September Results Solid for U.S. Beef, Pork Exports 

With September being another strong month for red meat export value, both U.S. beef and U.S. pork exports broke the $5 billion dollar mark for the first three quarters of the year, according to statistics released by USDA and compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF).


September beef exports increased 6 percent from a year ago in volume to 100,068 metric tons (mt), and soared 25 percent in value to $631.9 million. For January through September, exports were up 3 percent in volume (890,276 mt) and 15 percent in value ($5.18 billion).


Pork export value was up 7 percent in September to $513 million, despite a 3 percent decline in volume (162,125 mt). Exports through the first nine months of the year maintained a record pace in both volume (1.64 million mt) and value ($5.05 billion), increases of 5 percent and 14 percent, respectively, from a year ago.


"These are impressive results, especially given the headwinds we faced in September - including a very strong U.S. dollar, a significant decline in beef production and our first full month of dealing with Russia's retaliatory import ban," said USMEF President and CEO Philip Seng. "It was just three years ago that U.S. pork and beef exports eclipsed the $5 billion mark for the first time in an entire calendar year, so it's very gratifying to see our industry reach these mileposts by the end of the third quarter." 

Click here to read more about how beef exports surged despite lower slaughter numbers and how pork exports to Mexico are on a record pace.

Two lawsuits have been filed this week in federal district courts in California against the Food and Drug Administration over lack of regulatory oversight of ractopamine, which is fed in the final days before slaughter of hogs, cattle and turkeys to help the animals convert more of the feed they ingest into lean muscle.

On Wednesday, the Humane Society of the US joined with The United Farm Workers, and The Animal Legal Defense Fund in asking the federal district court in San Francisco to set-aside FDA's approvals of the drugs at issue while the agency performs the environmental review required under the National Environmental Policy Act. Click here to see the paperwork filed by the three groups this week.   

HSUS claims the FDA has no idea what the long term impact on the environment is when it comes to ractopamine being fed to livestock- saying in their news release on the legal action

A second lawsuit was filed Thursday by the Center for Food Safety, the Center for Biological Diversity and Sierra Club making similar claims.  

The Center for Food Safety issued a news release as well- quoting Paige Tomaselli, senior attorney for Center for Food Safety saying "FDA is basing controversial drug approvals on incomplete and inadequate environmental analyses. These drugs in our food supply impact the environment, thousands of farm workers, millions of consumers, and billions of animals. FDA cannot continue to abdicate its responsibility to do its job."

The maker of the products in question is Elanco Animal Health- and they were not named in either of the legal actions by the groups.

Ractopamine goes by the brand name Optaflexx for feedlot cattle, Paylean for hogs and Topmax for Turkeys.  

Oklahoma State University is putting a greater emphasis on foraging systems. OSU is in the process of hiring three faculty positions focused on foraging systems but the positions are in three different departments with natural resource ecology management, plant and soil sciences and animal science. OSU Vice President, Dean and Director of the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources Dr. Thomas Coon said these positions will take a systems perspective.


"It's one thing to grow the forage crop, it's another to make sure its got the nutrition in it that the animal needs and that you are able to manage the herd density so that the plant can regrow," Coon said.


OSU will be hiring a forage crop specialist, a grazing nutrition specialist and a range management specialist. Coon said the goal is to have the three faculty members working together on research projects using their disciplinary specialization.


"We want them to bring that expertise to the broader issue of how do we manage pastures and our grasslands in order to make the most of them for producing livestock," Coon said. 

Click here to read more about the exciting things going on at Food and Agricultural Products Center and OSU's role in water resource management.  

There has been a lot of talk recently about more resources for promotion, education and research that the beef checkoff has traditional funded. Several states including Texas have
passed a state beef checkoff to generate another dollar per head. This concept has been discussed in Oklahoma, but has not been acted on. Texas Cattle Feeders Association Chief Executive Officer and President Ross Wilson said collecting another dollar per head is working well in Texas.


"We couldn't be happier in Texas that we have a state checkoff in place, because we think that is a very important addition to the investment in beef marketing, promotion, research, all of the great things the national checkoff has done," Wilson said.


Ross is not sure about what US Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack has in mind in creating another checkoff for the beef industry. Vilsack has proposed creating a second beef checkoff under the 1996 Farm Bill under the generic commodity checkoff act. This is different from the original policy that created the beef checkoff in 1985. The 1996 Act gives the US Ag Secretary much more authority and control over several aspects of the producers checkoff dollar. Wilson said the 1996 Act also increases the administrative overhead allowance from five percent to 15 percent. 

