Corn Crop Ratings Slip Another Percentage Point in Latest Week 

The latest US Crop Progress report shows a further decline in the poor to very poor rating of the 2012 US Corn Crop, a slight uptick in the condition of the US Soybean Crop and a mixed bag for the US Cotton Crop. The US Pasture and Range ratings remained basically unchanged from a week earlier at 59% poor to very poor across the country.

The poor to very poor ratings went up by one percentage point in this week's Crop Progress report- versus a week ago- standing at 51% poor to very poor. States that face the worst conditions for the 2012 corn crop include Missouri at 84% poor to very poor, Kentucky at 78%, Illinois at 75%, Indiana at 71% and Kansas at 70% poor to very poor ratings. The National Association of Corn Growers offered a "glass half full" spin on the report in their daily news update- here's how they called the latest report:

The poor to very poor rating for the US Soybean crop improved ever so slightly- as the poor to very poor ratings were at 39% a week ago- this week they stand at 38%. Eighty-three percent of the soybean crop was setting pods as of Aug. 12, USDA said, compared to a five-year average of 70%. Apparently, there are some fields of soybeans that can be impacted in a positive way by rains and cooler temperatures. 

The poor to very poor ratings crept up to 28% this week- versus 27% a week ago. However, the good to excellent ratings for cotton also improved by one point as well- 42% good to excellent this week versus 41% a week ago. When you consisder just very poor ratings- the large Texas crop is number one- with 17% of their crop in that very poor rating. Oklahoma and Missouri both show 12% very poor conditions. When you combine very poor and poor- Oklahoma claims the dubious honor of the poorest crop in the US at this stage of the game- now at 62% poor to very poor, with both Texas and Missouri at 43% poor to very poor.

Click here for more and to find a link to the full USDA Crop Progress Report.

2012 Drought Deepens Across Most of Oklahoma

 

Oklahoma crop conditions continued to decline last week as did the condition of pastures and range. The August 7th Drought Monitor shows almost 97 percent of the state in an extreme to exceptional drought. Soil moisture conditions improved slightly from the last week's rain, but 98 percent of topsoil and 97 percent of subsoil were rated as short to very short.

Corn harvest was underway, with corn still rated mostly good to fair. Soybean and cotton conditions dropped significantly, rated fair to poor. The corn harvest was 25 percent complete by the end of the week.

Limited cuttings of hay were made, but availability and quality were major concerns. Condition ratings for hay dropped, with 67 percent of alfalfa and 68 percent of other hay rated poor to very poor. Click here for the full Oklahoma Crop Weather report.

The condition of all Kansas row crops, except sunflowers, continued to deteriorate last week with the continued high temperatures and only scattered rainfall. Click here for Kansas' report.

Texas dry land cotton remained greatly in need of moisture with abandonment of some cotton acres continuing. Corn, sorghum, and peanuts were also lacking moisture in the Plains and elsewhere. You'll find the full Texas report by clicking here.

Weather Continues As Most Important Factor Driving Cattle Markets, Beall Says

Noted cattle market analyst Tommy Beall spoke to producers at the 2012 Southern Plains Beef Symposium in Ardmore. He spent many years with Cattlefax before establishing Beall Consulting Group out of Mead, Colorado. He gave symposium attendees his take on market trends and the industry's prospects into the coming year.

He said there are several factors impacting the markets, but none so important as the continuing drought.

"Weather is absolutely the driver in this thing. Unfortunately, it's been two years of a drought, a very, very serious, historic drought, two years back-to-back. And it's grown this year to the point where it covers 60 to 70 percent of the cattle industry. So the extent of it is certainly the driver. And we are a land-based industry and we can't get along without feed and water. It's probably the biggest driver.

"The second key factor we have in this bunch of balls in the air is just cattle numbers. We've spent most of the last 15 years liquidating cattle, and the last five years especially, liquidating cow numbers. We've definitely got a smaller cattle herd and we're setting the stage now for smaller and a bigger decline in beef production. So, those are the big drivers right now."

Tommy Beall joins me for the latest Beef Buzz.  Click here to read more or to hear our conversation.

Mexican Drought Pushes More Cattle North of the Border

In Cow-Calf Corner of the latest OSU Extension newsletter, extension livestock marketing specialist Derrell Peel, says the drought in Mexico is continuing to send more cattle north of the border.

Increased imports of Mexican cattle have supplemented dwindling U.S. feeder cattle supplies the past two years. Mexican cattle imports increased 16 percent from 2010 to 2011 to 1.42 million head. This level is 29 percent above the average annual imports for the ten years from 2001 to 2010 and was second only to the record 1995 level of 1.65 million head. From January through June of 2012, imports of Mexican cattle have totaled nearly 915,000 head, up 31 percent for the same period in 2011. At the current pace, annual imports could total nearly 2 million head, which would be well above any historical import level.

