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!

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The first, according to the agenda is "Consideration and Possible Approval of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission Board to support a 1/2 cent increase on the producer wheat check off taking the current check off amount from 1 ½ cents per bushel to 2 cents per bushel in the Oklahoma Wheat Resources Act during the 2011 legislative session."

In conjunction with that discussion, the Commissioners will also look at asking the state lawmakers to also mandate a higher percentage of the total dollars taken in go to research efforts. The OWC agenda says "Consideration and Possible Approval of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission Board to support increasing the amounts given to the Oklahoma Wheat Research Foundation from 20 percent to 25 or 30 percent in the Oklahoma Wheat Resources Act during the 2011 legislative session."

While the Commission cannot lobby the state legislature, going on record for these changes allows farm groups and individuals who support the need for change to have specifics to talk with lawmakers about.
Besides these changes, the Wheat Commission has a full agenda to work through- click on the LINK below to see that agenda as found in the calendar section of our website, www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com.

Click here for our calendar item listing the agenda of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission.

"The proposed rule changes are likely to slow the pace of innovation, increase the costs of raising live chickens, and result in costly litigation," wrote Thomas E. Elam, president of FarmEcon. "Higher costs would put upward pressure on chicken prices, and economic theory strongly suggests that consumers would ultimately bear most of these costs."
Rules proposed by USDA's Grain Inspection, Packers & Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) would force changes in the relationship between the nation's chicken companies and the independent farmers who grow chickens under contracts with the companies, and would also require changes in the production and marketing system for cattle and pigs. GIPSA maintains that the changes will have little economic impact, but evidence is accumulating that the cost will in fact be considerable. The FarmEcon study was the first to look at the impact on the meat chicken industry specifically.
Click here for our story on this study that was released yesterday- and which will be submitted to USDA as part of the comments that the National Chicken Council says they will be making to the agency.

Meanwhile, this study as well as the study released last week from Informa Economics suggest that USDA miscalculated when they said no economic impact study would be needed because the rule would cause little or no economic changes to the industry. Gregg Doud of the NCBA wondered out loud on Tuesday's Beef Buzz about the lack of a government Economic Analysis. You can hear his comments by clicking on the LINK below and listening to our Q&A with him.

Remember also that we have our PRIMER on the GIPSA Rule still up and available for you to review. Click here to go there- we have details on how you can submit your comments to USDA before Monday, November 22.

Click here for our Beef Buzz with Gregg Doud of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association wondering why no Federal Government Economic Analysis of the GIPSA Rule

According to the Media Advisory, the HSUS, is planning a "Press conference to announce The Humane Society of the United States' latest undercover investigation into a major egg producer in Texas. Recently, two factory farms in Iowa made national headlines when their eggs were linked to outbreaks of Salmonella and half a billion eggs were recalled. The factory farm that The HSUS investigated in Texas has similarly inhumane and filthy conditions.
"The HSUS will release video footage revealing appalling suffering at an egg factory farm and outline critically-needed reforms in animal agribusiness to reduce cruelty and improve food safety."

This will be held in Washington at the HSUS Headquarters- we will be able to monitor it via a teleconference they have set up for media- and they promise a visual event. HSUS tells the media to expect "Undercover video footage of Texas factory farm conditions"- as well as a" Large display photo examples highlighting food safety concerns."

When we tweeted the HSUS plan yesterday- a couple of ag groups that follow us called and wanted details- hopefully, they will be able to be ready to take another visual body blow from Wayne Pacelle against how eggs are produced in this country.

"In contrast, total beef production has not changed accordingly. In fact, 2010 beef production is projected at 25.9 billion pounds, slightly higher than the 1996 level of 25.4 billion pounds. This leads to two questions: how have we maintained beef production with declining inventories? and can we continue to maintain production? We have maintained production thus far in two primary ways. First, decreasing inventories allows the industry to utilize that inventory as production while numbers are declining. Secondly, for the decade, between 1996 and 2006, cheap corn allowed the industry to feed animals to ever increasing carcass weights and to feed lightweight calves for many days in feedlots. Feedlot inventories are thus maintained by a slower rate of turnover. Thus, the industry was able to effectively turn fewer cattle into more pounds of beef."

Dr. Peel believes that we will reach a point where we will have to reduce cattle slaughter in order to retain heifers to start rebuilding the herd. You can click on the LINK below to read the rest of his ideas on this subject- and get his prediction as to when this herd rebuilding may finally start to happen.

Click here for more on the answer to the question- At What Point do we run out of cattle?

The Farm Bureau issued a statement from their President Mike Spradling. "We respect and support Governor-elect Mary Fallin's appointment of Jim Reese as agriculture secretary. The governor-elect was fortunate to have a large pool of dedicated Oklahoma agriculture leaders to choose from, and we are looking forward to working with Jim. We had a good working relationship with Jim when he was in the statehouse and when he was serving as FSA director," Spradling said.
While serving in the state legislature, Reese received Farm Bureau's Meritorious Service award, which is granted to lawmakers for their strong support of rural and agricultural issues.

We caught up with Terry Detrick, President of the American Farmers & Ranchers early this morning at his Hotel in Washington. Detrick and several AFR leaders are in Washington until later today- talking with members of Congress as the Lame Duck Session rolls along. Detrick tells us that "We congratulate Jim and think it's a good move." Detrick adds that Reese understands the issues very well and that AFR looks forward to working with him.
Terry Detrick says that he expects Jim Reese will look at continuing the meetings held regularly at the State Department of Agriculture that most ag groups in the state took part in. These meetings were hosted by current Commissioner of Ag Terry Peach, who Detrick says "has set the bar for harmonization in the ag community in the state of Oklahoma."

Click here for more on the reaction to the Mary Fallin Choice for Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture- Jim Reese

Volume and open interest in KCBT contracts have increased as demand for milling-quality wheat has taken center stage, traders said. In fact a new open interest record was set in the wheat futures contract just last Thursday at 250,506 contracts, capping a spate of recent open interest records. Trading has been active in both the intermarket and intramarket spreads. There has also been interest from traders looking at commodities in general as an inflation hedge, traders said.

Click on the LINK below for more on this record set by the KCBT- and a link to a very interesting graphic showing the growth in trade at the KCBT- fueled in part by the moving in of major hedge funds in the commodity markets.

Click here for more on the KCBT Record of 24 billion bushels of wheat traded thus far here in 2010.

The new President of the American Angus Association Board hails from North Carolina, while the new Vice Chairman and Vice President is Jarold Callahan of Express Ranches in Yukon, Oklahoma. Jarold Callahan, the newly elected vice chairman and vice president, recently served as treasurer. Callahan received his undergraduate degree from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College and a master's degree in agriculture from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He taught purebred beef production and livestock selection at Oklahoma State University and served as executive vice president of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association before joining Express Ranches in 1996.

Our friend and fellow alum of Class One of the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program- John Pfeiffer is a fourth-generation Angus breeder who graduated from Oklahoma State University with a bachelor's degree in animal science. John and his wife, Gaye, have two sons and operate the longtime Pfeiffer Angus business and diversified farming operation.
John spent 30 years teaching high school science and served two years as administrator. He served as president of the Oklahoma Angus Association and, with Gaye, serves as editor of the Oklahoma Angus Challenger and directory.

Click here to read more about the new board that Jarold and John are serving on in the coming year for the American Angus Association.

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(includes latest cash cattle trade which is steady with last week- $98.50 top from the Texas Cattle Feeders Association.