Strong U.S. Red Meat Exports in November - Beef Sets New Value Mark 

U.S. red meat exports for November were solid with beef sales setting a new value record with one month remaining in the year and pork exports posting their strongest month of 2013, according to statistics released by the USDA and compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF).

Driven by sustained export growth to Japan and Hong Kong and the continued rebound of the Mexican market, U.S. beef exports surged 11 percent in volume and 16 percent in value compared to November 2012, putting 11-month totals at nearly 1.1 million metric tons (mt), up 3 percent from a year ago. Export value reached $5.61 billion, an 11 percent increase over last year's pace and already ahead of the 2012 year-end total of $5.51 billion.

Pork exports also were bolstered by solid growth to Mexico and the Central/South America region, registering the highest totals for the year. Despite that, year-to-date U.S. pork exports continue to trail 2012's record numbers by 6 percent in volume (1.95 million mt) valued at $5.5 billion, a 5 percent decline.

"Market access...product availability...relationships. There are many factors that play a role in the export marketplace," said USMEF President and CEO Philip Seng. "We continue to see benefits from expanded market access for beef in Japan and Hong Kong. At the same time, the lack of access for U.S. beef to Mainland China and the closure of the Russian market for both pork and beef - which is approaching a year in duration - are significant barriers."

Click here to read more and to find a link to USMEF's latest statistics.
 

EPA Awards Funding to Three Universities for Projects to Reduce Pesticide Risks to Bees 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced agricultural grants for Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices to reduce the use of potentially harmful pesticides and lower risk to bees all while controlling pests and saving money."These collaborative projects can provide innovative solutions to reduce pesticide risks to pollinators and crops," said James Jones, assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. "Initiatives such as these will encourage others to adopt promising technologies and practices across the nation to reduce pesticide risks while maximizing crop production and protecting public health."

IPM relies on easy-to-implement, environmentally-sensitive practices that prevent pests from becoming a threat. These practices involve monitoring and identifying pests and taking preventive action before pesticides are used. If pesticides are needed, methods such as targeted spraying may be used. These grants will expand public-private stewardship efforts and reduce pesticide risk in agriculture.

The grants were awarded to Louisiana State University, the University of Vermont and Penn State.

You can read more by clicking here. 

Strong Herbicide Sales Boost Monsanto's First-Quarter Profits

Monsanto Company delivered on-track results for the first quarter of its fiscal year as stronger herbicide sales offset a decline in the company's seed sales, according to its recently-released quarterly report. The company previewed a strong U.S. order book and noted that it is on track to deliver its largest-ever soybean launch with an expected three million acres of Intacta RR2 PRO™.

"The first quarter demonstrated that our business performance is squarely on track with several key milestones and that we have the right growth strategy in place," said Hugh Grant, chairman and chief executive officer for Monsanto. "The strength in our business is also seen in the record number of research and development advancements this year. It's the innovation in our pipeline that's going to define what's next for our industry and help deliver on our commitment to bring additional opportunity for farmers around the world."  

Monsanto's first-quarter seed and related agricultural trait sales of $1.7 billion were five percent less than the previous year.   Corn seed sales were down seven percent, but soybean sales jumped 16 percent. Herbicide sales that were up by almost 25% over the previous year boosted the company's profitability.

You can read the rest of this story on our website by clicking here. 

Tight Hog Supplies Good News for Beef Producers, Jim Robb Says

The recent USDA report on hog and pig numbers shows tighter supplies coming into 2014. Jim Robb of the Livestock Market Information Center says that report will impact beef prices a lot more than an average hog and pigs count.

"We've had quite a bit of concern over the last couple of years in terms of competing meat supplies in terms of pork and chicken and those relative prices compared to beef prices and maybe taking some market share away. We really haven't seen that in the last two years, but we were very concerned looking ahead here to 2014 with very strong profitability in both the pork and the chicken sectors.

"The USDA Hog and Pigs report really did show surprisingly tight numbers. Now we've had a disease problem in the U.S.-it really cropped up last summer-called porcine epidemic diarrhea or PED. And that has had quite an impact on the ability of U.S. pork production to ramp up. So, the USDA came in with some surprisingly low numbers. They did substantial revisions to the earlier numbers, so this disease situation is really putting a cap on the growth potential of the U.S. hog industry and we're not going to see quite as much competition at the meat case as we expected a couple of months ago."

Jim joins me on the latest Beef Buzz.  Click here to read more or to listen in.
 

Bayer CropScience TwinLink Technology now Available for 2014 Growing Season

Bayer CropScience announced its new TwinLink™ cotton technology is commercially available for the 2014 growing season, having received all necessary U.S. and international approvals.

