2011 ACRE Payments Going Out to Oklahoma Producers Hit by Drought 

The drought of 2011 was tough on farmers across Oklahoma. Most producers saw only half a wheat crop and even less in other spring-planted crops.

OSU Extension Economist Dr. Jody Campiche spoke with us and says there is some good news in that Oklahoma hit the target for triggering ACRE payments and the checks are in the mail.

"Producers are going to start seeing an ACRE payment coming in. I've already had some producers say that they've gotten payment. For the crops that have hit we have barley, irrigated corn, not-irrigated corn, grain sorghum, soybeans, and wheat. The state trigger has been met for all of these crops. The farm trigger also has to be met before you'll get a payment, but, as of right now, the state yields for most of these crops were very low so there's a pretty decent ACRE payment for most of these crops."

Payments will range from $19.77 per acre for wheat to $100.56 for irrigated corn.

You can read more and listen to our interview with Jody Campiche by clicking here.

Drought Persists as Another Warm, Dry Winter Sets Up Across Oklahoma 

Recent rains across much of the state have improved Oklahoma's drought conditions, but only by a miniscule amount reports Associate State Climatologist Gary McManus.

Oklahoma's severe-exceptional drought figures fell from 99.71 percent to 99.43 percent according to the just-released U.S. Drought Monitor. The portion of the state experiencing extreme-exceptional drought saw a substantial drop, however, from 81% to 67%. The amount of exceptional drought also improved from 31% to 27%.

The big problem area remains in northern Oklahoma, parts of which have now gone more than a month without at least a quarter inch of rain in a single day.

The Climate Prediction Center is forecasting warmer and drier-than-normal conditions for the rest of October. The CPC also sees a warmer-than-normal November, and a possibly drier-than-normal month in the northeast sections of the state. The rest of the state has equal chances of above-, below-, or near-normal conditions.

The Seasonal Drought Outlook from the CPC looks for drought persistence or intensification for the northern half of the state and the possibility of some improvement in the southern half of the state, although the drought will still be ongoing, though February. 

Click here to see the latest drought map and to read more of Gary McManus's analysis.

Grain Markets Eyeing Australia, U.S. Corn Imports, Anderson Says

Grain markets have been keeping an eye on news from Australia recently and OSU's small-grain marketing specialist Kim Anderson talks with Lyndall Stout in this week's SUNUP preview about how that is affecting prices.

"It was reported this week that in Western Australia that they set the highest price for wheat in the world. It's a little lower than what it is at the Texas gulf.   They had frost in certain areas of the wheat area in Australia. That may impact the quality, maybe the yields a little bit. The market has a tendency to lower Australia's wheat yields as we go through time," Anderson says. 

Anderson says that while wheat conditions in Australia bear watching, corn is a bigger story here in the United States.

"Corn continues to be a big story as corn stocks are tight and continue to tighten. It was reported this last week that 23.6 million bushels of corn was purchased from Argentina. It will be shipped in starting in the next couple of weeks and through the May time period of 2013.

"Remember about six weeks ago that the companies there in North Carolina had bought 29.5 million bushels of corn from Brazil. So that makes 53.1 million bushels of corn being imported. And USDA is projecting that 75 million tons-about that much-will be imported on corn this year. I think that's going to have a tendency to at least keep our prices at current levels and it's causing a slight down trend right now in corn prices."

You can catch more of the SUNUP audio preview including a lineup of this week's stories by clicking here.  

Beef Checkoff Communicates with Key Nutrition Thought Leaders

Once again, the beef checkoff partnered with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (formerly the American Dietetic Association) to reach nutrition thought-leaders, including registered dietitians and other credentialed health professionals and media at the recent 2012 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics annual Food and Nutrition Conference & Expo in Philadelphia, Penn.

More than 300 participants of the conference attended a checkoff-funded educational session entitled, "From Farm to Fork: The Evolution of Our Favorite Foods." This session featured Drs. Tom  Field and Nancy Rodriguez who presented a look at interventions made by producers of today's food in response to changes in dietary guidance to make nutrient rich foods like beef more widely accessible. A spotlight was placed on modern beef production and changes in breeding, feeding and trimming that have resulted in leaner beef choices.

