|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest
farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron
Hays of RON for Thursday July 21, 2011 A
service of Johnston Enterprises, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind
Energy and American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance
Company!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Texas Panhandle Develops Plan to Stretch Ogallala Water Supplies
for Decades
-- National Association of Conservation Districts Approves Principles
for 2012 Farm Bill
-- House Ag Committee Chair Frank Lucas Says Timing of Writing Farm
Bill Hinges on Deficit Decisions
-- Smaller Placements Expected to be the Calling Card in This
Friday's Cattle on Feed Report
-- The First Lady Corrals Walmart and Big Retailers to Promise
Service in Less Profitable Areas
-- American Farmers and Ranchers Named "Friend of Extension"
-- Drought Watch Continues- as Does the Ag in the Classroom
Tour
-- 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 pleased to have American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance Company as a regular sponsor of our daily update- click here to go to their AFR web site to learn more about their efforts to serve rural America! It is also great to have as an annual sponsor on our daily email
Johnston Enterprises- proud to be serving agriculture across
Oklahoma and around the world since 1893. One of the great success stories
of the Johnston brand is Wrangler Bermudagrass- the most widely planted
true cold-tolerant seeded forage bermudagrass in the United States. For
more on Johnston Enterprises- click
here for their brand new website! 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. | |
Texas Panhandle Develops Plan to Stretch Ogallala Water Supplies for Decades ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Board of
Directors of the High Plains Underground Water Conservation District No. 1
has approved rule amendments to implement the district's 50/50 management
goal to have 50 percent of the saturated thickness of the Ogallala Aquifer
in 2010 available for use in 2060. This District is responsible for water
being pumped out of this huge underground sea in 16 Texas Panhandle
counties.
In order to achieve the 50/50 goal, the rule amendments establish the
first-ever production limit for groundwater pumpage by water users within
the 16-county High Plains Water District service area. This includes
agriculture, municipalities, public water suppliers, and
others. The District is also going to require every well to have a meter- as of the beginning of 2012. Beginning Jan. 1, 2012, all new water wells or well systems in the district are required to have a meter in place before pumping can occur. Existing water wells or well systems may measure groundwater through an alternative measuring method from 2012 to 2016. These systems must be equipped with meters no later than Jan. 1, 2016. Click on the LINK below for more on the District's plan to try to keep the southern end of the Ogallala from going dry. Click here for more on the High Plains Underground Water District's Long Term Conservation Plan | |
National Association of Conservation Districts Approves Principles for 2012 Farm Bill ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The National
Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) Board of Directors has
approved a set of principles to guide the association's advocacy efforts
in advance of the 2012 Farm Bill.
NACD Supports a Farm Bill Conservation Title that among other things
follow these four principles: Click on the LINK below to see the other elements in the Conservation title that the National Association of Conservation Districts wants to see included as the 2012 farm bill is developed. | |
House Ag Committee Chair Frank Lucas Says Timing of Writing Farm Bill Hinges on Deficit Decisions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are a
lot of budget ideas out floating around right now- and all of them include
significant cuts in the USDA budget and farm and conservation spending.
The Chairman of the House Ag Committee, Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas,
is watching closely as the package that eventually is moved forward will
dictate the timing and the overall direction of farm policy as the 2012
farm bill is developed.
Some of the proposals are such that year five of the 2008 Farm Law might be negated- and Congressman Lucas says that would mean having to quickly move on writing new farm policy under the new fiscal realities this fall. It's his preference that the final year of the current law be allowed to run its course- a new bill be written next spring/summer and farmers would then begin operating under this new climate in the 2013 crop year. Congressman Lucas discussed these ideas with Mike Adams on the national rural talk show Agritalk on Wednesday- and we have an overview of what Lucas was saying about the budget deficit discussions from a farm policy point of view- just click on the LINK below to jump to our webstory that has the audio excerpts of Congressman Lucas as heard on Agritalk. | |
Smaller Placements Expected to be the Calling Card in This Friday's Cattle on Feed Report ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The next
regular USDA Cattle on Feed Report is coming out this Friday afternoon at
2 PM central time- after the markets are closed for the week. According to
Rich Nelson with Allendale, the headline number will be a smaller
placements figure. "June Placements are expected to be 8.8% smaller than
last year. Sharply negative margins on outgoing cattle in June likely
limited new placements. Losses reached $200 per head for many producers.
