Uncertain Harvest Requires Solid Marketing Strategy, Kim Anderson Says 

Harvest season is descending upon the Southern Plains and it is still very much uncertain how much wheat has escaped the drought and unseasonably-late freeze unscathed. Oklahoma State University Extension Grain Marketing Specialist Kim Anderson says the markets are probably not going to react as they do during a normal harvest season. He spoke with me at the recent Lahoma Wheat Field Day. 

"I don't know how it could act like a normal harvest season because we're not going to know how much-or how little, if you want to put it that way-we're going to produce before we cross the scales with it. We don't know what the quality's going to be. You recall back in 2009 and 2010 when we had the poor quality wheat, the basis was $1.00 to $1.30 below the Kansas City or the KC contracts now. There's a lot of unknowns out there."

He said the disparity in the basis between the Chicago board and the Kansas City board which has been growing over the past few weeks will probably hold due to the fact the soft red winter wheat crop is in better shape than the hard red winter wheat. 

Anderson said with so much uncertainty surrounding production and quality this year it can be hard for producers to develop a marketing strategy, but now might be a good time to consider it.

"If I knew I was going to harvest some wheat, I'd probably go ahead and price some and lock in this basis and lock in the board price. The odds of it going higher if it comes in below expectations, the futures could go up, but that could be offset by a lower basis depending on that quality.

"I, as a producer, would probably not forward contract or price some because I just don't know how much I'm going to deliver to the elevator and I don't want to sell more than I can bring in."

Click here to read more or to listen to my conversation with Kim Anderson.

Oklahoma Farm Bureau Urges Legislators to Pass Drilling Tax Agreement 

Yesterday, the state's largest agricultural organization, Oklahoma Farm Bureau, voiced its support for the continued development of oil and natural gas in the state.

"OKFB opposes any legislative action that would discourage exploration and production of Oklahoma natural resources," said John Collison, OKFB vice president of public policy and media affairs.

A proposal at the state Capitol would increase the state's gross production tax on new wells from 1 percent to 2 percent for 48 months.

"While Oklahoma Farm Bureau does not encourage the raising of taxes on oil and gas production, we see this as a fair compromise," Collison said.

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

Reaching the Millennial Generation With Agricultural Products Through College Food Service

Reaching Millennial generation college students with the agricultural products they want that are safe and affordable is a tall order to fill. But that's just what Sodexo's Rob Marasco endeavors to do. He has more than 30 years of experience in all facets of food service management, including experience at noted establishments such as the Kennedy Center and Capital Hilton Hotel. He joined Sodexo in 1997 and currently serves as the Senior Director of Offer Development.

Marasco said that in conversation after conversation, college students say they want local foods to be a big part of their dining experience. He spoke with a panel of students at the Animal Agriculture Alliance's 2014 Stakeholder's Summit. In the latest Beef Buzz, he says pinning Millennials down and finding out just what that means helps his company fine tune their offerings at campuses they serve nationwide.

"Is it important to you to see farmer Joe's apple truck or chicken truck show up at the loading dock? Is that what's important to you? Because farmer Joe can't provide the volume we need to support that campus for a week, a month, a year. So, if that's what's important to you, let's have that conversation and nail that down. We can do that. But if you really want to identify whatever the criteria is that you want naturally-raised, hormone-free, free-range, cage-free-whatever all those things are, if you want that, that's a different conversation that we would have with multiple suppliers that we work with that really do the volume that we need to make a difference and not just, maybe this is too strong a word, greenwash it just to see the truck show up once a week... We're not really accomplishing anything for us, the client or the farmer."  

Click here for more from Rob Marasco on the latest Beef Buzz.

Election Set for Southwest Oklahoma Seat on Oklahoma Wheat Commission

The Oklahoma Wheat Commission will hold an election to fill the District IV opening. The election will be held Wednesday, May 14, 2014, commencing at 1 p.m. at the Cotton County Electric Community Center; located at 302 N. Broadway, Walters, Oklahoma. District IV consists of Caddo, Comanche, Cotton, Greer, Harmon, Jackson, Kiowa and Tillman counties.

