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 new crop ending stocks also came in lower for the corn and soybeans but all wheat came in as expected. This morning's numbers look friendly for the markets today, however, a lot could depend on outside market influence such as the DOW.

In Oklahoma, the spring planted crops were hit very hard by the exceptional drought here in 2011.

Here are some of the key numbers from the 2011 Oklahoma crops- as well as our hay production for 2011.

Cotton- The 2010 harvest in Oklahoma was 422,000 bales- this year it's projected to be 85,000 bales, an 80% reduction in production.

Grain Sorghum- OKlahoma produced 13 million bushels a year ago- the forecast for this year- 3.77 million bushels- a drop of 71%.

Peanuts- This is truly the bright spot for Oklahoma spring crop production in 2011- the USDA projects this year's crop as coming in less than oen percent under the 2010 crop of 67,200,000 pounds- this year's crop is guesstimated at 66,700,000 pounds.

The Alfalfa hay crop this season is estimated 56% under the 2010 crop- in 2010 total alfalfa production was just over a million tons- this year the crop is expected to total 450,000 tons.

Likewise- the all other hay category is stumbling along fully 56% less than at this point in 2010- Oklahoma produced 4.9 million tons of hay last season- the hay total tonnage this season is expected to end up at 2.16 million tons.

Click here for more details of both the Oklahoma and national crop production numbers released Thursday morning by USDA.

Producers can learn more about the BCAP Project at a public information meeting:

-Wednesday, August 17, 2011, 9:30 a.m., Oklahoma Panhandle Research & Extension Center, Hwy 54, Goodwell, Oklahoma.

-Wednesday, August 17, 2011, 1:30 p.m., Fairgrounds Building, 1130 S. Trindle St., Hugoton, Kansas.

USDA announced that Abengoa Bioenergy, LLC, will get the seventh BCAP project to encourage producers in the Kansas and Oklahoma project area to grow large quantities of energy crops.

Click here for more information on the USDA BCAP program for farmers

Re-appointed to the Sorghum Promotion, Research and Information Board is Louise Rigdon of Blackwell, Okla. The full list of appointed members representing sorghum producers are: Louise Rigdon, At-large from Oklahoma; Stewart Weaver, At-large from Arkansas; Adam Baldwin, Kansas; John Devoracek, Nebraska; and Dale Murden, Texas.

The board is structured so that the state with the largest production is allocated five positions. The state with the second largest production is allocated three positions. The state with the third largest production is allocated one position. There are four at-large national positions for which at least two representatives must be appointed from states other than the top three sorghum producing states. The maximum number of producers from one state is limited to six. The appointees will serve terms of three years.

Click here to read more on the upcoming work for the Sorghum Board

The current Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, grew up in west Texas farm country- and now there is an of air of excitement swirling around him as the former Commissioner of Ag for that state may signal his intentions to run for the White House this weekend. Whatever your political leanings- you may want to read a very interesting backgrounder on who Rick Perry is- based on his Paint Creek, Texas roots. A London newspaper did a really good job in painting a word portrait of the Governor- click here and take a read. There is a real possibility that Rick Perry might be battling Barack Obama for the Presidency by this time next year.

From time to time, we have been trying to keep you up to date on the status of Jeff Krehbiel, a wheat farmer from Hydro and member of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission. As many of you know- Jeff has been battling brain cancer for going on two years. The initial tumor was removed- but back in the spring, a new growth was detected and it was decided at that time- no treatment would be possible, given Jeff's condition at that time. Jeff continues to stay at Maple Lawn Manor in Hydro- close to wife Karen and daughter Brittany. Karen's most recent post on the long runing blog she has been writing indicates that Jeff is having a harder time than earlier in putting words together in an understandable way. You can jump over to the CheckOnJeff blog- you will need to log in but it's simple and free- and you can read all of Karen's posts. I would ask that you pray for our friend Jeff- and for his wonderful family as he continues this walk down this very difficult road.

The first, applies to a producer who has sold more livestock than normal due to the adverse weather. The income from the animals which were sold that were in excess of normal sales may be postponed until the following tax year when the income would have normally been recognized. However certain conditions must be met. The weather related condition must have caused the area to receive a "presidential disaster declaration". In addition the producer's principal business must be farming and use the cash method of accounting. The producer must show that the livestock would normally have been sold in the following year. The weather-related conditions that caused an area to be declared a disaster area must have caused the sale of livestock. This provision applies to any livestock sold in excess of normal due to weather related conditions.

The second provision only applies to breeding, dairy, or draft animals that were sold in excess of normal. For the animals sold in excess of normal, a producer may elect to replace the animals sold, within a two year period, with like animals and thus defer the recognition of income until the new animals are sold. Unlike the first rule, there is no need for a disaster declaration, all that is needed is proof that drought conditions existed which caused the sale of additional animals. However if an area has received a presidential disaster declaration, the replacement period is four years not two.

Click here to learn more about potential tax relief for producers

Stika says the real significance of these sales is it communicates to the beef industry to the producers that the consumer is willing to pay more for a product that fulfills their expectations. This is a result of a shared effort from merchandisers to producers says Stika.

Click on the LINK below to watch the rest of the video on Certified Angus Beef and to hear more John Stika.

Click here to watch the CAB video on record sales and growth in the industry

We have about three dozen events on our calendar for the second half of August- a drought survival seminar in Antlers for example that happens this coming Monday- Town Hall meetings with Congressman Tom Cole and Senator Tom Coburn this next week (Frank Lucas has some planned later in the month) and of course, next Friday- we have the annual Wheatland Stocker Conference in Enid, which is always an excellent cattle industry event.

Click on the LINK below for our complete calendar as found on our website, www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com. And remember- if you have calendar events, please shae them with us by emailing me at ron@oklahomafarmreport.com.

Click here for our Calendar pages as found at OklahomaFarmReport.Com

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. CASH CATTLE TRADE THREE DOLLARS HIGHER THIS WEEK AT $116!