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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Friday August 13, 2010
A
service of Johnston Enterprises, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind
Energy and American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance
Company!
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-- Ken Cook Calls on the Obama Adminstration to Rethink Ag Disaster
Promise to Senator Blanche Lincoln
-- R-Calf Analysis of GIPSA Rule Impact Called Incomplete and
Inappropriate
-- USDA Says Global Wheat Stocks Are Being Sharply Reduced Due to
Extreme Drought in Europe
-- The Oklahoma Crop Numbers- Mostly Up from 2009.
-- Oklahoma Conservation Commission Gets Grant from USDA to Work on
Carbon Offset Program
-- Last Call for Southern Plains Beef Symposium
-- The Big Event Coming to Express Ranch August 27 and 28
-- Let's Check the Markets!
Howdy Neighbors! 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! It is also great to have as an annual sponsor on our daily email
Johnston Enterprises- proud to be serving agriculture across
Oklahoma and around the world since 1893. W.B. Johnston is welcoming all
fall crops this harvest. They have space to store your grain, and they
look forward to serving you!! For more on Johnston Enterprises- click
here for their website that features their grain, ports and seed
business! If you have received this by someone forwarding it to you, you are welcome to subscribe and get this weekday update sent to you directly by clicking here. | |
Ken Cook Calls on the Obama Adminstration to Rethink Ag Disaster Promise to Senator Blanche Lincoln ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Environmental
Working Group (EWG) President Ken Cook on Thursday wrote to the federal
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) challenging the rationale for the
White House's promise to fund an agriculture disaster aid package sought
by embattled Sen. Blanche Lincoln, chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture
Committee. Even as Cook was sending his letter, Lincoln was on the
campaign trail in Arkansas- telling farmers that would stand to gain from
the ag disaster package that she was pleased to be getting this done "in
the nick of time."
The letter, addressed to OMB's Acting Deputy Director Robert Nabors, says the White House proposal violates key principles that make for effective and equitable farm disaster aid and threatens to repeat the mistakes of "ill-conceived and poorly administered farm disaster aid programs" of the past that "trample sound policy en route to ransacking the Treasury." According to press accounts, Sen. Lincoln agreed to pull her controversial, $1.5 billion farm disaster aid package from legislation intended to help small businesses after receiving assurances from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel that the USDA would provide funding for the package administratively. Over $200 million would go to Arkansas farmers under the plan- and Oklahoma farmers would also see a huge payday of over $106 million if the deal is done- Click here to see our earlier coverage of this story that includes the letter from Nabors to Senator Lincoln. At the start of this week- we had comments from Oklahoma Congressman
Frank Lucas on the subject- click
here for that audio conversation- as the top Republican on the House
Ag Committee treaded lightly on the issue since his district stands to get
much of the money destined for Oklahoma under the Lincoln plan. | |
R-Calf Analysis of GIPSA Rule Impact Called Incomplete and Inappropriate ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In response to
a News Release from R-Calf USA, US Premium Beef has released a statement
that indicates they plan on commenting themselves on the impact of the
GIPSA proposed Marketing Rules at a later date. We had a story in
yesterday's email about the analysis that was trumpeted by Bill Bullard of
the populist cattle organization.
The CEO of US Premium Beef, Steven Hunt, has sent a letter to USDA that explains their concerns of a group like R-Calf taking matters into their own hands and offering their opinion about how the proposed marketing rules would help or hurt US Premium Beef shareholders. In a statement released to the media- US Premium Beef says "Some special interest groups have provided opinions on how this Proposed Rule would impact U.S. Premium Beef, its unitholders and associates. There continues to be many unanswered questions regarding this rule that are concerning to us. We are thoroughly analyzing how the Proposed Rule would impact our company, its producers and consumer customers. We will reserve further comments until we have completed our analysis. "In the meantime, we have communicated with the USDA (see letter by going to the LINK below) concerning the analysis by one special interest group that is incomplete and inappropriate given that it does not have all the facts and circumstances concerning our company, nor does it represent U.S. Premium Beef or its producers." | |
USDA Says Global Wheat Stocks Are Being Sharply Reduced Due to Extreme Drought in Europe ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the Supply
Demand report that was released on Thursday morning, the biggest changes
were in the wheat stocks- and much of that was in the global numbers. The
USDA analysts lowered the expected size of the Russian wheat crop by a
whopping eight million metric tons- and that drop, plus other drops in
neighboring countries that were once the Soviet Union resulted in a higher
expectation for US wheat prices. US wheat prices for the balance of this
crop year are raised fifty cents per bushel on both ends of the range
given by the report- $ 4.70 to $5.50 per bushel.
