Possibility of Rain Punctuates Continuing Dismal Drought Picture 

What little change there was in this week's U.S. Drought Monitor has been toward the bad side, with a little more of Oklahoma dropping from the moderate drought category into the severe drought column.

Associate State Climatologist Gary McManus says that more than six percent of the United States is now experiencing exceptional drought conditions. Forty-three percent is experiencing at least a severe drought and 62 percent of the contiguous states are listed in at least the moderate drought category.

Sixty-five percent of the U.S. hay acreage is now affected by drought, according to the USDA.

Seventy-three percent of the domestic cattle-raising area is experiencing drought conditions.

Finally, 65 percent of the winter wheat crop of the U.S. is in drought impacted areas. And 44 percent of that is in at least Extreme drought.

Portions of northwest Oklahoma have gone 77 days with not even a tenth of an inch of rain, and the statewide average over the last 30 days is 0.09 inches, the driest Nov. 13-Dec. 12 on record.   The last 60 days are little better, ranked as the second driest Oct. 14-Dec. 12 on record with a statewide average of 0.68 inches, 5 inches below normal.

Forecasts are calling for the chance of rain over much of the state Friday afternoon and evening, with expectations of a quarter of an inch up to half an inch possible in some areas.

You can read more by clicking here. 

USDA Action during Drought Opened 2.8 Million Acres to Haying and Grazing 

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's measures to open conservation land to emergency haying and grazing during the 2012 drought freed up a record 2.8 million acres and provided as much as $200 million in forage for producers facing critical feed shortages. Vilsack made the announcement during the national drought forum in Washington, D.C. co-sponsored by numerous federal agencies, governors' associations and academic partners.

"Now we know that the actions taken by USDA and other federal agencies at the height of the drought provided much-needed flexibility during a difficult time. We also know that drought recovery is a long-term proposition, and we will continue to partner with producers to see it through," Vilsack said.

At the height of the 2012 drought, the Secretary announced expanded use of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres for haying and grazing including a two-month extension for emergency grazing on CRP acres without incurring an additional CRP rental payment reduction. By providing this flexibility, USDA freed up forage and feed to benefit all livestock producers during a critical period, on top of additional USDA actions, including lowering the interest rate for emergency loans and working with crop insurance companies to provide flexibility to farmers.

Click here for more.

 

Panhandle Crop Conditions Not So Bad, Rick Kochenower Says

Though the Panhandle has been experiencing drought conditions over the past two seasons, OSU Agronomist Rick Kochenower says producers in his area of the state have had some surprises. He says some producers did very well with their irrigated acres, while the dry land crops did not perform very well. So, how are things shaping up for 2013? Kochenower recently spoke with us about conditions in the Panhandle, the third part in a three-part series on crop conditions across Oklahoma.

"Actually, the wheat looks good, surprisingly. Like the rest of the state, we could use a rain, but most of our wheat was planted in the first three weeks of October, about when it should be for optimum grain production. And we had a little bit of profile underneath it. So it actually looks really good. It probably looks as good as it has in four or five years, to be quite honest."

Kochenower says last year's spring crops were a mixed bag.

"Dry land crops were below average, probably. We did cut some sorghum in the Panhandle this year even though we were in the middle of a drought. I had one producer who had five or six hundred acres that made 50 bushels and some other ones that cut 25 to 30 bushel sorghum. It was actually pretty decent.

"Now, for irrigated crops, they were outstanding for guys who had good water. For the guys who had 550- to 600-gallon-a-minute wells or better, there were some 250- and 260-bushel corn out there cut this year."

You can catch our full interview by clicking here.  You'll also find links to the first two articles in this series about state crop conditions.

 

Oklahoma Beef Council's Heather Buckmaster Looks East to Help Market Oklahoma Beef

With the beginning of its new fiscal year on October 1st, among other things, the Oklahoma Beef Council began allocating more funds to international marketing efforts. Heather Buckmaster, the council's executive director, talked to us about that decision and other promotional and marketing efforts that will be carried into the new year. 

"We made the decision for a couple of reasons: One, the declining buying power of the Beef Checkoff. Today, the Beef Checkoff has about 50 percent of the buying power it did in 1987. So we were looking for ways to really leverage and stretch those dollars as effectively and efficiently as we possibly could. And then, second, we recognized that 96 percent of the world's population lives outside the United States so there's great opportunity. And then, third, honestly, the export market was adding significant value to the bottom line of our farmers and ranchers. As an example, about $200 a head to the price of fed cattle. So we felt like there was outstanding opportunity in the export market for Oklahoma Beef Checkoff dollars."

