~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Monday January 10, 2011
A
service of Johnston Enterprises, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind
Energy and American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance
Company!
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-- Oklahoma Farm Bureau Delegates Ready to Go to Work at 92nd Annual
Meeting of the American Farm Bureau
-- American Farm Bureau to File Lawsuit Against the EPA
-- Former Congressman Jim Nussle Believes Upcoming Debt Ceiling Vote
a Huge Political Test for Lawmakers in the Spring.
-- Hot Global Agricultural Markets Makes 2011 A Brave New World
-- National Pork Board to Meet in Oklahoma This Week
-- Website for the Eastern Livestock Mess
-- Crop Insurance- SURE- and SNOW (plus a link to our Monday Beef
Buzz)
-- 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. 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 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. | |
Oklahoma Farm Bureau Delegates Ready to Go to Work at 92nd Annual Meeting of the American Farm Bureau ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As the 2011
American Farm Bureau Convention gets rolling here in Atlanta, it seems
like the talk continues to come back around to what the next federal farm
bill will look like. The delegates representing Oklahoma Farm Bureau
discussed that this on Sunday morning as they met together to talk about
their strategy at the AFBF delegate session this coming Tuesday.
You might remember that the Oklahoma Farm Bureau worked extensively on their farm policy position, initially staring with a recommendation from the Resolutions Committee that scarce government dollars be allocated to revenue assurance type programs like ACRE and Crop Insurance. That initially was passed- and then was reconsidered after lunch when an amendment was offered to inlcude the following statement "We support a program or policy tool that continues to provide a fixed share of the federal budget allocation for agriculture, is a green box policy, and is considered a part of a revenue assurance program. This amendment was amended to add the words "like Direct Payments" to be inserted into the language- and all of that was added to what was approved earlier in the day. This meant that Oklahoma Farm Bureau- while acknowledging that they
wanted to keep programs like Direct Payments an option- also embraced
revenue assurance programs like ACRE- and Crop Insurance as well. Also in
that resolution that was approved by the Oklahoma Farm Bureau delegates
also included the comment that "In the future we should rely less on
government and increasingly more on free markets." As we fast forward to today and what American Farm Bureau will be asking for in the 2012 farm bill- we get an Oklahoma Farm Bureau perspective with Tyler Norvell of the OFB staff. Norvell told us that he believes it is a good idea to keep as many options as you can at this early point in the discussion. You can hear our conversation with Norvell by clicking on the LINK below for our webstory of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau delegates here in Atlanta. | |
American Farm Bureau to File Lawsuit Against the EPA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The battle cry
sounded by the President of the American Farm Bureau at their 92nd annual
meeting in snowy Atlanta- Stop the EPA. Bob Stallman outlined
organizational efforts to protect America's farmers and ranchers from
regulatory challenges that threaten to "downsize American agriculture,
mothball productivity and outsource our farms."
Stallman told the opening General Session that AFBF will soon file suit
against Environmental Protection Agency regulations aimed at the
Chesapeake Bay, which include provisions that will strip power from the
states and potentially affect every farm and ranch in the nation. "EPA likes to call the new regulations a pollution diet, but this diet
threatens to starve agriculture out of the entire 64,000 square-mile
Chesapeake Bay watershed, and this new approach will not end with the bay.
EPA has already revealed its plan to take similar action in other
watersheds across the nation, including the Mississippi River watershed,"
Stallman said. | |
Former Congressman Jim Nussle Believes Upcoming Debt Ceiling Vote a Huge Political Test for Lawmakers in the Spring. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Former Iowa
Congressman Jim Nussle says the fiscal picture for our country and our
government is dire- and will force hard decisions to be made in the next
couple of years. Nussle told the Case IH Business Meeting at AgConnect
2011 that the upcoming vote on the debt ceiling in March or April will be
huge political theater as new members of Congress balk at doing things the
ways we have always done them before.
The pressure will extend over to the next farm bill debate- saying he thinks that doing farm policy by tweaking the previous farm bill is no longer an option. He says that both Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas as well as Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow will have to get creative in writing the farm bill- mostly because of the lack of money in this cycle compared to either 2008 or 2002. After his part in a special panel that was presented at a Case IH meeting for their dealers and VIP customers here at the AgConnect Equipment Show this past Friday- we talked with him about how he sees Washington with the shifts from this past election and how that may play out in policy that will have impact on farm country. Click on the LINK below to jump to our story where you can listen to that interview. Click here for our conversation with former Congressman Jim Nussle at AgConnect in Atlanta. | |
Hot Global Agricultural Markets Makes 2011 A Brave New World ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Case IH
sponsored a look at the future for US agriculture in conjunction with
AgConnect 2011 in Atlanta on Friday- and Dan Basse, President of
AgResource, threw out several words in his presentation that he believes
are keys for farmers and ranchers moving into the brave new world of
agriculture here in 2011 and ahead.
