking along the way- the Executive Director of the program, Edmond Bonjour, is a great person to follow on Facebook- as he will be posting lots of pics in the days ahead- including some from Day One on Sunday.
Learn more about the OALP program bu jumping over to their website- available here.
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Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, P & K Equipment, AFR Insurance, Oklahoma Farm Bureau, Great Plains Kubota, Stillwater Milling Company, National Livestock Credit Corporation, Oklahoma Beef Council, Oklahoma AgCredit, Oklahoma Ag Mediation Program, Inc., the Oklahoma Cattlemens Association and KIS Futures for their support of our daily Farm News Update. For your convenience, we have our sponsors' websites linked here- just click on their name to jump to their website- check their sites out and let these folks know you appreciate the support of this daily email, as their sponsorship helps us keep this arriving in your inbox on a regular basis- at NO Charge!
We invite you to check out our website at the link below too that includes an archive of these daily emails, audio reports and top farm news story links from around the globe.
God Bless! You can reach us at the following:
phone: 405-473-6144
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