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We invite you to listen to us on
great radio stations across the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network
weekdays- if you missed this morning's Farm News - or you are in an
area where you can't hear it- click
here for this morning's Farm news from Ron Hays on RON.
Let's
Check the Markets!
mornings with cash and futures reviewed- includes where
the Cash Cattle market stands, the latest Feeder Cattle Markets Etc.
Each afternoon we are posting a recap of that day's
markets as analyzed by Justin
Lewis of KIS futures- click
here for the report posted yesterday afternoon around 3:30 PM.
Our
Oklahoma Farm Report Team!!!!
Ron Hays,
Senior Editor and Writer
Pam Arterburn,
Calendar and Template Manager
Dave
Lanning, Markets and Production
Macey Mueller,
Email and Web Editor
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Oklahoma's Latest Farm and Ranch News
Presented by
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON
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Howdy Neighbors!
Here is your daily Oklahoma farm and ranch news
update.
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 Featured Story:
Altus
Farmer Mike Schulz Elected to be 2017 President Pro Tempore of the
Oklahoma Senate
Republican senators on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted
to designate Senator
Mike Schulz, R-Altus, as the next President Pro
Tempore of the Oklahoma State Senate. The President Pro Tem is the
upper chamber's top leadership position. In addition to leading the
Majority Caucus and setting its agenda, the Pro Tem oversees the
operations of the Oklahoma Senate.
Shortly after word came that Senator Schulz had been elected, I
talked with the Senator at the 2016 Oklahoma State FFA Convention.
"It's an honor to be selected by my colleagues to lead the
Republican caucus in the next legislative session. Under the
leadership of Pro Tem Bingman, we've made significant progress in
making Oklahoma a better place to live, to work and to raise a family,"
Schulz said. "Certainly, challenging times lie ahead, but we are
a resilient state and there is a very talented group of men and women
serving in the Senate who have the passion and creativity to find the
solutions that will get our state moving in the right direction. I
appreciate the trust my Republican colleagues have placed in me and
look forward to serving them, and the people of the great state of
Oklahoma as Senate Pro Tempore."
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Stars Shine Brightly at
2016 Oklahoma FFA Convention!
There was a STAR
sighting on Wednesday afternoon at the 2016 Oklahoma
FFA Convention- in fact, there were four Stars seen as the Wednesday
Afternoon General Session featured the Stars Over Oklahoma Pageant as
the top four SAE programs in four areas were honored- the Star in
AgriScience, Star in Ag Placement, Star in Agribusiness and the
Granddaddy of them all- the Star Farmer Award.
I have been lucky enough to have interviewed the Star candidates
every year since the late 1980s- not honestly sure which year I
started doing the Stars audio/visual presentation- and once again
here in 2016- we spotlighted the four stars with a quick video about
their FFA experience.
The 2016 FFA
Star in AgriScience is Braden Kellogg
of Oologah FFA- his career in FFA featured work in three different
science project experiments- the favorite being a taste testing of
Certified Angus Beef versus generic beef products. Click
here to watch his video and read more about his FFA experience.
The FFA Star in
Ag Placement was won by Hayden Crow of
Chattanooga FFA- a remarkable young man who faced early life
adversity but found his way and FFA has been a part of his
success. You will enjoy his comments- watch them by
clicking here.
The FFA Star in
Agribusiness honor was bestowed upon Blake Kennedy
of the Tecumseh FFA Chapter- Blake has a remarkable business that he has
built up since he took it over in 2014- the Perfect Timing Pig Sale-
which attracts more than a thousand folks from multiple states to buy
and sell show pigs. His story is a dandy- watch our video
highlights of it by clicking
here.
FINALLY- your FFA
Star Farmer for 2016 is Brock Boeckman
of the Kingfisher FFA. Wheat and Cattle are the heart of
Oklahoma Agriculture- and Brock is right in the middle of those
enterprises- click
here to read more about his SAE- and you can click on the video
right from this email to see his story- as we told it yesterday
afternoon in the Cox Center.
These four Stars
are the best of the best- and all are great examples
of what the Oklahoma FFA can do for a young man or woman wanting to
excel!
