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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.
Let's Check
the Markets!
Today's First
Look:
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.
Okla Cash
Grain:
Daily Oklahoma Cash Grain
Prices- as reported by the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture.
Canola Prices:
Current cash price for Canola
is $11.78 per bushel-
2012 New Crop contracts for
Canola are now available at $11.87 per bushel- delivered to local
participating elevators that are working with PCOM.
Futures Wrap:
Our Daily Market Wrapup
from the Radio Oklahoma Network with Ed Richards and Tom Leffler-
analyzing the Futures Markets from the previous Day.
KCBT Recap:
Previous Day's Wheat
Market Recap- Two Pager from the Kansas City Board of Trade looks
at all three U.S. Wheat Futures Exchanges with extra info on Hard Red
Winter Wheat and the why of that day's market.
Feeder Cattle
Recap:
The National Daily Feeder
& Stocker Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
Slaughter
Cattle Recap:
The National Daily
Slaughter Cattle Summary- as prepared by the USDA.
TCFA Feedlot
Recap:
Finally, here is the Daily Volume and
Price Summary from the Texas Cattle Feeders Association.
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Oklahoma's Latest Farm and
Ranch News
Your Update from Ron Hays of
RON
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Howdy Neighbors!
Here is your daily Oklahoma farm and ranch news
update.
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 Dennis Treacy of Smithfield
on Sustainability, Gestation Crates and More
Can
sustainability really be defined? Dennis Treacy of Smithfield Foods
says maybe- maybe not. The Executive Vice President and Chief
Sustainability Officer for Smithfield says he has forbidden his staff
at Smithfield to try to define sustainability- and that while that
sounds strange- he believes is a "confusing term" and that
he and Smithfield have "decided to do something about it and
basically for Smithfield, it's simply to do the right thing."
Treacy says that for Smithfield, doing something means working to
improve worker safety, food safety, community involvement,
environmental protection and animal care.
Treacy was one of two presenters on Wednesday morning at the Bayer
Crop Science Ag Issues Forum in Nashville on the subject of
sustainability.
One question that Dennis Treacy says you can ask about your practices
in business is to look at how you do things and consider, "what
would your pastor say?" or "what would your neighbor
say?" about one practice or another.
You can read more or
hear Ron Hays' full interview with Dennis Treacy by clicking here.
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Sponsor
Spotlight
It is great
to have as a regular sponsor on our daily email Johnston Enterprises-
proud to be serving agriculture across Oklahoma and around the world
since 1893. Service was the foundation upon which W. B. Johnston
established the company. And through five generations of the Johnston
family, that enduring service has maintained the growth and stability
of Oklahoma's largest and oldest independent grain and seed dealer. Click here for their
website, where you can learn more about their seed and grain
businesses.
Midwest Farm
Shows is
our longest running sponsor of the daily farm and ranch email- and
they are busy getting ready for the Southern Plains Farm
Show that comes up April 19-21, 2012. For
information on either an indoor booth or an outdoor space, contact
the great folks at Midwest Farm Shows at (507)437-7969- or you can click here for
the website for this show coming to Oklahoma City this
spring.
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From
Commodity Classic- We Talk Farm Bill Positioning with Dana Peterson
of NAWG
With the 2012
Commodity Classic underway in Nashville this week, one of the big
questions that is lurking in the hallways of Opryland is- can these
four farm organizations find a common position on the Commodity Title
as Congress ponders the 2012 Farm Bill? The four organizations,
National Corn Growers Association, the American Soybean Association,
the National Sorghum Producers and the National Association of Wheat
Growers all have a great deal of interest in what the Commodity Title
looks like- but apparently have different priorities for a federal
farm safety net that may come from the 2012 bill.
Dana Peterson, CEO of
the National Association of Wheat Growers, told us on Wednesday
afternoon that the Domestic Policy Committee of the organization met
again here in Nashville, following up on their sessions in Washington
in January- and that some further direction was given to her staff
and the National Officers in their negotiations with other farm
groups when it comes to the Commodity Title of the 2012 farm bill.
While the President
of the National Association of Corn Growers, Garry Niemeyer of
Illinois, told us between meetings that they continue to champion a
so called "shallow loss" program- Peterson said flatly the
highest priority for the wheat producers is to protect and enhance
crop insurance. She pointed out that Crop Insurance is vital to
help with the big losses, like we had in 2011.
Click here for our
full story based on our conversation with Dana Peterson- and a chance
to hear our full conversation with her late Wednesday afternoon in
Opryland.
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Corn
Prices Solidly on New Price Plateau- and the Problem with the RFS
Corn prices
are solidly on a new higher price plateau- and they are not going
back- so contends William Lapp, Grain Economist with Advanced
Economic Solutions. Lapp says that the higher corn prices is broad
based- and means that other grain and oilseed prices are at higher
levels as well in the last couple of growing seasons. Lapp says that
one fallout of the higher corn prices that are now in place- meat
production in retreat. He says that this overall environment of
strong grain prices has meant lots of competition for available crop
acres.
One evidence of this is being seen in Canada, where Lapp says he
has just returned from Canada, where a combination of factors is
resulting in farmers in the western provinces choosing to plant more acres of canola then
spring wheat. The factors include the demise of the
Canadian Wheat Board, in concert with strong oilseed demand globally.
Lapp says that the US is buying canola oil from Canada to help
replace soybean oil produced in this country but beiong used in bio
diesel rather than going for food uses.
