~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Wednesday February 9,
2011 A
service of Johnston Enterprises, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind
Energy and American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance
Company!
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-- Heavy Snow in Northern Oklahoma- I-40 and South- Not So Much
-- OSU Wheat Breeder Brett Carver Telling Wheat Breeding Story to
Congress This Week
-- Oklahoma Rural Caucus Pledges to Defend Ag Sales Tax
Exemption
-- Former US Ag Secretaries Line Up Behind Korean Free Trade
Pact
-- CattleFax Says the Market is Telling Beef Cattle Producers- Buy
Cows!
-- Grassley Points to "Senseless" Dust Regulations
-- 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. | |
Heavy Snow in Northern Oklahoma- I-40 and South- Not So Much ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Many areas in
northcentral Oklahoma have had a foot of snow dumped on them- many of
these locations are in wheat producing counties that did not receive very
much snow last week. For the locations that get a good snow cover on the
winter wheat and winter canola- it should provide a welcome shot of
moisture in the middle of this La Nina winter that has been extremely dry.
Livestock markets continue to be shut down- yesterday, McAlester Union Stockyards was closed for their regular Tuesday sale, while the OKC West Market in El Reno is closed today as the storm blows through. The Oklahoma National Stockyards had 237 head of cows and bulls in a limited test yesterday- higher money for the animals being sold. By the way, click here for details of the special cow and bull sale for the McAlester Stockyards that they are still planning to have this Saturday, February 12. Click here for the closings that we had received as of yesterday afternoon- the Conservation Tillage Meeting in Enid has been moved back a week- it was scheduled to be held tomorrow. One meeting that is planning to move forward this week is the 2011 Oklahoma Crop Improvement Association annual meeting- they are on the calendar for this Friday and Saturday and it should be a go. Click here for the calendar listing we have of this event- which has the link to the details of their agenda on Friday and Saturday. | |
OSU Wheat Breeder Brett Carver Telling Wheat Breeding Story to Congress This Week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ More than 40
wheat growers, researchers, millers and bakers are in Washington Tuesday
and Wednesday to urge Members of Congress and the Obama Administration to
protect federal investments in wheat research that return $10 to the
nation's economy for every dollar spent.
Historically, because wheat research focuses on locally-adapted
varieties for the nation's six classes of wheat, the work is spread among
many different USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) locations and
state land grant universities, which have specialized expertise and staff.
Agriculture research funding has been essentially flat for 20 years while
expenses for salaries and new technology have continued to climb.
"We feel like it's important to come to D.C. every year to remind our
national leadership just how important it is for wheat research to
continue to receive this funding," said Dr. Brett Carver, wheat breeder at
Oklahoma State University and holder of the Oklahoma Wheat Research
Genetics Foundation chair. Click here for more on this effort to carry the wheat research story to Washington this week | |
Oklahoma Rural Caucus Pledges to Defend Ag Sales Tax Exemption ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Senate
Republican Rural Caucus announced their legislative agenda today along
with explaining their vision for improving the quality of life in rural
Oklahoma. The Caucus reassured Oklahomans of their commitment to the
Senate Republican agenda released prior to session, but with a special
focus on issues critical to rural Oklahoma, making public safety,
education and transportation top priorities.
"Rural Oklahomans have different priorities and we are here to listen to those priorities and protect the interests of our rural constituents," said Senator Ron Justice, R-Chickasha, Chairman of the Rural Caucus. Nine issues are listed in the news release about the Rural Caucus- and at the top of the list- the protection of the Ag Sales Tax Exemption. Click on the LINK below for the full list of key issues as well as full list of the Senators that are a part of the Caucus along with Senator Justice. | |
Former US Ag Secretaries Line Up Behind Korean Free Trade Pact ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Korea-U.S.
Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA), which is strongly supported by an ad hoc
coalition of U.S. companies and agricultural and food organizations, today
received a bipartisan endorsement from eight former secretaries of
Agriculture.
In a letter to members of Congress, Bob Bergland, John Block, Mike
Espy, Dan Glickman, Mike Johanns, John Knebel, Ed Schafer and Clayton
Yeutter urged lawmakers to vote to approve the trade pact's enabling
legislation, saying, "it is imperative that the KORUS FTA be implemented
as soon as possible. The Korean market is now the fifth largest for U.S. agricultural exports, valued at $3.9 billion in 2009. According to an economic analysis conducted by the American Farm Bureau Federation, the KORUS FTA would expand those exports in a wide range of commodities, resulting in $1.8 billion in additional sales - a 46 percent increase - and 14,000 jobs. The former Agriculture secretaries said American farmers can compete with anyone in the world if given a "level playing field." But they won't have one in South Korea without the KORUS FTA, they wrote, pointing out that many other countries have completed or are negotiating trade deals of their own with the Asian nation. | |
CattleFax Says the Market is Telling Beef Cattle Producers- Buy Cows! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There was
discussion in many different Committee meetings at the Cattle Industry
Convention last week in Denver about the concern of a beef cow herd that
has dropped in size to its lowest levels in a half century. While we are producing more beef per animal- most industry observers agree that beef herd rebuilding is overdue- and the market is offering a lot of incentive to those who are willing to pass current high prices for those cull cows and heifers- if you hold those animals and produce more calves- they should be able to sell into a record market. Duane Lenz of Cattlefax says the market is trying to convince folks that want to stay in the cattle business to hold more heifers for their beef cow herd- we talk about that on today's Beef Buzz. Kevin Good, one of Duane's colleagues at CattleFax, said 2011 will be another year of tighter supplies and a "very mild" cow herd reduction. He added that stabilization is also in sight, projecting the early half of the year will bring continued reduction but suggested the decline will simmer in the latter half of 2011. The smaller herd is a "double edged sword," according to Good. | |
Grassley Points to "Senseless" Dust Regulations ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Iowa Senator
Charles Grassley is continuing to highlight what he believes to be the
senseless regulations placed on family farmers and small businesses by the
Environmental Protection Agency. Grassley has sent a letter to Chairman of
the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Darrell Issa, to
bring to his attention the EPA's attempt to regulate dust.
According to Mr. Grassley, the EPA has released several policy assessments that would lower the particulate matter standards for dust to levels which would be extremely burdensome for farmers and livestock producers. "Whether its livestock kicking up dust, soybeans being combined on a dry day in the fall, or driving a car down the gravel road, dust happens, producers could potentially be fined for not meeting the particulate matter standards while still practicing good management practices on their soils." The Senator says, the EPA's attempt to regulate dust is just another example of how out of touch the agency is with the grassroots. He says the continued disregard for agriculture hurts the economic viability of rural America and hinders job creation. Grassley said he wants Issa to be aware of yet another regulation he says would slow economic development and cause significant costs on the nation's family farmers. | |
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 $10.20
per bushel- as of the close of business yesterday, while the 2011 New Crop
contracts for Canola are now available are $11.00 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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