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AFBF's Dale Moore Says
Work Continues to Get Preemption of State GMO Labels as Vermont
Deadline Nears
There
was no shortage of agricultural topics to discuss with American Farm
Bureau's Dale
Moore during the National Farm Broadcasters
Washington Watch earlier this week. I caught up with Moore, who
serves as executive director of public policy for AFBF.
GMO labeling is a current hot topic, as the Congress attempts to
preempt a Vermont labeling law that goes into effect July1. Moore
says a federal preemption would prevent a patchwork of state laws
dictating similar but different rules and regulations for GMO foods.
"There needs to be a clear federal standard as to what is a GMO
and what is not a GMO-derived product," he says. "This is
not about safety; this is not about public health. This is about
consumers wanting this information."
AFBF supports a voluntary labeling standard and believes it opens the
doors to better engage and educate consumers.
"The science has proven over and over again that these products
are safe," Moore says. "As soon as you put the mandate part
in there, that starts to raise the flag that there's something in here
that is wrong with the technology."
We also talked with the Kansas native about multiple other issues-
TPP, Crop Insurance and the Title One Federal Farm Safety Net- you
can hear our complete conversation by clicking
here.
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U.S. House Committees
Hear From Agricultural Producers and Experts
Agricultural organizations were busy advocating for
farmers and ranchers on Capitol Hill Wednesday.
Illinois Farm Bureau President Richard
Guebert, Jr .testified on behalf of the American Farm
Bureau Federation and the Illinois Farm Bureau. He encouraged
Congress to help farm and ranch families endure what observers agree
will be a difficult year. He said Illinois farmers who produce row
crops have been hit hard along with the rest of the farm economy.
"Over the last 18 months we have seen our working capital erode
over 25 percent," Guebert said. "Our equity is fading into
the sunset. Indexed to inflation, the economic return for Illinois
farmers after accounting for family expenses is currently at its
lowest level since 1972. All of this has proven to be a very steep
learning curve for a new generation of younger and less experienced
farmers who entered the business when times were better."
Read
more about what Guebert told the U.S. House subcommittee.
Jay Vroom,
president and CEO of CropLife America (CLA), provided testimony today
before the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture's Subcommittee on
Biotechnology, Horticulture and Research on the economic
contributions of crop protection technology. In the hearing,
"Focus on the Farm Economy: Factors Impacting the Cost of
Production," Vroom explained that agricultural technology not
only helps farmers increase yields but also positively impacts the
economy well beyond the farm-gate, including through job creation.
Recent actions taken by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA), however, such as EPA's use of flawed epidemiological studies
for risk assessments for organophosphates, threaten farmers' access
to these vital crop protection tools and jeopardize economic benefits
as well.
"Recently, the crop protection businesses that support American
agriculture have seen serious deviations from the regular order,
transparency and scientific integrity of EPA's risk assessment based
pesticide review process," Vroom stated in his testimony.
"These departures have made it difficult to provide business
predictability for producers and they potentially inhibit investment
in more advanced products. We hope that today's hearing will help put
EPA and agriculture back on a path to a more productive dialogue that
leads to reasonable, timely regulatory decisions and solutions to
shared concerns. A return to established regulatory process and sound
science will help our industry support rural communities and improve
farm incomes."
Read
more about Vroom's recent testimony on agricultural technology.
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Sponsor
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National Farmers
Union and 160 Other Farm, Food and Rural Groups Sign Letter Opposing
TPP
The
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has become a divisive issue in the
nation's capital, and criticism intensified after 161 food, farm,
faith and rural organizations sent a letter to Capitol Hill today,
urging lawmakers to reject the trade pact.
"The main beneficiaries of the TPP are the companies that buy,
process and ship raw agricultural commodities, not the farmers who
face real risks from rising import competition. TPP imports will
compete against U.S. farmers who are facing declining farm prices that
are projected to stay low for years," the organizations wrote.
The White House has promoted the TPP as an export-boon for farmers to
generate support for the agreement, but past trade agreements have
not always delivered on export promises, the letter noted. For
example, the United States' total combined exports of corn, soybeans
and wheat have remained steady at about 100 million metric tons for
the last 30 years despite a raft of free trade agreements since the
mid-1990s.
