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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"The massive dust storm that hit Lubbock, Texas, on October 17 ironically happened on the same day that the leaders of the U.S. House and Senate Agriculture Committees announced their willingness to reduce federal Farm Bill Programs, including Conservation programs, by over $23 billion as part of the effort to balance the federal budget," Parker said. "While it's true we all need to do our part to help put our fiscal house in order, this storm should show why these cuts can't all come from conservation and why it's important that we keep a focus on natural resource protection on working farm and ranch land unless we want to see a new Dust Bowl."

On October 17, a massive dust storm started in the far southwest Texas panhandle along the edge of a cold front that moved south toward Lubbock at approximately 55 mph. The storm reached Lubbock at 5:30 p.m. and took roughly 30 minutes to blow through the city. At the height of the storm, visibility ranged from a quarter-mile to near-zero for 40 minutes at Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport. Reports from the National Weather Service said winds gusts as high as 60 to 65 miles per hour were recorded. (picture here is of Massive dust storm as it rolls into Lubbock, Texas, on October 17, 2011. (Viewer-submitted photo from KCBD-TV Lubbock website.)

According to OACD's Executive Director Clay Pope, this storm should send a message to policy makers and agriculture producers alike-we have to stay focused on working lands conservation.

"Whether its policy makers ensuring that conservation programs are available and funded or farmers and ranchers practicing good stewardship on their land, we all have to remember the importance of natural resource conservation," Pope said.

Click here to listen to our conversation with Clay Pope on conservation

A part of Senator Inhofe's speech and thoughts on GIPSA is listed below.

"In the 2008 Farm Bill, the USDA was instructed to revisit and update the marketing regulations authorized through the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921. The P&S Act is governed by the Grain Inspection, Packers, and Stockyards Administration within the USDA, and the agency is supposed to regulate and deal with the marketing practices within the livestock industry.

This provision of the Farm Bill was heavily debated and amended when it was considered, and ultimately the USDA was instructed to provide regulations for a few explicit objectives: among them were broader contract cancellation rights for livestock growers; the disclosure of foreseeable future necessary capital investments required of contract growers within their growing contracts; and criteria for GIPSA to determine whether producers are treated with unreasonable preference or advantage."

Click here to watch Senator Inhofe address the GIPSA rule and for the rest of his thoughts

On Thursday- Blair Kloeppel of Kingfisher advanced in both the Premlinary round, as well as the semi final round to reach the National Final Four of the Creed Contest- to be held midday on Friday at the Indianapolis Convention Center, site of the 2011 National FFA Convention.

The Creed Contest requires the student to recite the FFA Creed which has four paragraphs- all starting with the statement "I Believe." Then, each contestant is asked three preset questions that relate back to the Creed and have up to five minutes to answer those questions.

Read more in our early Friday morning recap from the National FFA Convention- click on the LINK below- there we have more info on what is going on today- a link to our FLICKR pictures from the convention and more.

Click here for more on the success of Oklahoma FFA Speakers at the 2011 National FFA Convention

She said the Superfund Law was originally passed by Congress in 1980 to prevent toxic waste from polluting U.S. waters and was never intended to elevate extreme agendas by imposing liability on U.S. farmers and ranchers in the same fashion as toxic waste polluters. The legislation would exempt cattle manure from regulations under these laws.

"Congress never intended manure to fall under the jurisdiction of CERCLA. However, some activists groups and attorneys in Texas and Oklahoma have worked to increase the law's reach by attempting to convince courts that livestock producers should be subject to CERCLA liability," said Lyon. "Subjecting farmers and ranchers to CERCLA liability could place the financial burden of nutrient reduction for an entire watershed on a single producer. This kind of liability could easily reach into the many millions of dollars and bankrupt family farmers and ranchers."

Click here for more from NCBA and on the Superfund Law

And with Australia beginning harvest of hard white wheat, they are expecting a record crop but anticipating below average in proteins says Anderson. However, if you look at the European Union harvest, they were expecting relatively low yields and poor quality and ended up having average yields and better quality. Anderson adds that for this reason, producers need to keep an eye on Australia as they begin harvest.

Click on the LINK below to hear Lyndall Stout and Dr. Anderson's conversation on wheat prices, proteins, and more.

At that link- we also have the rundown on this weekend's SUNUP program- to be seen on OETA Saturday morning.

Click here for more from Dr. Anderson and for your SUNUP preview

"It is the recommendation of this group that seats be made available on all Joint Checkoff Committees for one representative from each national nonprofit industry-governed organization that would qualify as a checkoff contractor and desires to have a representative on the committee," the coalition wrote. "These committee members would be allowed to engage in all deliberations of the committees; but would not have a vote on motions brought before the committee."

We have the full letter that was signed off on by ten groups- including the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the American Farm Bureau and the Livestock Marketing Association. Click on the LINK below for more on this story and a chance to read the full letter.

Click here for more on a closed door meeting held last month on the Beef Checkoff and recommendations that emerged.

During the Media event- we talked with Rob Cooper, Executive Director of the National FFA Foundation about this donation and how the Foundation continues to see success in raising money for FFA in the face of an uncertain economy.

Besides talking with Cooper about this gift fromt Cse IH, we also talked about the current status of the FFA Foundation- and whether giving is holding up in the face of an uncertain economy. Click here to jump to our story and a chance to hear our chat with Rob Cooper.

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.

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- A 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. Click and you can see cash cattle trade from Thursday- $120 to $121.