Natural Resources and Conservation Service Head Announces Retirement 

Dave White, chief of the Natural Resources and Conservation Service for the last four years, announced that he is retiring effective Dec. 3, 2012.

White began with the NRCS 35 years ago in Missouri as a conservationist. He is known for advocating farmer-friendly plans which help expand conservation practices.

He worked for six years in Montana before moving to Washington, D.C., where he helped craft the 2008 Farm Bill with Iowa Senator Tom Harkin.

USDA-NRCS Under Secretary Harris Sherman praised White and said, "Dave has moved with great speed to implement bold ideas and redefine private land conservation to address the challenges and opportunities of this century."  You can read more about Dave White's career and his successor at the NRCS by clicking here.

National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) President Gene Schmidt said, "Chief White is a tremendous advocate for natural resource conservation and he will be missed by the entire conservation district community. He understands the issues, truly cares about the mission, and knows what it takes to get locally-led conservation done on the ground." Click here for more of Gene Schmidt's comments on Dave White. 

 

Cow Herd Decline Will Continue Into 2013, Rabobank Analyst Predicts 

The beef cattle industry continues to weather the drought throughout the central United States by reducing herd size. Continuing drought, high feed prices, and the lack of forage are contributing factors hampering opportunities to rebuild the nation's mama cow herd.

I spoke recently with Don Close, a veteran cattle market watcher and Vice President of Rabobank's Food and Agricultural Research Advisory Group. He says, without a doubt, the drought has hit the industry hard, but the decline may be slowing.

"It set us back, easily, a year if not two years. The one thing that I think we will be, hopefully, pleased to find that when we get the cattle inventory report in January, if you look at the rate of beef cow slaughter that we have had the second half of '12, that's never developed at the pace that so many people anticipated that it would. Are we going to see another year of net decline in female numbers? Unquestionably, we will. But, will it be as severe as we were fearing during July and August? Probably not."

Even with the reduced size of the cow herd, Close says it is important to acknowledge that we are still looking at record beef production.  

Don Close joins us on the latest Beef Buzz. Click here to listen in.

From AAM to the Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine- 235 Groups Call on Congress to Pass Five-Year Farm Bill

With Congress returning to the Capitol after a month-long recess, a huge list of groups signed onto a letter that presses House leaders to pass a five-year farm bill before the end of the legislative session in December.

Several popular conservation programs - including the Conservation Reserve Program, Wetlands Reserve Program, Grassland Reserve Program, and Chesapeake Bay Watershed Initiative - have not had authority to hold new enrollments since the last farm bill expired in September.

It was an impressive list of groups that included both national and state organizations- National Farmers Union and most of the major commodity groups were signors as they called on the House of Representatives to pass a five-year farm bill. Three names that I noticed were NOT on the list of groups that signed- American Farm Bureau, the National Pork Producers Council and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.

"This legislation is of paramount importance to the diverse, bipartisan constituencies our organizations represent," the letter said. "Failure to pass a new five-year farm bill before the year's end will create significant budget uncertainty for the entire agricultural sector."

Click here to read more and to find links to the letters sent to Congress.

 

Tulsa Farm Show Expands to Fill Both Floors of Quik Trip Center

November is rapidly slipping away and with the coming of December is the Tulsa Farm Show. The event will be held from December 6-8 at the Quik Trip Center at the Tulsa Fairgrounds.

John Sampson is the show's owner and said this year's show holds a big surprise. For the first time, the show will feature exhibitors on both floors of the Quik Trip Center. In previous years the show was only held on the upper floor, but Sampson says the demand was there so they have begun filling the lower floor with exhibits and activities of all kinds.

"We've got a nice complement of exhibitors already committed to going in down there. We've got some new prizes as well. We've got $1,000 early bird giveaway that we do in some other shows including Oklahoma City where folks who come before noon can register and at noon we draw for $1,000 in a merchandise certificate than can be spent with any of the farm show exhibitors."

