Farmers are much more optimistic about the potential of their canola crop this year. Jeff Scott, a farmer from Pond Creek, Oklahoma serves as President of both Great Plains Canola and the U.S. Canola Association. He said this has been the best growing season- to this point- since 2012. The crop has received good moisture and the winter has been mild. To finish out this year's crop, he recommends farmers do enough that the crop can produce good yields, so it can maximize profitability.


"Crop had a chance to get well-established under good moisture conditions and progress, so I feel like we're sitting in really good condition right now," Scott said.


I interviewed Scott at Canola College in Enid on Thursday. Scott was answering questions about the crop and the timeline for effective crop management between now though harvest.   In presenting to almost 200 in attendance, he said the better start to the growing season could lay the groundwork for more acres in future growing seasons.


"Mother Nature's working with us," Scott said. "Let's get through a good harvest and I think that will start bringing some numbers back up."


Scott is finding a lot of farmers wished they would have planted more canola last fall.


"Good weather conditions and not being in a drought, like we've been in the last three years, has really opened some eyes," Scott said.  To listen to my interview with Jeff Scott, click or tap here.

Yesterday morning, State Representative Scott Biggs was granted time to take a moment of personal priviledge on the Oklahoma House Floor to address what he calls "the recent attacks of Drew Edmondson and HSUS."


Biggs told House members that earlier in the week, he and Representative Brian Renegar received a letter from former Attorney General Drew Edmondson that scolded the lawmakers over what the former AG called false statements in support of House Bill 2250 in a News Release.


Edmondson claimed the statements that HSUS raised about a million dollars from Oklahomans after the group used the Moore tornado as a reason to ask donors to help- and then spent only about a tenth of that actually helping animals in the state in the aftermath of the tornado were a lie.


Edmondson went on to say in the letter that the HSUS advertising after the Moore tornado "did not use the Moore tornado or promised relief from the Moore tornado."


In his comments on the floor, Biggs responded by saying that HSUS did make reference to the Moore tornado in their solicitations to donors. He cited an email sent after the tornado that talked about the plight of animals after the tornado- and then later asked for money.


Biggs also cited testimony given by HSUS to Congress after the tornado about the amount of money given to the organization in that time frame- an amount that exceeded $1.7 million dollars. Biggs told his colleagues that the HSUS then spent $110,000 of that money on animals and shelters in the region.

We have posted the full comments of Scott Biggs on our webstory- available here- that also includes the letter sent by Edmondson to the lawmakers. 

Red meat often gets a bad rap, that's why the beef industry has a registered dietitian and nutritional scientist standing up for the protein source. Dr. Shalene McNeill serves as the Executive Director for Nutrition Education for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA). As the cattle industry's nutritional spokesperson, she said her role includes pushing back against regulatory authorities that make accusatory statements regarding red meat. She often sees people's perceptions on beef are not based on science. NCBA recently reviewed a report from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a division of the World Health Organization (WHO). The agency decided to evaluate red and processed meat for carcinogenicity to determine if the science supported whether red and processed meat caused cancer.


"Ultimately, they concluded that red meat was a probable cause of cancer," McNeill said.


She said that checkoff-funded research and other science has concluded that single foods do not cause cancer and it comes back to an overall unhealthy and unbalanced diet that can increase your risk for cancer. This report also raised concerns among the public.


"The public really questioned the reliability of that conclusion and we saw huge backlash by the public not believing those results," McNeill said.

 

If television's iconic Mr. Ed the talking horse were present, he would be giving major props to several key benefactors of Oklahoma State University's new Charles and Linda Cline Equine Teaching Center.


"Our new multi-million-dollar center is state of the art and has a teaching barn, small indoor arena, classrooms, feed and tack rooms, a wash rack and a treatment area, all made possible by the generosity of horse enthusiasts who believe in what we are doing in support of Oklahoma's equine industry," said Clint Rusk, head of the OSU Department of Animal Science.


The supporters so vital to making the center a reality were honored by the OSU Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources during center-dedication ceremonies on Feb. 16.  Click or tap here to read more about the new OSU Equine Teaching Center.

World wheat production has a big impact on the local elevator price. On this weekend's edition of SUNUP, Oklahoma State University Grain Marketing Specialist Kim Anderson said the United States only accounted for 7.6 percent of the world's wheat production this past year, so world wheat production remains extremely important in determining U.S. wheat prices.


World wheat production has set new records for the past three straight years. Anderson said this past year production totaled 27 billion bushels. The past three consecutive years have been above 26 billion bushels. Meanwhile, production has exceeded use the past three years. World wheat use or consumption this past year was at a record 26.1 billion bushels. That leaves 900 million bushels. Anderson said over the past five years production has exceed consumption by 300 million bushels on average.


Record wheat production has put global wheat prices on a downward trend since February 2013. Anderson said prices have been trading sideways since August 2015 with prices trading between $4.40 and $5.21. That has current cash prices below $4 a bushel across much of Oklahoma with prices ranging from $3.80 - $4.10.


Anderson also discusses wheat harvest prices.  Click or tap here to listen to SUNUP host Lyndall Stout interview OSU's Kim Anderson and take a look at the SUNUP show lineup for this weekend. 

Miss America 2016 Betty Cantrell and Julie Tesch, executive director of the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture, introduced the First Peas to the Table Contest. This new national competition for schools encourages children in kindergarten through fifth grade to plant, raise and harvest peas this spring.


"It was an honor to have Miss America 2016 Betty Cantrell join us in launching the First Peas to the Table Contest," Tesch said. "We know from experience that getting your hands dirty is the best way for children to learn! Through this contest, we aim to provide fun, hands-on learning opportunities for students across the country," she said.

The contest highlights the Foundation's latest Book of the Year, "First Peas to the Table," by Susan Grigsby. The Foundation created the contest to help students understand the importance of healthy foods and agriculture in their everyday lives, and to increase their understanding of how plants grow

The contest runs March 1 - May 16.  Click here to read more about the contest.

The Wheat Quality Council awarded Dr. Brett Carver and the OSU Wheat Improvement Team the top millers award in 2016 for the second year in a row. The award was presented to Dr. Carver at the Wheat Council Meetings in Kansas City this week.

The Wheat Quality Council which was established in 1938 has a long distinguished past of evaluating wheat for milling and end quality use. The Wheat Quality Council sponsors programs where different varieties of wheat are grown side by side locations throughout the various wheat production areas across the U.S. The harvested wheats are evaluated for milling and baking abilities and the resulting flours are tested for-end quality uses by a total of 17 cooperating bakers.

The work of Dr. Caver and the OSU Wheat Improvement Team has been judged as the best once again by the Council- read more about this honor by clicking here- and we also have details about the newest wheat breeding achievement of OSU- the announced release of Stardust- a new hard white wheat developed for the hard red winter wheat belt.