We also talked with Lapp about biofuels- some fascinating insights
there as he thinks Congress has a REALLY BIG PROBLEM with the current
Renewable Fuel Standard-click here to jump to
our story and read more- and to listen to our Q&A with William
Lapp at the Bayer Crop Science Ag Issues Forum here in Nashville.
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Testimony
Begins in Ag Committee on CFTC Agenda
Testimony got
underway in a House committee dealing with the Commodity Futures
Trading Commission agenda for the coming year. Two issues dominated
the discussion the failure of MF Global and rules being made in
support of the Frank-Dodd financial reform bill.
In his opening
comments, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas said he
believes the CFTC must tackle the MF Global debacle as a priority to
restore confidence in commodities trading. He said thousands of
customers have yet to receive nearly 30 percent of the funds that
should have been held in segregated accounts.
In regards to
ongoing rulemaking regarding the Dodd-Frank legislation, Lucas
expressed his misgivings that CFTC Chairman Gensler has not done
enough to ensure the new regulations will not be applied to end-users
which Congress never intended to be included within the swap dealer
definition.
Representative Lucas's
opening statement is available by clicking here.
In his
prepared testimony, Gensler told lawmakers it was taking longer than
expected to complete the rulemaking process. He said the commission
had completed 28 of 48 rules. He sought to assure Lucas and his
committee that the regulatory net will not be overly broad.
"We also
are looking to soon finalize the end-user exception. Consistent with
congressional intent, our proposal would ensure non-financial
companies using swaps to hedge or mitigate commercial risk will not
be required to bring swaps into central clearing."
You can read more
about Commissioner Gensler's testimony and access a link to his full
text by clicking here.
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NCBA
Presents Arguments in Suit Challenging EPA Green House Gas Regs
Oral arguments
for the petition filed by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association
(NCBA) and other members of the Coalition for Responsible Regulation
were heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
Circuit Feb. 28 and Feb. 29. The litigation challenges the
Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) finding that greenhouse gases
(GHG) endanger public health and welfare, its rule to limit GHG from
passenger vehicles and its "timing" and
"tailoring" rules that govern GHG permit applicability at
stationary sources. NCBA President J.D. Alexander issued the following
statement following the oral arguments.
"The fact EPA decided to impose a backdoor energy tax by
regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act is unacceptable
and scientifically unfounded. We are hopeful the U.S. Court of
Appeals will put a stop to the aggressive agenda-driven regulations
that never should have been promulgated in the first place.
"Congress debated and rejected a cap and trade program for
greenhouse gases. EPA's regulations are an attempt to force
greenhouse gas regulations down the throats of the American people
without congressional approval. We challenged EPA in court to take
power away from the agency's unelected bureaucrats and put it back
into the hands of the American people."
Click here to read
more of J.D. Alexander's comments on NCBA's action against the EPA.
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AFR
Youth Ag Achievement Contest Scheduled for Oklahoma Youth Expo
The American
Farmers & Ranchers (AFR) Youth Ag Achievement Contest is
scheduled for March 14-19 at the 2012 Oklahoma Youth Expo. The
contest recognizes Oklahoma youth who have an interest in livestock,
excel in showmanship skills and have knowledge of the livestock
industry to include production, management, processing and end
product utilization.
The program's goal is to stimulate excellence and a quest for
knowledge that will result in the development of leadership skills
applicable to the livestock industry. Those eligible are 4-H and FFA
members exhibiting breeding and/or market beef, sheep or swine at OYE
and who are classified as high school juniors or seniors.
"The Oklahoma Youth Expo is the world's largest running
livestock show in and we are proud to be a part of it," said AFR
President Terry Detrick. "This contest allows us to showcase the
best of the best and the brightest youth exhibitors from across the
state. We award the top students in the contest with money and
jackets with great satisfaction--after all they are the youth that
will represent rural Oklahoma in the future."
For more on AFR's Ag
Achievement Contest at the OYE, click here.
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Express
Spring Bull Sale- National Pork Forum and a Little More Commodity
Classic
We wanted to
remind you that tomorrow- Friday, March 2, is the 2012 edition of the
Express Ranches Spring Bull Sale- and the sale is shaping up to be a
dandy. The sale begins at 10am, with 558 bulls to sale
including: 510 Angus Bulls and 48 Limousin and Lim-Flex
Bulls. Click here for the
link to their spring sale on the Express website- they now have
video of the bulls linked there for your final review. For more
information, you can also call 800-664-3977.
We talked for
just a moment on Wednesday with Roy Lee Lindsey of the Oklahoma Pork
Council- who was headed out shortly for the 2012 edition of the
National Pork Forum- being held the next few days in Denver,
Colorado. National Pork Industry Forum is the annual meeting of
the pork industry's two national organizations- the National Pork
Board and the National Pork Producers Council. Click here for more
details of Pork Board side of the meeting in the mile high
city.
We are
expecting a busy day today in Nashville for the 2012 Commodity
Classic- lots of issues to be dealt with- as well as lots of weather
stories to be traded in the hallways and a monster trade show that opens
midday today and runs through Saturday morning. We'll be spending a
fair amount of time today with the Sorghum Producers- as well as
checking out the trade show in the afternoon- here's the official
website for the Commodity Classic- click here- and we remind you
we will be tweeting from Nashville using the hashtag #classic12 if
you want to follow our updates and hundreds of others who will be
offering their view of the big event as well.
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God Bless! You can reach us
at the following:
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