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. One of the great success stories of the Johnston brand is Wrangler Bermudagrass- the most widely planted true cold-tolerant seeded forage bermudagrass in the United States. For more on Johnston Enterprises- click here for their brand new website!

And we are proud to have P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy as one of our regular sponsors of our daily email update. P & K is the premiere John Deere dealer in Oklahoma, with ten locations to serve you, and the P & K team are excited about their new Wind Power program, as they offer Endurance Wind Power wind turbines. Click here for more from the P&K website.

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The key for this breakthrough was the ability to take a lot of computing power and sort through the corn genome- pulling out what they called native traits that show the ability to grow and produce corn with less water. Pioneer calls their computer system that they used to push this direction their "Accelerated Yield technology" system.

It appears that Pioneer has taken some current Hybrid lines and added the drought tolerance onto them- using conventional Hybrid breeding techniques. These are not GMOs so no regulatory approval was needed to add these lines to their portfolio.

According to the Pioneer news release- "These hybrids, introduced for planting in 2011, contain a collection of native corn traits that improve water access and utilization and deliver greater yields in water-limited conditions. The initial class of Optimum AQUAmax innovations will include five hybrid platforms across a range of maturities and technology packages. While the 2011 launch size is limited and primarily targeted in the western Corn Belt, the technology advancement is an important milestone toward the longer-term objective of bringing breeding and biotechnology solutions to drought-prone environments."

Click on the LINK below to read more and to listen to our audio overview of the teleconference that we were a part of with Pioneer researchers. It seems to me that the importance of this announcement is not so much these five new Hybrid lines for 2011 as much as the breakthrough of starting down the road of figuring out how to grow as much or more with fewer gallons of water.

Click here for more on the new Drought Tolerant Corn Hybrids Unveiled by Pioneer Hi Bred on Wednedsday.

As they get organized- they have lots of videos of Lucas over the last year offering what was then the minority viewpoint on agricultural and regulatory issues and more. It also has a lot of audio on the site of Congressman Lucas- including many of the interviews that we have done over the past year with the Congressman. Click here for the audio archives and scroll down to the heading "Radio Interviews."

Lucas and his staff have listed several "Key Issues" that are seen and can be clicked on for more information from a GOP point of view. The four issues they have listed on the front page of the website include Cap and Trade, Spray Drift, Farm Bill and Rural America. The top two issues listed are things that the Congressman has indicated to us privately and has said in public that he wants to look at closely early in 2011- as he plans oversight hearings of the EPA- as well as USDA before too many weeks pass.

Click here to jump to the new website of the House Ag Committee with Congressman Frank Lucas all over it.

The preliminary findings of a months-long study that examines how wind turbines on farmlands interact with surrounding crops were presented at the end of December at the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
The presentation was made by researcher Gene Takle of the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory and Julie Lundquist, assistant professor in the University of Colorado at Boulder's atmospheric and oceanic studies department.

Click on our LINK below to read more about this interesting concept that wind turbines stir the air downwind as much as a quarter of a mile and moderate hot and cold air for crops and pastures in that zone. We have a YouTube video that is a part of this story on our website as well- you'll see it if you go to our webstory that we have linked.

Click here to read more- and to see the video as well- of how wind turbines may be impacting crops that surround them.

The combined bank would serve as a wholesale provider of financing to Farm Credit associations that provide credit and financial services to tens of thousands of farmers, ranchers and other rural borrowers in 23 states. It would also serve as a direct lender to agricultural cooperatives and rural electric, water and communications service providers throughout the country. Oklahoma is currently served by the US Ag Bank in Wichita.

The merged bank would continue to do business under the CoBank name and be headquartered outside of Denver, Colorado, but it would maintain U.S. AgBank's existing presence and operations in Wichita, Kansas, and Sacramento, California.
In late March, the banks plan to submit a merger disclosure document to the Farm Credit Administration (FCA), the independent regulator for the Farm Credit System, for its review and preliminary approval. If that happens- and shareholders then agree- the merger could be complete by October of this year.

Read more about the proposed merger of CoBank and US AgBank.

On Wednesday January 5, 2011 WENDEL HUGHES was arrested for the thefts and was charged with 31 counts of Larceny of Livestock. Wendel Hughes is currently employed as a Police Officer with the Sallisaw Police Department, and has been employed in that capacity for eight years.

For additional information contact Col. Mike Grimes, Chief Agent, Investigative Services, Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, at 405 522-6102 or 405 641-6860.

Click here for more on the Investigative services unit of the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture

Bacon, eggs, whole milk, sliced deli ham and bread increased the most in dollar value compared to the third quarter.
Bacon increased 68 cents to $4.32 per pound; eggs and whole milk increased 19 cents to $1.60 per dozen and $3.35 per gallon, respectively; sliced deli ham increased 18 cents to $4.84 per pound; and bread increased 14 cents to $1.75 for a 20-ounce loaf.

Six foods decreased slightly in price compared to the prior quarter: boneless chicken breasts, down 34 cents to $3.10 per pound; flour, down 16 cents to $1.99 for a 5-pound bag; Russet potatoes, down 13 cents to $2.50 for a 5-pound bag; ground chuck, down 10 cents to $2.83 per pound; and bagged salad, down 6 cents to $2.69 per pound.

Click here to read more about the survey with more details about price movement of these retail items in 2010.

On Saturday, January 22, eight finalists from across the state will compete in the bi-annual Oklahoma Beef Cook-Off. The recipes focus on America's passion for beef and special times spent with family over beef dishes. The categories are: A World of Beef - Beef Entrée; Small Plates, Big Tastes - Beef Appetizers; Kid Pleasers - Beef dish prepared by a child/parent or legal guardian team. The winner of each category will win a cash prize, and the overall winner will win a grand prize of $1,000. "The Oklahoma Beef Cook-Off gives participants the opportunity to show-off their cooking talents and earn cash prizes while providing us with a means to promote the many positive aspects of beef and the industry we so passionately support," said Jolene Tuxhorn, Oklahoma CattleWomen member and Beef Cook-off Chairman. "The event is a tremendous win-win for all of us involved."

That Sunday of the show will be an Iron Chef Beef Competition. Read more about it by clicking on our LINK below- all of these beef cooking events that will be held at the Home and Garden Show being coordinated by the Oklahoma Cattlewomen and sponsored by the Oklahoma Beef Council using beef checkoff dollars.

Click here for more on the Beef Cook Off and the Iron Chef Beef Competition coming to Oklahoma City later in January.

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.