National Corn Crop Quality Remains High, Progress Surpasses Average 

Percentage of corn acres having reached the silking stage surpassed the five-year average last week, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report released Monday.  The report also indicates that the overall condition remained strong with 76 percent of all corn acres rated in good or excellent condition. This total showed a one point gain from last week, with the increase specifically placed in acres rated in excellent condition.


"Obviously, corn farmers are pleased to see such strong quality reports at this point in the season," said NCGA President Martin Barbre. "While our corn shows promise in the fields, we are keenly aware of the many challenges which might arise tomorrow. America's farmers have excelled this year, using the best and most sustainable practices and most advanced tools to ensure a successful crop. Now, we have to work just as diligently to maintain and grow markets that will ensure our crop helps meet our world's growing need for fuel, food and fiber."


On July 13, 34 percent of all corn acres had reached the silking stage, surpassing the five-year average by one point. The previous week silking trailed the average by three percentage points. States in which silking surpassed the five-year average, such as Missouri, Kentucky and Illinois, made up for lagging progress in states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania, which trail the five-year average by 14 points each.


The 2014 corn crop condition estimate was increased by one point, indicating quality far superior to that seen in the 2013 crop at this point. With 76 percent of the crop in good or excellent condition and only one percent of corn in very poor condition, reports continue to suggest a crop of quality superior to that of the record-production seen the year prior. At this point in 2013, only 66 percent of the total crop was rated in good or excellent condition.   

Click Here for State-By-State Details 

Oklahoma row crops continued to be in good condition and small grains harvest was virtually completed. All row crop conditions were rated mostly good to fair. Corn silking reached 56 percent complete by Sunday and 17 percent had reached the dough stage, five points behind normal. Conditions of pasture and range were rated mostly good to fair and topsoil and subsoil moisture conditions continued to be rated mostly adequate to short.

Oklahoma wheat harvest was 97 percent complete by Sunday, just one point below the five-year average. Rye harvest was 90 percent complete by week's end. Ninety percent of oats were harvested by Sunday, 8 points behind normal. Second cutting of alfalfa hay reached 80 percent complete, while a third cutting was 12 percent complete. Alfalfa hay continued to be rated mostly fair.

Click Here for the full Oklahoma Crop Progress Report.

Hot and dry conditions persisted throughout Texas. The corn continued to mature with silking 81 percent complete, three points ahead of the five year average. Wheat harvest is 99 percent complete with harvest nearing completion in the Northern High Plains. Sorghum harvest is 15 percent complete. Peanuts continued pegging across the Southern High Plains.

Texas is experiencing a mix of pasture conditions with green areas in parts of the Northern Plains due to recent rainfall, while producers in the North East and South Central reported pastures suffering from heat stress and areas of the Coastal Bend has had poor condition forcing many producers to market their calves early.

Most Kansas farmers have wrapped up wheat harvest with harvest 90 percent complete. Others who decided to control weed infestations with herbicides were waiting for the weeds to die before finishing harvest. The state's corn crop is progressing ahead of normal with corn silking at 56 percent, ahead of last year's 30 and 11 percent of the crop in the dough stage. The sorghum crop is starting to head and 28 percent of the soybeans have bloomed.

Pasture and range conditions rated 6 percent very poor, 16 poor, 39 fair, 36 good and 3 excellent. Topsoil moisture rated 8 percent very short, 23 percent short, 65 percent adequate and 4 percent surplus. Subsoil moisture rated 15 percent very short, 28 percent short, 55 percent adequate and 2 percent surplus. 

Peel says Cow-Calf Producers In the Drivers Seat in 2014, 2015

In 2014 its gotten to be a lot more common to see figures of $3 a pound at local auction barns for three weight calves, but what about $4 a pound?. This past week at the Superior Livestock Week in the Rockies Sale, some Wyoming calves brought $4 - $4.22 for fall delivery. That equates out to nearly $1,500 per head for the 350 pound calves. Without a doubt, cow-calf producers have lots of opportunity for profitability in 2014. That's going to extend out into 2015 as well according to Dr. Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Market Economist.


"You know this industry supply starts from the bottom up and certainly at the cow calf level, the cow-calf sector is in the driver seat," Peel said. "This industry needs supply, the market is providing the incentive to increase supply, the cow-calf sector is going to enjoy that."


"We expect to see record profit levels for the cow calf sector in general in 2014 and 2015," he said. "It's going to take some time, several years for us to respond to this and assuming that we can continue to moderate drought conditions and so on and respond to this, so at that level, producers are in the driver seat, they are going to enjoy that."


