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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest
farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron
Hays of RON for Friday September 23, 2011 A
service of Johnston Enterprises, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind
Energy and American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance
Company!
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-- Keeping the Food Pipeline Flowing Today- and Filled Tomorrow
-- AFBF's Bob Stallman Explains Antibiotic Use During Food Dialogues
Town Hall
-- Cattlemen's Beef Board Releases 2012 Plan of Work
-- Populist Groups Oppose Free Trade Deals Pending
-- Wheat Prices Continue a Steady Decline- and we have your SUNUP
preview
-- Commissioners of the Land Office Prepare for Upcoming Land
Auctions
-- Congrats to Jimmy Taylor- and a Final State Fair of Oklahoma
Reminder
-- Grab a Juicy Steak at Interurban Restaurant!
-- 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. Johnston is proud to be an
outlet for Trimble GPS Guidance and Precision Agriculture Solutions- Call
Derrick Bentz at 580-732-8080 for details. For more on Johnston
Enterprises- click
here for their 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. | |
Keeping the Food Pipeline Flowing Today- and Filled Tomorrow ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The technology
worked- and there was a lot of discussion about today's food production
system and where it may be headed in the years to come during a four hour
interactive nationwide Town Hall Meeting called the Food Dialogues.
It had been billed going in by the US Farmers and Ranchers Alliance as "a
town hall-style discussion to address Americans' questions about how their
food is grown and raised and the long-term impact of the food they are
eating - on their own health and the health of the planet."There were four
actual venues, bolstered by social media and web streaming which all added
up to a cost to coast and beyond event.
One key panelist was Tres Bailey, Director of Agriculture and Food in the Federal Goverment Relations department of WalMart Stores, Inc. Since 2005, Tres has represented Walmart on all legislative and regulatory issues related to the company's grovery division, with particular emphasis on food safety and nutrition initiatives. Bailey was instrumental in Walmart's launch of a major nutrition initiative in 2011 that focuses on making food healthier and making healthier food more affordable fo the millions of customers shopping in Walmart every week. Bailey talked about during the Washington portion of the Town Hall- saying that the research they have done on their customers lines up in many cases with the survey released this week by the Alliance. There was a whole segment within the Washington portion of the Food Dialogues that zeroed in on both the good and the bad of the world's largest grocer- we have the audio of that part of the event for you- click on the LINK below to jump to our website for our story and that audio which was really interesting. In our story on the website- we also have the links back to the research they discussed on Thursday- and you can also get directions to the video replays of the entire four hours, which only dedicated aggies and foodies hung in for- a USA Today version of this conversation is probably needed to really get many consumers in the mix. | |
AFBF's Bob Stallman Explains Antibiotic Use During Food Dialogues Town Hall ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ First and
foremost, Bob Stallman is a cattle producer and rice farmer from
southeastern Texas. From there, he climbed up the ladder and was the
President of the Texas Farm Bureau before becoming the President of the
American Farm Bureau over a decade ago in January 2000. Yesterday, during
the Food Dialogues Town Hall Meetings held in four different venues and
via social media globally, Stallman also was in his role as the Chairman
of the US Farmers and Ranchers Alliance, the coalition of groups and
companies who hosted the event.
Stallman participated as a panelist at the Washington, DC venue, and handled several questions relating back to animal agriculture, as he drew on his experiences as a cattle producer in Texas. Among the questions he handled- subtherapeutic use of antibiotics in
livestock as well as the humane handling of animals on the farm and ranch.
His responses are featured on today's Beef Buzz. | |
Cattlemen's Beef Board Releases 2012 Plan of Work ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The
Cattlemen's Beef Board will invest about $39.8 million, from a total
budget of about $42.1 million, into programs of beef promotion, research,
consumer information, industry information, foreign marketing and producer
communications in Fiscal Year 2012, if the recommendation of the Beef
Promotion Operating Committee is approved by USDA, following review by the
full Beef Board.In action concluding its two-day meeting in Denver this week, the Operating Committee - including 10 members of the Beef Board and 10 members of the Federation of State Beef Councils - approved checkoff funding for a total of 39 "Authorization Requests," or proposals for checkoff funding in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2011. The committee also will request full Board approval of a budget amendment to reflect the recategorization of the FY2012 budget in accordance with the programs approved. "After some rough seas over the last couple of years, I was just so pleased with how well our Operating Committee meeting went," said Beef Board and Operating Committee Chairman Wesley Grau, a cattleman from New Mexico. "We had great discussion on our checkoff priorities and all of the plans presented. It was a demonstration of true cooperation and respect between the Beef Board, the Federation of State Beef Councils, checkoff contractors, and individual state beef councils. "I think the producers and importers who invest in their beef checkoff will be proud of the Plan of Work the Operating Committee has moved forward," Grau continued. "We are leveraging every checkoff dollar to meet our goals the best we possibly can with the limited budget we have." | |
Populist Groups Oppose Free Trade Deals Pending ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The National
Family Farm Coalition and 56 allied organizations representing family
farmers, ranchers, fishermen and advocates signed a letter to Congress
condemning the pending free trade agreements (FTAs) with South Korea,
Colombia and Panama. As the letter states, more FTAs will only accelerate
the economic disasters in agriculture: industrial farms dependent on
