Crop Reports Good News for Corn Producers, Not so Good for Wheat Growers, Anderson Says 

The USDA released its 2013 Crop Production Summary report, the Winter Wheat Seedings report and the WASDE report on Friday. Markets were quick to react and Oklahoma State University Extension Grain Marketing Economist Dr. Kim Anderson says the reports were positive for corn producers and not so positive for wheat growers.

"I think it's negative for wheat. You look at the analysts their pre-release expectations of wheat ending stocks at 559 million came in at 608 million. That's just well above market expectations. And, of course, the market's reacting to that.

"And if you look at what they changed on the wheat, the lowered the amount of wheat that was fed by 60 million bushels and they raised our exports by 25 million. So, a net loss there on the wheat which we saw in the ending stocks.

"If you look at the wheat plantings, that should be semi-positive for hard red winter wheat. The expectations were for 30.4 million acres and it came in at 30.1 so less acres than the market expected.

"So, I would expect your old crop wheat in the bin to be worth less. That will probably pull down the July contract, but maybe not as much. You got a mixed bag in wheat."

The numbers for corn were far more positive, Anderson says.

"On your crop production, the analysts were expecting just over 14 billion bushels and they got just barely over 13.9 billion. They looked at quarterly stocks on corn and they were expecting 10,770,000; they got 10.4 million which is almost 300,000 less than they had expected."

Click here to go to our webpage where you can listen to Kim Anderson's full analysis and you'll find links to all three USDA reports.   

95th Annual American Farm Bureau Convention Underway in San Antonio

At a crowd that has been estimated at 7,000- farmers, ranchers and their families have taken over the Riverwalk in downtown San Antonio for a couple of days as the 95th annual Convention of the nation's largest general farm group is underway. 

At the traditional Sunday morning opening general session, the President of the American Farm Bureau, Bob Stallman, welcomed Farm Bureau members to Texas (his home is about two hours from downtown San Antonio) and called on them to be "Farm Bureau Proud."  He listed three chores that Congress needs to man up and get done sooner rather than later- a 2014 Farm Bill, the WRDA water resources bill and work on the Ag Labor Crisis.

Stallman also spent a fair amount of his speech time blasting the EPA for their desire to regulate virtually every farm and ranch in the US- saying, for example,  they want to oversee the use of waters that aren't wet- dry ditches as they attempt to redefine what Congress meant in the Clean Water Act.  Stallman pledged that AFBF and State Farm Bureaus would continue to work together to battle the environmental agency when they overstep their legal authority.

Click here for our story on the Stallman address- where we have links to the text of the address and the audio of the address itself.

After the Stallman speech, we zeroed in on the Farm Bill delays with the AFBF Senior Director for Congressional Relations, Mary Kay Thatcher, who downplays the seriousness of the current standoff detailed in the "inside the beltway" press between House Speaker John Boehner and top Democrat on the House Ag Committee Collin Peterson over dairy policy. 

Thatcher believes we are very very close to getting this resolved and moving close to a Farm Bill Conference Report to take back to the House and Senate.  She believes a compromise will come and that the harder work ahead will be getting implementation of the 2014 Farm Bill done to be beneficial to farmers in the 2014 crop season.

Click here for our full conversation with Mary Kay about the farm bill endgame, implementation and the already on going new battleground in farm policy- cutting spending on crop insurance.

Buchanan Leads Oklahoma Delegation to AFBF Meeting for the First Time

Jackson County Farmer Tom Buchanan is leading the 2014 delegation of Oklahoma Farm Bureau members here at the 95th American Farm Bureau Convention in San Antonio. Buchanan was elected as the 10th President of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau this past November at the annual meeting of the general farm organization.

About eighty members of the OKFB are a part of the Oklahoma delegation here in 2014.  Oklahoma has a prominent role in a couple of areas of the 2014 meeting- as members enter the trade show- they can smell Oklahoma's Wheat Commission baking up hot cinnamon rolls and bread- and can not just smell it- thousands are lining up to get their slice of an Oklahoma made product.

Two of the breakout sessions for attendees being held on Sunday as well as today were  led by professors from Oklahoma State University- Livestock Market Economist Derrell Peel and Ag Economist Dr. Jayson Lusk.  

Unfortunately- the state winners from the Y,F&R competition were unable to advance in their respective competitions here in San Antonio. 