"Trade deals do not just add new export markets - the flow of
trade goes both ways - and the U.S. has committed to allowing
significantly greater market access to imports under the TPP,"
the groups explained. Especially "alarming" to the
organizations is the agreement's complete lack of enforceable
provisions against currency manipulation, a substantial cause of
America's debilitating $531 billion trade imbalance.
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to Have the Latest Energy News Delivered to Your Inbox Daily?
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Production Costs and Cost
of Gain Will Play Key Role in Cattle Profitability - Derrell Peel
Explains
In the latest edition of the Beef Buzz, OSU Extension
Livestock Marketing Specialist Derrell
Peel offers strategies for cow-calf producers and
stocker operators as we move through the second quarter of 2016.
Peel says that although calf prices are currently pretty strong, they
will continue to decline as beef herd numbers continue to build. Now
is the time for cow-calf producers to pay close attention to
margins.
"They need to be aware of what the market prices are likely to
do, but at the end of the day, they can't change them," he says.
"So they really need to focus their attention on cost management
and try to protect their margins."
When it comes to stocker cattle, Peel says producers need to
understand the relationship between stocker cattle values and the
cost of gain. While it was once more profitable to take cattle to 800
to 900+ lbs before marketing them, the low cost-of-gain means
feedlots are now more interested in putting the weight on themselves.
"If stocker producers pencil out the value of the last 200 lbs
of gain on the big end relative to the first 200 lbs when they first
start with these cattle, they may find an incentive to turn those
cattle a little bit quicker and concentrate more of their effort on
the light-weight end of things," Peel says.
Listen
to Peel's complete strategy for cow-calf producers and stocker
operators during this edition of the Beef Buzz.
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Cale Jahn of Elgin FFA
Will Lead the 2016-17 Oklahoma FFA State Officer Team
Cale Jahn,
member of the Elgin FFA Chapter, will lead the more than 27,000
members of the Oklahoma FFA Association for 2016-17. Members elected
the 19-year-old to his presidential position during the 90th Oklahoma
FFA Convention on April 27. Jahn previously served as the 2015-16
Oklahoma FFA secretary and is the son of Jerry and Mary Jahn.
Seven additional FFA members will join Jahn on the 2016-17 Oklahoma
FFA officer team:
Piper Merritt,
Owasso FFA, secretary;
Adrienne Blakey,
Stillwater FFA, reporter;
Cleo Giraldo,
Eufaula FFA, northeast district vice president;
Ridge Hughbanks,
Alva FFA, northwest district vice president;
Levi Baker,
Dibble FFA, central district vice president;
Tanna Frizzell,
Byng FFA, southeast district vice president
Garrett Saunders,
Binger-Oney FFA, southwest district vice president.
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ICYMI: Oklahoma
Agricultural Leadership Program Applications Due May 1
If you need one last reason to
quickly pull together your application for the next class of the
OALP- our top story this morning is it!!!
The next leader of the Oklahoma State Senate is a graduate of Class V
of the OALP- Mike Schulz is a cotton farmer from Altus- credits his
position today to being involved in things like FFA as well as the
OALP and Farm Bureau.
OALP can be a piece of the puzzle in your leadership journey as well-
BUT- you have to apply to get involved!!!!!!
"OALP is recognized as one of Oklahoma's top leadership programs
for emerging agricultural leaders," said Edmond Bonjour, OALP
director. "Our program is continuing to grow and produce
well-educated leaders for the agricultural industry in our state. We
just graduated OALP Class XVII and I'm now turning my sights toward
Class XVIII and a new group of eager learners."
Applications are now available for Class XVIII at oalp.okstate.edu
The deadline for
submitting an application and letters of reference is May 1.
The class size is limited to 30 participants ages 25 and up who are
actively engaged in agriculture or a related agricultural business.
I am going to use my Chairmanship of the Advisory Council to tell you
that if you will let Edmond know today or tomorrow about your
intentions to get an application to him- you can work on it and get
it in this coming Monday- May 2nd- since
May first falls on a Sunday. You can tell him
it's the Ron deal.
Click
here to learn more about OALP.
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