Beef Federation Chairman Happy with Organization's Progress During His Tenure 

Richard Gebhart from northeastern Oklahoma is wrapping up his year as the chairman of the Federation Division of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and will be appointed by the new President, Bob McCan of Texas, to become the secretary-treasurer of the NCBA. Gebhart spoke with me at the Cattle Industry Convention in Nashville. He said it has been an eventful year and said he is pleased with the efforts he has seen this year to raise the visibility of the Federation and how it assists beef councils all across the United States. 

The Federation directs about half of all beef checkoff dollars. Gebhart says the organization has been working in close concert with the Beef Board in order to keep adequate dollars flowing to key projects. He said his is most proud of the working relationships fostered between the organizations which helps checkoff dollars go farther.

"Those dollars, as they get fewer and fewer, become more precious. I think it's more important for us to use them very effectively and very efficiently."

Gebhart said that most important thing to beef producers out in the country is maintaining the control of the checkoff by the qualified state beef councils.

"We can never sacrifice that. I think our representation on the operating committee is half of it with the Federation being allowed to select half of that. And on the Cattlemen's Beef Board, we select half of that... But there's more fundamental strategic directions that we've changed in the last several years that, I think, are even more important."

You can read more of this story and listen to my interview with Richard Gebhart by clicking here.
 

CattleFax Weather Analyst Says El Nino Could Bring Warmer, Wetter Spring and Summer 

Art Douglas, Creighton University Professor Emeritus and a weather analyst for CattleFax, spoke this week's Cattle Industry Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. Among other topics, Douglas said he has good news for ag producers: another El Nino is on the way which should bring warmer and wetter conditions to many parts of the U.S. 

"We're going to have, probably, at least a moderate if not strong El Nino developing starting early this spring into the summer and it will probably peak in the winter."

Douglas said as El Nino begins to set up, it will allow more moisture to flow up into the central United States from the Gulf of Mexico, bringing more opportunities for rainfall. That rainfall will be most prevalent across eastern sections of Texas and a large portion of Oklahoma.

The warm air from the Gulf will also bring higher temperatures along with it, a complete reversal of conditions being seen across Oklahoma at this time, he said.

I spoke with Art after his presentation and you can listen to our conversation or read more by clicking here.

 

Crop Conditions Driving Wheat Prices Higher, OSU's Kim Anderson Says

Wheat prices have risen about 42 cents in recent days and Oklahoma State University Extension Grain Marketing Specialist Kim Anderson tells Lyndall Stout in his preview to this week's SUNUP program that it is due to what's going on right now out in the fields.

"Probably the biggest factor behind the price increase is the crop conditions that the USDA released this last week. If you look at Oklahoma crop conditions the poor to very poor went from eight percent to 24 percent. The good to excellent category went from 63 to 36 percent. We had a like decline in the Kansas crop. Of course the Texas crop there's a small change in it to the worse, but the Texas crop was already in relatively poor condition due to the drought anyway."

He says slight changes downward in ending stocks are likely to be seen next week when the USDA releases its WASDE report on Monday. This should also put upward pressure on grain prices.

You can hear more from Kim Anderson as well as seeing the full rundown for this week's SUNUP program by clicking here.

 

COOL Having a Negative Impact on North American Cattle Industry, Masswohl Says

The recently-passed farm bill did nothing to change the COOL regulations implemented by the USDA last fall. Among the long-time opponents of those regulations have been Canadian cattlemen who believe the rules will unfairly hamper the marketing of their product in the U.S. John Masswohl, the director of governmental and international relations with the Canadian Cattlemen's Association says the failure to address COOL in the farm bill was a disappointment.

"Basically it was a missed opportunity to do something to resolve the issue. It's status quo, so we're going to continue on our path which is we're back to the WTO. That process started back in September where the compliance panel was composed. Since that time there have been submissions of written briefs. There's now an oral hearing that's going to be about two weeks from now. And then I guess we'll wait about four months to get a ruling on that."

The crux of the matter with COOL, Masswohl said, "is that it creates the requirement that packers and people who buy cattle in the United States have to segregate imported cattle, keep them separate from U.S. cattle and manage them separately so that, ultimately, the meat can be labeled differently.

"That really was the essence of what the WTO concluded was wrong with the COOL."

Click here to read more or to listen to my interview with John Masswohl. 