The OKFB delegates are reviewing their marching orders from the November State Convention as they are ready for the policy session of the organization that will be held on Tuesday- in our conversation with Tom Buchanan, he covers several issues that Oklahoma delegates will be focused on.

Click here for that conversation from Sunday with the Oklahoma Farm Bureau President.

Several agriculture groups hailed the introduction of legislation in Congress granting Trade Promotion Authority to the President.  If passed by both houses and signed by the President, the law would help the Obama administration conclude the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade pact. 

Also known as "fast-track," TPA allows the president to negotiate trade agreements based on strategic goals and objectives outlined in the legislation.  Congress would still retain oversight of trade deals which would still be subject to Congressional approval without amendments.

"We are pleased to see bipartisan support for trade promotion authority and hope Congress will act quickly to pass this important legislation," said Bing von Bergen, president of the National Association of Wheat Growers.  (Click here to read more of von Bergen's response.)

Phil Seng, president and CEO of the U.S. Meat Export Federation said, "Our trading partners need to know that once these agreements are negotiated, they are not going to be changed as they go through the approval process in Congress. The Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities Act introduced this week will ensure that Congress continues to have a strong voice on trade while giving the administration the support it needs.  (Read more from Phil Seng by clicking here.)

National Pork Producers President Randy Sprong says his organization is in support of the TPA with one reservation.  "Getting TPA introduced and approved is an important step in the trade process, and we are supportive, but our main focus will be making sure Japan eliminates farm tariffs at least as quickly as was done by South Korea in its trade deal with the U.S."  (Click here for more from Randy Sprong.)

Oral Arguments Heard In COOL Lawsuit

Oral arguments were heard January 9 in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in the ongoing country of origin labeling (COOL) lawsuit filed last July by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) and eight other plaintiffs to block COOL. USCA is a defendant-intervenor in the lawsuit. The oral arguments heard January 9 surround the plaintiffs' appeal of a lower court ruling denying plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction.

United States Cattlemen's Association (USCA) President Jon Wooster, San Lucas, California and USCA Director Emeritus Leo McDonnell, Columbus, MT, issued the following joint statement after conclusion of the hearing.

"This case is about the ability of consumers to make informed decisions on their purchase of meat products and the right of U.S. cattle producers to identify and differentiate their product for consumers. The Department of Agriculture's (USDA) revised regulations provide consumers more information and will reduce confusion for consumers at the point of purchase. The appellants have sought to limit the consumer's ability to have that information. USCA has strongly supported the government's position that a preliminary injunction was not warranted and we do not believe the appellants are entitled to the extraordinary relief sought."

You can read more of the USCA's statement by clicking here. 

Cattle Inventory Report Likely to Show Further Declines, Jim Robb Says

Last July's USDA Cattle Inventory Report fell to the budget ax due to sequestration. Without that mid-year snapshot on the health of the U.S. cattle industry, Jim Robb, executive director of the Livestock Market Information Center, says the next report due out January 31 is likely to show the nation's cow herd is still declining.

"We do expect some herd contraction here as of January 1, 2014. Again, 2013 was kind of the 'Tale of Two Markets.' So, if we look at the year overall, it's rather clear that beef cow slaughter was very large on an average annual basis even though it pulled back in the fourth quarter.

"Heifer slaughter was very large. It appears that heifers initially planned to go into the replacement herd in early 2013 actually shifted over to the slaughter mix as the year progressed.

"So, if we look at the Cattle Inventory report overall, we're expecting year-to-year declines as of January 1, 2014."

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

Vetter Draws Support for Agriculture Trade Post

The American Farm Bureau Federation and 96 other agriculture and food-related groups have signed a letter strongly supporting the confirmation of Deputy Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Darci Vetter as Chief Agricultural Negotiator in the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

The position of Chief Agricultural Negotiator, with the rank of ambassador, was created in 1997 by Congress for the express purpose of ensuring that U.S. agriculture is fully represented in trade negotiations at the highest possible level.

"U.S. agricultural exports are valued at near $140 billion for 2013, and agriculture remains one of the few sectors in the overall economy that has shown a positive trade balance for decades," the letter stated. "The most recent figures place this value at or above $30 billion, making the role of the Chief Agricultural Negotiator as one of the most important in the entire Office of the USTR."

Click here to read more of this story.