Speaker Boehner Buries Farm Bill for Now; Ag Groups Respond 

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, told reporters that he will not bring the 2012 Farm Bill to the floor for consideration before the current law expires Sept. 30. He said he would deal with the bill after the upcoming elections.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas said he does not yet have any indication from Boehner the bill will be called up in the lame-duck session.Lucas and the House Ag Committee did not issue an official statement yesterday- but we were in Chickasha last night for the Apache Farmers Coop dinner- and the Lucas Ag Aide in Oklahoma, Garrett King, indicated to that group of farmers that Lucas is still working on either getting the five year bill off dead center- or getting at least a full one year extension. He also reminded farmers that while the 2008 farm law expires when the calendar rolls over to October- for the Commodity title programs- including for the wheat crop we are now trying to plant- there should not be too much concern as long as something can be cobbled together by the end of this calendar year.  

Boehner said some House members believe there is too much reform in the 2012 Farm Bill and other members believe there is too little. He said he doesn't believe he has 218 votes to pass the bill.

Ag groups--for and against--responded quickly to Boehner's announcement.

Scott Faber of the Environmental Working Group applauded Boehner "for his wise decision to reject the terrible farm bill produced by the House Agriculture Committee. The committee proposed to increase farm welfare at a time of record farm income - and to cut programs for the poor and the environment in order to lavish new subsidies on highly profitable farm businesses."  Read more from Faber by clicking here.

Roger Johnson of the National Farmers Union saw the issue differently. "NFU is deeply disappointed with Speaker Boehner's comments this morning. It is crystal clear that Republican leadership is what is holding the farm bill hostage. While the announcement comes as no surprise, punting the farm bill into the lame duck session is a transparent political maneuver that leaves rural America holding its collective breath about its livelihood and future." Click here for more from Roger Johnson. 

The Dairy Farmers of America reacted as well, calling on Congress to act on the farm bill soon. You can read their comments here.

Inhofe and Pryor Introduce Bill to Exempt Farmers From SPCC Rule 

Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR), introduced S. 3559, a bill that would amend the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) Rule and ease the regulatory compliance for farms. Companion legislation, HR 3158, recently passed in the House without a single objection.

"I am pleased to join my good friend Senator Pryor to introduce this bipartisan bill that exempts most farmers from EPA's over-burdensome, costly Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure rule," Senator Inhofe said. "The SPCC rule was designed for major oil refineries, not farmers with small oil tanks. Our bill ensures that farmers in Oklahoma and across the nation will not have to navigate this unnecessary regulatory process, especially since there is virtually no history of oil spills from agricultural operations. Companion legislation passed without a single objection in the House, and I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Senate to achieve similar bipartisan success."

"The EPA's proposed fuel storage rules would force thousands of farmers to pay for costly infrastructure projects - along with an extensive inspection and certification process - that they simply don't need," Senator Pryor said. "By exempting small farms from this regulatory overreach, our bipartisan bill would save farmers millions in unneeded costs."  

There's more of this story on our website. Click here to go there.

Nationally Recognized Dietician in Oklahoma on Thursday- We Talk with Dayle Hayes About the Kinks in Revamped School Lunch Program  

Dayle Hayes is an award-winning registered dietitian, author, and educator who brings a delightful blend of practicality and pizzazz to everyday nutrition advice. She works with Dairy Max in the southwestern United States and was the featured speaker at a luncheon for the Oklahoma Action for Healthy Kids Coalition recently. She spoke with us about the controversy brewing over the current school lunch and breakfast program guidelines from the USDA. "All kids in America are missing some nutrients," Hayes said. "Nearly all kids in America are missing physical activity. So how can we, in a positive way, address those problems?

New guidelines from the USDA regarding the nutritional content of school breakfast and lunch menus are sparking a lot of controversy. Portions are smaller. Menus include more fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Just about everything students were used to has changed. While evolution and changing standards may be good, Hayes says the process could have been improved.

"The first thing I want to say is that I'm sorry it's become a polarized controversial issue. This is about children's health and we should approach it in a scientific, rational way. And now, like many other things, it has become very polarized in terms of how people are viewing it. And that is because... it went into the political arena. And we have the Whitehouse and other folks interested in it. To me, I think that's a detriment to children's health.

"We did need to revamp the school meal pattern. If we look at what the school meal pattern had been for 15 years, yes, we needed to take a new look at that. And some of the things that we have in the new meal pattern I am totally behind. In other words, there's more fruits, there's more vegetables, there's whole grains. We still have low-fat milk. So, there's really some good things.