"Many of the people we reached are corporate nutritionists, so not only are we reaching 'private practice' audience but those who influence the nutrition education for thousands of employees," says Jeanne Harland, beef producer from Illinois and vice chairman of the checkoff's Joint Nutrition and Health Committee.

Click here to read more about how beef checkoff dollars are being leveraged to reach key market segments.  

I-35 Dust Storm Not Like the Dust Bowl Era Because of Good Conservation Practices

A major dust storm that closed down interstate 35 in north central Oklahoma provides a vivid example of why it's critical that the State and Federal Government not turn their back on natural resource conservation and that Farmers and Ranchers continue to practice good soil stewardship on their land according to Joe Parker, President of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts (OACD).

"Conservation is critical to the state of Oklahoma and you only have to look at what happened today in Kay County to understand why," Parker said. "The record drought we have been experiencing coupled with high winds and exposed soils combined to create conditions ripe for this sort of situation. This is exactly why we need to protect our natural resources and why we all need to maintain a focus on good conservation."

Yesterday afternoon, wind gusts as high as 55 miles an hour blew a massive dust storm through northern Oklahoma that reduced visibility to less than 10 feet. Near black-out conditions forced the closure of Interstate 35 near the Kansas-Oklahoma border. According to OACD Executive Director Clay Pope, this is exactly why soil conservation should be front and center in the minds of both agriculture producers and policy makers.

Our Jim Apel talked with Clay Pope Thursday afternoon about the dirt blowing in from Kansas- click here for that as well as some of the pictures from I-35 on Thursday.    

Certified Angus Beef Sets Sixth Record Sales Year

Amid U.S. cattle and beef supplies curtailed by economics and drought, Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB) reported record sales of its signature brand for a sixth consecutive fiscal year that ended September 30.

More than 16,000 licensed partners around the world made that possible by capitalizing on the consistent dining experience the premium brand brought to consumers as prices for all beef continued higher. Sales totaled 811 million pounds, surpassing last year's record by 4 million pounds and up 49% from just six years ago. During that period known for its challenging consumer economy, Certified Angus Beef ® brand sales advanced from representing 5.6% to now more than 9.6% of all federally inspected cattle harvest. 

Growth varied between company sectors, led by the foodservice and international divisions. Across all areas of the business, partners with the greatest success did so by stepping up their commitment to the CAB brand using innovation, creativity and targeted promotions. Sales hit all-time highs in March, August and June with the most growth seen in clod sales from the chuck and in all the grinds.

Click here to read more.
 

Next Week- More School Land Lease Auctions and Our Coverage of the 85th National Convention of the FFA 

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week will find more auctions of School Land Leases happening at three locations across the state.  Monday, the Lease Auctions will be happening in Burns Flat with leases in 6 counties to be offered.  Tuesday, Lawton and the Great Plains Tech Center will be the location for the auction of leases in a half dozen southwestern Oklahoma counties- and then finally on Wednesday October 24- the process moves to the Chisholm Trail Pavilion in Enid.  Click on the name of the town for more details of the Oklahoma School Land Commission auctions in these three locations- that will take you to details of where the meeting will be happening, as well as point you to the PDF of a detailed listing of each parcel that will be sold on a county by county basis.   

Meanwhile, we are getting ready to head for Indianapolis and the 85th National Convention of the FFA that will be held this coming week.  We have worked with several of the Oklahoma FFA members in recent days as they prepare for national competition- and I am very impressed how hard many of these young men and ladies have worked to be ready.  We will be heading eastward at the beginning of the week- and starting Tuesday will be offering coverage from the 2012 National FFA Convention.  Sponsors of our coverage once again this year is the Oklahoma FFA Alumni Association and the Oklahoma FFA Association- Click here for a full list of the young people who will be competing to bring honors back home to Oklahoma.  And, click here for our FLICKR set that we have set up for the 2012 National Convention.  We will be adding pictures all of next week from Indianapolis, as well as providing radio reports on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network, updates on this daily email, updates on the website in the Blue Green Gazette, Tweets and Facebook posts.