Owners Can Update Yield History and Reallocate Base Acres as Prelude to Farm Bill Program Choice

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack today unveiled highly anticipated new programs to help farmers better manage risk, as the agency begins to put into place the new pieces of the federal farm safety net that saw major revamping in the 2014 farm law.


Vilsack also announced that new tools are now available to help provide farmers the information they need to choose the new safety net program that is right for their business.


"The 2014 Farm Bill represented some of the largest farm policy reforms in decades. One of the Farm Bill's most significant reforms is finally taking effect," said Vilsack. "Farming is one of the riskiest businesses in the world. These new programs help ensure that risk can be effectively managed so that families don't lose farms that have been passed down through generations because of events beyond their control. But unlike the old direct payment program, which paid farmers in good years and bad, these new initiatives are based on market forces and include county - and individual - coverage options. These reforms provide a much more rational approach to helping farmers manage risk."

The Secretary talked with agricultural reporters on a teleconference on Thursday afternoon- and I was one of several that engaged the Secretary during the Q&A session. You can hear an overview of the announcement and the details surrounding the rollout in a special audio report by clicking or tapping here.   

Starting this coming Monday- Farm Owners can go to their FSA office and reallocate base acres and/or update yield history.  Learn more about how this fits into the eventual decision for either ARC or PLC in our story- we also have the link to the extensive backgrounder that the Farm Service Agency has about PLC and ARC.

Drought Continues to Plague Oklahoma After Nearly Four Years 

Oklahoma has been in drought going on nearly four years and the impact of the drought is not easing. According to the latest US Drought Monitor report the intensity of drought is worse this year than a year ago with 69 percent of the state is in drought. Last fall 49 percent of the state was experiencing drought.


As of Tuesday, the National Drought Mitigation Center reports 2.25 percent of the state is in exceptional drought (D4), 11.34 percent is in extreme drought (D3), 35.72 percent is in severe drought (D2), 19.79 percent is in moderate drought (D1) and 13.73 percent is abnormally dry. Only 17 percent of the state was not classified with a drought designation.


Oklahoma has seen some improvement in the most severe drought categories in the past three months, but the positive gains are starting to reverse. In the weekly Oklahoma Mesonet Ticker, State Climatologist Gary McManus said the statewide precipitation average since August first was 3.89 inches. That is 2.03 inches below normal and the 19th driest period from August 1 - September 25 since at least 1921.   

Looking at the weather outlook, the News 9 Weather Team is predicting daytime highs in the 80s until the end of next week- and they have some chances of rainfall in their forecast the first three days of October.  Click Here for the 9-day forecast.

The National Pork Producers Council thanks U.S. trade officials for diligently working to achieve an outcome in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations that would benefit all sectors of our nation's economy, including agriculture. At the same time, we must also express our deep disappointment in Japan's continuing rejection of the fundamental terms of a successful TPP agreement, as agreed upon by leaders of all participating TPP nations prior to Japan's entry into the negotiations last year.


Japan continues to demand exemptions from tariff elimination for an unprecedented number of agricultural products. Its negotiators have declared that products such as pork, dairy, beef, wheat, barley, sugar and rice are "sacred" and cannot be opened to free trade in the TPP. Japan has employed this or similar arguments in all of its prior free trade agreements, so it is not surprising that some in the United States might accept this as reality, submit to Japan's demand and accept the crumbs from its table.


Acquiescing to Japan's demand would represent a radical departure from past U.S. trade policy, which has held to the principle that free trade agreements must cover virtually all trade between the parties. The exemptions from tariff elimination demanded by Japan would be more than all of the tariff line exemptions contained in the previous 17 FTAs combined the United States has implemented this century. Pork never has been excluded from tariff elimination in a U.S. free trade agreement.

 

Click here to read more about how the TPP will create a precedent and how this could impact US pork producers.

Kim Anderson Guides Wheat Farmers Through Big Decisions

As farmers begin to plant their wheat crop, Oklahoma State University Grain Marketing Economist Dr. Kim Anderson said farmers are making several decisions about the upcoming year. First, farmers need to sign up for crop insurance coverage by next Tuesday, September 30th. In connection with Crop Insurance, farmers need to include the supplemental coverage option which is part of the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) within the 2014 Farm Law. Including SCO in your crop insurance commitment keeps that option available to you in the months ahead as you make decisions about which safety net you plan to enroll in for your wheat acres. Anderson also offers farmers some optionson how to market the wheat they have left in storage.


