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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 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. | |
The I-35 Fence Effective in Keeping that Rainfall Stuff Out of Western Oklahoma ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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: He adds "keep praying for rain." Click here to see a graphic shot of "no" wheat versus "not much" wheat. | |
Minor Changes to Congressional District Boundaries Seen in Oklahoma ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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. | |
Seven Trends That Will Impact the Direction of New Beef Products Being Developed for Consumers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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. We talked about these trends with Molly after her presentation- and you can hear our full conversation by clicking on the LINK below. | |
British Report Shows Huge Benefits from Biotech Crops ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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." | |
K-State Awarded Center of Excellence Program ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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. | |
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 $10.80
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: | |
God Bless! You can reach us at the following: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
phone: 405-473-6144
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