Moratorium Likely on Production of Castor Beans By Oklahoma Board of Agriculture at Tuesday Meeting

After months of discussion within the agricultural community of the state- it appears that the Oklahoma State Board of Agriculture is on the verge of issuing a moratorium on the commercial production of castor beans in the state of Oklahoma, as the board anticipates that a law formalizing that position may be coming out of the 2012 legislative session.

On Saturday, Oklahoma State Secretary of Agriculture Jim Reese announced the board would consider that measure in their Tuesday board meeting, predicting the moratorium would be approved- Secretary Reese making that prediction to those in attendance at the Oklahoma Wheat Growers Annual Meeting held in Oklahoma City.

We talked with Jim Reese about this expected move by the State Board on Tuesday- and also picked up comments about the situation from State Lawmaker Don Armes, who was also a speaker at the Wheat Growers meeting. Click here to read more on the efforts by an Indian tribe in the Red Rock area to bring Castor bean production to the state- and the pushback on the idea by the state farm and ranch community. Our story includes audio comments with both Jim Reese and Don Armes.    

2012 Oklahoma Winter Wheat Crop Enters Winter in Surprisingly Good Shape 

Back during the dog days of summer 2011- prospects looked bleak for the fall growing season potential of either the winter canola or winter wheat crop. Exceptional Drought stretched across the great majority of the wheat and canola belt within the state.

Mark Hodges, Executive Director of Plains Grains, Inc, says it is nothing short of amazing the turnaround in growing conditions we have seen since mid August up to this weekend, with only a portion of the Oklahoma Panhandle now being rated in exceptional drought. The 2012 wheat crop is still not as well established as you would like in the northwestern countries of the state, but northcentral, central, south central and southwestern Oklahoma all has had enough rain to establish the crop as it enters the winter dormancy season.

We talk about the conditions of the fall with Hodges, as well as what kind of shape we are with the crop as we hit the winter season- and the need for timely rains to continue in order for the potential of this crop to be realized.

Mark also gave us an update of the quality of the 2011 hard red winter wheat crop- which he described with a single word- "WOW." While the southern plains were short on bushels, test weights across the entire HRW region were great, protein levels trended above 12% and perhaps the only shortcoming of the crop from a quality viewpoint was that some millers would have preferred bigger berries.

Click here to listen to our complete conversation with Mark Hodges. 

Pawnee FFA Takes First in Livestock Handling Competition  in Tulsa- Spencer Stuck of Kingfisher Wins Top Honors at State Speech Finals of AFR Contest

It turned out to be a very busy weekend for the general farm organization American Farmers & Ranchers- as they are the main sponsors of the annual Tulsa Farm Show Livestock Skills Handling Contest.  The Livestock Handling Contest, held Friday, is designed to help teach youth in agriculture how to properly handle and manage livestock while providing vaccinations and other types of handling.


The top three teams this year were: First place-Pawnee Northeast with members J.D. Steele, Chase Collins, and Macey Skidgel; Second place-Porter Northeast with members K.C. Barnes, Hallie Barnes, and Jarrod McKinney; and Third place-Pawnee Southeast at Large with members Hayden Skidgel, Morgan Vance, and Chrissie Collins. 

Click here to listen to our conversation with AFR's Terry Detrick on the contest.   

On Saturday, a couple of hundred top placing 4-H and FFA youth gathered on the campus of Oklahoma State University for the AFR State Speech Finals- these young winners earning the right to be in Stillwater by placing at their state District contests.  

Click here for the full list of top winners in all of the categories- but of note- Spencer Stuck of Kingfisher won the Tournament of Champions in the Senior Division on Saturday- this is the competition held for young people who have already won a state title in the AFR contest- but have not complete their high school careers as of yet.  

In Defense of Technology- The Way to Feed a Hungry World

The issue of increasing population and the need for increased food production to meet these needs is not unknow to farmers and ranchers. In fact, it is projected that the world population will be 9 billion people by the year 2050, which means the agricultural industries will need to produce 100% more food than they did in the year 2000.

In the video posted below, Jeff Simmons with the Plenty to Think About blog, addresses this issue and how changes in food production need to be made. This video was shot at Gleaner's Food Bank in Indianapolis, Indiana, which is just one of many food banks working to solve the problem of world hunger. 

Click on the link below to watch a video to learn more about the Plenty to Think About blog and the issue of food production, rising food prices, and fighting world hunger. 

Click here to watch the video on ag technology and hunger and for a link to the Plenty to Think About blog.

Livestock Marketing Association Weighs In On USDA Animal ID Rule

Livestock Marketing Association (LMA) on Dec. 6 filed its formal comments on USDA's proposed Animal Disease Traceability (ADT) rule.     

LMA President David Macedo notes in the comments that America's livestock marketing businesses "take pride in the role they play in protecting the health" of the nation's livestock, and consequently, "the financial investment of hundreds of thousands of livestock operations selling and buying livestock through our facilities."     

Because of the millions of cattle and calves, hogs and pigs and sheep and lambs that go through America's markets annually, Macedo says these markets have "long been considered a pivotal point in the identification and tracking of livestock for animal disease surveillance and control."      

Click here for a link to all of LMA's comments on the proposed rule.

Ten Food Trends for 2012

In a release distributed by ConAgra Foods, "Supermarket Guru" Phil Lempert notes that 2012 could be a game-changer in the industry.

"2011 brought us higher food prices at unprecedented levels, in part because of crops and livestock being destroyed by global weather catastrophes," Lempert notes. "We will continue to see higher prices, but we will also see all the different ways Americans love their food-in supermarkets, on television, at restaurants and now even on their mobile phones. We are on the verge of what may be one of the most exciting and game-changing years in the food world."

The first of the ten trends that Lempert projects for the food supply chain in 2012 was:

Food prices that keep rising. Environmental conditions and higher production costs will goose food prices, spurring the use of printable grocery coupons, frequent shopper cards and shopping lists-perhaps generated by a processor's website featuring specific recipes. 

Click here for the complete list of food trends in 2012.  

Oklahoma Wheat Growers Name Jeff Krehbiel of Hydro as Their Mr. Wheat for 2011 

On Saturday, the Oklahoma Wheat Growers Association announced that the recipient of their 2011 Mr. Wheat Award was Jeff Krehbiel of Hydro. Krehbiel was honored posthumously by the wheat growers for his outstanding serivice to the wheat industry before his death of earlier this year. 

His wife, Karen, accepted the award for her late husband, who lost his protracted battle with cancer in September. Click here for a picture of Karen receiving this special honor on behalf of Jeff- as well as a link to our September email that we wrote after getting the news that Jeff had moved on and had graduated from this life and was busy moving into his mansion in Heaven.