"At the other levels, its a real question of margin," Peel said. "The real key there is if demand is good enough, then margins can work in all levels of the industry."

Click Here to read or to listen to today's Beef Buzz.

Early Weed Control in the Fall is Key to Wheat Yield Success the Next Spring

Continuous planting of wheat year after year poses some challenges when it comes to controlling pests, especially weeds. Todd Baughman is program support leader in Weed Science at Oklahoma State University's Institute for Agricultural Biosciences based in Ardmore. He says in planting the same crop year after year you end up developing weeds that closely resemble the crop being grown like brome, jointed goat grass and wild oats to name a few. We talked with Todd yesterday about weed issues in wheat and a new herbicide tool for wheat producers to consider in 2014- PRE-PARE.


"You have a weed that very closely resembles the crop and trying to develop a program that will selectively not harm the crop, but control that weed makes it a real challenge when you don't have some sort of rotation in your program," said Baughman.


Until recently farmers haven't had many options in terms for weed control.   One of the new tools farmers have access to is Arysta's ag chemical PRE-PARE. It's a preemergence herbicide for grass control in wheat. Baughman says through research he has done at OSU they have found how best to utilize this herbicide.


"The real key to grass control in wheat is getting out there early," Baughman. "Work we have done with a lot of herbicides has shown your most effective is in the early part of the growing season."

Click Here to read or to listen to Ron Hays interview Todd Baughman on weed control issues in wheat.   

You can also click here to jump over to the News Release for more information on PRE-PARE.   

Ethanol Production Increases & Corn Prices Drop as Food & Gas Prices Increase

In light of recent data that definitively disproves the myths propagated by Big Oil and Big Food that ethanol increases food prices, Tom Buis CEO of Growth Energy released the following statement:


"Time and again Big Oil, Big Food and special interests have attacked the ethanol industry, blaming them for increasing food prices, but when you look at the facts, nothing could be further from the truth. Recently, there has been a surge in ethanol production, while at the same time corn prices have been falling. Currently, corn is trading at $3.99, half the cost of what it traded for two years ago, yet food prices continue to rise because the cost of oil continues to climb. In fact, a recent World Bank study outlines how crude oil prices are responsible for 50 percent of the increase in food prices since 2004."


"Furthermore, while Big Oil continues its fear mongering about the use of ethanol, American consumers just experienced a six year high in gas prices over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, and prices continue to hover at record prices while ethanol is trading roughly a dollar per gallon below the cost of wholesale gasoline. Clearly global political unrest is once again responsible for driving consumer fuel prices higher. And, because of Big Oil's monopoly over the fuels market, consumers currently have to pay more to drive to the store and the hits keep on coming when they check out at the grocery line."

Click Here to read more of Tom Buis' comments.

This N That: Wheat Commission Plans Two Days of Meetings This Week in OKC and Gene Neuens Becomes a Free Agent

It's the start of the state of Oklahoma's Fiscal Year- and the Oklahoma Wheat Commission has a lot of  "new year" business to conduct- even in the face of declining revenues this year because of the historically small 2014 wheat crop.

They will begin the Board Meeting on Wednesday afternoon and continue with what they are calling a special Planning Session on Thursday morning.   

To see the agendas for both days- click here. 

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There are more questions than answers in my mind this morning- but was sad to see that PCOM has apparently pulled further back from their involvement with the developing winter canola industry by eliminating the position that has been held for the last several years by Gene Neuens.   

In working with Gene, we developed and launched Canola TV with PCOM as the sponsor.  While we have not done any fresh episodes this past crop year- a restart of that project is in our plans at the Oklahoma Farm Report- encouraged more than once by Gene.   

Gene not only helped us tremendously in our efforts to promote the idea of winter canola being the perfect crop to rotate with winter wheat- but he has been seen in the industry as one of the pillars in getting this industry off the ground and on its way to a million acres one of these days soon.  

At trade shows across Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas- we have met up with Gene in his booth- and he has always been ready to offer an encouraging word about canola to wheat farmers across the three states and even beyond.

Gene (and when Heath Sanders was with him at PCOM) were the dynamic duo in canola and complimented so well the work done by the OSU folks in pulling canola up by its bootstraps.  

It's too early to know where he may land- but I suspect that one of the many companies that are jumping into the southern plains canola business will grab him sooner rather than later.  

Gene has not only been a great resource for us in our news gathering-reporting efforts- but he has been a friend as well- and his service to Oklahoma agriculture is greatly appreciated by yours truly.