While there is no doubt that record high average U.S. feeder prices is responsible for some increase in cattle imports, the majority of the increase in 2011 and 2012 is due to the severe drought that has affected northern Mexico the past two years. In 2011, the drought in northern Mexico was every bit as severe as the drought in Texas and Oklahoma.

Click here to read more from Derrell Peel.

USDA Buying Everything But Beef to Help Offset Drought

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced USDA's intent to purchase up to $170 million of pork, lamb, chicken, and catfish for federal food nutrition assistance programs, including food banks. The purchase will help relieve pressure on American livestock producers during the drought, while helping to bring the nation's meat supply in line with demand while providing high quality, nutritious food to recipients of USDA's nutrition programs.

"President Obama and I will continue to take swift action to get help to America's farmers and ranchers through this difficult time," said Vilsack. "These purchases will assist pork, catfish, chicken and lamb producers who are currently struggling due to challenging market conditions and the high cost of feed resulting from the widespread drought. The purchases will help mitigate further downward prices, stabilize market conditions, and provide high quality, nutritious food to recipients of USDA's nutrition programs." 

The USDA announced its intention to purchase up to $100 million of pork products, up to $10 million of catfish products, up to $50 million in chicken products, and up to $10 million of lamb products for federal food nutrition assistance programs, including food banks. 

You can read more by clicking here.

Canola TV-Narrowing Down Variety Selections with Dr. Chad Godsey

With canola planting time fast approaching, Dr. Chad Godsey, cropping systems specialist with Oklahoma State University, said it's time for producers to narrow down their variety selections. He spoke at the recent Winter Canola Conference in Altus.

Godsey said we learned a great deal from last year's variety trials.

"The hybrids versus the open-pollinated varieties tended to perform a lot better and a lot of that had to do with the growing season that we had-warm winter, a little-above-average temperatures winter, spring, early summer. Most areas of the state really had enough moisture, so we had high yield potential conditions. So, hybrids tended to perform overall a little bit better than the open-pollinated varieties."

He said OSU conducted six replicated variety trials in the western part of the state, and interest from new seed companies is growing.

"We just started with one or two companies with a little bit of interest and now we have more and more entries from more and more companies. It's just the increase in yield potential has been tremendous the last three or four years with the commercially-available cultivars we have coming out."

Click here to learn more about selecting canola varieties from Chad Godsey.

This N That- Obama Mimics Lucas, US Cattlemen Denounce OCM Ties to HSUS and State Lawmaker Wants Thunderbird Release  

After talking to the Chairman of the House Ag Committee, Oklahoma GOP Congressman Frank Lucas, on Saturday- the campaigning Democratic President of these United States, Barack Obama, sure seems to be singing from the same hymn book as the rancher from Roger Mills County when it comes to the 2012 Farm BIll. The President talked yesterday in Iowa at a campaign stop about the need for Congress to get moving on sending him a farm bill to sign- that it would help with disaster programs, will give farmers certainty as they plan for next year, would offer needed reforms and be a positive driver for our rural America economy.  Click here for a summary of coverage from Iowa courtesy of FarmPolicy.Com.  

Now while Chairman Lucas would never name names when it comes to the current logjam of getting movement in the US House- the President was not bashful at all at calling out the new running mate for Mitt Romney- Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan for being a member of the House that has blocked farm bill consideration on the floor to this point. If you had asked Frank Lucas six months ago who his key allies would be in trying to get floor action for the 2012 Farm Bill when we got to that point- I doubt he would have mentioned the President on that list- and while they are not exactly hunting buddies- I suspect the Chairman will gladly take any pressure that can be brought to bear that results in House floor debate in early September for the 2012 Farm Bill.   Stay Tuned- we'll keep you advised!

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Two other stories that we have on our website this morning that I wanted to call your attention to- first of all- we received an interesting statement from the US Cattlemen's Association yesterday that basically asks the Organization of Competitive Markets- "What were you thinking?" when you made the decision to jump into bed with the HSUS in mounting a legal challenge to how the US Beef Checkoff is operated.  Click here for more- basically the USCA believes that several groups are making progress in opening up the process of how beef checkoff dollars are spent- and they don't like inviting an outside group like HSUS to the party.   

The second story we call your attention to is about state lawmaker Josh Cockroft's call for the government entities involved to release some water from Lake Thunderbird into the Little River water basin- an area that he contends badly needs it for farmers in that area to survive.  Click here for more details on the case he is making to get that water to be released.