Canola College Attendance Highlights Oklahoma Producers' Surging Interest, Expanding Acreage

Attendance at this year's Canola College event in Enid yesterday shows interest in growing the crop continues to surge. That's according to Dr. Ron Sholar, executive director of the Great Plains Canola Association. He spoke with me in Enid and said the prospect for the growth of canola acres in Oklahoma is tremendous.

"I'm feeling extremely good about this. I'm excited. We had about a little over 250 people last year and we're looking at 400 here today with us right here at this moment."

The program offered informational seminars for canola growers all the way from rank beginners to growers with eight to ten years of experience. Experienced farmers and professors from Oklahoma State University spoke on best management practices, fertility, insect and weed control.

The inclusion of canola acres in producers' rotations has grown exponentially over the last several years and Sholar says the potential is there for Oklahoma farmers to raise a million acres-worth of canola if they can just continue to get the message out.

"We started about years ago with about 40,000 and this year we have 300,000 in the ground here in Oklahoma and about 400,000 in the region counting Kansas and Texas. What we need folks to continue to understand is what it's going to do for them--not just as a stand-alone crop, canola as a crop, which is good in and of itself, but what it will do for them as a wheat farmer. It will make every wheat farmer a better wheat farmer. It will clean up his fields. It will increase his yields. This whole deal was started with the idea of making better wheat farmers and we've not abandoned that at all."

You can listen to our full conversation and read more of this story on our website by clicking here. 

 

OSU Wheat Breeder Addresses Attacks on Wheat from Inside the Industry

Recently, as a food crop, wheat has come under attack. Dr. Brett Carver, a wheat breeder at Oklahoma State University, calls the fears about gluten whipped up in the popular press "glutenoia." While he believes those attacks are overblown, he said the crop most popular in Oklahoma is coming under another sort of attack.

Carver will be speaking to the Oklahoma Crop Improvement Association today in Oklahoma City with a talk entitled: "If Wheat Could Talk, It Would Say, 'STOP Ragging on Me.'" He says that there are those inside the agribusiness industry who are talking the crop down because they say it has not kept pace with its counterparts.

"Another way that wheat is being attacked-and it really doesn't need to be-and that is its ability to compete with other crops. And I think wheat may be a little bit better off than we think. We could certainly make it a lot better. That's why we do what we do. But I think we may not give it enough credit and in so doing that I think we look to other solutions that may or may not help us in the long run and overlook the big picture."

Carver's talk will explore ongoing efforts to improve wheat. He says some believe that wheat has fallen behind in the genetic modification area, an area that has proven phenomenally productive for corn and soybeans, but, he says, "I think that's where the train leaves the tracks." 

You can catch my interview with Brett Carver or read more of this story by clicking here. 

Oklahoma Wheat Crop Looking Good, Marketing Efforts Continue Apace, Schulte Says

For the first time in a couple of years, Oklahoma is experiencing a real winter with frigid temperatures and winter precipitation. The wheat crop is dormant across much of the state, and Mike Schulte of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission  says that gives producers a chance to assess the crop and their management of it so far. 

"Producers this time of year generally have their nitrogen applications on for top dress and, if you go to southwestern Oklahoma and the Panhandle regions of the state, you hear a lot of producers haven't put those applications on yet just because of the last ten days. There have been colder temperatures. They were going to wait and see if they had moisture coming in. And, in the northwestern part of the state, there have been instances where they've been covered in snow for the last week. That has slowed them down and hindered them on that process.

"I think, overall, if you look at state conditions, in the southwest and Panhandle regions of the state, no doubt we still need moisture in a lot of those areas, but if we do get rain and they do put the top dress down, we would have good prospects for a wheat crop right now."

You can read more and listen to our conversation by clicking here.  Mike will all be my guest on this Saturday's "In the Field" segment on News 9 about 6:40 a.m.  

Study Reports GM Crops Are the Preferred Choice of World's Farmers

Millions of farmers around the world continue to choose to plant and replant genetically modified (GM) crop varieties because of their environmental and socio-economic benefits and the important role they play in maintaining food security, according to a new study.

The report, Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2013, released annually by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA), says a record 18 million farmers in 27 countries are growing biotech crops on 433 million acres.

"With the challenges of food insecurity and climate change, the productivity gains from GM crop technology are helping to feed a global population using less land, water and more environmentally friendly farming practices," says Dr. Cathleen Enright, Executive Vice President, Food and Agriculture for the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO).

Click here for the rest of this story.

