Several Avenues Open to Farm Bill Passage, Lucas Says, If Leaders Are Willing 

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas met yesterday with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack- as well as the other members of the House and Senate Ag Leadership. He spent several minutes with me before that meeting talking about how a farm bill deal can still be done. Lucas said it would most likely be accomplished as part of an offset deal as President Obama tries to come to terms with the Speaker of the House, John Boehner, in designing a grand plan to avert the federal government from falling over the edge of the so-called "fiscal cliff."

Lucas's meeting comes one day after he was re-elected chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. He said he appreciates his colleagues' confidence in his leadership, but the task before him is immense.

"I will admit being chairman in a time when we're writing a farm bill is always daunting as I've observed in my tenure in Congress. But in a time of writing a farm bill with these kinds of national deficits and this kind of national debt, it makes this almost more fun than I can stand, but we're going to get her done. And I appreciate my colleagues in the United States House giving me a chance to finish the job."

Lucas said his goal is to get the farm bill done as part of the House's regular order of business before the end of the year, but with the days slipping away and with lawmakers' focus intensifying on the "fiscal cliff," there may be other opportunities for the farm bill to be passed.

You can hear our full conversation or read more on our webpage by clicking here.

 

Extreme to Exceptional Drought Blankets 92 Percent of State 

Drought surged during November with a return to the dry, warm and windy weather pattern that Oklahoma has become accustomed to over the last couple of years, says Associate State Climatologist Gary McManus.   According to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor report, the amount of extreme to exceptional drought rose from 72 percent last week to 91 percent this week. The bulk of that increase came across areas in southern and eastern Oklahoma that had been categorized in severe drought since September. The state had not seen that amount of extreme to exceptional drought since late September.

Through November 28, the statewide average temperature stood at 52.4 degrees according to preliminary data from the Oklahoma Mesonet, approximately 3.4 degrees above normal. That would rank this November as the 12th warmest since 1895, although a couple of warm days to finish the month could increase that ranking. November is set to become the 26th month out of the last 32 to finish warmer than normal, dating back to April 2010. Oklahoma's 2012 January-November average temperature remains approximately two-tenths of a degree ahead of 1954 in a race to break the record for warmest calendar year.

The month has also been exceedingly dry, a continuation of what the state has seen since May. The Mesonet's statewide average total for the month will finish at 0.57 inches, more than 2 inches below normal and the 21st driest November on record.

You can read more of Gary's analysis as well as see the latest Drought Monitor map by clicking here.  

 

Oklahoma Joins USDA Trade Mission to Create Opportunities for U.S. Agriculture in Russia

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Michael Scuse will lead a mission to promote U.S. agricultural exports to Russia, Dec. 3-7. Representatives from the states of Idaho, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Kansas, as well as 23 American companies will attend. Two-way agricultural trade between the United States and Russia was valued at roughly $1.5 billion in fiscal year 2012, with American farm exports accounting for 97 percent of the total-a significant contribution to the U.S. agricultural trade surplus.

Today, only 1 percent of U.S. companies export, and yet 95 percent of the world's consumers live outside the borders of the United States, creating significant opportunities for U.S. food and agriculture. At the same time, the American agricultural economy is experiencing its strongest period in history with record exports and near-record income for farming families, altogether supporting 1 in 12 jobs in the United States.

"People around the world continue to demand U.S. food and agricultural products, boosting American businesses and supporting our rural communities," said Scuse. "To ensure these successes continue, USDA has aggressively worked to expand export opportunities and reduce barriers to trade. Less restrictions abroad, stronger trade deals for U.S. agriculture, and greater export assistance for U.S. businesses supports more than 1 million Americans jobs in industries from packing and shipping, to food processing, to transportation. This is an American-made success story that we're bringing to Russia and many other nations demanding the highest-quality, American-grown products."

Click here to read more.

