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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Wednesday April 13,
2011 A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and KIS
Futures!
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-- Lucas Urges Obama Administration to Get FTAs to Congress to Allow
Mid Year Implementation
-- Focus on What You Can Control- Good Advice from Dr. Derrell
Peel
-- Livestock Forage Disaster Program Available for Fire or Drought
Loss
-- Fresh Ground Pork Donated by Oklahoma 4-H and FFA Members Arriving
at Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma
-- Wheat Industry Summit Leaders Appear to Agree on Continuing to
Promote Biotech Wheat
-- Dry Weather Promotes Increase in Spotted Alfalfa Aphids
-- Sherrer Memorial Services Set- a Final Ag Day Reminder AND Details
on Canola U
-- 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. | |
Lucas Urges Obama Administration to Get FTAs to Congress to Allow Mid Year Implementation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Chairman
of the House Ag Committee, Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas, says that the
Obama Administration has talked a lot about getting key free trade
agreements ratified here in 2011, several years after the Bush
Administration actually negotiated these agreements. In recent days, the
Administration has announced they have "improved" the agreements for South
Korea and Columbia- but have not taken the actual step of moving the
agreements to Congress, which must be done to finish the ratification
process.
Congressman Lucas says it is vital to agriculture that we capitalize on recent developments with tangible action on the free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea. Every day the U.S. delays implementing these agreements, there are lost opportunities for job creation and economic growth. Chairman Lucas encourages President Obama to do the work necessary to ensure they are implemented by mid-year. Click on the LINK below for the comments made by Congressman Lucas as he puts his House Ag Committee Chairmanship Hat on and delivers what the Committee calls their "Ag Minute." This commentary is released most weeks by the committee and we have his recorded comments for you to hear- as well as have them in hard copy form so you can read it as well. | |
Focus on What You Can Control- Good Advice from Dr. Derrell Peel ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma State
University Livestock Market Economist Dr. Derrell Peel says that it's
important for cattle producers to realize that we have a new playing field
we are on- and Dr. Peel believes it will be around for awhile. He offers
the following "first person" analysis that every cattle producer should
read- and heed.
"For many years I have heard cattle producers say that production is easy and marketing is hard. At today's record price levels, I would argue that the opposite is true and will be for some time to come. Most anything one has to sell brings a good value in the market these days. Producers need to focus on having something to sell and managing production to take advantage of the market opportunities today. "It has always been true that producers had more opportunity to
influence profitability by managing production and cost than by marketing.
Nevertheless, there have often been market signals that encouraged cattle
producers to emphasize certain production practices over others at various
times. Historically, cattle cycles encouraged maximum cow-calf production
on some occasions and emphasized retained ownership or stocker production
at other times. The advantage of the current market situation is that
there is no tradeoff in market incentives. The current market is rewarding
any type of forage-based production so it makes little difference if a
producer sells weaned calves, retained feeders or runs stocker in place of
cows." | |
Livestock Forage Disaster Program Available for Fire or Drought Loss ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Francie Tolle,
executive director for Oklahoma Farm Service Agency (FSA), announced that
Oklahoma producers who have suffered livestock grazing losses due to
qualifying drought or fire may apply for assistance under the provisions
of the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP). This permanent disaster
program is authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill.
"The Livestock Forage Disaster Program will help those producers who have suffered devastating losses from fires and the ongoing drought," said Tolle. "LFP ensures that producers receive the critical disaster assistance needed to remain financially solvent and help them continue on in their operations." There are provisions under which the drought or fire must qualify in order for the producers to be eligible for assistance. For drought, the losses must have occurred on land that is native or improved pastureland with permanent vegetative cover or a crop planted specifically for grazing for covered livestock due to a qualifying drought during the normal grazing period for the specific type of grazing land in the county. For fire, LFP provides payments to eligible livestock producers that have suffered grazing losses on rangeland managed by a federal agency if the eligible livestock producer is prohibited by the federal agency from grazing the normal permitted livestock on the managed rangeland due to a qualifying fire. | |
Fresh Ground Pork Donated by Oklahoma 4-H and FFA Members Arriving at Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Food Drive
that was promoted by the Diamond Hats group at the 2011 Oklahoma Youth
Expo became more than just canned beans and corn- as the Regional Food
Bank of Oklahoma received this week several hundred packages of fresh
ground pork produced by some of the exhibitors of the Youth Expo. A total
of nine young people from three Oklahoma communities donated their show
animals to be processed into pound and a half ground pork packages as a
part of the Food Drive that donated over 700 pounds of dry goods as well.
