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Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. We are pleased to have American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance Company as a regular sponsor of our daily update- click here to go to their AFR web site to learn more about their efforts to serve rural America!

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There is little common ground between the officers of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and the Cattlemen's Beef Board over the Compliance Review.
NCBA's President Steve Fogelsong contends this report is no different from any of the compliance checks done over the years by the CBB and the NCBA, except that this time the findings have been made public. CBB officers Dan Dierschke of Texas and Robert Fountain of Georgia say this is not like any recent compliance checks, because they have gone to the expense of getting a third pary opinion- and they claim that things have been uncovered that make the CPA firm concerned.

We have talked to officers from both of the groups- have heard the conversation in the Executive Committees of both groups and the conversation in the hallways and the division between them is wider than ever. Click on the LINK below for a special Podcast that we have put together about what the two sides are saying.

Here in Denver today- other issues will surface- but the Beef Checkoff Audit is like an oil slick- it's out there and coating everything to at least some extent that goes on this week at this mid year gathering.

Click here for more on the Compliance Review and the thoughts of some of the officers leading these two groups

"Each of our organizations has its own concerns about the proposed NCBA governance structure changes and has provided feedback and suggestions in several meetings with NCBA representatives," the groups wrote. "Although the time line for moving forward on these proposals has been recently delayed by NCBA, the groups' individual concerns and positions regarding the financial, operational and governance fire walls have been clearly communicated."

Click on the LINK below for more of the feedback from these groups- including a chance to read the letter sent by the groups to Chairman Scott George of the Federation side of NCBA.
I did notice last night that at least one representative from these groups was checking to watch what is going on this week in Denver- Mary Kay Thatcher of the American Farm Bureau is here- following up her visit to the annual winter meeting in San Antonio earlier this year.

Click here for more on the industry groups outside of the NCBA circle and their most recent communication with the Federation of State Beef Councils.

Here in Denver, we have talked to cattle producers and NCBA staffers on this subject- and we have a couple of those interviews to share with you this morning. First, we have talked with Gregg Doud, Chief Economist of the NCBA about this issue- and he believes the fear of litigation will cause most packers, processors and other players in the cattle business to back away from the value added marketing efforts developed over the last two to three decades- and that we will quickly return to just a commodity market. He adds that the ban of packer to packer sales of livestock has severe unintended consequences- and that could impact movement of cattle in all parts of the country. Click here for our webstory and audio conversation with Gregg Doud on the GIPSA rules.

We have also talked with Colin Woodall- also out of the Washington office of the NCBA- and Colin gives us some perspective of the turf battle that has developed between Congress and USDA on the way this rule has been written. Woodall tells us that he has never seen a bi-partisan beatdown of the Executive branch like that of the House Ag Committee of a few days back- Congress believes that GIPSA has ignored their directive in the 2008 farm law and is writing new policy to change the landscape of the livestock business. Click here to get Colin Woodall's view of this confrontation between two of the branches of our federal government over this Livestock Marketing Rule overhaul.

Lindsey says the packer to packer ban of sales could devastate the pork industry in Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle and Southwest Kansas- as the Seaboard Processing plant is the only pork slaughter plant for hundreds of miles. Many of the other pork processors own facilities where they raise hogs in this part of the country- and they sell regularly to Seaboard- but they would have to find another place to sell hogs- maybe shipping them all the way to the west coast or else up into Iowa or Nebraska- while the Guymon plant would struggle to have enough pigs to get its doors open.

There are other concerns as well- you can hear my conversation with Roy Lee by clicking on the LINK below- and if you are in the News9 KWTV viewing area on Saturday morning- you can see the video version of our conversation with Roy Lee on our In the Field segment on this same subject. That conversation will be seen about 6:40 on Saturday.

Click here for more on the pork industry view of the GIPSA Livestock Marketing Rules- now in the middle of the USDA comment period.

Rancher Jay Platt is a R-Calf member and he calls out Kay "As an apologist for his meat processing and packing clients, Kay overlooks the fact that the Packers and Stockyards Act (PSA) was designed to protect producers and cowboys, not processors and packers."

Platt says that none of the concerns raised by Kay in his article(we have it linked in our webstory that you can go to below) are true and that value added transactions won't be impacted by the rules. You can read his opinions for yourself by clicking on the LINK below- his defense is much of what USDA issued earlier this week when they released a four page followup to their proposed rules that addresses what they call misconceptions about what they want to proceed with.

Click here for the R-Calf opoinion piece supporting GIPSA and blasting Beef Journalist Steve Kay.

Producers reported that from Oklahoma and points south, canola yields (1,250 - 2,400 lbs per acre / 25-48 bus/ac) equaled or exceeded production of adjoining wheat fields. However, their wheat on wheat suffered from low protein and high dockage (rye grass, cheat, etc.). As a result, the prices received for their canola at times were more than double that of their discounted wheat. And producers who had been growing canola for more than one year reported that their wheat on canola yielded 10-30% more than wheat on wheat, with little dockage and higher protein.
Extension, Industry, and University participants spoke to refined planting dates for the various belts - early to mid-September to early to mid-October; proper seeding depth; seed treatment; fertility; insect management; and harvest management. In short, growers were told not to plant winter canola if they intended to treat it like winter wheat. If they planted in September and didn't plan to look at the field again until late February, they were told that this was a recipe for a guaranteed failure. In short, growers were repeatedly told that understanding the management demands of the crop were extremely important.

Click on the LINK below for more on this view of the various summer canola meeting held to this point- with more meetings coming in August. We will be adding those to our Calendar on the website as we get info on them- stay tuned!

Click here for more on the potential doubling of acreage for winter canola as we approach the planting window for the 2011 Crop

Lisa Brown, a senior agricultural communications student at Oklahoma State University (OSU), is the recipient of the 2010 Forrest Bassford Student Award given by Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health and the Livestock Publications Council. Brown was presented a $2,000 scholarship and a plaque during the Ag Media Summit (AMS) held in St. Paul, MN, July 25-27. A native of Keenesburg, CO, Brown is an active member of Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow. She also has served as an agricultural ambassador for the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at OSU to promote post secondary education to high school students. She will graduate in May 2011. You can read more about Lisa and even see her smiling face after winning this honor by clicking here. (our thanks to Chuck ZImmerman for the picture from this week's conference)

We also invite you to check out our website at the link below to check out an archive of these daily emails, audio reports and top farm news story links from around the globe.

Click here to check out WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com

Here are some links we will leave in place on an ongoing basis- Click on the name of the report to go to that link:
Our Daily Market Wrapup from the Radio Oklahoma Network with Ed Richards and Tom Leffler- analyzing the Futures Markets from the previous Day-
Ron on RON Markets as heard on K101 mornings with cash and futures reviewed- includes where the Cash Cattle market stands, the latest Feeder Cattle Markets Etc.
Previous Day's Wheat Market Recap- Two Pager From The Kansas City Board of Trade looks at all three US Wheat Futures Exchanges with extra info on Hard Red Winter Wheat and the why of that day's market.
Daily Oklahoma Cash Grain Prices- As Reported by the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture. <
The National Daily Feeder & Stocker Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
The National Daily Slaughter Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
Finally, Here is the Daily Volume and Price Summary from the Texas Cattle Feeders Association.