Congressman Lucas Prepares to Walk Title by Title Thru The Lucas-Peterson Farm Bill Proposal on Wednesday 

Work on the 2012 Farm Bill moves to the floor of the House of Representatives Wednesday. The "discussion draft" of the bill authored by Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas and Ranking Member Collin Peterson was released last week and will form the basis for debate, discussion and amendment.

We spoke with Congressman Lucas about reactions from his constituents to the House version of the bill and the work yet ahead to get the bill onto the President's desk.

"The key thing to remember is that we've tried to craft a balanced, reform-minded, fiscally-responsible bill," Lucas said. "And in the feedback I've had from the folks out in the countryside who had a chance to see information about the draft that was released last week that we will be using as the base text next Wednesday, I think a pretty positive response."

A new study by the Agricultural Food and Policy Center confirms that the House bill will save taxpayers $35 billion while providing a safety net farmers can depend on.  (Click here for more on the AFPC study and a link to the full results.)

Lucas said he has a very straightforward game plan for shepherding the Farm Bill through the House when it goes to the floor.

"The draft that was released a few days ago is the draft that we will work off this coming Wednesday. We will go through the bill title by title: nutrition, conservation, commodities, not necessarily in that particular order, but we'll go through the titles of the bill. The titles will be opened for amendment by members of both the majority and the minority. We'll debate and discuss those amendments as they come up and vote on them, accepting or rejecting, and work our way through the process.

"I don't know how many days this will take. We, of course, have to suspend mark-up when we have votes on the floor of the United States House, as is appropriate. But it would be my intention that once we start this process, short of voting on the floor, with the agreement, of course, of my Ranking Member, I'd like to just push this on until we are completed, whenever that may be."

You can read more of Congressman Lucas's comments or hear the full interview by clicking here. 

Scott Neufeld of Oklahoma Farm Bureau Farm Policy Task Force Offers Praise for Lucas-Peterson Farm Bill 

As the 2012 Farm Bill continues to clear hurdles on its way to the House floor, Scott Neufeld, chairman of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Farm Bill Task Force has kept track and been involved in the process.

Neufeld said members of the Farm Bureau committee have found a lot to be supportive of in the bill.

"Our committee is extremely pleased with the draft that we have seen from Chairman Lucas and Ranking Member Peterson's proposal. It looks like it offers much-needed price protection. There's some price supports in the farm programs. And it offers a true safety net more so than a revenue guarantee and lets the crop insurance programs take care of the revenue portion of that."

Neufeld said the draft bill contains much flexibility and avoided the "one-size-fits-all" approach many ag group leaders had been wary of.

"We're extremely pleased with the options. I think that the revenue loss coverage option doesn't differ a lot from the ARC policy on the Senate side, but probably guarantees a little bit less revenue. Chairman Lucas continues to keep the MAP program and the LST program in place. Crop insurance is strengthened.

"I know that he will receive some criticism for some of the cuts that he is proposing to the nutrition title. But when I read where those cuts are coming from, most of that is being removed from the delivery process of the nutrition program, most of the benefits going to the individuals who need it are unharmed."

Click here for more from Scott Neufeld, including audio from his full interview.

Leaders of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts (OACD) also expressed support for the Conservation Title contained in the House version of the Farm Bill.  You can read their comments by clicking here.

Corn, Soybean and Pasture Conditions Continue to Sink in Latest USDA Report

Crops and pastures continue their downward spiral in the latest Crop Progress report as released by the USDA on Monday afternoon. The hope for a record sized corn harvest this fall is all but gone, after a hot and dry June and now early July has pushed the weekly good to excellent ratings of the 2012 corn crop down to just 39%, another nine percentage points down from just a week ago. The poor to very poor ratings have jumped up eight percentage points from 22% to 30% in the week ending July 8, 2012. Major corn producing states that have very poor crop conditions include Kentucky at 72% poor to very poor, Missouri at 60% poor to very poor, Indiana at 51% poor to very poor and Illinois at 48% poor to very poor.

In contrast, the 2011 corn crop was rated 69% good to excellent at this point a year ago.

Soybean crop ratings have also slipped lower in the latest week- from 45% good to excellent one week ago to 40% in the latest reporting week. The poor to very poor rankings for soybeans have jumped from 22% to 27% poor to very poor. The Iowa soybean crop is hanging on- rated generally fair to good, while the other two "I" states, Indiana and Illinois, have also suffered mightily when it comes to the 2012 soybean crop- Indiana has a 51% poor to very poor rating on soybeans- matching their corn rating- and Illinois is at 42% poor to very poor when it comes to their soybean ratings.

Click here to read more about cotton and pastures conditions and to find a link to the full USDA report.