On this weekend's edition of OSU's SUNUP TV program, Anderson tells Lyndall Stout that farmers can choose yield or revenue protection with crop insurance. With these low prices, more farmers are selecting revenue protection despite the on going drought. Within revenue protection, he said farmers have the optional units policy and the enterprise units policy. The optional units are based on fields within a section of land, so a whole section is one field. Enterprise units takes into account all farm ground within a county regardless of location is viewed as one farm. Anderson said the premiums are significantly less with the enterprise unit policy.


"If you put the pencil to it, the payoffs are often higher with losses with the enterprise units, than with the optional unit policy," Anderson said.


Though Anderson recommends farmers get with their insurance agent and map out both options before selecting a program for their operation. For the Supplemental Coverage option, producers need to sign up for SCO if they are in a county that has it available. That keeps that option on the table until mid December when you can, with no penalty, elect to back away from this coverage- and if you decide at some point in the next six months or so to go with ARC instead of PLC- that SCO option is a mute point. 

Click here to listen to Dr. Anderson's recommendations for marketing wheat through the end of the year and we also have the rundown in our story of this weekend's complete SUNUP program lineup.   

Beef Quality Assurance Continues to Evolve

Dan Thomson has seen the evolution of the Beef Quality Assurance program. As the Director of the Beef Cattle Institute Kansas State University he has seen how BQA has impacted the producer at the individual herd level all the way to the big picture impact for the entire beef industry. BQA program has been around about 30 years. The program initially aimed to make sure antibiotic residues when cattle were shipped to slaughter. The program originated in the southern great plains at the Hitch Feedlots as they worked with the Texas Cattle Feeders Association to develop that model. The BQA program was written by veterinarians and producers for veterinarians and producers to produce a safe, wholesome, nutritious and affordable product. Thomson said the program has made big strides over the last 10 years.


"When we start to think about all of the trainings that are out there, whether its about antibiotic resistance, food safety, animal welfare, stewardship and sustainability, the beef quality assurance program entails education for producers on those subjects," Thomson said.  


Education has been central to the BQA program, but more and more the beef industry is looking at additional steps beyond that individual education with adding implementation and verification.  Click Here to read or to listen to our Beef Buzz feature on the BQA program.     

Congressman Mullin Encourages Public Comments on Proposed EPA Rule

Congressman Markwayne Mullin (OK-02) is encouraging the public to submit comments on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) "Waters of the United States" Clean Water Act rule. The newly proposed rule would redefine navigable waters underneath the Clean Water Act (CWA), potentially changing the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' ability to regulate certain business practices including agriculture.


Before any new federal rule or regulation is finalized, a public comment period is made available for citizens to submit comments or opinions. The public comment period for this proposed rule ends on October 20, 2014.


"Oklahomans need to be vocal on this new regulatory reach by the EPA, especially our state's farmers and ranchers," said Mullin. "This unprecedented power grab attempt could have profound effects on rural America, meaning a large portion of Oklahoma. We need to come together and make sure that our voice is heard. The public comment period is a great opportunity to do that.
 

Click Here to here to read more on how the EPA proposal will impact Oklahomans and how to submit comments to the Federal Register.

This N That- Francie Tolle Joins Us for In the Field, Pollard Farms Ready to Sell and Congrats to Lyndall!

Later today, Francie Tolle, the State Executive Director for the Farm Service Agency, will be at the Oklahoma Department of Ag to present more details about what USDA is doing in implementing the 2014 Farm Law- especially the Commodity Title (check our top story in the email to see what her bosses in DC have rolled out as of yesterday).  While she is in Oklahoma City, we will be having a conversation with her on video that will become our In the Field for this Saturday morning at 6:40 AM on KWTV, News9.  Take a look Sunday morning- and if you miss it then- we will have the video on line later in the weekend.

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The 17th Annual Production Sale of the Pollard Farms is planned for Saturday at high noon at the farm near Waukomis, Oklahoma.  

A total of 148 Head will sell as 96 Angus Lots. The offering includes Donor Dams and Elite Matings, Fall Yearling Heifers, Spring Heifer Calves, Fall Pairs and Heavy Breds and Spring Pairs and Bred Females. 

For more information, head over to our Auction page for the details on some of the best Angus genetics in the country.  

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It's my  understanding that while you will continue to see her lovely face on SUNUP- our friend and colleague Lyndall Stout is now officially the head of the Ag Communications Department within the Division of Ag at Oklahoma State University.  She has served as interim for a couple of years- and has juggled her duties well.   

Our new Ag Dean at OSU, Dr. Tom Coon, told us that he believes she has done a great job as interim, especially in coordinating all the moving parts that went with publicizing the 100th birthday of extension.  I am told that she will get some help when it comes to TV program, and that they are looking at enhancing the social media footprint of the information they crank out on behalf of our Land Grant University.

Congrats Lyndall- we're proud of ya!