~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest
farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron
Hays of RON for Tuesday October 4, 2011 A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and One
Resource Environmental
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- President Obama Finally Pulls the Trigger- and Transmits the FTAs
to Congress
-- Ag Groups Line Up to Call on Congress to Pass the FTAs- With One
Exception
-- Oklahoma Crop Weather Update - La Niña and Warmer, Drier Fall
Ahead
-- Meanwhile- Rainfall Prospects for Western Oklahoma Looking Strong
for This Weekend
-- County Bridges in Rural Oklahoma are Part of Gov. Fallin's Bridge
Repair Plan
-- Cattle Raisers Urge Congress to Streamline Endangered Species
Act
-- Finally- One FTA Naysayer- Roger Johnson of the National Farmers
Union
-- A Legendary Deal for One and All
-- 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. A new sponsor of the daily email is One Resource Environmental. Farm and ranch operators who have gas or diesel storage on their place may be facing new regulations handed down by Uncle Sam. These folks can help you determine if you need a plan and then if you do- help you get that plan in place. Click here for their website- FarmSPCC for more details. 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. 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. | |
President Obama Finally Pulls the Trigger- and Transmits the FTAs to Congress ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As President
Barack Obama moved into the White House, he had little interest in
promoting expanded international trade that would be of benefit to US
interests. The Obama Administration has initiated no trade pacts of their
own in the first three years of his Presidency- and it was only about a
year ago that the President pulled the three FTAs negotiated by the Bush
team (with Columbia, Panama and South Korea) off the shelf and started
tinkering with them around the edges before saying multiple times in
recent months that he was ready to submit them to Capitol Hill. The
sticking point in recent days has been his demand of getting more money
for a program known as Trade Adjustment Assistance- used mostly for union
workers who have lost their jobs because of previous trade deals. The GOP
leadership in the House have apparently agreed to a scaled down TAA, which
has prompted the President to finally move forward with the three
agreements. President Obama released the following statement regarding the Free Trade Agreements calling on Congress to pass the agreements quickly. "The series of trade agreements I am submitting to Congress today will make it easier for American companies to sell their products in South Korea, Colombia, and Panama and provide a major boost to our exports. These agreements will support tens of thousands of jobs across the country for workers making products stamped with three proud words: Made in America. "We've worked hard to strengthen these agreements to get the best possible deal for American workers and businesses, and I call on Congress to pass them without delay, along with the bipartisan agreement on Trade Adjustment Assistance that will help workers whose jobs have been affected by global competition." Click here for links to Fact Sheets over the three free trade agreements | |
Ag Groups Line Up to Call on Congress to Pass the FTAs- With One Exception ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ American Farm
Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman released the following statement
in reaction to President Obama's announcement to move forward with the
Free Trade Agreements with Korea, Panama and Colombia. The AFBF win the
prize as they were the first ag group to get their news release out about
the decision of the White House to transmit the deals to
Congress."The American Farm Bureau Federation is pleased that President Obama has sent implementing legislation to Congress today to ratify three bilateral free-trade agreements between the United States and Korea, Colombia and Panama. America's farmers and ranchers have much at stake and the fact these three agreements are moving forward is very good news for our economy." The National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) and U.S. Wheat
Associates (USW) were also pleased that the Obama Administration submitted
implementing legislation for the pending free trade agreements. | |
Oklahoma Crop Weather Update - La Niña and Warmer, Drier Fall Ahead ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The latest
Crop Weather Update is out and focusing on the dry weather still ahead for
Oklahoma, saying- "The climatic phenomena known as La Niña has re-emerged
in the equatorial Pacific waters which often brings warmer and drier
weather to the southern one-third of the United States. For Oklahoma, this
could mean warmer and drier weather for late-fall through spring. No
precipitation was reported by Mesonet in any of the nine reporting
districts for the week of September 26th through October 2nd. Small grain
and canola producers planted with anticipation of rain. Livestock
producers continued to face shortages of water and hay supplies across the
state and were culling herds. The past week's lack of precipitation led to
topsoil moisture conditions with 76 percent of the state rated very short
and 87 percent of subsoil rated very short."
