From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.ccsend.com] on behalf of Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2011 7:22 AM
To: Hays, Ron
Subject: Oklahoma's Farm News Update
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Monday April 25, 2011
A service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and KIS Futures
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- And the Rains Came- In Select Locations
-- Before the Rains- We Checked West Central Oklahoma Wheat Fields
-- Oklahoma Farm Bureau is Beating the Drum for HB 1381
-- Iowa State Study Shows Subsidies for Ethanol Were Not Needed for Expansion in Recent Years
-- Eastern Livestock Bill Ready for the Governor
-- Panhandle State Brings Home National Honors in Crops Judging
-- This Week- Town Hall Meetings, Canola Field Day and State FFA Contests
-- 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.

And we salute our longest running email sponsor- Midwest Farm Shows, producer of the recent Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City 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 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.


And the Rains Came- In Select Locations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Easter's Weekend Rainfall event has dumped large amounts of precipitation on large areas of eastern Oklahoma, while central and western counties have received much less. Amounts of over two inches of rain are very common east of Interstate 35, while the largest rainfall recorded since the end of last week appears to be in Adair County with just under 10 inches of rainfall.

Much of northeast Oklahoma continues under flood alerts from the National Weather service. Flood warnings are in effect for Adair and Cherokee counties as the water level in the Illinois River near Watts was expected to rise to 22 feet by dawn Monday. Flood stage there is 13 feet.

In addition to the rainfall, you may be waking up to dense fog- which is being reported in many areas of the state.

Along the I-35 corredor, good rainfall has been reported, but in more moderate amounts. Garvin Cunty had a big Mesonet rain gauge number of 4.43 inches, while McClain, Cleveland, Oklahoma and Logan Counties all had rainfall totals in excess of an inch.

Cotton County is reporting the most rainfall west of I-35, with 5.5 inches of rain, but the reports we received from Friday night is that included a lot of hail. Jim Kinder of Walters reports on their farm the hail covered the ground and had a lot of stones that were super sized golf balls.

Click on the LINK below for a snapshot from early Monday morning of current rainfall totals going back to the front end of the Easter Holiday weekend. It shows that a lot of wheat country has received limited amounts of rainfall(or in several cases- none) from this current system that has gone a long way towards alleviating drought conditions in the eastern half of the state.

Click here for our rainfall map from the Oklahoma Mesonet as of early Monday morning.


Before the Rains- We Checked West Central Oklahoma Wheat Fields
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On Friday, Farm Director Ron Hays spent the day looking at powder dry wheat fields in west central Oklahoma. Several common themes emerged as stops were made to look at fields in Custer County, Caddo County and Canadian County.

Fields that were grazed for wheat will not produce any wheat for grain this year. The lack of moisture means those fields have more brown dirt showing than green wheat plants.

Many wheat fields are spotty, with many spots that have little or no wheat growing.

Weeds have generally not germinated and there is little weed pressure in the majority of wheat fields.

Where there is a stand of wheat that is thick enough to signal production that could justify a combine, the wheat plants are shorter than normal.

Virtually every field is fully headed out.

We have a couple of ways you can review our pictures from Friday- BEFORE the rains came. We have all of the pics we took both last Wednesday as well as those on Friday now on Flickr- and we also have some audio play by play commentary to go with several of the Friday pictures in a YouTube video. We have the links to both at the link below.

Check out our pcitures of wheat fields in Custer, Caddo and Canadian Counties.


Oklahoma Farm Bureau is Beating the Drum for HB 1381
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mike Spradling, President of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau offers an op-ed article regarding a piece of legislation that the Farm Bureau is hoping to see passed in the latter days of the 2011 legislative session.

Here is a portion of Mike Spradling's editorial piece:

According to the latest Medicare cost reports, 57 percent of Oklahoma's 81 rural hospitals operated at a loss. More striking is that one out of five of them had losses in excess of 10 percent. This is simply not a sustainable model.

But making matters worse, many rural families and rural businesses are unwittingly paying a hidden tax to keep these hospitals open. When patients are not paying for the cost of their care, hospitals are forced to try to pass along that cost to those of us who pay either directly or through insurance premiums. Known as cost shifting, this is one reason we have seen such inflationary pressures in health care. And one of the worst culprits of not paying is Medicaid. According to the numbers, Oklahoma's hospitals are only reimbursed at 67 percent of the allowable rate when treating Medicaid patients and this amount is often below the cost of the service being provided.

Spradling and the Oklahoma Farm Bureau contend that it does not have to be this way- one solution lies within HB 1381. You can read more about this measure and the support that Oklahoma Farm Bureau has for the measure by clicking on the LINK below.

Click here for the complete Op-Ed from Oklahoma Farm Bureau President Mike Spradling.


Iowa State Study Shows Subsidies for Ethanol Were Not Needed for Expansion in Recent Years
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The proponents of ethanol are pointing to a study released last week by Iowa State University that contends that ethanol has not really caused food prices to rise. But, they probably don't like the part of the study that states that "the general pattern of corn prices that we saw in the historical period-increasing prices in in 2006 and 2007, a price spike in 2008, followed by a sharp price decline in 2009-would have occurred without ethanol subsidies or even if corn ethanol production had not expanded. Second, investor fervor for corn ethanol in 2005, 2006, and 2007 would have occurred even without subsidies because a combination of cheap corn, a phase-out of MTBE, and higher crude oil prices made ethanol profitable. Thus, ethanol production would have expanded quite rapidly even without subsidies."

