From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.ccsend.com] on behalf of Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2011 7:33 AM
To: Hays, Ron
Subject: Oklahoma's Farm News Update
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Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Friday April 15, 2011
A service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and KIS Futures!
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-- The I-35 Fence Effective in Keeping that Rainfall Stuff Out of Western Oklahoma
-- And The There is the Invisible Fence Between Snow and Blown Away Snow
-- Minor Changes to Congressional District Boundaries Seen in Oklahoma
-- Seven Trends That Will Impact the Direction of New Beef Products Being Developed for Consumers
-- British Report Shows Huge Benefits from Biotech Crops
-- K-State Awarded Center of Excellence Program
-- State FFA Convention Coming Up Soon- and A Final Thought
-- 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 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 the recent Southern Plains Farm Show as well as the Tulsa Farm Show. Click here for the Midwest Farm Show main website to learn more about their lineup of shows around the country!

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.

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.


The I-35 Fence Effective in Keeping that Rainfall Stuff Out of Western Oklahoma
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When you look at the rainfall maps on the Mesonet- it almost looks like I-35 was the fence- and no rainfall was allowed east of that line. Significant rainfall totals were accompanied by severe storms, with hail, high winds and tornadoes producing fatalities in Atoka County and lots of destruction.

We have a snapshot from the Oklahoma Mesonet that we share with you this morning- showing two inches of rain being recorded in multiple locations in the southeastern part of the state, while totals over one inch were common in northeastern Oklahoma. Except for a couple of dust raising hundredths of an inch in the Panhandle- west of I-35 remains dry.

According to Gary McManus with the Oklahoma Climate Survey, the new Drought Monitor map came out yesterday and not many changes occurred. A bit of expansion of D3 drought to the north and a lessening of drought in Grant, Kay and Osage counties. It looks like that the rain in north central Oklahoma at least put a dent in some of the impacts for that area (i.e., the wheat received a nice big gulp of water). The 2"+ (2+"??) down in the southeast was not enough to move it down the Drought Monitor scale. The trouble for the southeast is that the drought is occurring on a long-term basis.

Click on the LINK below for that rainfall picture from the Mesonet on rainfall from the past twenty four hours.

Click here for the Rainfall Totals for Oklahoma Thursday morning through Friday morning.


And The There is the Invisible Fence Between Snow and Blown Away Snow
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Drought conditions in western Oklahoma continue to hammer our 2011 winter wheat crop- and Allen Entz of Hydro captured a dramatic picture showing the dead versus alive drama unfolding in our winter wheat fields. When you click on the LINK below and go take a look, you will notice in the wheat that is still green that it has already started to head out- an indication that this side of the field is also in trouble due to the dry conditions.

Allen writes us in an email about the picture he has provided:
"I took this picture on Wednesday just southeast of Hydro by one of our farms and I thought it was interesting enough to pass along to you. The dead wheat on the left is on top of a terrace and a product of our states severe drought. The wheat on the right is in the terrace channel where snow drifts accumulated a couple dry months ago."

He adds "keep praying for rain."

Amen!!!

Click here to see a graphic shot of "no" wheat versus "not much" wheat.


Minor Changes to Congressional District Boundaries Seen in Oklahoma
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House lawmakers have unveiled a proposed congressional redistricting map for the state of Oklahoma. It apparently makes some very slight changes in the five current Congressional Districts, with only one whole county being switched as Marshall County in south central Oklahoma goes from District 4 to District 2- meaning that this County will no longer be represented by Tom Cole, but rather by Dan Boren.

Dan Boren seems pleased with another county being added to his large second district. "I am extremely excited about the possibility of representing Marshall County in Congress. Congressman Boren says "I spent quite a bit of my early childhood on Lake Texoma. Also, my grandmother, Oteka, was born in Lebanon and my late mother, Janna, grew up in Madill. My uncle Dan Little currently lives in Marshall County along with several other relatives."

As for the Chairman of the House Ag Committee, Congressman Frank Lucas picks up the part of Yukon that has not been in his district the last ten years- and not much else. He- as well as the other members of the Oklahoma Congressional delegation- seem pleased with the redistricting result and there appears to be little chance of any of the five current members being pushed hard in the 2012 elections because of redistricting.