Developing Drought Conditions Stress Oklahoma Row Crops, Pasture and Range Lands

The drought continued to develop across the state under hot and dry conditions the past week according to the latest USDA Crop Progress and Condtion Report. Over 61 percent of the state was in a moderate to extreme drought per the July 3rd Drought Monitor. Little to no rain fell in western and central Oklahoma, with a few isolated areas of heavier rainfall in eastern Oklahoma and the Panhandle: Hooker recorded 2.5 inches of rain in the Panhandle and McAlester received two inches.

Conditions continued to decline for row crops with peanuts rated mostly good while soybeans and cotton were rated mostly fair. Corn silking was 64 percent complete by the end of the week, and 32 percent had reached the dough stage, 18 points ahead of normal. Sorghum emergence was 95 percent complete by Sunday, 21 points ahead of normal. Sorghum heading was 21 percent complete by Sunday. Virtually all soybeans had emerged by week's end, well ahead of normal.

Pasture and range condition ratings continued to fall; rated mostly fair to poor, with 10 percent rated very poor. Both the heat and heavy grasshopper populations continued to limit available pasture for livestock. (You can read the Oklahoma report by clicking here.) 

The report for Texas is available here, and you will find the Kansas report by clicking here. 

Cotton Crop Progressing Where Moisture is Adequate, Irrigation Needed In Dry Areas

The June 2012 USDA-NASS report indicated that Oklahoma cotton acreage is around 330,000 acres, which is down about 20% from last year's 415,000 acres. This crop continues to make progress in areas where adequate moisture has been available.

The 22% of capacity status of Lake Lugert is very concerning in southwestern Oklahoma as we head into the high water demand phase of the crop. No release of irrigation water is going to occur this year in the District.

Most producers have initiated irrigation where groundwater is available. Altus has already encountered 24 days of 100 degrees or greater - 1 in April, 9 in May, 11 in June; and 3 days in July (through July 6). The good news is that winds have not been as bad as last year. We have some forecasted chances of rainfall for the first couple of days this week. 

You can click here to read more about Oklahoma's cotton crop and we've linked to the latest Cotton Comments newsletter from OSU.

Forage Production, Cattle Markets Taking Hits from Renewed Drought Conditions 

Last year's drought, which looked to be broken with above-average spring rains, has once again begun to assert itself says Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialst Derrell S. Peel in the new edition of the Cow-Calf Newsletter. While conditions in Oklahoma are not yet as bad as last year, producers are feeling the heat from Kansas through Nebraska, into the Dakotas and Wyoming. Forage producers here are home are feeling the heat.

Forage production in much of Oklahoma has been better than last year but conditions are deteriorating rapidly. Pastures and hay fields have almost stopped growing in many cases and this means that producers may be seeing all the forage they will have to work with unless conditions improve. Many Southern Plains cattle continue to have reduced stocking rates that carry over from herd liquidation last year and this may reduce or delay additional liquidation if drought advances this summer. Nevertheless, producers should determine right away what their forage supply situation is and determine if and when some cattle marketings may be needed. (Click here for more on Oklahoma forage conditions.)

Peel said that hopes that Oklahoma ranchers would be rebuilding herds liquidated due to drought last year are evaporating.   As ranchers in Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska are now feeling the 2012 drought's full force, markets are responding, he said.

"The June Cattle on Feed Report for May showed a bigger placements number even though everybody was looking for a fairly big number, and some of that was in fact due to drought-enhanced movements. We'll probably see some additional movement here as we go forward. And we can move them early just like we did last year, but that means at some point there will be less in behind them. So, once again, we're changing the supply of a limited number of feeder cattle."

Our interview with Derrell Peel is the latest Beef Buzz which you can listen to by clicking here. 

National Pork Board Begins Building 2013 Plan and Budget

The National Pork Board begins work this week on its 2013 plan and budget. The board will meet Tuesday during the annual Pork Industry Conference at the Wisconsin Dells.

The board begins its planning process each year by assessing market conditions, projecting available Checkoff revenue, and then establishing a fiscal-year spending target. Economist Steve Meyer, who consults for the board, will provide board members his projections for 2013, which he said appears to one of unusual uncertainty. Meyer said this summer's drought in the Corn Belt means feed costs will put great pressure on profitability in 2013.

Meyer currently is projecting that 2013 revenues from the Pork Checkoff will be approximately $79 million. That compares with an $82.9 million revenue projection for 2012. Producers contribute 0.4 percent of the sales price to the Checkoff each time they sell a hog. Pork importers contribute a similar amount based on U.S. sales. In 2012, approximately 110 million hogs will go to market in the United States. The board distributes roughly 20 percent of the Checkoff revenue to state pork organizations for their use to promote pork and conduct research. The remainder is devoted to national programs in promotion, research and consumer information.

Click here for more on the Pork Board's 2013 plans.