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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Friday April 1, 2011
A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and KIS
Futures!
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-- House Passes Measure to Derail Double Permitting Requirements on
Pesticide Use
-- Kim Anderson Talking Thursday's Strong Grain Markets
-- Beef Board Executive Committee Backs Away from Email Vote on
Structural Changes
-- Five Year Depreciation Schedule Proposed by Senate Ag Committee
Chair and Both Kansas Senators
-- Repeal of the Death Tax Dropped into the Congressional
Hopper
-- OSU Meat Judging Team Wins National Competition
-- TSCRA Convention Getting Underway in San Antonio- And BIG Doings
in Enid!
-- 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 excited to have as one of our sponsors for the daily email
Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, with 64 years of progress through
producer ownership. Call Brandon Winters at 405-232-7555 for more
information on the oilseed crops they handle, including sunflowers and
canola- and remember they post closing market prices for canola and
sunflowers on the PCOM
website- go there by clicking here. We invite you to listen to us weekdays on the Radio Oklahoma Network
for the latest farm news and markets- if you missed today's Morning Farm
News (or in an area where you can't hear it) Click
here to listen to today's Morning Farm News with Ron on RON. | |
House Passes Measure to Derail Double Permitting Requirements on Pesticide Use ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Both the
Chairman and the Ranking member of the House Ag Committee cheered passage
of H.R. 872, the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2011 in a bipartisan
vote, 292-130. Congressman Frank Lucas of Oklahoma released this statement
following the vote- "I am proud to be a part of the bipartisan effort that
led to the House passage of H.R. 872. The last thing the agricultural
community needs is another government mandate. This bill eliminates a
costly and duplicative permitting requirement that is the result of a
court's fundamental ignorance of Congressional intent. I urge my
colleagues in the Senate to join our efforts so that we can get a bill to
the President before more valuable resources are wasted." (by the way- we
have heard that a key Republican Senator may be dropping a similar bill
into the hopper within a matter of days on this issue.)
Ag groups were also pleased with the passage of the bill. The National Association of Wheat Growers quickly released a statement saying we are "extremely pleased to see Thursday's House passage of H.R. 872, a bill to remove duplicative new permitting requirements related to pesticide applications." "A permanent solution to this extra regulatory burden is needed as soon as possible to give our growers certainty on what rules they must follow this production season," said Wayne Hurst, NAWG president and a wheat producer from the Burley, Idaho, area. "Wheat growers and other agricultural producers are committed to continuing to protect our land, air and water, but we need to know the rules of the road and deserve to have regulation that is understandable and streamlined." Click on the LINK below for more reaction from Collin Peterson of Minnesota as well as from the National Corn Growers Association. Click here for more on the passage of H.R. 872 on Thursday in the US House. | |
Kim Anderson Talking Thursday's Strong Grain Markets ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On Thursday
morning, the USDA issued both the regular monthly Supply Demand data on
grains and other ag commodities as well as the much anticipated Planting
Intentions Report for spring planted crops. Click
here for our story from Thursday morning which included a preview of
what the market might be thinking with Tom Leffler of Leffler Commodities.
When the markets got their turn to react to the reports at 9:30 AM yesterday- the move was speedy and decisive- a sharply higher market developed, led by corn and the rally included corn, soybeans, wheat and even cotton. Extension Grain Marketing Economist Dr. Kim Anderson discussed his take on the reports- and the market reaction with Lyndall Stout for the SUNUP show that will be seen on Saturday morning on OETA. Anderson suspects that the wheat market was a follower of corn, but
also had some traders buying in because of weather concerns that are
mounting for the southern Great Plains and the Hard Red Winter Wheat Belt.
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Beef Board Executive Committee Backs Away from Email Vote on Structural Changes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In our email
on Thursday, we talked about the decision by the Executive Committee of
the Cattlemen's Beef Board to propose major structural changes to how a
gameplan is developed to determine how the beef checkoff is spent. The
Committee apparently wanted to speed this plan through in order to
actually use a brand new structure at the summer meeting this coming
August in Florida- and as a result, they wanted the full CBB board to
approve it by email.
