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After a Memorial Day holiday weekend that offered wide open harvest conditions in most of the Oklahoma wheat belt- it will be interesting to see what percent of the wheat crop has been harvested- according to the USDA's NASS office in Oklahoma City.  Mark Hodges with Plains Grains pegged it at 28% done last Thursday- and it is very possible that we have pushed that close to the 50% mark or slightly better on a statewide basis.  

We were in Noble and Kay Counties on Monday- and saw a lot of  wheat fields that were dead ripe- just ready for the combines to show up.  We saw some farmer cutting going on- did not see any custom cutters in that area working at all- but still there were a number of fields along US 177 north of Stillwater up towards Ponca City that were cut out.  

We have loaded a few pictures of what we saw in wheat fields that direction on Monday- one picture in particular we wanted to point you to- click here to see a N-Rich Strip that allowed a wheat field to perform to its FULL potential- it was planted on the farm of Bonnie and Bill Jueschke near Marland- and Crop Consultant Bryan Vincent told us the lodged wheat in the front of the shot is where the amount of nitrogen applied exceeded the plant's ability to handle the weight of the wheat heads.  This field is ready for harvest- and unless Mother Nature gets destructive- will produce a lot of wheat. Click here for our full 2012 Wheat Harvest set of pictures to this point- including a few others of this field in Noble County.  

Meanwhile- we got to check out the canola harvest on the Jueschke farm on Monday- they were straight cutting one of their canola fields- and it was yielding over 40 bushels per acre. Bryan Vincent visited with us about Bonnie's decision to try canola- this was her first year to grow it- and this 80 year young lady was not afraid of change- she was more worried about rye grass taking over her farm. We have our latest episode of Canola TV up on our website and on YouTube- click here to check it out this Canola TV report.   

We also took some photos on Monday- click here for our full 2012 Canola Photo Set and scroll down to the end of the set for shots of this canola ready to be harvested- and being harvested on Memorial Day.   

AND- our Tuesday morning farm and ranch news on the Radio Oklahoma Network features comments with Bryan Vincent that actually come from a second Canola TV segment that will be seen later this week- Bryan talking about several of his clients that have grown canola this year and how it has worked for them. Click here to listen to that audio. 

USDA Announces Results for Conservation Reserve Program General Sign-Up 

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will accept 3.9 million acres offered under the 43rd Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general sign-up. During the extended five-week signup, the Department received nearly 48,000 offers on more than 4.5 million acres of land. The USDA has now enrolled nearly 12 million acres in the CRP since 2009. Currently, there are more than 29.6 million acres enrolled on more than 736,000 contracts.

Enrollment of the new 3.9 million acres will allow USDA to continue important targeting of CRP acres through continuous sign-up initiatives-including those announced earlier this year for highly-erodible land, as well as grasslands and wetlands-while also maintaining and enhancing the significant benefits that the program has already achieved. The two continuous sign-ups announced earlier this year will target an additional 1.75 million acres in total.

Click here for more on the results of the latest CRP sign-up.

CBOT, KCBT Expand Trading Hours on USDA Report Days

The country's two major commodities exchanges will expand their floor trading hours on USDA report release dates.

Open out-cry trading on both the Chicago Board of Trade and the Kansas City Board of Trade will be changed to 7:20 a.m. CST, from 9:30 a.m. CST, on mornings of specified reports beginning June 12, 2012. Open out-cry trading will continue to close daily at 1:15 p.m. CT. Daily settlements are based on the 1:15 p.m. close.

The major USDA reports that will initiate early opening on the CBOT include:  WASDE, Crop Production, Prospective Plantings, and Acreage. 

Expanded trading hours on the KCBT will also be observed when the Grain Stocks Report is released on a quarterly basis.

You can find more information and the specifically affected trading dates by clicking here.

Stabenow Introduces Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012

Senator Debbie Stabenow, Chairwoman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, announced the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012 (S.3240) has been officially introduced in the U.S. Senate.

The bill, authored by Chairwoman Stabenow and Ranking Member Sen. Pat Roberts, is a bipartisan bill that reforms U.S. food and farm policy to save taxpayers $23 billion while strengthening and streamlining programs to continue allowing the agricultural economy to grow. The bill was adopted by the Committee last month on a vote of 16-5, with broad bipartisan support. 

Click here to read more.

US Beef Exports Finding 2012 to be Tough in Several Key Markets

The U.S. Meat Export Federation held its annual meeting recently in New Orleans. The federation uses Beef Checkoff dollars and funding from the USDA to promote beef exports overseas.

Several of the USMEF regional directors spoke about the prospects for progress in the export trade in their areas.

Joel Haggard, senior vice-president for the Asia-Pacific Region says there's some optimism about Japan, but there's a significant challenge in Korea.

"On the beef side in Korea, it's an interesting story although the BSE episode created relatively little consumption impact in most of the Asian countries I would say in Korea it's been quite significant. U.S. beef sales in Korea have been quite weak."

Click here hear more on the latest edition of the Beef Buzz.

Vilsack Names 2 Oklahomans, 9 Others to Council for Native American Farming and Ranching

Two Oklahomans are among eleven members of a new Council for Native American Farming and Ranching recently named by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The committee was created to advise the secretary on ways to eliminate barriers to participation for Native American farmers and ranchers. The Council is being appointed as part of the Keepseagle settlement.  

Henry Holder, a farmer/rancher from Soper, and Jerry McPeak, a farmer/rancher and state legislator from Warner were named to two year terms on the council.

"The Council for Native American Farming and Ranching will help Native governments, businesses, farmers and ranchers and tribal governments partner with USDA to create jobs, drive economic growth and strengthen tribal communities," Vilsack said.

Click here to read more about the Native American Farming and Ranching Council.

Cattlemen Must Be a Part of Defining Sustainability, Gebhardt Says 

Richard Gebhart, Oklahoma cattleman and vice chairman of NCBA's Federation Division, tackles the issue of sustainability from his perspective in the current electronic newsletter of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association:

What is sustainable beef? As the saying goes, ask 10 different people and you will get 10 different answers but in my opinion, that's not necessarily a bad thing. In the absence of a definitive definition, the beef industry has an opportunity to shape what this important concept will mean for cattlemen.    

Beef sustainability isn't a new concept. According to a study from Washington State University, beef's carbon footprint decreased by 16 percent over the last decade. The study also found that today's beef is produced with 30 percent less land, 14 percent less water and 20 percent less feed ingredients than it was in 1977. The study demonstrated that farmers and ranchers are committed to sustaining their industry as well as natural resources and wildlife conservation. New efforts being led by cattlemen will take this commitment to the next level. 

You can read more of Richard's take on the issue of sustainability by clicking here.