Normally, the driving force on a major crop report day would be the confirmation of record corn and soybean crops in this country. But that report ended up being trumped by the wheat stats, which renewed the volatile nature of the wheat market on Thursday and into this morning on the Kansas City Board of Trade- and of all of the grains traded in Chicago. The September KC Wheat Contract jumped 15 cents on Thursday- and in overnight electronic trade overnight- that contract is up another fourteen cents. Click on the LINK below of our coverage from yesterday morning as those reports were being release. Click here for more about the Crop Production and Supply Demand Reports from USDA | |
The Oklahoma Crop Numbers- Mostly Up from 2009. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The first
production forecast of the year for the State's summer-grown crops based
on August 1 conditions, shows an increase from last year's production with
the exception of sorghum according to the Oklahoma Field Office of
USDA-NASS.Wheat production is forecast at 128.7 million bushels, unchanged from last month but up 67 percent from last year's production. An average yield of 33 bushels per acre is expected from 3.9 million harvested acres. Production of corn for grain is forecast at 43.2 million bushels, is up 29 percent from last year. An average yield of 135 bushels per acre is expected from 320,000 harvested acres. Cotton production is forecast at 340,000 bales, up 7 percent from last year. An average yield of 816 pounds per acre, is expected from 200,000 harvested acres. Production of grain sorghum is forecast at 11.4 million bushels, down 7
percent from 2009. An average yield of 52 bushels per acre is expected
from 220,000 harvested acres. Click on the LINK below for the Oklahoma crop numbers in greater detail- comparing 2010 to the 2009 harvest. Click here for the Oklahoma spring planted crop production numbers from USDA and NASS. | |
Oklahoma Conservation Commission Gets Grant from USDA to Work on Carbon Offset Program ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The winning
proposals for the 2010 Conservation Innovation Grants have been announced.
Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack made the announcement Thursday - saying the
grants will produce far-reaching results on a wide range of issues -
including conservation management and bio-energy production - by
facilitating the development and adoption of new approaches and
technologies. The Natural Resources Conservation Service received 230
proposals and is awarding nearly 18-million dollars in Conservation
Innovation Grants for 61 projects in 43 states and U.S. territories in the
Pacific.
There was one single state grant coming to Oklahoma- being provided to the Oklahoma Conservation Commission to "Developing high quality carbon offset verification protocols and quantifying water quality improvements of best management practices to ensure the environmental benefits of agricultural carbon offsets." Just over $303,000 was awarded for this project to the state agency. Two of the multi- state grants include work in Oklahoma. One was awarded to the Environmental Defense Fund to work on the "Development of Protocols and Accounting Methods for Carbon Sequestration on US Rangelands." The other multi state award involving Oklahoma went to the Dairy Research Institute to establish a "Farm energy audit data collector training program." | |
Last Call for Southern Plains Beef Symposium ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A very quick
reminder of the 20th annual Southern Plains Beef Symposium in Ardmore- we
will be emceeing some of the day's activities- and will look forward to
seeing you at this year's event.
Click on the link below for the details- if you have not registered at this point- just plan on doing so at the door tomorrow morning. Click here to check out the program and other details regarding the Southern Plains Beef Symposium | |
The Big Event Coming to Express Ranch August 27 and 28 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This year's
Big Event Sale of the Express Ranches in Yukon, Oklahoma will be spread
out over two days. On Friday, August 27, there will be a Dispersion of the
Fall Calving mature Angus females (to make room for approximately 400
heifers). This is a young set of females with several donors and bred to
what we feel are some of the best bulls in the breed.
The Saturday sale lineup on August 28 at Express Ranches will
include Click on the LINK below to jump right to Express Ranches website, where
you can check out the details of the animals to sell either Friday or
Saturday. Click here to jump to the website of Express Ranches, Yukon, Oklahoma. | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, PCOM, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy, Johnston Enterprises, American Farmers & Ranchers, KIS Futures and Big Iron Online Auctions for their support of our daily Farm News Update. For your convenience, we have our sponsors' websites linked here- just click on their name to jump to their website- check their sites out and let these folks know you appreciate the support of this daily email, as their sponsorship helps us keep this arriving in your inbox on a regular basis- FREE! 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. | |
Let's Check the Markets! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We've had
requests to include Canola prices for your convenience here- and we will
be doing so on a regular basis. Current cash price for Canola is $8.20 per
bushel- as of the close of business yesterday, while the 2011 New Crop
contracts for Canola are now available are $8.35 per bushel- delivered to
local participating elevators that are working with PCOM.
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: | |
God Bless! You can reach us at the following: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
phone: 405-473-6144
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