August Beef, Pork Exports Lower than a Year Ago 

Despite a continued slump in U.S. red meat export volume and a further dip in August sales, the value of beef and pork exports for the first eight months of the year remained slightly ahead of 2011's record-setting pace, according to statistics released by USDA and compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF).

U.S. beef exports in August were the second-largest of the year at 100,468 metric tons, but this was still 14 percent below the August 2011 volume. In value, August exports totaled $486.2 million. While 5 percent lower than a year ago, it was also the second-highest monthly total of 2012.

For January through August, beef exports were 11 percent lower than a year ago in volume (759,901 metric tons) but still 2 percent above last year's record value pace at $3.66 billion.

U.S. pork exports in August were down 6 percent in volume (175,310 metric tons) and 7 percent in value ($495.5 million) compared to a year ago, but these totals were up 10 percent and 6 percent, respectively, from the previous month's performance. Through the first eight months of the year, 2012 pork exports were up 2 percent in volume (1.474 million metric tons) and 8 percent in value ($4.13 billion) from last year's record levels.

"We face a challenging business climate in several key markets, with rising production costs and slowing economic growth creating some anxiety among buyers," said USMEF President and CEO Philip Seng.  

Click here for more on U.S. meat export trends. 

 Conservation, Agriculture Groups Join Together to Support Soil Health 

The National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) and a diverse group of conservation and commodity groups joined together in sending a letter to USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Chief Dave White in support of the NRCS soil health awareness and education effort. The effort is designed to highlight the benefits of improving and maintaining America's soil.

"Every ecosystem and every living organism is dependent upon soils," said NACD President Gene Schmidt. "Healthy soil is the basis of clean air, clean water, and a safe and secure food supply for the future. It also increases our ability to mitigate the impacts of extreme weather events on the land, ensuring farmers and ranchers can continue to produce the food, feed, fiber and fuel the nation needs no matter what Mother Nature throws at us."

According to the letter, signed by more than 20 groups, "achieving soil health is part of a systems approach to agriculture production that benefits the landscape, reduces nutrient loading and sediment runoff, increases efficiencies, and sustains wildlife habitat, while providing the potential for cost savings to producers."

You can read more by clicking here, and you'll find a link to the full letter to the USDA from the conservation groups.   

Owasso FFA National Office Candidate Gears Up for Indianapolis

Marty Jones of the Owasso FFA will be heading to Indianapolis this year as a national officer candidate from Oklahoma. An agriculture education student at OSU, Jones has been preparing for this opportunity for eight years. He recently spoke with us about his quest and why he is so passionate about pursuing a national FFA office.

"I served a couple of years ago as State FFA secretary, so my passion for FFA started when I was an eighth grader and continued on through. Having been given the opportunity to serve as state secretary was really exciting for me. I loved my year of service. So then I thought it would maybe be nice to take that next step and to have the opportunity to run for national office as well."

He said he realizes that becoming a national officer would require a total commitment.

"Out of 365 days, I will be traveling for about 340 days if elected. So, we're talking a big-time commitment, but certainly one worth your while."

You can catch our full audio interview or read more about Jones' quest for a national office by clicking here.  

AND- from Saturday morning- click here to catch our In the Field video Q&A with Marty as seen on KWTV News9 in Oklahoma City.  

Oklahoma Cotton Farmers Looking Forward To Harvest

Oklahoma's cotton crop will be harvested this year, a much better projection than the problems caused by the severe drought in 2011. John Osborn, who farms near Tuttle, southwest of Oklahoma City, believes his dryland cotton crop will average 300 pounds of lint cotton per acre.

Osborn is typical of cotton farmers who quit farming the crop in the late 1980s due to the depredations of the boll weevil. Positive results of the national boll weevil eradication program led him back to planting the crop in 2006.

"We struggled with drought affecting our wheat in 2006," Osborn said. "Knowing about the results of the plan to get rid of the boll weevil led us to get back in the game. Also, the new Roundup Ready cotton varieties allowing better weed control help make up our minds to start planting cotton again."

In 2011, Osborn only harvested 300 acres of his total cotton crop. Dry weather during the summer months cut back promising yields, but he sees more acreage being harvested this year.

Click here to read more of this story.

Alltech Predicts a Contraction in Global Feed Production in 2013

Speaking in Rome at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, Alltech vice president Aidan Connolly presented the results of the 2011 Alltech Feed Tonnage Survey along with results from previous surveys, showing a steady increase in feed production year on year.

The 2011 survey, covering 128 countries, put the total feed at 873 million tonnes. The 2012 survey, due to be published soon and covering more than 130 countries, is expected to show a further increase. For 2013, however, Connolly, presenting at the IFIF-FAO joint meeting, predicted a contraction in the region of 3 - 5%, driven by the following three factors: 

1. Continued global recession affecting protein consumption.
2. The conversion of large amounts of feed stocks and materials into biofuels.
3. Reduced feed supply due to a global drought, specifically in the US.

In addition, a mycotoxin survey, also carried out by Alltech, indicates that the surviving US harvest will be highly contaminated with up to 37 different mycotoxins, due to crop vulnerability from adverse weather conditions. The resulting percentage contraction in feed production will then be determined by the ability of integrated food producers, farmers and food companies to pass on the increased feed material cost to consumers without any loss in overall consumption levels.

"We are facing a completely new era for the agriculture industry where, for the first time in history, feed production for 2013 will be lower than for 2012, and it is clear that efficiency in converting feed into food will be more critical to food companies than ever," said Connolly.   

Who Got Rain- and Who Did Not? We Have the Latest From the Mesonet

Rainfall across the state of Oklahoma over this past weekend left many locations with amounts of rain that exceeded an inch of much needed moisture- while large amounts of west central and southwest Oklahoma got little or no rain from this multi day event.


The graphic from the Oklahoma Mesonet- Click here to take a look- shows Oilton (between Stillwater and Tulsa) with 4.62 inches of rain since last Thursday- the most of any location- and it reports Boise City in Cimarron County as one of the winners, with 2.63 inches of rainfall from this system. 

Overall, with this system now long gone- little rain is in the outlook for the next several days- leaving a lot of west central and southwest Oklahoma dry- and getting drier.

Besides the Mesonet graphic- we have some weather analysis courtesy of Alan Crone from the News on 6 in Tulsa as well as the forecast discussion from the National Weather Service in OKC.  Click on the LINK above to check it all out.