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U.S. pork exports finished the first quarter 8 percent higher in volume (598,058 metric tons) and 20 percent higher in value ($1.66 billion) than last year's record pace, according to statistics released by the USDA and compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF).

At the same time, the value of beef exports for the quarter rose 4 percent (to $1.25 billion) on 10 percent lower volumes (266,388 metric tons).

March pork export volume of 198,972 metric tons was 8 percent lower than a year ago, but up 6 percent from February 2012. Export value of $570.5 million was 3 percent higher than last year and up 8 percent from the previous month. These results were led by excellent growth in the China/Hong Kong region and by strong performance in Mexico, Japan and Canada.

Beef export volume in March of 89,803 metric tons was 23 percent lower than last year but up 3 percent from February. March export value of $438.5 million was down 8 percent year-over-year but was 7 percent higher than the previous month.

"A 20 percent increase in pork export value for the first quarter is extraordinary, especially considering the record performance of last year," said USMEF President and CEO Philip Seng. "On the beef side, market access issues and price sensitivity are making volume growth difficult in some markets, but we are pleased to see export value remaining above last year's record pace, even on smaller volumes." 

You can read more about meat export trends by clicking here.  

Rain Slows Early Harvest Season, But Yields and Test Weights Look Good, Schulte Reports  

Harvest season has gotten off to an early start in the southwest part of the state and Mike Schulte, CEO of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission, says "This is the earliest harvest that has ever been seen from what I'm hearing from a lot of producers. Thursday, May 3rd, for the first load of wheat to be hauled in the state, that's really almost a month ahead of schedule."

Harvest was in full swing Wednesday and Thusday before rains brought everything to a screeching halt on Friday. Elevators used the down time to load rail cars and make room for what is expected to be a heavy week.

Test weights have been running slightly on the low side and Schulte says there were early concerns that may be a problem "in parts of the state just because of the really hot, dry conditions that we had early on this year, but as we've gotten into south central Oklahoma this past week, I was talking to a person who was out in the field yesterday and he was saying test weights were running 60.4 pounds on a truckload he had just hauled in and he felt like the yields were averaging in the mid-40s."

Meanwhile, the Oklahoma Wheat Commission issued a report late Friday that summarized phone calls they made to multiple locations in those southwestern counties- one that caught our eye was the Grandfield update- "Grandfield has taken in around 180,000 bushels. There are still some hail damaged fields in this area that are being cleaned up and they are only yielding 20 - 25 bushels per acre. However, the better fields are yielding 55 - 60 bushels per acre and Grandfield is expecting some fields to yield over 70 as they progress thru harvest."

You can read more from Mike as well as hear our full conversation by clicking here.  You'll also find a link for the harvest progress report from the Oklahoma Wheat Commission. 

OACD Praises New USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Water Quality Initiative

The announcement this past week by the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) of their new National Water Quality Initiative that includes four impaired waterways in Oklahoma received praise today from the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts (OACD). According to Joe Parker, OACD President, this new NRCS initiative will work hand-in-glove with ongoing conservation water quality work in Oklahoma.

"We are excited about the potential of this new NRCS initiative to work in rhythm with the great water quality efforts the conservation partnership of local districts, the Oklahoma Conservation Commission and NRCS are already doing in Oklahoma," Parker said.

  
Streams selected for this initiative include the portions of the Panther and Oak Creek watersheds that drain into the Blackbear Creek Watershed in Pawnee, Noble and Payne Counties and the Sand Creek and Turkey Creek watersheds in Garfield County. Using funds from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), NRCS will provide financial assistance and technical advice to producers in these areas to install conservation practices geared toward water quality protection.

Click here for more on this story and for details on how producers in the target areas can get involved with the new initiative. 

BSE Safeguards Are Working, But Continued Vigilance Is Needed

When BSE hit the headlines a couple of weeks ago, traders held their collective breath to see what the fallout would be. Then, Daryll Ray says, they went on about business pretty much as usual. In this opinion piece he talks about what has transpired since the last case of BSE was reported over eight years ago. Ray is the director of the University of Tennessee's Agriculture Policy Analysis Center.

What a difference 8½ years makes. When the first BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy or Mad Cow Disease) infected cow was found in Mabton, Washington in December 2003, US beef exports had been steadily increasing, with 1.1 million tonnes carcass weight equivalent (CWE) being exported in 2003. By the time 2004 was over, US beef exports had fallen 82 percent to 0.2 million tonnes CWE as major importers cut off the purchase of US beef. The impact of that find was such that it was not until 2011 that beef exports regained their previous level.