TwinLink combines season-long Bt protection against worm pests with its powerful weed management technology that confers tolerance to full label rates of Liberty® herbicide. It contains two Bayer proprietary Bt genes that provide effective management of major lepidopteran pests, such as tobacco budworm, pink bollworm, cotton bollworm and cotton leafworm.

TwinLink is now available to U.S. cotton growers as a GlyTol® LibertyLink® TwinLink (GLT) trait package which allows over-the-top applications of Liberty herbicide and glyphosate. This trait package is available in high-yielding, high-quality FiberMax® and Stoneville® cotton seed varieties. 

Click here to read the rest of this story.

 

Re-Warming Methods for Cold-Stressed Newborn Calves

Glenn Selk, Oklahoma State University Emeritus Extension Animal Scientist, writes in the latest Cow-Calf Newsletter:

The extremely cold winter nights have reminded us that spring calving season is just around the corner. More cold temperatures are likely during the upcoming calving season. Several years ago an Oklahoma rancher called to tell us of the success he had noticed in using a warm water bath to revive new born calves that had been severely cold stressed. A quick check of the scientific data on that subject bears out his observation.

Canadian animal scientists compared methods of reviving hypothermic or cold stressed baby calves. Heat production and rectal temperature were measured in 19 newborn calves during hypothermia (cold stress) and recovery when four different means of assistance were provided. Extreme hypothermia of about 86o F rectal temperature was found in the calves before re-warming was initiated. Calves were re-warmed in a 68 to 77o F air environment where thermal assistance was provided by added thermal insulation or by supplemental heat from infrared lamps. Other calves were re-warmed by immersion in warm water (100oF), with or without a 40cc drench of 20% ethanol in water. Normal rectal temperatures before cold stress were 103 oF. The time required to regain normal body temperature from a rectal temperature of 86oF was longer for calves with added insulation and those exposed to heat lamps than for the calves in the warm water and warm water plus ethanol treatments (90 and 92 vs 59 and 63 minutes, respectively).

You can read more from Glenn Selk by clicking here.  

This N That- No Farm Bill Conference Until There is One, USDA Reports Coming Friday Morning and Prayers for Tom Coburn

Several sources are signaling that the Farm Bill framework remains incomplete as dairy issues remain unresolved. This really is no change from this past fall when House Ag Committee Chairman Frank Lucas told us more than once that he told that dairy issues might be the toughest subject to resolve in the overall farm bill debate.

Eric Wasson writes for The Hill.Com and describes the dairy battle as milk processors versus milk producers- "Speaker John Boehner and dairy-using industries oppose dairy production restrictions favored by Collin Peterson and milk producers."   

One of the reasons we did not get a farm bill vote in the House in 2012 was the refusal of Speaker John Boehner to allow the House Ag Committee language on dairy to go forward. Peterson is the top Democrat on the House Ag Committee.  

Chairman Lucas is quoted by Wasson as saying that the two sides were still trying to find some way to deal with the dairy supply management issue.  

Similar views of the farm bill holdup are also seen in a Bloomberg report- and you can take a look at the full overview of it all by clicking here and jumping over to Keith Good's summary in today's Farm Policy.Com blog entry.

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On Friday, January 10th the USDA will release four major reports: Crop Production, Quarterly Grain Stocks,  Supply and Demand, and Winter Wheat Seedings. These reports will be released at 11AM Central Time.

According to Paul Georgy with Allendale, ag futures this morning are seeing grain futures mixed with soybeans leading the rally. Lack of cash grain movement and export demand provide the strength but concerns over USDA raising world supplies on tomorrow's report limit gains.    

We will be crunching the numbers in all of these reports on Friday morning and offering opinions from several different directions midday Friday on our website- OklahomaFarmReport.Com

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Finally- our prayers this morning go out to Oklahoma Senator Dr. Tom Coburn- who is undergoing treatment for prostrate cancer.  Dr. Coburn continues a grueling schedule even as he takes Chemo treatments for the cancer- his second battle with the disease.   

Politico released an article on the Senator late last night- indicating that Oklahoma's junior Senator may be facing surgery here in 2014 that could force a decision on a possible early exit from the Senate by the Doctor.  

If that should happen- it is possible that we could be voting on both Senate seats that Oklahoma has this fall- as Jim Inhofe has signaled that he plans to run for reelection for another six year term this coming November- and a special election for the Coburn seat would put someone new in that seat for the remaining two years of his term.   

For now- that's speculation- but regardless of your political opinions- prayers are needed for healing- and that is what we lifting to heaven this morning on behalf of Dr. Tom Coburn.