 

This past week Secretary Vilsack was in Louisville speaking at the National FFA Convention. In the media brief news conference with reporters he addressed why he thinks a second beef checkoff is needed. Click here to listen to the full Beef Buzz feature with Wilson and Vilsack.   

OSU's Kim Anderson Hopes for Trading Range for End of Year Wheat Prices  

Wheat farmers should root for sideways movement in the wheat futures market in the next several trading sessions. According to Dr. Kim Anderson, Extension Grain Marketing Economist at Oklahoma State University, the wheat market has climbed up from its post harvest lows, but is currently in a sideways pattern.


The current range- based on December Kansas City Wheat Futures- is from $5.80 to $6.20. We are in the lower part of that range and there is a danger that we could break support and fall below $5.80 a bushel. Dr. Anderson says that if that happens, "we're gonna go down and test $5.50." He believes that the best hope for the wheat market right now is to log some time in the $5.80 to $6.20 trading range, adding "I think the best thing that can happen over the next couple of weeks is a sideways move, hopefully between $5.80 and $6.20." 

However, since Dr. Anderson recorded this segment for SUNUP yesterday- the hard red winter wheat futures have slipped to as low as $5.72- basis the December KC wheat in overnight trading early this morning.  

You can hear Dr. Anderson's outlook for wheat, corn and soybean prices in the near term by clicking here- it's the same interview that will be seen on the SUNUP program tomorrow and Sunday on OETA.

Also in our story link- we have the complete lineup of this week's program.

USDA Seeks Comments on New Conservation Stewardship Rule

As the U.S. Department of Agriculture's rapid implementation of the 2014 Farm Bill continues, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced proposed changes to the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), one of USDA's largest conservation programs for working agricultural lands.


"Farmers, ranchers, and non-industrial forestland owners enrolled in the Conservation Stewardship Program are our nation's conservation leaders as they go the extra mile to conserve our natural resources," Vilsack said. "This program continues to enable owners and managers of private lands to reach the next level of conservation."


The rule also establishes the role of CSP as one of the programs to help the Regional Conservation Partnership Program accomplish its purposes. Vilsack said participants will be delivering more conservation benefits than ever under the revised program rules.


USDA published an interim final rule containing the statutory changes to CSP in the Federal Register Wednesday. USDA is seeking public comment on the rule through Jan. 5, 2015. The public comments will be used to finalize the interim final rule.
 

Click here to read more about the CSP interim final rule.

This N That- AQHA on In the Field Tomorrow, Aggies On Line and Cornell President Has Oklahoma Ties  

Tom Persechino with the American Quarter Horse Association will be my guest on Saturday morning during my In the Field segment to help spotlight all the happenings at the World AQHA show that kicks off today and runs to November 22nd.   

Click here for the main website of the 2014 Event.  It's the anchor of a bunch of horse shows that make Oklahoma State Fair Park their home each year- and it brings millions of dollars worth of impact to the Oklahoma economy each November.  

Our In the Field segment will be seen at 6:40 AM Saturday morning on KWTV, News9 in the Oklahoma City area- we will have it online on our website later in the weekend.

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The Animal Agriculture Alliance's College Aggies Online (CAO) Scholarship program is a nationwide initiative aimed at helping college students and collegiate agriculture clubs utilize social media and advocacy to share agriculture's story.   

The competition is held every fall, running approximately 11 weeks between September and November. An online competition, CAO is open to all college students with an interest in agriculture. Since the competition's inception in 2009, more than 1,500 college students from more than 100 different colleges and universities have particiated in the program.

The latest release about the program indicates that a student from Oklahoma State University is in second place in the competition- final standings will be tabulated and announced December second.

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We got an interesting email from Dr. Laura Gruntmeir of Redlands Community College- who is mighty proud of her sister Elizabeth Garrett. Dr. Garrett has just been named the President of the only Ivy League School that is also a Land Grant- Cornell.  

Dr. Garrett will become the 13th President of Cornell next July and here is a link to see some of the early coverage of the announcement of her moving from the West Coast to New York.   

Her sister Laura is currently Division Director of Agriculture at Redlands Community College. Dr. Gruntmeir also served as a Family and Consumer Educator for the OSU Kingfisher County Extension office for 5 years.