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!

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"Parts of Oklahoma remain under extreme drought conditions and the threat of wildfire remains a concern in those counties," said Governor Fallin.

Unlawful activities under the ban include open flames, campfires, bonfires, and setting fire to trash, grass, woods or other materials outdoors. Gas and charcoal grilling is allowed provided that it is over a nonflammable surface and at least five feet from flammable vegetation.

"With the cooler fall temperatures and more people enjoying time outdoors there is a greater risk for wildfires by activities such as campfires, even in those counties where they are not banned," said George Geissler, Oklahoma State Forester.

Click here to see the graphic of the current burn ban before modifications are made by Governor Fallin.

Pork exports surge in Asia, Canada, Russia, Southern Hemisphere markets

August pork exports were 27 percent higher than a year ago in terms of volume and 44 percent higher in value (surpassed only by the record $553.6 million, set in March 2011). This performance pushed year-to-date exports to nearly 1.44 million metric tons valued at $3.82 billion - an increase of 16 percent in volume and 23 percent in value over last year's pace. August exports equated to 27.3 percent of production with a value of $56.27 per head, compared to 22.4 percent and $40.87 in August 2010. For the year, pork exports equated to 27.3 percent of production with a per head value of $53.98.

Beef exports show strong growth in nearly all major markets

Despite slipping slightly from July in terms of volume, a strong August performance pushed beef exports 26 percent higher for the year in volume (857,680 metric tons) and 39 percent higher in value ($3.58 billion). August exports equated to 14 percent of total U.S. production with a value of $214.11 per head of fed slaughter. (This compared to just under 12 percent and $159.59 per head last year.) For the year, beef exports equated to 14.2 percent of production with a value of $200.75 per head.

Click here for more on the beef, pork and lamb exports for August

"The divide between a utopian vision of food production and the realities of modern, large-scale agriculture grew ever wider this week as Worldwatch Institute released a report on global meat production and consumption. Offering little more than a rehash of unsubstantiated claims regarding livestock production, Worldwatch fails to add serious discussion to the debate about food production, and their actions don't serve the world's population that are poor and hungry.

"Much of the vigorous growth in meat production is due to the rise of industrial animal agriculture, factory farming," said Worldwatch's Danielle Nierenberg, senior researcher and director of Nourishing the Planet. "Factory farms pollute the environment through the heavy use of inputs such as pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers used for feed production."

"Worldwatch says meat production worldwide has tripled over the last four decades and increased 20 percent in just the last 10 years. Of course, Worldwatch sees that as a bad thing, not progress toward feeding hungry people.

"Livestock provide 40 percent of the value of the world's agricultural output and support the livelihood and food security of nearly 1 billion people, according to the FAO (the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization)," says Tom Field, executive director of producer education for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association."

Click here for the rest of the commentary from Drovers CattleNetwork

OWRB members will vote on the plan on Oct. 17. If approved, the plan will be sent to Gov. Mary Fallin and the Oklahoma Legislature for consideration and possible action.

One of the more fascinating things that will be showcased during the conference is work done jointly by our two major universities in the state. Scientists with Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma have been developing the online tool, which uses information from the Oklahoma Mesonet to help agricultural producers better understand how much water in the soil is actually available to crops.

"This project will lead to daily updated maps of plant-available water for the state, and will show when and where plant growth is being suppressed by lack of soil moisture," said Tyson Ochsner, project leader and a faculty member with OSU's Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. "The drought-monitoring tool is the first of its kind, and should prove useful for Oklahomans across the state."

Click here for more on the water symposium and Governor's Conference on Water, including registration information

Baker says it was really all by chance that she discovered her topic. While researching a different topic of rising cattle prices, she stumbled upon a link about miniature cattle. Baker clicked on the link out of curiosity and found it to be a topic worth of her speech. To prepare for her upcoming contest, especially the questions she will receive, Baker has kept researching and researching to help think of any possible new questions she could be asked.

Click here to watch our interview with Kaylen Baker of the Yukon FFA Chapter.

Meanwhile- One young man from Oklahoma was on his way to Indianapolis on Saturday- and his national FFA Convention experience for 2011 began on Sunday morning. We are talking about Stephen Tillinghast of Owasso, the 2011 National Officer candidate from the state of Oklahoma. Stephen is an unlikely representative, having held no higher office in his FFA career than Vice President of his local chapter. But, undeterred, he is in the running as one of 38 candidates for the six positions on the national officer team that will be announced on Saturday afternoon.

You can read more about his journey- and hear our conversation with Stephen by clicking on the LINK below- as we crank up our coverage of the 2011 National FFA Convention- a service in part of the Oklahoma FFA Association and the Oklahoma FFA Alumni Association.

Click here for our audio conversation with Stephen Tillinghast- the 2011 National Officer Candidate from Oklahoma.

Fogelsong explained that sustainable cattle and beef production is all about a ranching family being able to stay on the ranch for a hundred years, producing beef, raising their family and passing the ranch from one generation to another. Implied in all of that was making a profit to keep the members of the family on the ranch.

Click here to jump to our Monday morning Beef Buzz which features comments of Fogelsong at the AtlanticLive Conference on Feeding Future Generations.

We also had comments from Steve Fogelsong from that conference on this past Friday's Beef Buzz- as he explained to the non ag folks in that audience the idea that farmers and ranchers are price takers- not price makers. You can click here for that Beef Buzz- and in both of our Beef Buzz reports from Friday and today- we have the link which will take you to the archived video stream of the entire symposium- makes for some interesting watching that can give you some real perspective about how consumers view modern production agriculture in the face of feeding billions of people.

We have set up our Flickr "set" of pictures for the 2011 National FFA Convention that is going to be happening this week in Indianapolis- we plan on adding to it through the week as we follow the Oklahoma FFA members who will be a part of the festivities in Indy. Click here for that set of pictures, which starts with a few shots of the "workout" held this past week in Stillwater of many of the young men and ladies who will be competing this week at the National Convention in various contests and competitions.

Speaking of the FFA, I wanted to say "THANK YOU" to the Oklahoma FFA Association and to Kent Boggs and Jack Staats for nominating yours truly to receive one of ten national VIP Citations at this year's convention on Friday of this week. The National FFA calls this the highest award given to individual supporters of the organization- and while I know there are a lot of folks in our state that are more deserving- I am humbled and honored to be considered for this citation.
Growing up the son of a Vo-Ag teacher, the FFA has been a part of my life literally since the day I was born- and I know so many of you that read this daily email can agree with me- FFA (along with 4-H) produce the right kind of citizens for our great country- and one of the highlights of my regular schedule is anytime I get to report on and be a part of local, state or national FFA events. Thank you FFA- you have given me a lot more than I have given you.

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

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.