Featured Story:

Sixteen organizations in the Australia, Canada and the United States representing producers and millers together publicly confirmed support for innovation in wheat, including the future commercialization of biotechnology. The statement, which lays out shared commitments for the responsible advancement of biotech traits and other breeding advancements in wheat, comes five years after an original document was signed. This new pledge welcomes the addition of broad-based groups like the American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Farmers Union to a wide coalition of wheat organizations in the three countries.


The signatories call for further innovation in research as wheat represents about 20 percent of human calorie intake, making it an essential part of the global diet and critical to food security. As demand increases, they state, wheat supplies must remain abundant while meeting the highest quality and nutrition standards. Advanced breeding and biotechnology will help protect the continued availability of wheat foods and "ultimately offers the promise of improved products, more sustainable production and environmental benefits," according to the statement.  

Click here for more on this statement that builds upon one that was signed five years ago. This new pledge includes five U.S. groups: The American Farm Bureau Federation, National Association of Wheat Growers, the National Farmers Union, the North American Millers' Association and the U.S. Wheat Associates. We also have a link in our web story to the full statement that was agreed to by all parties.  It's an important agreement to keep the wheat industry moving towards bringing biotech varieties of wheat to market- hopefully sooner rather than later.  

USDA Puts $26 Million Into Battle Against Swine Diseases- Will Require Producers to Report Disease 

While speaking at World Pork Expo-USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced funding yesterday to help combat Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus.  Vilsack also issued a Federal order to help combat the significant impact producers are facing due to PEDv and the porcine deltacoronavirus.   

USDA will use $26.2 million worth of funding for virus control and research. Almost four million dollars of the money will be spent on finding a vaccine for PEDv, with eleven million earmarked for helping producers with biosecurity issues. The federal order requires the reporting of new detection's of the viruses.   Reports will be made to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, or state animal health officials.   

The National Pork Producers Council urged the funding to go to continued research as well as to help producers with raising the level of biosecurity.  NPPC President Howard Hill said "We're hopeful the USDA plan will work." 

One number that NPPC threw into the mix in their reaction to the USDA plan- now they are saying EIGHT MILLION PIGS have died to PEDv since last May- that's huge.

Click here for the USDA announcement of the plan to battle PEDv and click here for the NPPC reaction and comments on how they would like to see USDA spend the resources they bring to the table.

The USDA has decided not to have a general signup window for CRP in 2014- instead they will have a continuous signup underway starting this Monday, June 9th at your local FSA office.   

If you have contracts from a general signup that expire this year- you will be given the option of a one year extension that will take you into 2015 when it's likely a general signup will occur.   

Under continuous sign-up authority, eligible land can be enrolled in CRP at any time with contracts of up to 10 to 15 years in duration. "CRP is one of the largest voluntary conservation programs in the country," says USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack. "This initiative helps farmers and ranchers lead the nation in preventing soil erosion, improving water quality and restoring wildlife habitat, all of which will make a difference for future generations."

The Secretary also announced that retiring farmers enrolled in CRP could receive incentives to transfer a portion of their land to beginning, disadvantaged or veteran farmers through the Transition Incentives Program (TIP).    

The Transition Incentives Program provides two additional years of payments for retired farmers and ranchers who transition expiring CRP acres to socially disadvantaged, military veteran, or beginning producers who return the land to sustainable grazing or crop production. Sign up will also begin June 9. TIP funding was increased by more than 30 percent in the 2014 Farm Bill, providing up to $33 million through 2018.  

Click here for more on these CRP tweaks- and as always when it comes to dealing with CRP- the agency you work with at USDA is the FSA.

Chairman Frank Lucas: New Leadership at CFTC Must Focus on Consensus, Bring Certainty to the Marketplace 

Congressman Frank Lucas, Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, issued the following statement after the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Timothy Massad as the Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Christopher Giancarlo and Sharon Bowen as CFTC Commissioners.

