~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Thursday April 7, 2011
A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and KIS
Futures!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Talking Drought and Red Flag Warnings
-- Obama Administration Declares Columbia FTA Better- Closer to
sending it to Congress for a Vote
-- With Supplies of Feeder and Stocker Cattle Tight- Cattle Prices
Will Remain Historically High
-- HB 1249 Headed to the Governor for Her Signature
-- Sorghum Checkoff Okayed by Farmers
-- Four Congressional Chairman Agree- End Users Need a Break on
Margin Costs
-- Southern Plains Farm Show Kicks Off Today
-- 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 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. 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. | |
Talking Drought and Red Flag Warnings ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yesterday, the
Red Flag warnings were in eastern Oklahoma- today, that same level of
concern has shifted to southwestern Oklahoma- where nine counties are
under a Red Flag Warning. The counties involved are Roger Mills, Custer,
Beckham, Washita, Harmon, Greer, Kiowa, Jackson and Tillman. Click
here for the current warning from the National Weather Service in
Norman.
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. | |
Obama Administration Declares Columbia FTA Better- Closer to sending it to Congress for a Vote ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Announcement
of a deal came on Wednesday from the Obama Administration that a deal has
been struck to "tweak" the Bush Administration's Columbia Free Trade
Agreement that has been in mothballs for almost three years.
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. | |
With Supplies of Feeder and Stocker Cattle Tight- Cattle Prices Will Remain Historically High ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Randy Blach
with Cattlefax told the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers this past
weekend that our feeder cattle and stocker cattle supplies are tight- and
getting tighter, one of the reasons that prices for stocker cattle and
yearlings remain very strong.
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 here for our latest Beef Buzz with Randy Blach of Cattlefax | |
HB 1249 Headed to the Governor for Her Signature ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma Farm
Bureau Vice President for Public Policy, Tyler Norvell, says that several
measures he and his OFB legislative team have been following are moving
right now in the state legislature.
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. | |
Sorghum Checkoff Okayed by Farmers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On Wednesday -
USDA announced the United Sorghum Checkoff Program referendum held in
February has been approved by a majority of sorghum growers. With the
vote, the Sorghum Checkoff will continue.Of the more than 12-hundred ballots cast - 76.2-percent voted to continue the program. For the program to continue - only a simple majority was needed. 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. | |
Four Congressional Chairman Agree- End Users Need a Break on Margin Costs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ U.S.
Representatives Frank Lucas (R-OK) and Spencer Bachus (R-AL) and U.S.
Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Tim Johnson (D-SD) sent a letter to
U.S. Department of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Federal Reserve
Board Chairman Ben Bernanke, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Secretary Gary Gensler, and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Mary
Schapiro yesterday urging them to provide an exemption from margin
requirements for end-user transactions.
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. | |
Southern Plains Farm Show Kicks Off Today ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The three day
Southern Plains Farm Show opens at 9 AM today- and runs through Saturday
afternoon. We invite you to stop by and say hello in the Cox Building at
our Radio Oklahoma Network booth. We will be registering folks for the
Priefert Round Pen that is being used by Scott Dailey in the twice a day
horse training seminars.
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. | |
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 $10.05
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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
|