The study also contends that ethanol has only a relatively minor player in the rise of corn prices in the second half of this past decade. "Using the 2004 corn price of $2.06 per bushel as a reference, actual corn prices increased by an average of $1.65 per bushel from 2006 to 2009. Only 14 cents (8%) of this increase was due to ethanol subsidies. Another 45 cents of the increase was due to market-based expansion of the corn ethanol industry. Together, expansion of corn ethanol from subsidies and market forces accounted for 36% of the average increase that we saw in corn prices from 2006 to 2009. All other market factors accounted for 64% of the corn price increase."

So when it comes to food prices, the authors contend their economic analysis shows that "the contribution of ethanol subsidies to food inflation is largely imperceptible in the United States."

Click on the LINK below to read the full report and draw your own conclusions.

Click here to review the full report from ISU on Ethanol and its Impact on Food.


Eastern Livestock Bill Ready for the Governor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This past week at the state capitol, the Senate advanced SB 530, the Livestock Lienholders bill to the Governor for her consideration. Ag Groups expect the Governor to sign this bill into law in fairly short order. The purpose of this bill is ensure producers selling livestock retain a security interest in the livestock until the sale proceeds from the sale clear the bank.

The Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association is pleased with lawmaker's efforts to get this bill through the process- "We appreciate Representative Don Armes and Senator Sean Burrage for their leadership on this issue. The measure grants every livestock owner a lien in all livestock for any unpaid portion of the livestock in order to secure the obligations of the first person that purchases livestock, either directly or through a sales agent, under an agreement to sell. The owner's lien attaches and is perfected immediately to all livestock and continues uninterrupted in all livestock and proceeds. The lien exists until the full amount of the sales price has been received and is not dependent on possession of livestock. Any security interest or mortgage lien of the owner's lender will attach to the livestock owner's right to the owner's lien.

While this bill will not help those harmed by the bankruptcy of Eastern Livestock from the end of last year, it will offer a level of protection to livestock producers who sell their livestock in the future, give up control of their cattle as they get a check- then later find out the check bounced higher than the new Devon Tower in downtown Oklahoma City. Click on the LINK below to read the full bill that is likely to be signed by Governor Fallin as early as this week.

Click here to read SB 530.


Panhandle State Brings Home National Honors in Crops Judging
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kansas State University, Iowa State University, the University of Illinois, and- Oklahoma Panhandle State University? The 2011 Crops Judging team won 4th place in the nation just behind the three much larger schools, and Dr. Curtis Bensch, Assistant Professor of Agronomy and the team's coach, said many of the people attending the awards banquet were surprised when his students were named the 4th place team.

Bensch took Casey DeBock, Kala Belson, Johnathan Bentley, and Camron Nisly to Modesto, Calif. recently to compete at the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) contest, realizing his dream of restarting a competitive crops judging team. Out of four parts of the contest, the team placed in the top five in three of those, taking second in the plant/seed identification portion. Bensch said, "Our new greenhouse helps immensely. It's very useful to grow our own plants so students can see them at every stage of growth."

Only in his 3rd year as head of the OPSU agronomy department, Dr. Bensch gives plenty of credit to his mentor and friend, Kevin Donnelly from OSU. He also said that OPSU alum, Duane Schafer and his wife Grace, ag producers from Texhoma, have donated generously to the crops judging team.
Click on the LINK below to learn more about his team and the excitement generated on the Panhandle State Campus in Goodwell from this high finish at a national contest.

Click here for details about the national honors pulled down by Panhandle State in Collegiate Crops Judging


This Week- Town Hall Meetings, Canola Field Day and State FFA Contests
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are a whole host of town hall meetings with three of our Oklahoma Congressmen planned for this week after Easter- Oklahoma lawmakers Dan Boren, Tom Cole and Frank Lucas all will meet multiple times with citizens in their districts. Click on the LINK below for the calendar section of our website to review who is meeting with whom and where.

Oklahoma State University will be holding a Canola Field Day on Thursday of this week at the North Central Research Station in Lahoma- lots of information on variety, weeds, pests and marketing will be available at this event- click here for the specific calendar listing for the Canola Field Day in Lahoma.

The 2011 Oklahoma FFA Convention is next week- and a big lead in to the convention are the state contests that will be held on the campus of Oklahoma State University this coming Friday and Saturday. More than 10,000 Oklahoma FFA members representing 354 high school chapters across the state are expected to attend the 85th Annual State FFA Convention, May 3-4, at the Cox Convention Center in downtown Oklahoma City.
This year's convention theme is Infinite Potential. Leadership is an important component of FFA. By exercising exceptional leadership skills, FFA members discover the significance of being a good role model, and most importantly, serving others. Through agricultural education and FFA, these young people are realizing their potential is infinite. Click here for the Oklahoma FFA website and the page they have with lots of links on the 2011 convention.

Click here for our calendar page- which has the complete listings of the Town Hall Meetings for three of our Congressmen this week


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!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 $11.30 per bushel- as of the close of trade on Thursday, while the 2011 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available are $11.45 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:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
phone: 405-473-6144
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Forward email

This email was sent to ron.hays@radiooklahoma.net by ron@oklahomafarmreport.com |  

Oklahoma Farm Report | 10700 Whitehall Blvd | Oklahoma City | OK | 73162