Double-Cropping Looks to be a Good Bet This Year 

With harvest well underway weeks ahead of normal, and mild, wet weather continuing, quite a few wheat producers are eyeing the possibility of a second crop this year.

Dr. Chad Godsey, cropping systems specialist at Oklahoma State University, spoke with us at the recent Lahoma Field Day about the prospects of successful double-cropping.

"Two things that really favor double cropping this year. In a lot of areas we have a good soil moisture profile built up and the second thing is the earliness of the wheat and the canola crop. We're going to be able to plant double crops in the time frame you would normally plant a full season crop so our yield potential is higher than it is in a normal year."

There are a number of factors that go into a solid double-cropping decision, Godsey says, and the two biggest ones appear to be favoring the practice.

"Really it comes down to date of harvest, so that's going to be early this year. The second thing, and probably most important every year, is probably soil moisture profile. Not only looking at what you have, but your ability to store that moisture, so topsoil depth, texture, things like that. You need to know the amount of inches you have stored currently after wheat harvest and then your potential to capture more rainfall early in that growing season." 

Click here for more from Chad Godsey in the interview posted on our webpage.

Canola TV--PCOM's Neuens Says Interest In Canola Soaring; Expects More Acres Next Year 

With the growing number of canola growers across the state more elevators are handling the growing volume of canola.

Gene Neuens of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill says that farmers have a number of options in marketing their canola crop. He says farmers can choose their elevators and elevators, as well, have options in their marketing choices as well. He says with infrastructure now in place, marketing canola for the producer is now very much like marketing a wheat crop.

He says prices at the local elevators can varying about a dollar a bushel from southern Oklahoma where the current price is in the $12 per bushel range, to northern Oklahoma where the price is closer to $13.

Neuens says he's seen a lot of interest from producers in adding canola to their cropping plans for next year.

Catch the latest edition of PCOM's Canola TV by clicking here.

Beef Marketing Group CEO Sees Significant Opportunities for Verifiable Beef Standards

We caught up with John Butler, CEO of the Beef Marketing Group at the Alltech International Symposium in Lexington Kentucky. The Beef Marketing Group represents feedlots in Kansas and Nebraska.

Butler said his organization has completed a research project encompassing 2,000 consumers about their understanding and attitudes about beef. He said his group has learned a lot that will help them more effectively market their product which, consumers said, is not cattle, it's beef.

"I think that that's one thing that we as an entire industry have to accept: we are accountable to a consumer. And the consumer, for the most part, doesn't understand cattle, they understand beef. And so we have a responsibility and a commitment to be focused on what they need, what they are asking for, and what we can produce for them to satisfy their expectations."

Butler said he was particularly interested in the opinions and ideas of current beef consumers and focusing on unfulfilled expectations that they had. He said they found there were several things the beef industry could do in the areas of consistency, verification of food safety, animal care and sustainability. 

Butler goes into the details of a program of verifiable standards for beef that will increase value to consumers. Click here for more in the Beef Buzz.

Is Social Media Dead in the Food and Farming Discussion?

The tumble in Facebook stock the day after its IPO debut had some pundits questioning whether this was a harbinger that the social media are due for a decline.

With many ag advocates relying on social media to get their messages out via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Pinterest, the question becomes "Is social media dead in the food and farming discussion."

"No!" says Michelle Payn-Knoper, an agriculture social media advocate. "However, because of information overload, because of the vast amounts of center pivots-as Iike to say--of information that people have flying at them every day, it's a real challenge for us to try to figure out how to get through all the marketing messages."

She spoke at the Alltech International Symposium in Lexington, Kentucky. She says there certainly is a lot of clutter across all media platforms now, and the trick is to cut through the clutter and get the right messages to the right people at the right times.

"I think at the end of the day it boils down to relationships, it boils down to people who are innovative enough to be able to aggregate content, form those relationships and develop a community around that."

Click here to read and hear more about using the social media for ag advocacy.

Certified Weed-Free Forage Offers New Opportunities

Forage and mulch often contain non-native weeds that can cause infestations which adversely impact agriculture, forest, recreational, and other lands when these materials are transported. There is a growing demand for certified weed-free forage and mulch as a preventative program to reduce the spread of noxious weeds. Certified weed-free forage is required in many states and on federal lands managed by the US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, national parks, military, fish and wildlife refuges and tribes. State and federal agencies require certified weed-free mulch for highway, right-of-way, restoration and reclamation projects.            

Weed-free forage is of special interest to those who use pack and saddle stock, such as horse owners, outfitters, ranchers with grazing permits, hunters, and contractors. Starting in June 2005, visitors to national forests and national grasslands in the Rocky Mountain Region must comply with a weed-free forage order. The order covers all national forests and national grasslands in Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas. It requires that all hay, cubed hay, straw, mulch and other products be certified as weed-free by a sanctioned certification program.   
         
Oklahoma's certified weed-free forage and mulch program offers many advantages. It provides an opportunity for Oklahoma producers to market certified forage and mulch as value-added products. The program helps meet the demand for products that comply with contract requirements and provides forage and mulch buyers a marketable and transportable product.  

Read more about weed-free forage certification by clicking here.

Farmers See Economic and Environmental Benefits from Biotech Crops

Farmers using improved seeds and biotech crop varieties continue to see significant economic and on-farm environmental benefits, according to the seventh annual report on crop biotechnology impacts prepared by UK-based PG Economics.

According to Graham Brookes, director of PG Economics and co-author of the report, a majority (55 percent) of the 2010 farm income gains went to farmers in developing countries. Ninety percent of these are resource poor on small farms.

"The advantages of advanced seed technology for farmers in developing countries come at a time when food availability is becoming more of an issue around the world," says Dr. Cathleen Enright, executive vice president for food and agriculture for the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO).

"The population continues to grow, but for many farmers, their ability to produce food remains stuck in the past. In order to double food production by 2050 to meet demand, new seed technologies must be utilized."

You can read more about this report by clicking here.

Harvest Notes- Green Seeker to the Rescue, Canola Reports and We Want to Hear From You!

Our thanks to Brent Rendel from northeastern Oklahoma- he gives us a look into harvest in Green Country- Brent writes "We started wheat harvest Monday and could have started last week, but needed to finish getting some early soybeans planted before diverting our attention to the wheat.  Many fields in this area are experiencing heavier than normal lodging.  Most are 15-25% lodged but I've seen some easily in the 50-75% lodged category.  The most probable cause is putting on too much nitrogen. I use the GreenSeeker system on all my wheat ground, so my topdress application was much lower than typical.  On average, I only applied 40 lbs of actual N/ac in February on top of the 25 lbs/ac of N I applied at planting.  As a direct result, my lodging is minimal.

"It was a pretty slow start on our first harvest day with only around 100 acres in the bin, but yields and quality are OUTSTANDING for this area. This  is Everest wheat with yields averaging 60 bu/ac and test weight is 62."

We also heard via Facebook from Drake Gard who raised canola this year in the Cheyenne Valley in Major County- tells a couple of his canola fields did really well- one at 1600 pounds per acre and the second at 1925 pounds per acre. 

There is no harvest update from the Oklahoma Wheat Commission today- I suspect we will  have one later in the day on Wednesday- plus our own Jim Apel will be making some calls later in the day to see how various locations are getting along. We do need your harvest reports and pictures-send them to me via email by clicking here or go the email you see on the bottom of this email- and click on it.  We can either report your update with or without your name attached- will just give a general location- would love to know the yield, test weight, variety and any other details you might be able to provide- both for canola and for wheat.