|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Friday May 13, 2011
A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and Oklahoma
Mineral Buyers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- House Ag Committee Chairman Frank Lucas Talks Free Trade Deals
With Ambassador Ron Kirk
-- Ag Groups Line Up to Tell the Administration- Get Moving on
Implementation Legislation
-- 12th National Watershed Conference Gets Underway Sunday in
Downtown Oklahoma City
-- Pork Industry Celebrates Setback Bill- Signed into Law by Governor
Mary Fallin
-- Eminent Domain Not An Option for Wind Turbine Promoters
-- Wheat Seed Almost Certain to be Very Tight This Fall
-- Implanting Nursing Calves- One of the Best Investments in the
Cattle Business!
-- 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. | |
House Ag Committee Chairman Frank Lucas Talks Free Trade Deals With Ambassador Ron Kirk ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The House
Agriculture Committee held a full Committee hearing on the issue of trade
and how it impacts US agriculture. The leadoff and star witnesses of the
hearing were US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and US Trade
Ambassador Ron Kirk.The Chairman of the House Ag Committee, Frank Lucas of Oklahoma, lamented the slowness of the Obama Administration in bringing three pending FTAs to Congress for an up or down vote- "As we know, there are three pending free trade agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama. Unfortunately it has been nearly four years since these agreements were signed and the administration is just now close to bringing the agreements before Congress. It is difficult to overstate the importance of these agreements to America's farmers and ranchers and to our economy as a whole. " Congressman Lucas adds "The agreements were finalized nearly four years
ago. Yet they are still awaiting implementation. Each year that we delay
action costs us billions of dollars in unrealized
benefits." Click on the LINK below to hear Congressman Lucas quiz Ambassador Kirk about some of the nuts and bolts of what the Obama Administration is doing to get these trade deals to the point where implementing legislation can be forwarded to Congress- which is when the clock starts ticking for Congress to act on the the agreements. | |
Ag Groups Line Up to Tell the Administration- Get Moving on Implementation Legislation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One of those
testifying on Thursday once the Obama officials were finished was Bob
Stallman of the American Farm Bureau. American Farm Bureau Federation
President Bob Stallman. Stallman said - inaction has proven to result in
loss of market share and forfeiture of economic growth. The U.S.
government's inability to move these agreements benefits our foreign
competitors while harming U.S. producers and American workers. Stallman
added, - these trade agreements are not only important to the bottom line
of America's farmers and ranchers but the economic health of our rural
communities and the overall U.S. economy.
National Corn Growers Association CEO Rick Tolman told the hearing that - increased production and a consistent product make the United States a reliable supplier of corn in the world market. NCGA strongly supports passage of the three-pending Free Trade Agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama. Passing these FTAs also benefits our customers in the livestock and poultry industries. Developing new markets for our country's agricultural products will help our sector lead the nation in economic growth and international competitiveness. National Cattlemen's Beef Association President Bill Donald told the
Committee - now is the time to begin the implementation process in order
to secure critical market share. He said time is of the essence "because
as a cattle producer, I'm competing with other cattlemen in the European
Union, Australia, Canada, Argentina and Brazil and we're all courting the
same consumer base." | |
12th National Watershed Conference Gets Underway Sunday in Downtown Oklahoma City ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The 12th
National Watershed Conference will be held at the Cox Convention Center in
Oklahoma City, May 15-18, 2011. Local, state, tribal, regional, and
federal watershed, floodplain, and natural resources program managers and
project sponsors from 30 states are expected to attend the conference.
Speakers for the conference include Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas who authored the Rehabilitation Amendments to the PL-83-566 Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Program. These amendments authorized the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to provide technical and 65% cost share assistance to rehabilitate high hazard flood control dams. Dave White, NRCS Chief and Dr. Ed Knipling, USDA Agriculture Research Service Administrator will also speak at the conference. We talked with the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Conservation
Commission, Mike Thralls about the Conference- and you can hear his
preview by clicking on the LINK below. | |
Pork Industry Celebrates Setback Bill- Signed into Law by Governor Mary Fallin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Capping what
may be the best legislative session from an Oklahoma pork industry
perspective in the last 20 years, Governor Fallin has signed HB1957 which
will eliminate setbacks on water permits for all swine facilities. Passage
and signing of the bill culminates 10 years of work on the part of the
Oklahoma Pork Council.
