Past NCBA President Disappointed NFU Leaves Checkoff Discussions 

The beef checkoff enhancement working group has been around three years now. National Cattlemen's Beef Association Past President Scott George, a dairy producer from Cody, Wyoming has been serving as the NCBA representative during that timeframe. He is surprised by all the talk in recent days about the possibilities of dumping the act and order, the basis of the checkoff since 1985 and going to a 1996 generic checkoff law instead. He said to make changes or enhancements to the checkoff its not that simple.


"The current beef checkoff is under the 1985 Farm Bill and it is law and then there is a proposal possibly to consider looking at the 1996 generic commodity act and try to work something there," George said. "...You can't just walk out and kill a law and replace it with another without some legal maneuvering and working with Congress in this case and also with the producers. One thing all producers need to remember is no matter what is proposed its going to have to go to the producers in referendum form for their approval." 


I recently interviewed Scott George about the state of the nation's beef checkoff program.  Earlier this month the National Farmers Union board voted to withdraw from the beef checkoff discussions. The board action was not unanimous as the largest Farmers Union state (by membership), Oklahoma, voted not to pull out of the talks. George said called the announcement surprising and disappointing.


The informal working group of ag organizations have been meeting and working together for about three years. George said in December of 2013, US Ag. Secretary Tom Visas met with representatives from all 11 groups at this office in Washington DC. At that meeting George said Vilsack expressed his support for the beef checkoff and his desire to enhance the program.   Vilsack told the group he wanted them to work together and find compromise. That would require give and take and Vilsack said that means everyone may not get what they want.  

Click here to read more about what came from the meetings of the 11 ag organizations.  You can also listen to this Beef Buzz feature.

OSU Among Recipients of USDA Conservation Innovation Grants 

Oklahoma State University is one of the recipients of a grant from the US Department of Agriculture. US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Monday the award of $15.7 million in Conservation Innovation Grants (CIGs) to 47 organizations that will help develop and demonstrate cutting-edge ideas to accelerate innovation in private lands conservation. The Secretary made the announcement while visiting a farm in Illinois.


"These grants promote creativity and problem-solving efforts that benefit farmers and ranchers and protect our natural resources," Vilsack said. "They're critical in sparking new ideas and techniques for conservation on America's private lands and improving the environment."


OSU received a grant for over $872 thousand dollars to develop an on-farm soil health management demonstration program. The grant will promote continued adoption of diverse crop rotations and no-till management in the Southern Plains. This project will focus on a bottom up approach in developing an on-farm demonstration program. Stakeholders will be asked to identify system based management practices that they think will be useful in improving the productivity and economic viability of soil health promoting practices. State extension specialists will then provide technical assistance in the form of protocols that will result in scientifically sound data collection needed to understand the impact of the practices on yield, yield stability, and the economics of the selected practices. State extension specialists will also develop guidelines for Conservation Stewardship Program enhancements for producers willing to participate in on-farm demonstration projects in order to provide further participation incentives.  

Click here to learn more about these grants funded through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program.  

AFBF Delegation Aims to Reduce Trade Barriers Abroad

American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman is leading a delegation of the organization's leaders to Europe this week to discuss efforts to increase trade through comprehensive agreements that would reduce, if not eliminate, government-imposed barriers to agricultural trade.


"Regulatory barriers, particularly those not grounded in scientific standards, have limited the flow of agricultural trade between the U.S. and EU markets for too long," AFBF President Bob Stallman said.


The American Farm Bureau Trade Advisory Committee, chaired by Minnesota Farm Bureau President Kevin Paap, will meet with World Trade Organization Director General Roberto Azevedo, as well as with the WTO director of agriculture and commodities, and trade ambassadors from Brazil, Japan, Australia, India, China and Canada.


Following the meeting in Geneva, the group will travel to Brussels to meet with EU officials to discuss the Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership. The TTIP negotiations aim to expand the world's largest commercial relationship with $1 trillion of trade in goods and services annually and $3.7 trillion in two-way direct investment between the United States and EU member nations. The U.S. exported $12 billion in agricultural products to the EU in 2013 while the EU exported $17.3 billion in agricultural products to the U.S. 

Click here to learn more of this this trade delegation and its mission to expand trade through Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership. 

Fertilizer Prices Moving from Floor Prices, But Upside Limited

Fertilizer prices are slowly rising from the floor prices witnessed earlier this year, driven by both intentional and unintentional supply reductions across the board. Seasonal demand, mostly from China, India and the US, is unlikely to cause any prolonged rise in prices for the fertilizer complex, while bearish sentiment in global commodities is leading to reluctance towards stock accumulation across the fertilizer chains. Rabobank believes that bearish commodity prices will have limited impact on input use in the short term, while the medium-term picture could see farmers reducing fertilizer applications as margins come under more pressure.


Nutrient outlooks:  Tight supply provides some positives in urea


Supply disruptions and supply chain management in local urea markets are providing upward pressure. These local drivers could prove insufficient, slowing the bull run, and thus stabilizing prices.


A tight supply in granular markets is more evident than for prills. Seasonal demand pull from India and the US is unlikely to be sufficient to initiate prolonged higher prices.  While there may be some scope for price increases, mostly driven by a few regional markets, the general tone in urea remains cautious given that already low commodity prices and the lurking possibility of further price decreases are not exactly incentives to accumulate stocks.


