Grocery Store Sampling Experiment Yields Big Results for Oklahoma Cattle Women 

The results are in from the recent experiment conducted by the American National Cattle Women at Oklahoma Homeland stores and their promotion was a huge success. Simply put- these Oklahoma Cattlewomen who were involved ROCK!  They know their product and they closed the deal!

The experiment was designed to measure the effect on beef sales of passing out in-store samples of a beef dish. An additional variable was having a cattle woman present to interact with customers.

In the 11 stores where cattle women were present, sales of top sirloin increased 151 percent over a year ago. In the 18 stores that distributed samples without cattle women present, sales were still up, but by 65 percent.

Tammy Didlot, president of the American National Cattle Women, said she wasn't surprised by the positive impact of the promotion, but was a little surprised with the just how high the numbers went. She said the promotion was a way to put real facts and figures in front of consumers. This project was a follow-up to nationwide research done by the Cattlemen's Beef Board and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association that says consumers want to have more contact with beef producers.  

Click here for more and a link to the award-winning recipe that the cattle women used in their test. 

Wheat Shows Independence From Corn in the Market, Kim Anderson Explains All  

On this weekend's SUNUP program, Kim Anderson, Oklahoma State University grain marketing specialist, talks with Lyndall Stout about how corn and wheat have become uncoupled in the grain markets.

"Corn is still the dominant factor in the market, but I don't believe corn is still king. I think the situation has changed. You've still got corn and wheat trading in their dollar range, respectively, but wheat has earned some independence from corn," Anderson says.

He says there are several dynamic factors causing that separation.

"Well, wheat stocks have tightened up a little bit. And mainly in the foreign markets, the international markets you can go to Russia, Ukraine, the talk is they may limit their exports or suspend their exports. I read one commentary that they'll run out of exportable wheat at least by the end of October. They may cut it sooner. That limits the supply of wheat in the world market and makes U.S. wheat-which is right now about $20 a ton or 54 cents a bushel priced above the world market-but will bring the demand back in for our exportable wheat. And that makes wheat prices, to a certain degree, independent of corn."

He also says there is a tremendous amount of uncertainty impacting the markets as well.

Click here to listen to Kim Anderson's analysis and to see the lineup for this weekend's SUNUP program on OETA. 

Dewey County Farmer Says Canola Results Far Outpaced Expectations

Many farmers across the state are making final preparations to begin sowing winter canola, some for the first time. Jimmy Emmons from Leedey, Oklahoma, has a head start and has been planting canola for the past four seasons.

He spoke with us about his experiences using Dekalb products and says he's been very pleased.

"It has performed very well for us. The first year that we raised canola we planted 4715 and we had a 40-bushel yield, which is exceptional the first year out. And this year was our fourth year and we had 4410 out that yielded 37 bushels in the worst drought we've had since the Dust Bowl era, so we've been very, very pleased its performance.

"We've been very pleased with Dekalb overall. They've been in business for many years and so they have a lot of history. The canola germ plasm and the seed dealer network has just performed very well for us overall."

Emmons says putting canola in his rotation has brought a number of benefits to his operation and the whole process has far exceeded his expectations.

You can hear the our full conversation and read more by clicking here.

OSU Specialists Provide Virtual Seminar on Canola Production

With the planting window for this year's winter canola crop opening in a couple of days and running through October 10th, producers who in the past were content to sit on the sidelines and see how things worked out are now itching to get in the game. 

Throughout the introduction of canola to Oklahoma, we've kept up with the experts and brought their knowledge to the forefront with our Winter CanolaTV feature on Youtube produced in cooperation with our friends at Producers Cooperative Oil Mill. There are four recent segments in particular that provide a mini-seminar on getting started in growing canola with specialists from Oklahoma State University. Click on the highlighted titles below to watch the shows.

Preparing for the 2013 Canola Season--We caught up with Mark Broyles, OSU Extension Canola Specialist at the OSU Winter Canola meeting in Altus and asked him to give us his ideas of what's ahead as producers get ready for planting.