The first of those words is volatile. Basse says the grain markets turned on a dime earlier this year- as news came out that Russia was in the depths of a drought that makes the US the only country that has sizable stocks of grain. Add to that the sharp rise in cotton prices, the third largest corn crop on record which apparently was not enough- and you have a recipe where all of our agricultural markets are tense and will jump up or down with just a sniffle. Another word that Basse discussed in his presentation- as well as with us after the session in a conversation that we have recorded and have at the bottom of this page- is affluent. The BRIC countries- especially China and India, are rapidly growing- and their income is shooting higher year after year. Basse says their income growth is in the neighborhood of eight to ten percent annually. These countries want consumer goods- and want to eat better- which is driving demand to a point where we are in unknown waters of international demand. | |
National Pork Board to Meet in Oklahoma This Week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The National
Pork Board will hold its first meeting of 2011 this week in Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma. The meeting, scheduled for this Wednesday through Saturday,
continues a tradition begun two years ago when the board held its first
traveling Board Meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina. Last year the Pork
Board met in Columbus, Ohio. The board hopes that Oklahoma producers and
producer leaders will participate in the meeting.
Oklahoma ranks eighth nationally in total swine numbers and fifth in the number of pigs produced; the state is a major producer of piglets that are finished in nearby states. According to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Oklahoma producers market approximately 7.5-million hogs annually, producing cash receipts of more than 636-million dollars. Nearly 16-thousand Oklahomans are employed in swine production. Gene Nemechek, a swine veterinarian from Springdale, Arkansas, and president of the National Pork Board, points out that - producers from different parts of the country face unique challenges and sometimes have unique views on issues confronting the pork production industry. Nemechek says, "We look forward to learning from our fellow producers in Oklahoma." Click here for more details on the National Pork Board Meeting this week in Oklahoma City. | |
Website for the Eastern Livestock Mess ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The website is
called the Eastern Livestock Bankruptcy site- and has been set up by the
trustee in the proceedings to deal with those who have been burned by the
bad checks written by Eastern.
According to the site- "This website has been established to provide you the most up to date information from the Trustee, Jim Knauer, in the Eastern Livestock Bankruptcy as well as all associated pending matters." Click on the LINK below to check out what is going on in the legal arena in regards to Eastern Livestock. Click here for the website established for the litigation surrounding the Eastern Livestock Debacle. | |
Crop Insurance- SURE- and SNOW (plus a link to our Monday Beef Buzz) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma
Sorghum producers now have more insurance options for sorghum with RMA's
decision to allow for producers in the following counties to insure
double-cropped grain sorghum with a written agreement. The producer can
visit with their crop insurance agent about securing the written
agreement, which requires at least three years of production history of
double cropping. The added counties for 2011 are Alfalfa, Cherokee, Craig,
Creek, Delaware, Garfield, Grant, Haskell, Hughes, Kay, Le Flore, Mayes,
McCurtain, McIntosh, Muskogee, Noble, Nowata, Okfuskee, Okmulgee, Osage,
Ottawa, Pawnee, Payne, Pittsburg, Rogers, Sequoyah, Tulsa, Wagoner and
Washington. Also in the counties of Alfalfa, Garfield, Grant, Kay, Noble, Osage, Pawnee and Payne, the earliest planting date has been moved to April 26. By moving the earliest planting date, RMA recognizes the importance of letting producers plant their sorghum earlier and still have coverage for replanting. Today's the day that you can go into your local FSA office and sign up for the SURE disaster program for the 2009 crop year. SURE is the so called permanent disaster program that was a part of the 2008 Farm Law. It's not a forever program- unless money can be found for it as it was only funded for a part of the life of the 2008 farm law. Finally- we are sitting in Atlanta and are surrounded by about six
inches of the white stuff. The snow is supposed to give way to sleet and
freezing rain and this town is shut down. However, it does look like the
buses are going to be able to run which means that the Farm Bureau members
that are here in Atlanta for their annual meeting will be able to make it
to the convention center. Unfortunately for most of the Oklahoma
delegation- they are staying in the adjacent hotel to the convention
center- and will have to walk a couple of hundred feet outside in the
cold, slick conditions. | |
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 $9.80 per
bushel- as of the close of business yesterday, while the 2011 New Crop
contracts for Canola are now available are $10.30 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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