State Veterinarian Urges Diligence In Fight Against PED Virus

In an open letter, Dr. Rod Hall, state veterinarian with the Animal Industry Services of the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture Food and Forestry, urges everyone connected with showing swine to guard against the spread of the PED virus:

We're into the heart of show season in Oklahoma. In the fall we were trying to make everyone aware of the influenza issue and to ask them to take measures to not spread that disease. We all worked together to prepare for and prevent problems with that virus.

We are now faced with a disease that can potentially be more devastating to our swine producers, particularly those who breed and raise show swine. You are all aware of the disease PED (Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea). This disease causes very severe diarrhea and vomiting in pigs three weeks of age and younger and in that class of pigs may result in 100% death loss. Many of our show pig breeders are farrowing at this time and introduction of this virus into their barns could possibly result in no pigs to sell for the fall show season.

I cannot stress enough how contagious this virus is, or how deadly it is to baby pigs. Please help spread the word to all people involved in swine and livestock exhibitions and the industry. Let's do our best to help Oklahoma show swine producers in business. 

You can read Dr. Hall's full letter by clicking here.

NRCS and Forest Service Partner to Improve Forest Health

Agriculture Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment Robert Bonnie announced today a multi-year partnership between the U.S. Forest Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to improve the health and resiliency of forest ecosystems where public and private lands meet across the nation. The Under Secretary made the announcement in Helena, Montana, near the site of the Red Mountain Flume/Chessman Reservoir, one of the first areas to be addressed through the partnership. Another area to be targeted is the San Bernardino/Riverside County area of California which experienced catastrophic wildfires a decade ago.

"NRCS and the Forest Service have the same goal in this partnership - working across traditional boundaries and restoring the health of our forests and watersheds whether they're on public or private lands," Bonnie said.

The project, called the Chiefs' Joint Landscape Restoration Partnership, will invest $30 million in 13 projects across the country this year to help mitigate wildfire threats to communities and landowners, protect water quality, and supply and improve wildlife habitat for at-risk species. 

Click here to read more.

 

This N That- National Signing Day, Full Conversation with Randy B and Corn Growers Grab a Grant

For the farm community, our National Signing Day came a couple of days after major college football- and it remains to be seen how many "stars" this signing will deserve- BUT- it does bring to an end the three year recruiting process that  it took to bring this baby into the world.

We are talking about the Agricultural Act of 2014- and signing day is today for the President of the United States, Barack Obama.  

It's not happening at the White House, but rather in East Lansing, Michigan- home state of Senate Ag Committee Chairlady Debbie Stabenow.  And of the four principle negotiators- only Stabenow will be there as the President signs the legislation.  

A Politico article quotes the Chairlady "I invited them in and it was up to them to decide," she said of the other top negotiators on the bill. "But I'm sure that the president would be happy to go to Chairman Lucas' district if he would like him to do that."  

As for the Chairman of the Farm Bill Conference Frank Lucas- the word we got from the House Ag Committee was that he had prior engagements planned back home in Oklahoma. 

So no photo ops with the President on this one- and really the key is that by the end of today- the Farm Bill will have morphed into the Farm Law.  Let the Implementing Begin!

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A quick note to urge you to jump over to our website (or check it our on our APP) and take a listen to a ten minute conversation we had with Randy Blach of Cattlefax about the state of the US Beef Industry- at least when it comes to current prices, demand and structure.

Yesterday afternoon, we sat down and talked as we have so many times in the past with Blach about these things at a national cattle industry gathering.  Click here to check it out.

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The importance of soil health for farmers and the environment took center stage this week as a new Science Advisory Council convened to kick off the Soil Health Partnership, formed by the National Corn Growers Association with support from the Walton Family Foundation and Monsanto. 

The mission of the Soil Health Partnership is to catalyze enhanced agricultural sustainability and productivity by demonstrating and communicating the economic and environmental benefits of improved soil health. The initial objectives of the program include building a network of demonstration research farms in key corn states; developing recommendations to farmers on a variety of soil management practices aimed at improving productivity, profitability and environmental outcomes; increasing adoption of those recommendations beyond the network of demonstration farms; and increasing the visibility and importance of sound soil management. 

Click here to read more- it sounds like NCGA is playing catch up on this topic compared to the soil health discussions I have heard the last two or three years at some of the No TIll Conferences out in this par of the country.