Farm Groups File Friend of the Court Brief in Forestry Storm Water Runoff Case

Storm water runoff from tree harvesting and other forestry activities, like most agricultural activities, should not be subject to federal Clean Water Act permitting requirements, according to a friend-of-the-court brief filed with the Supreme Court by the American Farm Bureau Federation and other farm groups.

Joining AFBF, the National Pork Producers Council and the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives urged the Supreme Court to reaffirm Congress' intent to exclude storm water runoff from forestry activities requiring CWA permits.

In 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit invalidated the Environmental Protection Agency's Silviculture Rule, relied on by forest landowners for 35 years. In urging the Supreme Court to reverse the decision, AFBF and the groups explained that Congress confirmed in its 1987 Clean Water Act amendments that storm water from both agriculture and forestry-whether harvesting crops, raising livestock or harvesting trees-has always been intentionally excluded from federal permit requirements. 

Click here to read more.

2013 World Livestock Auctioneer Qualifier to be Held September 15th in Bristow, Oklahoma

The first qualifier for the 2013 World Livestock Auctioneer Championship (WLAC) will be hosted by Mid America Stockyards in Bristow, on September 15.  The event will be the first of three qualifiers and will begin the 50th year of the WLAC, hosted by the Livestock Marketing Association (LMA).

The public is invited to attend the competition to watch contestants show off their auctioneering chants. The competition will be held during the regularly scheduled sale, with live bidders on the seats.

Jerry and Helen Varner own Mid America Stockyards, which has been a family operation since February of 1970. Today, four generations of the Varner family assist with the weekly livestock auction. "The entire family is really excited to host the first 2013 WLAC Qualifier," says daughter-in-law Melody Varner.

During the competition, each contestant will auction cattle and be judged on the clarity of their auction chant, vocal quality, ability to catch bids and conduct the sale, if the judge would hire the auctioneer for their own livestock market, and whether this person would make a good spokesperson for the industry. Judges are livestock market owners and members of LMA. 

To read more and to find links for registration and a webcast of the competition, click here.

This N That- ACRE Payment Surprise, Exceptional Drought and Frank Lucas to Join Us on In the Field

As the 2008 Farm Law prepares to sunset into the land Permanent Farm Law of Parity and Production Controls- there's a lovely parting gift for Oklahoma wheat producers that may be available- the state of Oklahoma apparently will qualify for an ACRE payment for the 2011 wheat crop (LAST YEAR when we produced half of a normal crop)  Dr. Jody Campiche of OSU has done the calculations and she writes us "The 2011 wheat ACRE calculation is final and Oklahoma did trigger for a payment. Initially, it did not appear that Oklahoma would trigger for an ACRE payment based on the state yield of 22 bu/acre reported by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) earlier this year.  However, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) also considers failed acres when calculating the average state yield for the ACRE payment calculation.

"The FSA divides NASS total production by NASS harvested acres plus FSA¹s "failed"acres and that lowered the state yield to 18.3 bu/acre. The average payment is $19/acre."  That does not mean everybody in Oklahoma that grew wheat in 2011 and was in the ACRE program qualifies- check with your local FSA office to figure the rest of calculation for your county and farm before hitting town and celebrating too much!

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Exceptional Drought crept up to 40% of our landmass in Oklahoma in the latest Drought Monitor- up from 37% a week ago- and we have details on that- and how dry it is here in Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska as move closer to fall. Click here for the latest maps and some thoughts about the cold front now headed our way.

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Coming up Saturday morning on KWTV News9 in Oklahoma City- our weekly In the Field interview segment will feature comments from the Chairman of the House Ag Committee, Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas. Congress returns to Washington next week and we will be talking about the chances of the House Ag Committee's farm bill seeing the floor in September- and what the options are if no floor time is forthcoming. In the Field airs around 6:40 AM Saturday mornings- and for those of you outside of the News9 signal area- we will be posting the video on our website later in the day on Saturday.  Check out OklahomaFarmReport.Com for that over the weekend- as well as our audio conversation with him that we will be posting later this afternoon on the web.