 

Mississippi River, World Harvests Keep Hard Red Winter Wheat Prices High, Anderson Says

On this weekend's SUNUP program, Lyndall Stout interviews Kim Anderson, grain marketing specialist at Oklahoma State University. Anderson says dropping water levels in the Mississippi River are causing quite a bit of concern and could impact hard red winter wheat prices.

"If you look at the Mississippi River, the concern there is getting corn, soybeans, and some soft red winter wheat that's been sold for export down to the Louisiana Gulf so that we can load them out. If that water level gets any lower then we're going to have problems. We won't be able to meet those export contracts. Of course, that's supporting the wheat prices. And if that happens-can't get that corn down to export on the world market-then there's going to be higher demand for hard red winter wheat that we can get for export."

Anderson says prices for U.S. hard red winter wheat are above world averages.

"Right now if you compare our hard red winter wheat prices to the world wheat prices, our prices are above that. An example of that is our exports are below where we'd like them to be. I think what the market's doing is protecting our hard red winter wheat, making sure if we have the drought, making sure we have hard red winter wheat for our millers as we get into the next marketing year."

You can listen to more from Kim Anderson and see the lineup for this weekend's SUNUP by clicking here.

 

AFBF Urges Presidential Declaration for Mississippi River

The American Farm Bureau Federation has urged President Barack Obama to issue a presidential declaration of emergency for the Mississippi River. In a letter this week to the president and top administration officials, AFBF, and nearly 20 other national organizations, said there could be an economic catastrophe in America's heartland as soon as mid-December if the administration does not take emergency action to ensure that water levels do not fall below the level needed to support commercial navigation.

Because of this year's severe drought, waterborne commerce on the middle Mississippi River is in danger, especially now that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has begun to implement plans to reduce the release of water to the river from dams on the upper Missouri River.

"The Mississippi River is a critical national transportation artery, on which hundreds of millions of tons of essential commodities are shipped...," stated the letter. "Substantial curtailment of navigation will effectively sever the country's inland waterway superhighway, imperil the shipment of critical cargo for domestic consumption and for export, threaten manufacturing industries and power generation and risk thousands of related jobs in the Midwest." 

You can read more by clicking here.

 

Oklahoma Soybean Board Directors Schedule Meeting

The Oklahoma Soybean Board has scheduled a Directors' meeting at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, December 7, 2012. This meeting will take place during the Tulsa Farm Show which is being held at the QuickTrip Center on the Tulsa State Fairgrounds, also known as the Tulsa EXPO Square, which is located on 21st street, just west of Yale Avenue.

The meeting will be held in the Tulsa OSU Extension Service auditorium at 4116 E. 15th Street. Coffee and pastries will be served prior to the meeting, and those in attendance are invited to stay for a complimentary lunch provided by the Oklahoma Soybean Board.

 

Ethanol Industry Groups Claim Chain Restaurants Serving Up RFS Scare Tactics

The Renewable Fuels Association claims the fast food industry is playing fast and loose with the facts when it comes to the impact of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) on food prices. Bob Dinneen, president of the RFA, says that, in both a study released this morning and in a Wall Street Journal guest opinion piece, the National Council of Chain Restaurants managed to avoid any discussion of what really drives food prices-energy costs.


"Clearly, Big Food and Big Oil are on the defensive. They lost in their bid for a waiver of the RFS, so now they are resorting to super-sized myths about the impact of the RFS on food prices. Every reasonable analysis of the factors influencing food prices has concluded that the cost of diesel fuel, gasoline, and other energy inputs is the major driver. This study conveniently avoids that issue," said Bob Dinneen, President of the Renewable Fuels Association. "The bottom line is the RFS is working. Renewable fuels have already displaced 10% of annual gasoline demand and dramatically lowered fuel costs for all Americans."


Dinneen also pointed out that food prices are not advancing abnormally. According to USDA and the Department of Labor, annual food inflation in 2012 and 2013 will be right in line with the 20-year average. In fact, food inflation rates since the RFS was adopted in 2005 have, on average, been lower than they were throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.

Click here to read more about Ethanol supporters are pushing back on attacks on the biofuel.