When all of the meat that was being processed arrives at the Regional Food
Bank- they will have received 1,500 pounds of fresh pork from these 4-H
and FFA youth.
The idea originated with a generous young lady from Seiling. For the past couple of years, Chelsie Livingston of the Seiling FFA Chapter has donated her show pig to the local food pantry if it did not qualify for any premium sales. When the Seiling Chapter Advisor Ben Fischer heard that the Diamond Hats had organized a food drive in cooperation with the office of Governor Mary Fallin for those coming to the Oklahoma Youth Expo, their chapter decided they would try to find corporate sponsors to pay for the processing and donate six pigs from the Seiling FFA to the Food Drive. Processing money was found as four organizations stepped up to help. The Board of Directors of the American Farmers and Ranchers dug into their own pockets and paid for the processing of six animals, while the Bank of Western Oklahoma, Farm Credit of Western Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Pork Council each paid for the processing of one animal each. | |
Wheat Industry Summit Leaders Appear to Agree on Continuing to Promote Biotech Wheat ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Representatives
from across the U.S. wheat value chain met Tuesday in Chicago for the
fourth Wheat Summit. At the conclusion of the day long meeting, a joint
statement was released from Dana Peterson, chief executive officer of the
National Association of Wheat Growers; Alan Tracy, president of U.S. Wheat
Associates; Mary Waters, president of the North American Millers'
Association and Lee Sanders, senior vice president of the American Bakers
Association, whose organizations jointly hosted the meeting Tuesday.
In that statement- the leaders report "Together we have identified a number of critical areas of agreement when it comes to paving the way for the responsible introduction of biotechnology - this follows our theme for the 2011 Summit - Moving Forward Together. As a guiding principle throughout our work, we hold as paramount the importance of choice for both the grower and the consumer. We are committed to guarding the high quality of our wheat through all technological innovations, since we know that is key to our continued competitiveness in the marketplace. Additionally, we recognize the need for reasonable tolerances to be set for biotech wheat in future non-biotech shipments." You can read the full statement from the wheat leaders by clicking on the LINK below as they talked more about their view of the wheat industry's future- especially as it relates to biotech wheat. Click here for more from the Wheat Industry Summit that was held yeserday in Chicago. | |
Dry Weather Promotes Increase in Spotted Alfalfa Aphids ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's
continued mild, extremely dry weather has led to the rise of a significant
pest in the state's south central to southwestern alfalfa fields: the
spotted alfalfa aphid. This pest is potentially more devastating than other aphids that occur in Oklahoma alfalfa fields and populations are expanding rapidly, said Phil Mulder, head of the Oklahoma State University Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology. "We began the season with severe limitations in soil moisture and then
cowpea aphid populations exploded onto the scene," he said. "Many growers
elected to control these pests early and hoped that alfalfa weevils would
be simultaneously managed." Mulder goes on and talks about the options that producers have in spraying and other management techniques that could be used in our state to avoid the worst of the damage from these aphids. You can read his recommendations by clicking on the LINK we have listed below. | |
Sherrer Memorial Services Set- a Final Ag Day Reminder AND Details on Canola U ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Memorial
Services for the wife of Gary Sherrer, the Oklahoma Secretary of the
Environment, are planned for Thursday in Stillwater and Saturday in Atoka.
Judith Sherrer was 57 when she passed away this past Monday after an
extremely short illness. Judith and Gary have three daughters- Tori,
Camill and Conner. The Memorial Services in Stillwater are planned for 2
PM on Thursday afternoon at the Countryside Baptist Church. The Saturday
Funeral Services that are planned will be held at the First Baptist Church
in Atoka. I know that our ag community is lifting Gary and his family up
in prayer during this most difficult week.
Remember Ag Day at the State Capitol- several events and exhibits will be going through the day to help celebrate Oklahoma Agriculture- click here to get some of the details for the day. Canola U is planned for May 3rd at the Clarion Meridian Hotel just south of I-40 on Meridian- this event will feature more good information on the opportunity that winter canola is bringing to the wheat producer as a viable and profitable rotation crop. Click here for more on Canola U- which is being hosted by DeKalb and the High Plains Journal. | |
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 $10.65
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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