"I am pleased the CFTC will be operating at full strength once again. I am hopeful that Chairman Massad will lead by consensus, which will be better for America's economy in the long run. Specifically, I am hopeful that he will reverse recent Commission actions that seem to ignore the concerns of our farmers and ranchers, as well as pursue commonsense reforms that will bring certainty to the marketplace for America's manufacturers, energy firms, and utilities.

"The House Agriculture Committee just passed a wide-ranging, bipartisan CFTC reauthorization bill that makes numerous reforms, including improving the operations of the agency, protecting futures customers, and reducing regulatory burdens on job creators. Chairman Massad can start there if he needs a blueprint for action," said Chairman Frank Lucas.  

Kim Anderson Says Global Price Impact of US Wheat Harvest Not What It Used to Be- and Our SUNUP Lineup 

OSU Extension Grain Marketing Economist Dr. Kim Anderson says as harvest arrives and farmers bring the crop in- the choice is to either store the crop or market it- and he continues to be a fan of his "mechanical" marketing strategy- A Third, A Third and a Third.


Dr. Anderson says one of the things that US wheat farmers have to understand is that a large or small US wheat crop is simply not as powerful as it once was in moving the market. He tells SUNUP in his segment for this weekend's program that the US crop is less than eight percent of the world wheat crop and that the US exports will total less than twenty percent of the global wheat trade. That means that a bumper crop elsewhere in the world (or a shortfall) can have just as much or more impact than crop conditions domestically- and will be felt at times other than right now as we begin harvest of the US winter wheat crop. 

Click here to go and listen to all of Dr. Anderson's comments that will be seen this weekend on SUNUP- and we have the rundown of the SUNUP program for this weekend as well as part of the story- check it out!

Horse Owners Should Take Precautions Against West Nile

The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry is encouraging horse owners to take precautions and vaccinate their animals to protect against the West Nile Virus (WNV) and Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE).  

There have been more than 40 cases in each of the past two years in Oklahoma where horses have been positively diagnosed as infected with mosquito-carried diseases. The bird population serves as the reservoir for the viruses, and it is then spread by mosquitos to horses and humans.   


The mosquitos most likely to transmit WNV and EEE lay eggs in small pools of standing water. Adult mosquitoes can hatch in 10 days during the warmest months of the summer. Mosquitoes can become infected with both WNV and EEE after feeding on an infected host; such as birds carrying the virus. Within 10 to 14 days, the mosquito can transmit the virus to both humans and horses. 

Click here for more on this call to action by horse owners by the ODAFF.

This N That- Kris Black Sale, Rainfall Y'All and Homegrown Video Proclaims "That's Enough"

It's the 13th Annual Kris Black Cream of the Crop Female and Bull Sale coming this Saturday June 7th at the Kris Black ranch in Crawford, Oklahoma- 15 miles north of Cheyenne.

Kris and his family will be selling fall calving bred heifers and donor prospects as well as a special set of prospective herd bulls.

The Kris Black herd is known for their outstanding seedstock production and for top notch club calf production.

Sale time on June 7th will be 12:30- Lunch will be served before that.

For information about the sale, call Kris Black at

(580) 309-0711 or click here for our calendar listing of their sale. 

**********

The active weather patterns of recent days continue- and this last night and early this morning, we have seen rainfall from the Panhandle eastward across the top of the state- and this morning that has spread southward- as we write the wrapup of this email this morning- we have rainfall ready to hit the Oklahoma City metro.

Click here to and take a look at who has gotten rain to this point- this is not a snapshot- but a real time ongoing 48 hour map from the Mesonet- Hobart has received right at an inch of rainfall from this overnight system- several locations in northeastern Oklahoma are above an inch- and the forecasts point to more rainfall into the weekend across a lot of the state.

**********

 
Finally- we thought you might enjoy a video produced by a farm couple from the state of Missouri- taking aim at the EPA and their Waters of the US Rule. 

Here's the video- it's a down on the farm parody of the song "Let it Go" from the movie Frozen.  Enjoy.

That's Enough - ("Let it Go" Parody)