 

Beef Demand Continues Positive Trajectory for 2014, According to Glynn Tonsor 

It remains a remarkable story: the staying power of retail beef demand in the U.S., despite record-high retail prices. And it's depicted in the latest beef demand index calculations from a K-State livestock economist. Dr. Glynn Tonsor regularly tracks a series of indicators that factor into his beef demand index. He just finished his analysis of demand for the fourth quarter of 2013...and it bodes well for beef cattle producers.

"The specific numbers for the fourth quarter would be the choice-demand index I maintain which was up 3.1 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the fourth quarter of 2012. Likewise, the all-fresh beef demand index which is more encompassing, it's not just choice, select and others in there, was up 1.8 percent in the fourth quarter. That index, the all-fresh one, has been up for the last 14 quarters. So, consecutively, we've had year-over-year improvement. That's a very positive story."

These fourth-quarter numbers simply echo the trend for the entire 2013 calendar year, which Tonsor has also summarized.

"When you look at the whole year of 2013, the choice demand index was up 2.6 percent which may not sound like a lot, but, when you have an industry the size of the beef industry, that's a big increase. And, it's the best year since 2004. That's a very positive story."

Glynn joins me on the latest Beef Buzz.  Click here to join us.

 

WASDE Report 'Good News and Bad News' for Wheat Producers, Anderson Says

In this week's SUNUP preview, Oklahoma State University Extension Grain Marketing Specialist Dr. Kim Anderson says the recently-released USDA WASDE report has been both good news and bad news for wheat prices.

"Yeah, they lowered U.S. wheat stocks from 608 million bushels down to 558 and they lowered world stocks down to 6.8 billion bushels. That made U.S. stocks well below average and world stocks slightly below average and that resulted in higher prices."

Anderson says those higher prices are not necessarily good news because "those WASDE numbers are already factored into the market. It's going to take additional information to get prices to go higher. That March contract's got support at $6.60 and resistance at $6.93. The July contract's got support at $6.30 and resistance at $6.50. We've got to have that information." 

In the long run, Anderson says, export demand for the 2014 U.S. hard red winter wheat crop should be very high given this WASDE report.

Click here for more from Kim Anderson and to see the full lineup for this week's SUNUP program.

 

This N That- Farm Bureau Ready for Leadership Conference, OK&T Angus Sale Set for Next Wednesday and OALP Class 16 Ready to Fly

The Oklahoma Farm Bureau Leadership Conference will be held this coming Monday and Tuesday in Oklahoma City at the downtown Skirvin Hotel. The conference focuses on updating members on the legislative issues on state and federal levels.


The agenda for the two day conference features Congressman Markwayne Mullin and Congressman James Lankford. They both will be giving an update from Washington, D.C. Also, on the agenda is Cordon DeKock with the State Chamber of Oklahoma and Dave Hageman with Protect the Harvest.

Click here for more details and a full lineup of their two day program.

**********

Angus breeders who are a part of the OK&T association are excited about their 73rd annual production sale coming up on Wednesday, February 19th in Buffalo, Oklahoma.

A total of 79 head will be selling- we have a PDF file of the catalog in our calendar and auction listings for the sale- click here to take a look.

**********

The snow storm that rolled up the east coast the last few days dealt a blow to the travel plans of Class XVI of the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program that was scheduled to begin a journey yesterday that would have landed them in South Africa by Saturday.  Dulles airport was shut down and that sent the travel company that works with many of the Ag Leadership Programs across the country on a search and rescue mission to salvage the trip for the young leaders who are a part of this OALP Class.   

The good news is that the class will be headed out- just a little late- on Saturday afternoon and end up flying out of New York to end up in Johannesburg by Monday.  They will extend their travels by a day or so to pick up some of the key elements that they missed at the front end, including a visit with US Wheat Associate officials in Capetown.   

Part of being a leader is not throwing up your hands and saying it can't be done when roadblocks are thrown at you- but rather- picking up the pieces, getting your efforts back on track, and turning what could be a wreck into a masterpiece.  The old saying "Making Lemonade when life throws lemons at you" comes to mind.  

I suspect the members of Class 16 will be a little better because they having to be more flexible as they embark on this international study experience- and somewhere down the road- they will be prepared for other "lemonade moments" as they help lead whatever local, state or national groups they are involved in.   

What about you?  Are you a "it's too hard" or "it's not convenient for me" kind of a person?  Or- are you a "let's figure this out and do it" kind of person?  For your farm or rural group- which type of person do you want being involved as a leader?   

Yep- I thought so. Nuff Said!