There are a number of changes to our current law in the legislation.
Here are the key changes: At the beginning of this legislative session, representatives of OPC
sat down with representatives of the United Methodist Church and the
church's camping programs and agreed to work together to develop language
that would continue to protect the church's camp sites and still allow hog
producers greater access to water permits. OPC also worked with Secretary
of Agriculture Jim Reese to craft language Governor Fallin could support
and ultimately sign if it passed both the House and the Senate. | |
Eminent Domain Not An Option for Wind Turbine Promoters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Governor Mary
Fallin signed a measure into law this week that will protect landowners
from the threat of eminent domain when companies are looking for locations
to build wind turbines. Sen. Ron Justice, the author of Senate Bill 124,
said the new law is important given the growing interest and success of
the wind industry in the state. "Oklahoma has an abundance of natural resources which help provide a tremendous boost to our state's economy so it's important that we protect and utilize those resources. However, it's also important to protect the rights of landowners," said Justice, R-Chickasha. SB 124 prohibits the power of eminent domain to be used for the siting
or erection of wind turbines on private property. The bill was requested by concerned landowners who were approached by representatives of the wind industry who wanted to put wind turbines on their land and mentioned the possible use of eminent domain. | |
Wheat Seed Almost Certain to be Very Tight This Fall ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In an email
from Roger Osborn with Oklahoma Pedigreed Seed Services at Oklahoma State
University, we get some details of one of the big worries for the hard red
winter wheat industry this coming fall- will there be enough quality seed
available? Osborn tells that earlier this spring that "the Oklahoma Crop
Improvement Association board of directors discussed at length the
possibility of recertifying Certified classes of wheat seed for sale this
fall. Many factors were considered (limited availability of seed this
fall, potential yields, number of acres applied for inspection,
recertification requirements outlined in the Federal Seed Act, etc.).
Ultimately, the board voted unanimously NOT to pursue recertification this
year."
We asked Roger what this really means for farmers- and he tells us that "For the producer, it means that there will be limited amounts of certified seed available for planting this fall (2011). A producer may have to be willing to travel further from home to find seed and should be proactive in his approach to procuring the seed he needs for planting purposes. Waiting until September or October to find seed would not be recommended." He adds that "We certainly hope this limited availability of seed will only affect the 2011 planting season and we'll have a bumper crop in 2012. Growers should also be reminded that most varieties of wheat in production are protected under state and federal seed laws. Owners of those protected varieties have the right to take legal action against anyone caught violating those varieties. Even though seed may be in limited supply this year, that fact does not give anyone the right to violate the laws with the buying and selling of non-certified protected varieties." Click here to learn more about the Oklahoma Crop Improvement Association | |
Implanting Nursing Calves- One of the Best Investments in the Cattle Business! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Many new
technologies have been made available to the beef industry over the last
75 years. According to Glenn Selk, Oklahoma State University Emeritus
Extension Animal Scientist, few have the potential return on investment as
do growth promoting implants for nursing calves.
The term implant is used to refer to a group of products used in the cattle industry that increase rate of growth. Each type or brand of implant has its own specific applicator, which is used to properly administer the implant. Implants contain natural or synthetic anabolic compounds that produce physiological responses similar to hormones that are already produced in varying quantities in the body. Selk offers one caveat- Calves intended for "natural" or "organic" markets should not be implanted. Implants cleared for use in nursing calves contain a lower dose of the active ingredient compared to products cleared for use with older cattle. These "calf" implants are typically administered when calves are between 2 and 4 months of age. Research summaries have shown than implants given during the suckling phase will increase average daily gain of steer calves by 0.1 pound per day. The response in heifer calves is slightly higher at 0.12 to 0.14 pound per day. Over 150 days of the remaining nursing period, this additional gain can amount to 15 pounds in improved weaning weights in steers and 18 to 21 pounds in weaned heifer calves. | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, PCOM, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy, Johnston Enterprises, American Farmers & Ranchers, KIS Futures and Oklahoma Mineral Buyers 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 $11.09
per bushel, while the 2011 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available
are $11.09 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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