Placements should remain under previous year levels for several months.
Cattle placed in June will be marketed from November through February."
Allendale anticipates a Marketing total 4.6% higher than June of 2010. Marketings, on a percentage vs. last year basis, will increase in later July then again in August before becoming manageable. According to Nelson, Allendale strongly feels USDA's May marketing estimate was 4% too large. Though some will take that amount off the June number, we have not made that adjustment. Cattle that have been on feed for several months comprise a lot of the on feed number- and they are keeping the numbers above that of a year ago. According to Allendale- they expect "Total Cattle on Feed as of July 1 will be 2.1% larger than last year. The front end supply of cattle, those on feed for over 120 days, is seen 9% higher than last year." | |
The First Lady Corrals Walmart and Big Retailers to Promise Service in Less Profitable Areas ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ First Lady
Michelle Obama joined leaders from major retailers, foundations and small
businesses today to announce commitments that will provide access to
healthy, affordable food to millions of people in underserved communities.
The commitments from SUPERVALU, Walgreens, Walmart and regional retailers
will include opening or expanding over 1,500 stores to serve communities
throughout the country that currently do not have access to fresh produce
and other healthy foods.
In the case of the big retail gorilla Walmart, they have pledged to "open or expand 275 to 300 stores which will serve more than 800,000 people in rural and urban areas with limited or no access to grocery options." in addition- the retailer is promising the First Lady to push to get their food offerings healthier than ever. "Walmart's healthier food initiative will reduce sodium and added sugars form packaged food items, make healthier food more affordable and develop a simple front-of-package seal for identifying healthier food choices." Click here for more on the push from First Lady Michelle to promote healthier food choices. | |
American Farmers and Ranchers Named "Friend of Extension" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The American
Farmers & Ranchers (AFR) received the 2011 Oklahoma Association
Extension Agriculture Agents (OAEAA) Friend of Extension Award, at the
2011 OAEAA awards banquet held in Broken Bow, Oklahoma.
The OAEAA Friend of Extension Service Award recognizes Oklahomans who have contributed to Oklahoma agriculture and who have supported the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service (OCES) on county, district and state levels. Terry Detrick, AFR president, accepted the award on behalf of the company. "AFR is truly grateful to have been honored with such a distinct award," Detrick said. "It was wonderful to hear such humbling words in the introduction before the award was presented. Hearing those comments was just a small reminder of why AFR stands for producers, families and youth within our State." Click here for more on this honor and a pciture of Terry Detrick accepting the award for AFR | |
Drought Watch Continues- as Does the Ag in the Classroom Tour ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mary Chris
Barth headed south into Texas in the last few days and dropped us an email
about the ag conditions they noticed going and coming. In an email she
writes "We went south of Mineral Wells and came back I 45 & I35. The
ranch we visited while in the Houston area has had 2 inches this year
normal is 26/29 inch range. Pecan groves are dying as are the pine forest.
You can wade across the Brazos river in an areawhere it is usually deep
enough that they use the river as a fence. We did not see 20 cow herds
total from the time we left the Cheyenne area till return. All were rail
thin and should have been sold a long time ago. Field upon field not
planted did not look like 5% of the cotton or peanuts would make."
By the way, the next National Drought Monitor will be out Thursday morning and we will be kicking it up on our website as soon as we have the opportunity to do so. Be watching OklahomaFarmReport.Com for that update. Finally, we have heard again from Dana Bessinger of Oklahoma Ag in the
Classroom fame. She tells us what they were doing on Wednesday in the
heat- and what's on tap as the tour comes to a close on Thursday. The
Wednesday stops included Marland Mansion grounds, Pioneer Woman, Silver
Top Farms with sheep and wool, which Dana says is a "Super agritourism
stop!" Also on Wednesday- the teachers got to see the Tall Grass Prairie
and enjoy an Osage County Ranch Tour with Will Cubbage. Ag in the
Classroom lessons such as "They Don't Just Eat Grass" were unveiled and
the day concluded at Hughes Ranch for supper assisted by Barnsdall
4-H. | |
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 $13.00
per bushel- as of the close of trade Wednesday, while the 2012 New Crop
contracts for Canola are now available are $12.94 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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