When the fourth case of BSE in the US was confirmed on April 24, 2012, the markets had a short-lived decline but with the exception of a few small importers, major importers kept their markets open to US beef. At this point in time, it appears that the measures that the US has put into place to prevent BSE-tainted beef from entering the food chain have reassured both our domestic and our international customers. These measures include the prohibition of specified risk material (spinal cord and brain) from entering the food chain, the random testing of high risk animals (older animals and downers), and the ban on including beef and beef by-products, such as bone meal, in cattle feed (the means by which BSE originally spread). 

You can read more of Daryll Ray's commentary by clicking here. 

Crop Protection Industry Supports Integrated Weed Management Approach to Herbicide Resistance

In conjunction with the National Research Council's (NRC) National Summit on Strategies to Manage Herbicide-Resistant Weeds, CropLife America (CLA) and the Herbicide Resistance Action Committee (HRAC) reinforced their commitment to finding and communicating solutions to weed management and herbicide-resistant weeds. The one-day summit brought weed scientists, agronomists, ecologists, representatives from the crop protection industry, and regulators to address the obstacles that herbicide resistance presents to U.S. agricultural production, and the development of cost-effective resistance management programs and practices that maintain effective weed control.

Dr. John Soteres, Global HRAC chair and scientific affairs global weed resistance management lead at Monsanto, spoke to a panel to address the approaches that encourage the adoption of best management practices. Other speakers included Dr. David Shaw (Mississippi State University); Dr. Harold Coble (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service); Dr. Micheal Owen (Iowa State University); and Dr. Jodie Holt (University of California-Riverside). They discussed topics ranging from the epidemiology of herbicide tolerance to the nature of the resistance problem.

"Events such as NRC's summit help to bring those in the agricultural and scientific communities together to develop new approaches for implementing advanced solutions to mitigate herbicide resistance on the farm," said Jay Vroom, president and CEO of CLA. "Weed adaptation is not new to agriculture and will continue to occur, but providing the country's farmers and ranchers with a reliable and effective suite of products and techniques to create an integrated weed management program will help them control and better manage this phenomenon."

Click here to read more about the National Summit and some of the recommendations made to combat herbicide resistance.

One of Our Favorite Ladies- Fairview's "Miss Ag" Shares Her Passion for Agriculture

Kids in Clara Wichert's hometown of Fairview know her best as "Miss Ag" - the lady wheat farmer who loves agriculture as much as she loves them. She started a program for the local elementary school over 20 years ago to integrate agricultural literacy into 3rd grade lesson plans. Once a month, she visits the school and teaches a project from the Ag in the Classroom curriculum. Teachers know that her lessons focus on science, math, social studies, reading, visual arts and physical education in line with state standards. Students just know that it will be fun.            

Making homemade ice cream, cornbread, edible clay honeybees and seed greeting cards are a few of the ways Wichert helps students learn about Oklahoma's agricultural commodities from cotton to watermelon. She also tackles agricultural issues like clean water, sun protection, and handling utensils safely from knives to garden tools.                    

Wichert has been involved with Ag in the Classroom since the first organizational meeting in 1981 when a group of agriculturists and educators met to determine what lessons and resources were important and necessary to advance agricultural literacy in Oklahoma. She became a charter member of the Ag in the Classroom Advisory Board and remains active on the board today. 

Please click here to read more about "Miss Ag" and the Ag in the Classroom project.  

This N That- Harvest Restart, Beef Buzzing and No Till Touring

Sunday proved to be a generally good day of drying for southwestern Oklahoma- but it will be today(Monday) or perhaps even Tuesday before we see harvest rolling in either the wheat and canola fields of our state. Rainfall amounts ranged from a trace to over two inches in the southwestern quarter of Oklahoma late Thursday and basically all day into the evening hours on Friday. Was there quality loss from these rains?- that question won't be answered until we start getting some test weight readings as harvest resumes- thankfully, the rain reports we received all spoke of a very gentle rain that limited any further lodging in wheat or shattering in canola.  If you have a harvest report of either canola or wheat that you can share with us- please do so- drop me an email by clicking here and tell us what you know- and attach a picture or two if you can- we LOVE your feedback!

Over the weekend, we posted the final of three parts from our Beef Buzzing we did with Daren Williams on the MBA program- click here if you want to jump over to our website and check out this wrap up of our conversation with Daren on this incredibly successful program- we look forward with him in this last segment about what's ahead for this training of beef advocates. 

One item that we have just posted on our website that you may want to think about for this summer is No-till on the Plains and their Points North No-till Bus Tour which will be held July 30 - August 3, 2012.  Deadline to register is June 10- if it does not sell out before then.  Our friend Brian Lindley tells us that this trip north to the Dakotas is all about soil health. "The value of the information shared by these producers in North Dakota will be absolutely tremendous.  Their focus is on soil health and all of the benefits that can be attributed to soil health.  One of those benefits is financial.  The level of profitability that these producers are able to capture is astounding."  Click here for our full article that we have posted on this road trip via luxury coach- and think about an investment of your time and money to see first hand how some of the legends in continuous no till do it.