China is steering the direction of urea prices, and it seems traders have overestimated this source of seemingly infinite cheap urea. Indeed, traders with short positions in Indian tenders are unable to deliver on earlier price commitments given the urea price increases in China. As a result of the momentum that has gathered pace in terms of supply chain management and prices, China will likely force India to prematurely retender to secure sufficient volumes, albeit at higher prices.

Click here to read more about the outlook for phosphates and potash.  You will also find a link the full report from Rabobank, including the region fertilizer outlook with how China, India, Brazil and Europe will impact the market supply and demand situation. 
 

Wine Makers Reaching Consumers at Oklahoma State Fair

Oklahoma's wine industry is getting a lot of exposure at the Oklahoma State Fair. Wineries from around the state are showcasing their wines in the Creative Arts Building. One of those exhibiting is Karen Stobaugh owner of Whispering Meadows Vineyards and Winery in McAlester. She said her family's winery has been exhibiting at the state fair since 2007.


"It's definitely been a great experience," Stobaugh said. "It gives Oklahoma wines wonderful exposure, it brings our product to a lot of different people that we can't always see when we are just are at the winery."  


Whispering Meadows Vineyards produces 17 different varietals representing a mix of both of dry and sweet wines. Stobaugh said at the state fair they are seeing more consumers gravitating toward sweet wines.


"A lot of your beginning drinkers and the new consumers tend to gravitate toward a sweeter start, then their palate seems to move over to drier as they progress," Stobaugh said.   

Click Here to read or hear more about the latest trend in the wine industry and how this industry needs helps from the legislature to continue growing.
 

Selk Addresses Weaning Calves 45 Days Prior to Selling

Glenn Selk, Oklahoma State University Emeritus Extension Animal Scientist, writes in the latest Cow-Calf Newsletter.


Most of the "Value-Added" calf sales require that the calves are weaned at least 45 days prior to sale date. Some cow calf producers may wonder why the post-weaning period needs to be so lengthy. Data from Iowa from over a nine year period in a couple of their feedout tests compared the health status of calves weaned less than 30 days to calves weaned longer than 30 days. Data from over 2000 calves were summarized. Calves that had been sent to a feedlot at a time less than 30 days had a higher incidence of bovine respiratory disease (28%) compared to calves weaned longer than 30 days (13%). The percentage of calves that required 3 or more treatments also was significantly different (6% versus 1%) in favor of calves that had been weaned more than 30 days. In fact the calves weaned less than 30 days were not different in health attributes than calves that were weaned on the way to the feedlot.


A summary of this lengthy study can be found on line by clicking here. Vac-45 calves apparently have a real advantage in terms of health compared to calves weaned for less than a month or those weaned on the way to the livestock market for sale date. Certainly part of the "value" in value-added calves can be attributed to properly applied vaccinations. However, there is little doubt that a portion of the improved health is due to the length of time between weaning and the movement of calves to the next owner.   

This N That-Syngenta Sued Again, Two Thumbs UP for Amendment One and It's Big Iron Wednesday

Reuters is reporting that a second company has sued Swiss Ag Giant Syngenta over their failure to get approval for a GM corn variety from China before releasing the variety to be grown by corn farmers across the US.   

Trans Coastal Supply Co, a major exporter of livestock feed products, said in court documents it expects to lose more than $41 million because Syngenta sold Agrisure Viptera corn seed, known as MIR 162, to U.S. farmers without first obtaining import approval from Beijing.

Trans Coastal says their losses are related to rejected sales by the Chinese of DDGs-  Dried Distillers Grains. Their lawsuit says that Syngenta's motivation in selling this variety of corn seed to farmers without the Chinese approval is about greed. 

Their suit follows one dropped into the legal hopper by Cargill, who claims the Syngenta miscue is costing them $90 million dollars in lost sales to the Chinese.  

Click or tap here to read the full story from Reuters on this latest lawsuit against Syngenta.

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A recount showed the "right to farm" constitutional amendment was approved by Missouri voters last month, although by a slightly smaller margin. "The final results of the recount confirmed the passage of Amendment 1," said the secretary of state's office in a statement.  

The winning margin was 2,375 votes, compared to the 2,490 votes initially announced, out of nearly 1 million ballots. The amendment was popular in rural counties and opposed in urban areas.

The chairman of pro-amendment Missouri Farmers Care, Don Nikodim, told a public radio station in St. Louis that the victory was 'good news for anyone who eats. Now Missouri farmers can move forward with providing a diverse food supply without the threat of out-of-state activist groups impeding our state's No. 1 industry."

We have the county by county recount results here.

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It's Wednesday- and that means the Big Iron folks will be busy closing out this week's auction items- all 621 of them- starting at 10 AM central time. (This week's sale is the biggest we have had this summer!)                                   

Click Here for the complete rundown of what is being sold on this no reserve online sale this week.

If you'd like more information on buying and selling with Big Iron, call District Manager Mike Wolfe at 580-320-2718 and he can give you the full scoop.  You can also reach Mike via email by clicking or tapping here.