"I wish we had done a little more pilot testing. If we had not rolled it out to the whole country, if we'd been able to try it in a few schools and work out some of the kinks, I think we might be in a better place today."  

Additional Wheat Acres May or May Not Impact Prices, Anderson Says

More wheat acres are expected to be planted in 2012 and Lyndall Stout talks to Kim Anderson about possible impacts to wheat prices in a preview to this week's SUNUP show.

"The first thing we've got to think about is if it doesn't rain, there probably won't be a price implication. The hard red winter wheat planted acres they'll probably be about the same as they were last year.  Soft red winter wheat acres will be slightly higher. And a lot of that will go into the feed wheat with the tight corn stocks. And the spring wheat acres which were down a little bit this last year will probably be higher. That'll move into the milling and baking area.

"I don't think it's going to have any price impact until we get into the February-March time period. Right now we're going to have to deal with the U.S. and world stocks as they are."

You can listen to more of Lyndall Stout's interview with Kim Anderson plus view the full lineup for this week's SUNUP show by clicking here.

NCBA Tackles 'Death Tax' as Major Issue Facing Producers

With the end of 2012 right around the corner, fears are growing that the United States will go lurching off the edge of a fiscal cliff as the tax code reverts to higher rates in several different areas including capital gains and the "death" tax. The House of Representatives voted this summer to keep the estate tax exemption at the $5 million level with a 35% tax rate. The Senate has yet to take up the bill.

Kent Bacus, associate director of legislative affairs for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, says that is the biggest issue facing agriculture as 2012 draws to a close.

"If Congress fails to act, then we're going to see our current estate tax exemption level fall from $5 million per individual and $10 million per couple at a tax rate of 35 percent to a $1 million exemption level and a 55 percent tax rate. That keeps a lot of us awake at night because that's going to affect a lot of our farm and ranch families."

it's the classic case of the squeaky wheel gets the grease- NCBA believes that farmers and ranchers must shout out on this issue to make sure it foes not get left off the list of "must deal with" issues for the Lame Duck that has been predicted after the November elections.  

You can read more of this story by clicking here. 

Crop Insurance Adjusters Work Over-Time to Expedite Claims

Crop insurance adjusters in the Corn Belt and in other drought-stricken areas have been working long hours to ensure that farmers who have crop damage can get their claims process started. With 5,000 adjusters working in all 50 states, the industry has been forced to move adjusters from regions spared from the drought to regions that have been hardest hit.

Tim Totheroh, a crop insurance adjuster from Wellington, Illinois, says that his workload this year has grown exponentially. "I have two to three times the number of claims I usually have this time of year," he said.

Totheroh notes that he's been shocked on several occasions this year as he's walked through once productive cornfields to see nearly complete devastation. "I did a silage appraisal on a field recently, and after walking a half mile through the field in one direction and then exiting the field in another direction, we failed to see a single ear of corn," he said. "That's a real jaw dropper, given the usual productivity of this part of the state."

Click here to read more of this story.

As is often the case, the placements number in the upcoming Cattle on Feed report will be one of the figures that traders will be paying the most attention to later today when USDA releases the numbers- release time is 2 Pm central time. Dow Jones reports that the average pre report guess for animals placed in August is 92.7% of the August placements in 2011.  The on feed number is expected to be almost unchanged from a year ago, while marketings are predicted to be 98.5% of August 2011. Check back on our website, OklahomaFarmReport.Com on Friday afternoon- we will have a story posted by mid afternoon with comments from Tom Leffler of Leffler Commodities on the actual USDA data that will be released.

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The latest Drought Monitor is out- and even with the rains of last weekend- exceptional drought expanded a bit when you look at the latest numbers released Thursday morning. The exceptional drought area (D4 drought) moved around a bit compared to recent weeks within the state- but as it did so- it expanded to 42.09% versus 39.66% that was seen the last couple of weeks. Click here for the latest map released by Uncle Sam yesterday morning.  

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It's the final weekend of the 2012 State Fair of Oklahoma- several breeds of cattle will be showing over the next couple of days- and you can go and enjoy a wonderful Pork Chop Sandwich at the Oklahoma Pork Council booth at its usual location- and then there is the Monsanto America's Farmers Exhibit to check out as well. Click here for our calendar page- we have a lot of these activities listed along with a host of other stuff coming up this next week that you may want to check out as well.  It looks like nice weather for the weekend- if you like dry (so many badly need rain or face dusting in canola and/or wheat)- and if you have the time, we hope you'll enjoy some time at the State Fair.