~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Wednesday February 23,
2011 A
service of Johnston Enterprises, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind
Energy and American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance
Company!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Fear Trumps Fundamentals
-- Oklahoma Farm Bureau Honors Three Lawmakers with Meritorious
Service Award
-- The Time is Now To Get Your MBA- for the Good of the Beef
Industry
-- Agriculture Was in the Race at Daytona this Past Weekend
-- Commodity Classic Speakers Announced- Congressman Lucas will be
there (and so will we)
-- Glyphosate-resistant marestail confirmed in Oklahoma
-- 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! We invite you to listen to us on great radio stations across the
region on the Radio Oklahoma Network weekdays- if you missed this
morning's Farm News - or you are in an area where you can't hear it- click
here for this morning's Farm news from Ron Hays on RON. | |
Fear Trumps Fundamentals ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The unrest in
Libya sent crude oil futures soaring and caused a massive bailout on
Tuesday in our ag commodity prices. Kansas City wheat dropped 56 to 57
cents a bushel, corn was off 30 cents and soybeans were down 70 cents.
Cotton continued the liquidation we saw at the end of last week as well on
Tuesday- dropped seven cents a pound- and is down four to seven cents a
pound this morning as we write this.
From the Des Moines Register- one analyst they quote speaks of the downside for grains in the middle east and north Africa- "There is massive risk aversion on the market today," said trader Don Roose of US Commodities in West Des Moines. "People are starting to worry about the safety of shipping, and that hits at exports." In the same article- the volatility of the situation was pointed out-
"Grain fundamentals remain strong, but fear trumps fundamentals every
time, especially when investors have large profits at risk," analyst Arlan
Suderman of Farm Futures Magazine said. Suderman suggested that the bear
market may be short-lived. Mark Martin, who is a grain analyst down under in Australia, believes that the fundamentals will win out- because countries realize that hungry citizens can quickly become angry citizens. Martin says there's a direct correlation between the current instability in countries such as Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Bahrain and food shortages in the area. "It's interesting to note that each of the countries, North Africa through to the Middle East, have been by far some of the biggest buyers of wheat and grains over the last two or three months," he said. | |
Oklahoma Farm Bureau Honors Three Lawmakers with Meritorious Service Award ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Three
legislators received Oklahoma Farm Bureau's Meritorious Service award
February 21 during the farm organization's annual leadership conference in
Oklahoma City. The Meritorious Service award is presented to legislators who have a strong voting record for Farm Bureau issues and show support for rural and agricultural issues. The awards are based on a county Farm Bureau's nomination and evaluation of the lawmaker's adherence to the values and issues important to rural Oklahoma. Receiving the award were Representatives Leslie Osborn, Tuttle, and Steve Kouplen, Beggs, and Senator Brian Crain, Tulsa. We have details of why each lawmaker was selected by the General Farm Organization- and pictures of them receiving their awards from Oklahoma Farm Bureau President Mike Spradling- click on the LINK below to check the pics and the story out. Click here for more on three lawmakers honored by the Oklahoma Farm Bureau. | |
The Time is Now To Get Your MBA- for the Good of the Beef Industry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Heather
Buckmaster of the Oklahoma Beef Council has issued a "Call to Action" for
anyone in the beef industry that wants to roll up their sleeves and get to
work on educating consumers about today's modern beef production system.
She is calling on cattle producers to get some online education- and then
get ready to tell the story.
Heather tells us that "The anti-animal agriculture activist community is hard at work raising concerns about the impact of beef production on the environment, the treatment of animals in food production, the role of beef in a healthy diet and the safety of the products we produce. They are passionate and vocal and well-funded. But we have a great story to tell. Beef producers work hard every day to be good stewards of the land and their animals in providing safe and nutritious beef for America's dinner tables. We need to be equally passionate and vocal in telling our story. That's what the Masters of Beef Advocacy (MBA) program is about." There will be a MBA Commencement in late April in Oklahoma City- it caps off what you learn on line when you sign up. Click on the LINK below to read more on this call to all involved in the cattle industry to become engaged in sharing your story of how beef ranchers care for their animals and help feed the world. Click here to learn more about this latest opportunity to get involved with the Beef MBA Program. | |
Agriculture Was in the Race at Daytona this Past Weekend ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Even though he
got tapped from behind in the late going, Regan Smith, driver of the
Furniture Row Racing Team # 75, viewed finishing 7th in Sunday's Daytona
500, as - a solid start to what I feel is going to be a great season.
Running in the top three with fewer than three laps remaining in Sunday's
race, Smith found himself sideways with a snarling pack of cars bearing
down on him.
Even though a 20-year old rookie, Trevor Bayne, won the race, Furniture Row racing garnered a lot of spotlight for its sponsors, including the Farm American program. Based on the amount of air time given, and discussion of the team that took place, early estimates suggest America's farmers and ranchers may have received in excess of four - million dollars worth of messaging/advertising inside four short hours. You can click below to check out the Farm American website- and see what one group is doing to tell consumers more about how their food and fiber is grown in the United States- safely and abundantly. | |
Commodity Classic Speakers Announced- Congressman Lucas will be there (and so will we) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One of the
keynoters of the 2011 Commodity Classic next week in Tampa will be
Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas- the new Chairman of the House Ag
Committee. Congressman Lucas will be on the stage with USDA Secretary Tom
Vilsack as they discuss, among other things, groundwork that needs to be
laid for the 2012 Farm Bill.
Commodity Class has grown and now includes four major commodity groups as sponsors- the National Association of Wheat Growers and the National Sorghum Producers are the newer sponsoring organizations as they have joined the American Soybean Association and the National Corn Growers Association in growing this into one of the premiere agricultural events each spring. National Corn Growers Association President Bart Schott says - with a
new farm bill and election year looming, our growers will appreciate
hearing about their positions on future farm policy. At the same time,
American Soybean Association President Alan Kemper says - I am looking
forward to hearing how the Administration and Congress are going to work
together to support the President's National Export Initiative goal of
doubling exports in the next five years. | |
Glyphosate-resistant marestail confirmed in Oklahoma ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ According to
Dr. Joe Armstrong, Marestail is one of the most prevalent and
difficult-to-control weeds in no-till production throughout Oklahoma.
Unfortunately, it is now going to be a greater concern due to the
development of resistance to glyphosate. Dr. Armstrong reports in the
latest Plant and Soil Science Newsletter that "As part of my
herbicide-resistant weed testing program this winter, I have screened
several marestail samples from north-central Oklahoma. The following
pictures show very clearly that we are in fact dealing with
glyphosate-resistant marestail- in fact, many samples have survived
applications of glyphosate at up to four times the labeled rate, or 1
gallon of generic glyphosate per acre."
Unfortunately, it is not an isolated occurance- Joe Armstrong adds that
"I am confident that glyphosate-resistant marestail is common throughout
the state." Joe's article complete with pictures is the top story in the latest Plant and Soil Science Newsletter from the Plant and Soil Science Department in the Division of Agriculture at Oklahoma State University. You can read the full article and also check out several other updates on things like first hollow stem in wheat and more by clicking on the LINK below. | |
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
normally have them available. However, PCOM was not able to get a cash bid
to us as of early this morning- so check their website later today for the
latest update- as 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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
|