When it comes to our fall-planted crops- "Seedbed preparation and
planting continued to progress despite dry conditions. Seedbed preparation
for wheat ground was 82 percent complete by week's end, 9 points behind
normal. Planting reached 30 percent, 19 points behind normal. Canola
seedbed preparation reached 91 percent complete by the end of the week, up
14 points from the previous week, while planting reached 48 percent, 11
points behind last year. Hay production and cutting continued to struggle across the state showing very little progress last week. Third cuttings of alfalfa were 53 percent complete, 47 points behind normal. A second cutting of other hay reached 51 percent complete by Sunday, 25 points behind the five-year average. Click here for the complete Oklahoma Crop Weather Update for October 3, 2011 | |
Meanwhile- Rainfall Prospects for Western Oklahoma Looking Strong for This Weekend ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rainfall
relief is a possibility at the end of this week. The latest 5-day
precipitation forecast from the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center
(HPC) throws a big old bull's eye of approximately 4 inches in western
Oklahoma through Saturday morning- according to Gary McManus, Associate
State Climatologist of the Oklahoma Climatological Survey.
McManus adds that "The latest outlooks for October from the NWS' Climate Prediction Center were released on Friday. At least for parts of Oklahoma, a wet signal is showing up through the month. The forecasters at the CPC see an increased chance for above normal precipitation in the eastern one-third of the state or so." | |
County Bridges in Rural Oklahoma are Part of Gov. Fallin's Bridge Repair Plan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Governor Mary
Fallin announced a new initiative to target and fix all 706 of the
Oklahoma state highway system's currently identified structurally
deficient bridges by 2019. Oklahoma has frequently and notoriously topped
national "bad bridge" lists. Fallin's new "Bridge Improvement and Turnpike
Modernization Plan" would, upon completion, bring the number of currently
known structurally deficient highway bridges to less than one percent and
make Oklahoma a national leader in that area.Her plan also calls for projects that would significantly reduce congestion on the Creek and Kilpatrick turnpikes. These improvements would be made without increasing taxes or tolls. Fallin said the historic number of upcoming infrastructure improvements will benefit safety, commerce and travel in Oklahoma for decades to come. "Having a safe, reliable and modern transportation infrastructure is
important for Oklahoma's economy and important for the safety of our
citizens," Fallin said. "Our new 'Bridge Improvement and Turnpike
Modernization Plan' will ensure that Oklahoma's poor rankings on national
transportation issues become a thing of the past. By the end of this
decade, Oklahoma will be one of the top five states in the nation for
well-maintained highway bridges. Terry Detrick, President of American Farmers & Ranchers, expressed
support for the Governor and her plans to tackle the bridge issues here in
the state: Click here to read the rest of AFR President Terry Detrick's comments | |
Cattle Raisers Urge Congress to Streamline Endangered Species Act ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Texas and
Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA) passed policy Friday
urging the U.S. Congress to require the Department of Interior (DOI) and
the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to streamline the Endangered Species
Act (ESA) to better balance comprehensive science, economic development,
input from affected stakeholders, and private property rights when
determining whether to list, introduce, and/or relocate a threatened or
endangered plant or animal species.
The TSCRA policy action was taken at their fall board meeting held this past week in Lubbock, Texas. TSCRA is an organization of mostly Texas ranchers, but with membership in Oklahoma as well because of their Special Rangers that cover both Texas as well as Oklahoma that help in cattle theft cases across both states. | |
Finally- One FTA Naysayer- Roger Johnson of the National Farmers Union ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As we
mentioned in the stories earlier in the email about the free trade deals-
there was one agricultural group that came out in full fledged opposition
to the Free Trade Agreements that were sent to Capitol Hill by President
Obama for Congressional votes. That group was the National Farmers Union-
and here's part of the statement as released on Monday evening by their
President- Roger Johnson:
"These three agreements are similar to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). Both of those agreements have worsened the U.S. trade deficit, because the U.S. does not compete on a level playing field with other nations. America adheres to higher labor and environmental standards than other nations, so U.S. companies incur costs that companies in other nations do not." Johnson singled out the Columbian FTA as one especially onerous to him- ""Colombia has one of the worst labor records in the world, routinely committing violence against those who attempt to organize workers. In 2010, 51 union members were killed in Colombia. We should not reward the Colombian labor record by entering into a trade agreement with them." | |
A Legendary Deal for One and All ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A new
supporter of your daily email are the Legendary Restaurants of Oklahoma-
each Friday at 8:30 AM central time- another great Oklahoma restaurant
will be featured with a special half priced deal- you will be able to buy
fifty dollars worth of certificates for just $25! The current deal is
Molly's Landing in Catoosa- click
here for details about this Tulsa area legend- and there you can see
the deals where we still have a certificates left- and deals that are yet
to come in the next few weeks.
Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, PCOM, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy, Johnston Enterprises, American Farmers & Ranchers ,One Resource Environmental- operators of FarmSPCC.Com, 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 $11.52
per bushel, while the 2012 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available
are $11.54 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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
|