Ohio and South Dakota Corn Crops Worse Than Expected- Day One Results of the Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour  

The 2012 Pro Farmer Crop Tour is underway- and this year's tour has more information flowing from it real time than ever before- many of the scouts are Tweeting and that flow of information that was coming as a result helped us draw the same conclusions that came at the end of the first day of the tour in the evening report sessions- the 2012 corn crop is as advertised- pretty darned awful.  Meanwhile, the soybean crop is also pretty bad- but there were some beans that had held on for rain and should be helped by some rain showers from recent days.  

The Ohio corn crop seen by crop scouts from Columbus, Ohio to the Indiana state line was estimated to be 110.5 bushels per acre- that's down 29% from the 2011 tour and 31% below the three year average of the tour- it's also well below the 126 bushels per acre that USDA predicted for Ohio as of August first.  

Out west- the other state that had a total number reported based on crop scouts rolling through the southeastern part of that state was South Dakota.  The average for the crop tour in South Dakota was 74.26 bu. per acre, down 47.4% from last year- and as my friend Chip Flory of Pro Farmer said in his first day review- '"Yep, that's a disaster."  In fact, Flory said the corn crop in South Dakota was the worst they have seen since starting the western leg of the annual Crop Tour.

I have a couple of links to share with you this morning from the tour that I consider good reads- Click here for Chip Flory's overview from the western end of the 2012 corn tour- meanwhile- Brian Grete offers a somewhat shorter overview of Day One in the eastern cornbelt side of things- click here for that. 

If you follow us on Twitter- you find that we will be retweeting some of the best comments from day two- just as we did from day one- but if you want the full firehose effect of everything coming in from the crop tour- the hashtag to search for is #pftour12.    

By the way- the tweet of the day had to be from Jerod McDaniel from the Oklahoma Panhandle- who offered some advice for weary crop scouts- "Any of you #pftour12 guys get sick of looking of bad corn... Swing down to the Oklahoma Panhandle, yield checks well over 200bu."    

Oklahoma Crop Conditions Deteriorate Despite Rains 

About half of Oklahoma averaged more than an inch of rain over the last week, but the moisture provided no significant improvements to conditions according to the weekly Crop Progress and Condition report. Conditions declined for all row crops except peanuts this past week.  Corn harvest was 34 percent complete by the end of the week, but concerns about aflatoxin were reported. Hay and pasture conditions declined further with 71 percent of alfalfa listed in poor condition and 73 percent of other hay in poor to very poor shape. You can read Oklahoma's full report by clicking here.

In Texas, much of the state received rainfall last week. Portions of Northeast Texas recorded four inches or more while most other areas received scattered showers. Corn , sorghum, and rice harvests were active. Click here for more from Texas.

Kansas row crop conditions continued to deteriorate last week as the state received only scattered rainfall. Cornproducers had harvested 17 percent of their crop by week's end, well ahead of 3 percent last year. The full Kansas report is available by clicking here. 

Recovering Cattle Markets May Have Factored in Drought-Related Impacts, Peel Says

In the latest installment of Cow-Calf Corner in OSU's Extension newsletter, Livestock Marketing Specialist Derrell Peel says the drought impact on cattle markets may have bottomed out.

Beef and cattle markets have recovered significantly from lows about a month ago. Demand improvement is reflected in higher Choice boxed beef price, up over $12.00/cwt in the past two weeks on the heels of stronger wholesale middle meat values. Fed cattle prices followed boxed beef higher providing feedlots some relief from record cattle feeding losses. Feeder cattle prices are also higher with the biggest improvement in lightweight feeders, up about $10/cwt from the lows one month ago. Heavy feeder prices, still under the specter of record corn prices, have recovered less and are up about $4.00/cwt from July lows.

Does this mean that the drought impacts are over? Almost certainly not, but it may mean that the drought impacts on markets have reached a maximum and may begin to improve. Of course, it depends on actual drought conditions which may or may not improve. The improvement in cattle markets indicates that at this point, most of the damage has been done to forage and hay production as well as the corn market, so most of the price impacts are already in the market.

You can read more of Derrell's analysis by clicking here. 