All wheat producers within District IV boundaries who are actively engaged in wheat production, have marketed wheat, and have paid a check-off fee and left that fee with the Commission for the current year are eligible to vote. It will be the responsibility of the producer to prove their eligibility to vote by providing a dated grain elevator receipt including the producer's name and amount of wheat sold, and a driver's license or some other form of identification.

Learn more about the nomination and election process by clicking here. 

Record Biodiesel Production Adds to Soybean Farmers' Bottom Line

Last year's record-breaking biodiesel-production total means record-breaking industrial demand for U.S. soybean oil and bigger profits for U.S. soybean farmers.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the U.S. biodiesel industry produced 1.36 billion gallons of biodiesel in 2013, 37 percent more than in 2012. The EIA says that production required the use of at least 5.5 billion pounds of U.S. soybean oil.

That volume is the oil from more than 468 million bushels of U.S. soybeans. 

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

Weed-Free Forage Offers New Opportunities

Forage and mulch often contain non-native weeds that can cause infestations which adversely impact agriculture, forest, recreational, and other lands when these materials are transported. There is a growing demand for certified weed-free forage and mulch as a preventative program to reduce the spread of noxious weeds. Certified weed-free forage is required in many states and on federal lands managed by the US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, national parks, military, fish and wildlife refuges and tribes. State and federal agencies require certified weed-free mulch for highway, right-of-way, restoration and reclamation projects.            

Weed-free forage is of special interest to those who use pack and saddle stock, such as horse owners, outfitters, ranchers with grazing permits, hunters, and contractors. Starting in June 2005, visitors to national forests and national grasslands in the Rocky Mountain region must comply with a weed-free forage order. The order covers all national forests and national grasslands in Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas.         

Oklahoma's certified weed-free forage and mulch program offers many advantages. It provides an opportunity for Oklahoma producers to market certified forage and mulch as value-added products. 

Click here to read more.

This N That- Big Iron, Cattle On Feed and Cargill May Close Another Feedlot in the Texas Panhandle 

There are 518 items for sale in these week's Big Iron auction.  The first three items close at 10 a.m. and then sales continue closing after that.  Click here to check out their items.  Each has a detailed description and numerous pictures so you will know exactly what you are bidding on.

If you're new to buying and selling on Big Iron, you can call District Manage Mike Wolfe for more information at 580-320-2718 for more details.  You can also reach him via email at mike.wolfe@bigiron.com.

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Analysts are expecting April placements of cattle on feed to be sharply lower in the USDA's upcoming Cattle on Feed report due out May 22nd.

Allendale is projecting placements will be 6.1% lower than last year. USDA's cattle feeding margin ended the month with $216 per head profits on outgoing cattle. This strong incentive for heavy placements was curtailed by available feeder supplies. Corn averaged $5.02 in Western Kansas in March ($4.85 in March, $6.72 in April 2013). April placements help supply the September through November slaughter period.

Click here for more of Rich Nelson's analysis on the upcoming report.

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Meatingplace is pointing to an article of a couple of days ago in the Minneapolis StarTribune that seems to be saying that the Dalhart Feedlot owned by Cargill may be closing.   

Cargill closed their beef processing plant in Plainview in 2013- and have announced that they will be closing the Lockney Feedlot they own at the end of 2014. Lockney is south of Amarillo- the Dalhart feedlot is in the most northwest county of the Texas Panhandle- adjacent to Cimarron County, Oklahoma.  

It appears that the article is reporting that Cargill's Bovina Feedlot will remain open.  

The Cargill website has no details of such a closure- the Cargill site shows that the Dalhart Feedlot has a one time capacity of 60,000 head and was purchased by the company in 1975- at the same time they bought their largest feedlot in Leoti, Kansas.