Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Wheat Crops All Shrink But Global Wheat Supplies Rise- SO, Wheat Prices Tank  

USDA offered up a pair of reports on Wednesday morning- and the grain and oilseed market generally reacted with lower prices- especially in the wheat pits. 

The headliner report for us in the southern plains was the June Crop Production Numbers from NASS, featuring the winter wheat estimates based on surveys up to June first. The Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas hard red winter wheat crops have shrunk further from the May to June USDA Crop Production Reports. Bushels per acre cut in all three states, Texas with a drop of four bushels per acre, Kansas with a two bushel per acre drop and a one bushel per acre cut for Oklahoma.  That makes the Oklahoma five percent smaller in June compared to the May estimate at 59.4 million bushels, with an 18 bushel per acre estimate on 3.3 million acres. The Oklahoma crop continues to likely be the smallest wheat crop since 1957 that has been produced in the state. It is roughly half the size of the 2013 wheat crop of 115 million bushels.

Click  here for more and for a link to the Crop Production Report based on June first information.


USDA also released the regular WASDE report on Wednesday- WASDE stands for the World Ag Supply and Demand Estimates- Tom Leffler with Leffler Commodities points to this report as the reason for lower wheat prices on Wednesday- even in the face of the shrinking US HRW wheat crop.  The report says "Global wheat supplies for 2014/15 are raised 4.1 million tons as a 5.2-million-ton increase in foreign production is only partly offset by a 0.8-million-ton reduction in foreign beginning stocks and this month's lower U.S. production outlook."   

Click here to read more about the WASDE report as well as to have a chance to listen to an analysis by Tom Leffler of Leffler Commodities- our own Leslie Smith talked with Leffler after the market traded down once those reports were released and into the market.  

Stop EPA Overreach, Farm Bureau's Stallman Tells Congress  

The EPA's proposal to regulate everyday farming practices isn't just impractical; it's illegal, American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman told the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment this morning.


"The EPA 'Waters of the U.S.' proposal broadly expands federal jurisdiction," Stallman said. "It threatens local land-use and zoning authority, and is an end-run around Congress and the Supreme Court."


The EPA claims that farmers would face less regulation under its latest proposal. In fact, the rule would micro-manage farming via newly-mandated procedures for fencing, spraying, weeding and more. Permitting, meanwhile, could delay time-sensitive tasks for months, potentially ruining crops in the process.

Click here to read more- our story on the website includes the link to Stallman's testimony before the Committee..  

As the meat and poultry industry continues reacting to the news that Tyson Foods made a binding offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Chicago-based Hillshire Brands Co. at $63 per share in cash, the Springdale, Ark.-processor hosted analyst and media teleconferences on Tuesday both to share their excitement in this acquisition possibility plus answer questions. Click here for the Tyson presentation made to analysts.


"This is a great day for our company," said Tyson Foods President and CEO Donnie Smith. "It's an exciting day for Tyson Foods as we announced an important strategic opportunity for our company and make a huge leap forward in the growth of our Prepared Foods business. With the acquisition of Hillshire Brands, not only will Tyson Foods have the No. 1 brands of chicken and stacked pack bacon, we'll also have the No. 1 brands for sausage, breakfast sandwiches, hot dogs, corn dogs and super-premium sausage. Sean Connolly (Hillshire Brands' CEO) is an impressive leader who has assembled an impressive team that is getting impressive results. And we're looking forward to combining Tyson Foods and Hillshire to create a $40 billion consumer-centric, insights-driven marketing organization that would position us as a clear leader in prepared retail prepared foods with iconic brands. These two companies together also become the No. 2 player in frozen food." 

For the rest of the article Click Here.  

NCBA President Testifies to the Value of Trade

The United States beef industry supports a strong export market. Today, National Cattlemen's Beef Association President and Victoria, Texas, cattleman, Bob McCan, testified before of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee expressing the benefits of expanding agricultural trade and eliminating barriers to U.S. exports.