South Dakota Congresswoman Requests President's Support in Building a Bipartisan Coalition to Pass Farm Bill

South Dakota Congresswoman Kristi Noem sent a letter to President Obama to seek his assistance in building a stronger bipartisan coalition in the U.S. House for a Farm Bill.

In Iowa last week, President Obama made the following remarks on the drought that is impacting South Dakota and states across the U.S.: "The best way to help these states is for leaders in Congress to pass a farm bill that not only helps farmers and ranchers respond to natural disasters, but also makes necessary reforms and gives them some long-term certainty."

Noem agrees with the President that the best drought assistance the federal government can provide farmers and ranchers is the certainty of a Farm Bill.

In her letter Noem wrote, "I would welcome your assistance in building support amongst the Democratic Caucus and would ask that you request that they publicly support our Farm Bill. We need to put politics aside and come together to get this Farm Bill done. Agriculture and rural America are too important to make this a partisan issue." 

You can read the Congresswoman's full letter by clicking here.

Seng Says First-Half Meat Export Numbers Reason for Optimism

U.S. meat export numbers through June were a mixed bag, but Phil Seng, president and CEO of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, says that the numbers are actually pretty good when all factors are taken into consideration. (Click here for a report on the first-half numbers.)

"We're down just a touch on the volume side, but we're up on the value side and I would suggest by the end of the year we'll still be up on the value side. Last year we did about five-and-a-half billion dollars worth of exports. I think we'll be there, a little bit better at the end of this year.

"When you consider the global economy, some of the factors that are out there-the drought and a lot of the macroeconomic issues, I think we're doing pretty well."

Seng says demand for U.S. products is growing, and this has kept exporters scrambling to find some way to fill market demand.

Phil Seng is our guest on the latest Beef Buzz.  Click here to read more or catch our interview.

A Billion Dollars of Crop Insurance Indemnities Paid So Far- With Much Larger Payouts Ahead

The weekly U.S. Drought Monitor map released August 14 held more bad news for the contiguous United States, with 62 percent remaining in some level of drought. And the expanse that is gripped by extreme or exceptional drought rose nearly two percent last week to 24 percent.

The center of the drought remains directly over the Corn Belt. With some stage of drought covering the entire states of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas, the drought is certainly taking its toll on the corn and soybean crops. According to the August 10 estimates from USDA - the first "in the field" estimates of the year - production numbers are down substantially from what was projected at the beginning of the planting season.

Despite the fact that this was the largest corn crop planted since 1937, production is projected to be down 13 percent, the lowest output since 2006. Corn yields are expected to average 123.4 bushels per acre, down nearly 24 bushels from last year, which would be the lowest average yield since 1995. Soybeans tell a similar story. Soybean production is forecast to be down by 12 percent from last year, and if realized, would have the lowest average yield since 2003.

Click here to read more.

This N That- Southwest Oklahoma Rainfall, Beef Prices Go Higher This Past Week and Red Cedar to Mulch

As we put the finishing touches of this morning's email- there is rain in the southwestern corner of our state- with heavier storms just over the state line in the lower part of the Texas Panhandle and around  south of the Red River.  Rainfall amounts in Oklahoma thus far overnight have been measured in the tenths of an inch- but some areas are getting more- Hollis as 5:50 am had three quarters of an inch.  You can check the realtime Mesonet Rainfall map by clicking here- we have it set for rain from the last twenty four hours.  

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A regular Monday feature that you can always find on our website- OklahomaFarmReport.Com is an audio overview of the US Beef market- courtesy of Ed Czerwein- who is in the USDA Market News Office in Amarillo. This past week was a higher week for both boxed beef trade and cash cattle markets- Ed explains it all- click here to jump over to our website and take a listen.   

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OSU's Rodney Will, professor of silviculture with the department of natural resource ecology and management at Oklahoma State University says that landowners across Oklahoma that have allowed red cedar trees to get a foothold on their farms or ranches have real challenges in reclaiming their land from this pesky invader.  OSU has been working on ways to get rid of the tree and hopefully cover some of the cost of that removal- one method that holds promise is turning this problem into mulch.  We have details of what Rodney Will and others have been working on- click here for more on that story that can be found on our website.