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. Johnston is welcoming all fall crops this harvest. They have space to store your grain and look forward to serving you. For more on Johnston Enterprises- click here for their brand new website!

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Oklahoma Wheat Farmers are getting close to getting the 2011 crop into the ground- "Despite the need for additional rainfall, small grain crops remained mostly in good to fair condition. Wheat seeding increased ten points from the previous week to reach 88 percent complete, four points ahead of normal, while 68 percent of the State's wheat had emerged by Sunday." Our neighbors in Kansas have passed 90 percent in their planting- at 92%, while Texas is up to 81% planted by the end of the weekend. All three states are ahead of the five year average pace.

Nationally, the corn, cotton and soybean harvest has been on steroids compared to last year's rain soaked event. The US corn crop is now 83% harvested, versus just 20% done by this date in 2009. Soybeans are now 91% harvest complete- versus the 42% figure that was reality in 2009. Finally, the 2010 cotton crop is now halfway harvested nationally- versus just 19% done at this juncture in 2009. Click here for the full USDA National Crop Progress Summary issued on Monday afternoon.

Back in Oklahoma- our spring planted crops are also in the process of being harvested. "Row crop harvest was temporarily halted in some areas due to rainfall. Ninety-six percent of grain sorghum had matured by Sunday, 23 points ahead of normal, and 55 percent of sorghum was harvested by week's end, 17 points ahead of normal. Seventy-nine percent of soybeans were mature by week's end and 51 percent of the crop had been harvested. Ninety-eight percent of the State's peanuts were mature by Sunday, four points ahead of normal, with 87 percent of the crop dug. Sixty-nine percent of the peanut crop was combined by Sunday, 26 points ahead of the five-year average. Cotton harvest was 33 percent complete by Sunday, 13 points ahead of the five-year average."

Click here for the latest Oklahoma Crop Weather Summary as issued by USDA's NASS.

As with most people at the meeting of feedlot operators in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma- Keys is concerned about the USDA proposal that would substantially change marketing here in the US of livestock- what everyone is calling the GIPSA Marketing Rule. If you want to learn more about the GIPSA Proposal- a great place to start is on our website- we have compiled a PRIMER on the rule, the USDA explanations, the pro and con of the rule from the industry and how you can comment on the rule before November 22- click here to jump to our "Read the Rule" page.

Keys contends that while many current value added programs will likely survive in some form or fashion under the GIPSA proposal- the next great program (like the Certified Angus Beef Program) would have little chance to get started with the likelihood that others in the beef cattle business who would be jealous of the new program- would complain it was not fair and kill it before it would have time to ramp up and become established. Click on the LINK below and listen to our conversation with Chandler- which we have published as a Podcast so it shows up on both our website as well as becoming available on Itunes.

Click here for our visit with Chandler Keys of JBS on the GIPSA Marketing Rule

A Special kickoff was held in Watonga yesterday that featured the Department of Tourism, the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Agriculture, as well as the Oklahoma Conservation Commission and the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts.

Trey Lam, President of the OACD says his group is super pleased to be a part of this effort. "This new initiative with Tourism is a great way to promote conservation of our natural resources, reward good stewardship of the land and highlight the good work that is going on in Oklahoma," Lam said. "By facilitating the sale of these credits to folks who are coming to Oklahoma we are helping promote sustainable tourism while showcasing the ongoing efforts to protect our environment. This is a great program that helps showcase Oklahoma nationally and puts dollars in the pocket of those folks going the extra mile to protect our natural resources. This is a great program and we are excited to be a part of it."

Click here for more on this program- which could result in a stream of revenue for carbon credits to landowners in the state.

For the last three years, Smith has dramatically changed the way he teaches agriscience. After learning that a student was struggling with the biology portion of the American College Test (ACT), he began incorporating more science into his agriculture teaching, beginning with the parts of the plant cell. Smith has now aligned his botany course to the standards of the horticulture industry. His students grow and sell plants from their greenhouse, as well as conduct experiments that require them to collect, analyze and publish data on a weekly basis.

In addition to learning more about botany than in previous years, Smith has also encouraged his students to become more involved with award recognition programs and in 2009 a member of the Cushing FFA chapter was selected as a finalist for the National Agriscience Student of the year. Additionally, three of Smith's students competed in the National Agriscience Student Fair during the national FFA Convention.

Click here to learn more about Alan Smith's Agriscience efforts- and to listen to our conversation with him in Indianapolis.

The most important work facing the new Congress is the next Farm Bill. Maslyn says Farm Bureau will - work with ag committee members to help them understand the role of farm programs and develop a bill that provides an effective and responsive safety net for producers across the country.

On the trade front, Maslyn says - we are hopeful the new Congress will change the outlook of trade opportunities. We hope the new Congress will take a fresh approach to free trade agreements with Panama, Colombia and Korea, which have been pending in Congress for several years. This year alone, more than 600 bilateral and regional trade agreements will have been negotiated around the world. The U.S. will share in less than 20 of these trade deals.

One of the newest voices for our network is KBLP FM in Lindsey, Oklahoma- playing country music and doing a great job for areas south of Oklahoma City at 105.1 on the FM dial. They play our morning farm news around 8:10 AM weekday mornings- and we will have details on our website soon about times for other ag programs they carry from RON.

Click on the LINK below for the full agenda of the conference for the next couple of days.

Click here for the agenda at the 2010 Oklahoma Water Conference in Norman.

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.

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.