The show is in its 19th year and features horse training expert Craig Cameron all three days.  Sampson says that, as always, admission and parking are free.

You can read more details and listen to an interview with John by clicking here.

AFBF Urges House to Pass Russia PNTR

The American Farm Bureau Federation this week urged the House of Representatives to pass legislation granting Permanent Normal Trade Relations with Russia. The House is scheduled to vote on Russia PNTR this week.

Russia formally joined the World Trade Organization in August. But, PNTR for Russia must be enacted by Congress in order to guarantee U.S. access to the market-opening and legal aspects that are part of the Russia-WTO agreement.

"Russia PNTR is a critical step toward ensuring the U.S. benefits from Russia's accession to the WTO and remains competitive in that market," said AFBF President Bob Stallman. "U.S. farmers will have more certain and predictable market access as a result of Russia's commitment not to raise tariffs on any products above the negotiated rates and to apply international food safety standards in a uniform and transparent manner."

Click here to read more.

 

Nitrate Toxicity and the First Winter Snow Storm

Glenn Selk, Oklahoma State University Emeritus Extension Animal Scientist, writes in the latest Cow-Calf Newsletter about keeping a close eye on your cattle herd this winter.

Almost as predictable as the coming of the winter season will be the quickly spread horror story of the death of several cows from a herd that was fed "the good hay" for the first time after the snow storm. Ranchers that have harvested and stored potentially high nitrate forages such as forage sorghums, millets, sudangrass hybrids, and/or johnsongrass, need to be aware of the increased possibility of nitrate toxicity. Of particular concern, is the scenario whereby the cows are fed this hay for the first time after a severe winter storm. Cattle can adapt (to a limited extent) to nitrate intake over time. However, cattlemen often will feed the higher quality forage sorghum type hays for the first time during a stressful cold wet winter storm. Cows may be especially hungry, because they have not gone out in the pasture grazing during the storm. They may be stressed and slightly weakened by the cold, wet conditions. This combination of events makes them even more vulnerable to nitrate toxicity.

The rancher is correct in trying to make available higher quality forage during severe winter weather in an effort to lessen the loss of body weight and body condition due to the effect of the wind chill. But if the forage he provides to the cows is potentially toxic, his best intentions can backfire. 

Click here to read more from Glenn Selk.

 

For Oklahoma Wheat Producers- Exports DO Matter

We feature in today's Farm News on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network (Click here to listen)  the concerns that US Wheat Associates have about the disruption in funding the MAP and FMD programs which provide money to groups like them that promote US farm products globally. In the case of US Wheat- the contention is that it's all about relationships- and if the breakdown in getting a farm bill done extends into 2013 (and there is no extension that keeps these programs authorized)- offices around the world may have to be closed for the time being and that could jeopardize valuable relationships that have taken years to build on behalf of US wheat producers.

So beyond the question of when will House Republican Leadership get their rear ends in gear and allow a farm bill to move forward- some folks may wonder how much value do exports really provide back down the pipeline to farmers anxiously watching their 2013 wheat crop, hoping for rain.  Well, our friend Dr. Kim Anderson has been playing with an Excel spreadsheet- and the numbers that have been dropped in suggest a huge amount of the US wheat crop is exported.

Over an average of the last 12 years- 63% of the value of the Oklahoma wheat crop has been because of exports. The Oklahoma crop in recent years that is considered the most valuable in terms of dollars was the 2008 wheat crop- it was pegged as a $1.1 Billion dollar crop.  Sixty six percent of the value of that crop was because of exports, according to figures compiled by Dr. Anderson.

The most recent crop he was able to pull the numbers on was the 2011 crop- a short crop in terms of production- but one that was sold at historically high prices.  The overall value of the 2011 crop was $563 million- and exported value assigned to that 2011 crop was $441 million- meaning that 78% of the value of last year's short wheat crop can be traced back to exports.

So- do programs like the MAP and FMD programs offer value back to Oklahoma Wheat Producers?  You Betcha- because so much value comes back to that producer's bank account because of exports.