There were lots of questions and lots of objections raised- and with the beef industry trade media starting to notice- the Executive Committee abruptly pulled back on Thursday afternoon from the email voting scheme, telling CBB members in an email that "we have terminated the email voting on the recommendations and we will include a discussion of the recommendations on the agenda of an extended CBB update Session during the summer conference." Several of the Oklahoma CBB members were front and center with
objections to the changes. Brian Healey of Davis offered a very articulate
defense of the current structure- saying that pulling away from the
current structure would mean duplication of efforts within the industry
and most likely more costs to get the same job done, if you could even
maintain current levels of effort to promote beef. | |
Five Year Depreciation Schedule Proposed by Senate Ag Committee Chair and Both Kansas Senators ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ U.S. Senators
Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Jerry Moran (R-KS), and Pat
Roberts (R-KS) introduced bipartisan legislation on Thursday that would
amend the U.S. tax code to permanently set a five-year depreciation
schedule for agricultural equipment.
The current tax code sets a seven-year depreciation schedule for agricultural equipment, while the depreciation schedule for construction equipment - which is similar in use and life span to farming equipment - is five years. Changing the depreciation schedule for agricultural equipment to five years would make the tax code more consistent and aid rural development by aligning depreciation and debt service, increasing farm income by over $850 million a year, and helping farmers and ranchers finance new equipment and replace worn-out machinery. Senator Pat Roberts, the ranking member of the Senate Ag Committee,
says "Providing certainty in the tax code by making agriculture equipment
eligible for a five-year depreciation schedule makes sense and will go a
long way in helping America's farmers and ranchers invest in their
businesses and communities." Click here for more on the Five Year Depreciation Proposal introduced yesterday in the Senate. | |
Repeal of the Death Tax Dropped into the Congressional Hopper ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Help could be
coming for farm and ranch families who own 98 percent of our nation's
2-million agricultural operations. The American Farm Bureau Federation
supports new estate tax legislation offered by Republican Kevin Brady of
Texas and Blue Dog Democrats Dan Boren of Oklahoma and Mike Ross of
Arkansas. According to Farm Bureau, the bill, H.R. 1259, would relieve
farmers and ranchers from the financial drain of estate tax planning and
prevent the damage caused to farms and ranches when a family member dies.
Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman says estate taxes continue to be a problem for farm and ranch families whose family-owned businesses generate the vast majority of the food for our country. "When estate taxes on an agricultural business exceed the operations' cash and liquid assets, the tax can cripple a family-owned farm or ranch and hurt the rural communities and businesses that agriculture supports." Currently, there is a two year plan that calls for a five million
dollar exemption with a top tax rate of 35% on everything above that
level- this was approved by Congress back in December and lasts through
the end of 2012. Click here for more on the move in the House to get the Death Tax Repealed. | |
OSU Meat Judging Team Wins National Competition ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma State
University's Meat Animal Evaluation Team won the 48th National Collegiate
Meat Animal Evaluation Contest that took place at OSU's Stillwater campus
on March 25-26.While earning its first national championship, the OSU squad set the competition's all-time record overall team score with 9,100 points. The team also set the all-time record score in the Market Animal Evaluation division. "Collegiate judging contests are highly competitive and require
tremendous dedication and desire from participants," said Gretchen Hilton,
OSU assistant professor of meat science, who with Blake Bloomberg coaches
the Cowboy squad. Kaylee Krebs, an OSU animal science senior from Saratoga, Wyo., earned
high individual honors. Along the way she set the all-time record overall
score for individual competitors and the record score in the Market Animal
division. She placed second in Swine, third in Cattle and sixth in the
Breeding division amongst individual competitors. | |
TSCRA Convention Getting Underway in San Antonio- And BIG Doings in Enid! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Starting
today- and running into the weekend is the annual convention and trade
show for the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association- this year
meeting in San Antonio. We will be heading for the Riverwalk and covering
portions of this excellent cattle industry gathering later today and
tomorrow. Click
here for our calendar listing on the TSCRA which includes a link to
their agenda.
Enid is busting their buttons with the opening of the Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center later today- a friend of ours who now works for Monsanto, Janice Pearson, has a blog entry about the Cherokee Strip Center and the largest land run in American history that will be spotlighted by the Center- the land run opened six million acres in Oklahoma to settlers and changed a large hunk of our state forever. Click here to jump to Janice's blog which has the details of the opening at 11 AM this morning. We have a couple of cattle auctions we have been telling you about- the
Ratcliff Ranch Spring Bull Sale in Vinita and the Oklahoma Shorthorn
Association Sale being held at the County Fairgrounds in Duncan. Click
here for our auction page which has the listings for both of these
sales. | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, PCOM, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy, Johnston Enterprises, American Farmers & Ranchers and KIS Futures 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, while the 2011 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available
are $11.15 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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