"The elimination of tariff and non-tariff trade barriers is a top priority for the U.S. beef industry, and I strongly encourage you to work with the Administration to craft current and future trade agreements based on free market, science-based principles," McCan said.


Beef demand continues to increase around the world. In 2013, foreign consumers purchased 1.17 million metric tons of U.S. beef at a total of $6.1 billion. According to CattleFax, a global leader in beef industry research, analysis, and information, exports accounted for $307 per head of fed cattle in 2013.

For more about the value of trade to the beef sector Click Here.  

WRRDA Bill Will Expand Port of Catoosa

When you think of ports and the shipping of goods, most Americans will think of the east or west coast or even the Gulf of Mexico, but Oklahoma is not known for its role in the nation's inland waterwater system.   The Port of Catoosa is one of the largest inland waterports in the country, where goods are shipped up and down the Arkansas and Mississippi Rivers.


When Congress began debating the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014, Second District Congressman Markwayne Mullin made sure his collegues understood Oklahoma and the Port has an important role in moving goods and the nation's economy and how the Port of Catoosa is in desperate need for repairs.


"The core had came out with a report a few years ago that said the waterway, the navigational system, had a 50 - 50 chance of failing within the next five years," Mullin said. "There was 100 - million dollar backlog on just the navigational system and 63 million dollars of critical repairs needed."

Click to read the rest of the article or to listen to Congressman Mullin's comments.  

OSU Studying Water Efficiency in Beef Cattle

Oklahoma State University has been awarded a million dollar grant by through the US Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture to look at water utilization by beef cattle. Dr. Megan Rolf, animal science assistant professor with OSU's Division of Agriculture talked with us about the research project.


"The year we applied to the competitive grants program at USDA, they were looking for projects that were addressing doing to address adapt agriculture to climate variability," Rolf said. "So with a lot of the drought issues that have been going on in Oklahoma and still going on in Oklahoma and a lot of places, we really kinda wanted to look at issues related to utilization of water in the beef industry."


"So our project really focuses a lot measurement of individual animal variation in water intake, Rolf said. "Its a integrated proposal, which is one of the really neat things about USDA in my opinion, is we really get to take our research knowledge and integrate that directly into the cooperative extension service and develop some decision support tools for beef cow producers to use." 

Click to read more about this research study or listen the Beef Buzz with yours truly- as heard on great radio stations across the region and as archived on our website on the Beef Buzz page.    

This N That- Harvest Starts, Harvest Stops, Rain Comes Sweeping Across the Plains and Nevil Explains It All

Several folks were dry enough by Wednesday to get after harvest once again in north of I-40- we have had emails and tweets and facebook posts that show both canola and wheat were being harvested ahead of this latest round of rain that has roared across Oklahoma overnight and continues this morning into eastern parts of the state.

No specifics on yields etc- but we will be chasing that information down for you and have some updates on that hopefully tomorrow.  

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Rainfall totals have topped an inch overnight in portions of west central Oklahoma- the Mesonet station at Camargo is at the top of the heap this morning for rainfall at 1.94 inches of rain as of 6:30- Watonga and Kingfisher have had almost an inch and a half of rain- Fairview has received 3/4 of an inch and a lot of locations have topped a half inch.

Click here for the real time Mesonet graphic of rain over the last 24 hours and see how things are going on a statewide basis.

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One of my favorite thought leaders in the world of animal agriculture is Dr. Nevil Speer, who has been on the faculty at Western Kentucky University- home of those fighting Hilltoppers who are led by Jeff Edwards(but I digress)- Nevil has written a great thought piece on HSUS and how they want things "both ways" when it comes to dealing with the media and the public on issues that fall within their agenda of destroying animal agriculture.

Click here and take a read- Nevil says that "deception ultimately yields an absence of trust" when it comes to how HSUS regularly deals with animal agriculture- see what you think.