massive amounts of petroleum-based inputs, low-paying exploitative jobs in
processing and packing plants, and increased consolidation throughout the
agricultural supply chain. Wisconsin farmer Joel Greeno, a participant in the August 16 White House Rural Economic Forum in Peosta, Iowa, noted, "The way to get the country's economy back on track is to strengthen rural communities, which means ensuring farmers a fair price, not exporting foods to people they may not want or that would destroy their own markets." The Economic Policy Institute's research revealed that 700,000 U.S. jobs have been lost or displaced since 1994 as a result of the trade deficit with Mexico. Additionally, EPI estimates that free trade agreements with Colombia and South Korea alone will likely increase the U.S. trade deficit by $16.8 billion and eliminate or displace another 214,000 U.S. jobs. Such trade agreements are an economic disaster that will only deepen the current recession. When Mexico devalued the peso by 50 percent after NAFTA's implementation, the projected benefits for thousands of Mexican producers were eliminated. NFFC president Ben Burkett added, "Many Korean, Colombian and Panamanian producers will lose their livelihoods and land, so we'll hurt our allies, as well." Furthermore, the Tax Information Exchange Agreement between the U.S. and Panama may not be enough to curb Panama's position as one of the world's major tax havens. This FTA could deprive the U.S. government of much-needed revenue and saddle other sectors of the economy, such as agriculture, with a disproportionate share of the cost-cutting burden. Click here for a link to the letter sent to Congress on the FTA's | |
Wheat Prices Continue a Steady Decline- and we have your SUNUP preview ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The wheat
market has taken a dip over the past several weeks. According to Oklahoma
State University Grain Marketing Specialist, Dr. Kim Anderson, the market
has established a downtrend with the recent drop of $1.50 in price and
averaging a loss of $.50 per week. Anderson says if you look at the stocks, the USDA released the supply and demand estimates last week for wheat and raised the U.S. wheat stocks from 601 million bushels to 761 bushels, which is well above average. Also, the USDA increased the world ending stocks from 6.9 billion bushels of wheat to 7.1 billion bushels, which is also above average. A majority of this increased production supply is from countries that were in the former Soviet Union, such as Russia and Ukraine, says Anderson. Russia is determined to be a major exporter of wheat and has taken a majority of the U.S. exports to eastern Asia and northern Africa markets says Anderson. Anderson predicts that the market could go down to $6.30 to $6.80 in
Oklahoma, but only if the market breaks the current trading price for
December contracts at $7.20. | |
Commissioners of the Land Office Prepare for Upcoming Land Auctions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The
Commissioners of the Land Office, often called the School Land Commission,
is gearing up for a handful of public auctions to lease their land for
either agricultural or recreational purposes. Harry Birdwell, Secretary of
the Commissioners of the Land Office, says these annual auctions are a
great resource for the state of Oklahoma. The Commissioners of the Land Office manages about 750,000 surface acres of land for the state and leases about one-fifth of this land through public auctions. The land is placed up for auction as a lease for five years. All of the proceeds or income from these auctions goes to benefit common and higher education in the state, which Birdwell says is the overall purpose of the CLO. Birdwell also says that if you look over the last 10 years, the amount of money that the agency has generated through agricultural leases has remained fairly constant, however, the big increase has been in oil and gas leasing. Through exploring for petroleum, the agency last year generated almost $125 million to distribute to public schools and selective higher education says Birdwell. The lease auctions for agricultural or recreational purposes will begin
in mid-October and continue through the first of November. All of the
dates for the lease auctions are listed in our Calendar section- or you
can find it following the link below. Click here for more from Harry Birdwell and the link to all dates for the land lease auctions | |
Congrats to Jimmy Taylor- and a Final State Fair of Oklahoma Reminder ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Good news for
some great Oklahoma cattle producers- Jimmy and Tracy Taylor from
Elk City, were named CAB Producer of the year this week at the Certified
Angus Beef Annual Conference in Sunriver Oregon. We'll have more details
on this national award won by the Taylors first of the week- but for now,
click
here to enjoy a story we had earlier this summer that included a video
explaining their Angus beef operation in western Oklahoma.
The State Fair of Oklahoma is heading into the final weekend of the 2011 event- looks like perfect weather for the fair- and it will be a busy weekend for the cattle barns as several breeds will be holding their shows- starting with the Angus folks today. Click here for our Calendar- then scroll down to September to see the lineup of shows going on at State Fair Park this weekend. AND- check out all the other events going on next week and into October as well. | |
Grab a Juicy Steak at Interurban Restaurant! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Interurban
Restaurant knows a thing or two about cooking up a delicious steak.
Serving only Certified Angus beef for their steak and burgers- you know it
will satisfy your appetite! Interurban has been serving Oklahomans since
1976 and is still going strong today. With a variety of locations and menu
items, there is something for everyone! "We are constantly trying to
improve our menu and our flavor profile," says Robert Ross, owner of
Interurban. "I think that is what qualifies Interurban Restaurants as a
Legendary Restaurant of Oklahoma." As this week's Legendary Restaurant of Oklahoma- you can get $50 worth of food for just $25- you can buy your voucher starting at 8:30 a.m. central time by clicking here. And to listen to a conversation that our Tim West had with Ross over legacy of the restaurant- click here. 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 $12.57
per bushel- as of the close of business yesterday, while the 2012 New Crop
contracts for Canola are now available are $12.63 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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