Buckmaster says with such a premium on the line, board members of the Oklahoma Beef Council began looking east.

"First of all, we've invested in Japan. In a retail promotion, the U.S. Meat Export Federation was able to leverage our dollars with a Japanese retailer that has 174 outlets. And when we talk about leverage, for every dollar we invested they invested five dollars.

"It was a month-long promotion that included everything from sampling to the normal media, but it resulted in a 14 percent increase in U.S. beef sales for that month-long promotion. Which, in 174 stores, is a significant growth rate.

Heather is my guest on "In the Field" tomorrow morning about 6:40 am on News 9.  You can read more and listen to our audio interview by clicking here.

 

Kim Anderson Finds Bulls and Bears in Latest WASDE Report

The WASDE numbers were out this week and in his weekly preview of the SUNUP show, OSU Grain Marketing Specialist Kim Anderson says the report held mixed news.

"The soybeans and the corn, of course, were neutral to bullish. You look at corn, the ending stocks estimate came in the same as it was last month, below market expectations. With the beans, the estimate was 10 million below last month. But, again, it was exactly what the market expected in the United States. If you look at the world ending stocks numbers, the corn number was slightly less than the market had expected. It was bullish in this case. And the beans were almost exactly what the market expected. So, what you had with the corn and the beans was a slightly neutral to bullish report."

In terms of wheat, Anderson says, the numbers were bearish with United States stocks at 754 million, above the five year average of 708 million. The world numbers at 6.5 billion bushels were exactly in line with market expectations.

The market reaction was as expected, Anderson says, with corn and beans down slightly. Wheat was also down 27 cents on the news, dipping below the $8.82 support level on the March contract.

Click here for more of Kim Anderson's analysis and a complete rundown of this week's SUNUP program.

 

National Corn Growers: Internet Bullies Not So Cheery

The following is from an opinion piece published by Rick Tolman, the CEO of the National Corn Growers Association:

General Mills, the maker of Cheerios and other foods, is catching grief from a small group of Internet bullies because of its use of genetically engineered ingredients. Oddly and ironically enough, these social media loudmouths have chosen a product that is predominantly made from oats, a commodity that is not genetically modified. But of course, Cheerios was not targeted because it may contain GMOs, but because it is the most popular cereal brand General Mills produces and they are trying to bully General Mills into an anti-GM stance. Over on the Facebook page for Wheaties, there's no GMO mention. Likewise at the Lucky Charms page.

One of the comments over on Facebook about the GMO labeling issue is that "The people have spoken." The fact is, the people have spoken, but these extreme activists have not listened, nor are they listening now. While there is no doubt that consumers do want transparency and to be informed and farmers and others want to provide it, forcing a few complicated and misleading words on a label isn't the smartest approach. And that is why, when California recently had a chance to require labeling, it said, "No, thanks." As fun as it can be for Midwesterners to poke fun at California (and I say this as a California native), they made the right decision in this case.

You can read Tolman's full editorial by clicking here.  

One Third of the Senate Call on Leadership to Make Sure Five Year Farm Bill Included in End of Year Deal

One Third of the US Senate has signed a letter, asking Senate leadership to include a five year farm bill in any "Fiscal Cliff" deal that develops here at the end of the calendar year. The group of 33 lawmakers are mostly Democrats, but several strong farm state Republicans have also signed the letter- including formers Ag Secretary Mike Johanns, Former Senate Ag Committee Chairman Richard Lugar of Indiana who leaves the Senate at the end of year and the Junior Senator from Kansas- Jerry Moran.

Specifically- the Senators say the farm bill deal that should be dropped ought to be the Senate passed bill- "With each passing day, the difficulty of enacting a farm bill before the end of this Congress grows. Congress must do the responsible thing and pass a full, five year reform farm bill. Accordingly, we urge you to consider folding in the Senate's strong bipartisan bill in any end-of-year package."

Neither Senator Inhofe or Coburn were included in the list of Senators who chose to urge farm bill inclusion in an eleventh hour fiscal cliff deal.

Click here to jump over to our website to see the full text of the letter and the list of 33 Senators who are doing the urging.