Howdy Neighbors!

Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. We are proud to have KIS Futures as a regular sponsor of our daily email update. KIS Futures provides Oklahoma Farmers & Ranchers with futures & options hedging services in the livestock and grain markets- Click here for the free market quote page they provide us for our website or call them at 1-800-256-2555- and their IPHONE App, which provides all electronic futures quotes is available at the App Store- click here for the KIS Futures App for your Iphone.

We are also 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.

And we salute our longest running email sponsor- Midwest Farm Shows, producer of this week's Southern Plains Farm Show which kicks off TODAY and runs through Saturday at State Fair Park in Oklahoma City. Click here for the Southern Plains Farm Show website- and be sure and stop and hello to us in the Radio Oklahoma Network booth in the Cox Building.

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.

If you have received this email by someone forwarding it to you, you are welcome to subscribe and get this weekday update sent to you directly by clicking here.

Right in the middle of the Red Flag warning area is where Tom Buchanan calls home. The Vice President of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau and manager of the Lugert-Altus Irrigation District says levels are lower than normal for spring, which is very worrisome. In fact, he says this current spell is as bad as he has ever seen it at this time of year, a time when often we will receive a good bit of the rain that we get for the entire year.

Buchanan worries about the soil profile being so dry that it will be a huge gamble to plant summer crops, including a crop that could be very lucrative in 2011- cotton. Click on the LINK below for our story with Tom Buchanan and a chance to hear this veteran of dry weather conditions in and around Jackson County as we visit with him.

By the way- the Oklahoma drought made the Drudge Report on Wednesday- click here for the AP story they linked to that features comments from Jim Freudenberger of Logan County, as well as from OFB President Mike Spradling.

Click here for more on drought conditions in southwestern Oklahoma.

According to a White House news release, "The result is an agreed "Action Plan Related to Labor Rights" that will lead to greatly enhanced labor rights in Colombia and clear the way for the U.S.-Colombia Trade Agreement to move forward to Congress. The U.S.-Colombia Trade Agreement will expand U.S. goods exports alone by more than $1.1 billion and give key U.S. goods and services duty free access in sectors from manufacturing to agriculture. It will increase U.S. GDP by $2.5 billion and support thousands of additional U.S. jobs."

Several ag groups have jumped out with news releases praising the Obama Administration and their movement on this important South American market. We have lots of stuff at the LINK below- a Youtube from TWO years ago from US Wheat with the same arguments then that are being promoted today for getting the deal done with Columbia- links to the Fact Sheets from the Administration and lots of reaction from the ag groups that have weighed in.

Click here for extensive coverage of the Obama Announcement on the FTA with Columbia.

Blach says that at first glance, two key numbers don't seem to line up. We have almost a million fewer yearling and stocker cattle than we had just a year ago- yet placements of cattle into the nation's feedlots are up almost 850,000 head in recent months. What is happening is that we are placing larger numbers of lightweight cattle. Some of that can be attributed to drought conditions, while greed seems to be another factor- prices are simply so good- the incentive is to move animals as quickly as you can through the beef pipeline.

On today's Beef Buzz, we hear Blach's explanation of current calf and yearling numbers- and their implications in the days ahead.

Click on the LINK below for our Beef Buzz report, as heard on great radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network.

Click here for our latest Beef Buzz with Randy Blach of Cattlefax

At the top of the list is HB 1249. HB 1249 by Rep. Wade Rousselot and Senator Kim David removes language allowing persons in the sole process of retrieving their domestic livestock or other animals to enter land of another. This measure has survived several attempts to amend it and was passed earlier this week by the full Senate. It came out of the Senate "clean" meaning that it was changed from the House language, which allow it to go on to Governor Mary Fallin for her signature. Both Farm Bureau as well as the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association have been behind this measure from the start.

Click on the LINK below to hear Tyler's comments on this measure- and several other bills that Farm Bureau has interest in.

Click here for the latest from the State Capitol as we chat with Tyler Norvell of Oklahoma Farm Bureau

The goal of the program is to strengthen the position and to develop and expand the markets for sorghum and sorghum products. The assessment for grain sorghum is 0.6-percent of net market value and 0.35-percent of net market value for sorghum forage, sorghum hay, sorghum haylage, sorghum billets and sorghum silage. Although limited - imports of sorghum and sorghum products are also assessed.

The Sorghum Checkoff was required to hold a referendum within three years of beginning operations. Farmers who paid an assessment had an opportunity to vote through their local Farm Service Agency office to determine the future of the national checkoff.

Click here for the Sorghum Checkoff website to learn more about sorghum promotion and research efforts that are being made on behalf of Sorghum Producers.

As the Chairs of the principal Congressional committees overseeing the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, they stressed the need to limit regulatory burdens that could have the unintended effect of driving up costs for end-users, increasing costs for consumers and diverting capital from opportunities to promote economic growth and job creation.

Oklahoma Congressman Lucas, who Chairs the House Ag Committee told Bernanke and the other officials that "An exemption for end-users means more cash working for the economy. Right now, we need to do everything we can to ensure the economy is growing and creating jobs for Americans across the country."

Click here to see the text of the full letter to the CFTC and other agencies.

This morning at nine- the commercial cattle grading contest will be kicking off, with the top scholarship that will be given to the high placing 4-H or FFA youth $2,000- that's the Rick Jones Memorial Scholarship.

Click on the LINK below and you can see the full schedule of things that are a part of the 2011 Southern Plains Farm Show.

Click here for the schedule for the 2011 Southern Plains Farm Show.

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.

Click here to check out WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com

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:
Our Daily Market Wrapup from the Radio Oklahoma Network with Ed Richards and Tom Leffler- analyzing the Futures Markets from the previous Day-
Ron on RON Markets as heard on K101 mornings with cash and futures reviewed- includes where the Cash Cattle market stands, the latest Feeder Cattle Markets Etc.
Previous Day's Wheat Market Recap- Two Pager From The Kansas City Board of Trade looks at all three US Wheat Futures Exchanges with extra info on Hard Red Winter Wheat and the why of that day's market.
Daily Oklahoma Cash Grain Prices- As Reported by the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture. <
The National Daily Feeder & Stocker Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
The National Daily Slaughter Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
Finally, Here is the Daily Volume and Price Summary from the Texas Cattle Feeders Association. Click on the link for the latest cash cattle record- now at $123 for the bulk of the trade on Wednesday.