Click here for more on the decisions made by Dale DeWitt and the other Oklahoma House Members in Drawing New Redistricting Lines


Seven Trends That Will Impact the Direction of New Beef Products Being Developed for Consumers
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At the recent TSCRA Convention in San Antonio, we heard an excellent presentation from Molly McAdams, who listed 7 trends that either are impacting beef product development already- or will in the days to come. Those trends that she discussed included salt reduction, exciting flavors, premium ground beef, ethnic perspectives, "clean" ingredients, alternate beef cuts and "the right to know" by consumers.

McAdams says it is important that the cattle producer understand how these trends will affect the direction of new product development as both the industry and food service companies work on ideas that they believe will excite consumers in the days to come.

For example, the last trend we listed- consumers asserting the belief that they have the right to know everything about their food means that cattle producers may be forced by the market to adopt a robust animal ID or animal traceback program.

We talked about these trends with Molly after her presentation- and you can hear our full conversation by clicking on the LINK below.

Click here for today's special edition of the Beef Buzz with Molly McAdams on key trends that the beef industry needs to be watching.


British Report Shows Huge Benefits from Biotech Crops
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Agricultural biotechnology continues to provide important economic and environmental benefits and is making positive contributions to global food production and food security, according to the latest annual update report of global biotech crop impacts prepared by UK-based PG Economics.

"As the report points out, biotech crops help increase agricultural productivity while reducing on-farm fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions and lessening the need for insecticides and pesticides,"says Sharon Bomer Lauritsen, executive vice president for food and agriculture for the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO).

"In addition, farmers - especially those in developing countries - are seeing the economic benefit from biotechnology thanks to increased crop yields and reduced production costs. This is especially significant at a time when food availability is becoming more of an issue around the world."

Click on the LINK below to read more about the study- and we have a link in our story to the full study as well.

Click here for more on the value of Biotech crops- based on the findings of this British originated report.


K-State Awarded Center of Excellence Program
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Kansas State University was selected to establish the Center of Excellence for Food Safety Research in Child Nutrition Programs. The center will provide a new and holistic research approach to determine how new initiatives, such as farm-to-school purchasing and school gardens, and emerging science affect food safety in USDA's Food and Nutrition Service school and child care programs. The multidisciplinary approach will draw expertise from fields such as foodservice management, food safety, food microbiology, agricultural production, education, and the social sciences.

In making the announcement, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said - nothing is more important than the health and well-being of our nation's children and we must do everything we can to ensure that kids are being served safe, high quality meals. The Center of Excellence will provide research on important topics such as produce safety and evaluation of school food safety programs.

Kevin Concannon, USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, says - research conducted by the Center will provide important information that we can use to improve programs and to develop education and training opportunities for school nutrition and child care employees. The center will be funded with a two-year, 1.6-million dollar grant and will open as soon as the grant is awarded.


State FFA Convention Coming Up Soon- and A Final Thought
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The 2011 Oklahoma FFA Convention is set for May 3-4, 2011 in downtown Oklahoma City at the Cox Business Center. We preview the 2011 meeting with the help of the Oklahoma FFA State President for 2010-2011- Emily Beanland of Hollis, Oklahoma.

Emily will be our guest on News9, KWTV Saturday morning during the Saturday morning news block- our conversation with this very bright young lady will be around 6:40 AM. We also recorded an audio conversation with Emily and we will be posting that over the week in our Blue Green Gazette Section of our website, OklahomaFarmReport.Com.

Continue your prayers Gary Sherrer and his family as they say goodbye this week to his wife, Judith, who passed away on Monday of this week. A wonderful Memorial service was held in Stillwater yesterday afternoon- Scott Dewald of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association officiated and did a great job. Some of the funeral plans for later today and tomorrow may be in some question as the town of Atoka deals with the death and destruction seen in the nearby small town of Tushka


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.

Click here to check out WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com


Let's Check the Markets!
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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 $10.80 per bushel, while the 2011 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available are $11.10 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:
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.



God Bless! You can reach us at the following:
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phone: 405-473-6144
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