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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Thursday January 20,
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 Soy Expo a Success!
-- Watch Your Downside Risk as Most Ag Prices Are Historically
High
-- Lucas, Chambliss and Roberts Tell USDA to Get Back to Sound
Science on Roundup Ready Alfalfa
-- Save $25 by Registering by CLose of Business TODAY for the 2011
Oklahoma No Till Conference
-- Talking Cattle on Feed and Feedlot Profitability on Today's Beef
Buzz
-- CFTC Approves Changes in Kansas City Hard Red Winter Wheat
Contract
-- Biobased Product Label Rolled Out by USDA
-- 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 brand new website! 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 Soy Expo a Success! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A good crowd
showed up for the 2011 Oklahoma Soybean Expo in Stillwater- as the Expo
slipped into town the day before snow and ice would have shut it down.
Several OSU Plant and Soil Science Department representatives spoke to the
crowd, as did the new Secretary of Agriculture for the state of Oklahoma,
Jim Reese.
One of the sponsors of the Soybean Expo was the Oklahoma Soybean Board. We talked with their Chairman, Steve Wooderson of Kay County, about the Board and their priorities in how to best spend checkoff monies generated by the sale of soybeans in the state of Oklahoma. The website of the Oklahoma Soybean Board speaks of the mission of the group chaired by Wooderson- "From uncovering solutions to yield-robbing pests and diseases to building demand for soybeans, the Oklahoma Soybean Board and the soybean checkoff work to increase the profitability of soybean production in Oklahoma." Click on the LINK below to go and hear our conversation with the Chairman of the Oklahoma Soybean Board, Steve Wooderson. Click here for our conversation with Steve Wooderson of the Oklahoma Soybean Board | |
Watch Your Downside Risk as Most Ag Prices Are Historically High ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Get some
professional advice in marketing your crops in 2011- that's the
recommendation of Dan Smith with Top Third Marketing based in Chicago.
Smith was a lead speaker at the 2011 Oklahoma Soybean Expo in Stillwater
on Wednesday. He says that the wild swings in commodity prices means you
have to pay more attention to marketing than ever before. Smith says it is
especially important for farmers to protect their downside with current
prices for most crops at historically high levels.
We also talked with Smith about many Delta farmers that have left cotton for corn or soybeans who are reluctant to go back into cotton, the impact of Commodity Funds on ag prices, the food versus fuel debate and the impact of oil prices on ethanol. Click on the LINK below to go and take a listen to a very interesting conversation that we had with Sam, Dan and yours truly. | |
Lucas, Chambliss and Roberts Tell USDA to Get Back to Sound Science on Roundup Ready Alfalfa ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ U.S.
Representative Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) and U.S. Senators Saxby Chambliss
(R-Ga.) and Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) today sent a letter to U.S. Department
of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack requesting the department to
return to a science based regulatory system for agriculture biotechnology
and to deregulate without conditions genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa.
In the letter, the members point out that while science strongly supports the safety of GE alfalfa, USDA's actions politicize the regulatory process and could set a harmful precedent for open pollinated crops in the future. We have the text of the full letter linked below which is a part of our webstory on this subject. Congressman Lucas, as the Chairman of the House Ag Committee, has a public forum on this subject planned for later today- click here for the House Ag Committee website and their page for live audio from their hearing rooms- we have been told they will have live audio available from that forum. | |
Save $25 by Registering by CLose of Business TODAY for the 2011 Oklahoma No Till Conference ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Farmers and
ranchers seeking to benefit from the latest developments in no-till
cropping systems should register now to attend the Feb. 1-2 Oklahoma
No-Till 2011 Conference."A key advantage of attending the conference is the opportunity to interact with both technical specialists and experienced no-till farmers," said Chad Godsey, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension cropping systems specialist. "It's a great way for producers to get answers to any number of questions they may have about no-till systems." The conference will take place at Norman's National Center for Employee
Development (NCED), located at 2801 State Highway 9 East. Conference
sessions will begin at 8 a.m. on both days and will finish mid- to
late-afternoon. More details on the conference are available by clicking on the LINK below- including how you can register today and save $25 on the Registration fee for the two day event. Click here for more on the Oklahoma No Till Conference coming February First and Second. | |
Talking Cattle on Feed and Feedlot Profitability on Today's Beef Buzz ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The January
first Cattle on Feed Report will continue to show larger placements into
feedlots compared to one year ago- at least that seems to be the concensus
of several analysts we have heard from in advance of the Friday report.
One of those cattle market watchers is Rich Nelson of Allendale. He offers the following thoughts about this Friday's report. "December Placements are expected to be 2.8% larger than last year. This represents five months in a row of higher placements. The industry knows Placement levels will switch to below last year levels soon. The only argument is in which month that change happens. Availability of calves and feeders is a problem and it will get even worse Allendale anticipates a Marketing total 2.9% larger than December of
2009. That comes after a 5.1% adjustment lower due to one less weekday and
one more Saturday than last year. Weekly slaughters will remain larger
than last year through spring then will move to even with 2010 by summer.
After summer, slaughters will clearly be below previous year. Rich Nelson
concludes that total Cattle on Feed as of January 1 will be 3.0% larger
than last year. | |
CFTC Approves Changes in Kansas City Hard Red Winter Wheat Contract ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Kansas
City Board of Trade received Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)
approval for amendments to the KCBT's Hard Red Winter wheat futures
contract as of the close of business yesterday. All of the changes will
take effect with the September 2011 contract.
There are changes in storage rates for wheat in and out of the harvest
season. However, the changes that the KCBT got okayed from the CFTC that
has received the most attention is the protein levels needed for wheat to
be deliverable. In addition- "Effective September 1, 2011, the vomitoxin restriction
shall be reduced from 4 ppm (parts per million) to 2 ppm." Click here for more on the CFTC approval of KC Hard Red Winter Wheat Contracts. | |
Biobased Product Label Rolled Out by USDA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The U.S.
Department of Agriculture's BioPreferred program announced on Wednesday
that a final rule to initiate a voluntary product certification and
labeling program for qualifying biobased products will be published in the
Federal Register today. This new label will clearly identify biobased
products made from renewable resources, and will promote the increased
sale and use of these products in the commercial market and for consumers.
"Today's consumers are increasingly interested in making educated purchasing choices for their families," said Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan. "This label will make those decisions easier by identifying products as biobased. These products have enormous potential to create green jobs in rural communities, add value to agricultural commodities, decrease environmental impacts, and reduce our dependence on imported oil." Biobased products include everything from carpet to foam insulation to lip care and a whole lot more. We have the USDA Biopreferred webpage linked below for more details on this effort by the Department to promote a wide variety of biobased products. | |
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 $10.00
per bushel- as of the close of trade Wednesday, while the 2011 New Crop
contracts for Canola are now available are $10.55 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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