Using the latest teaching methods, Oklahoma State University will be sharing its vast knowledge of our nation's most fundamental industry through a Massive Open Online Course titled Farm to Fork: A Panoramic View of Agriculture.


"Rooted in Oklahoma State University's land-grant mission to serve and improve society, we are utilizing new technologies and curricular models such as MOOCs to reach an even larger number of constituents who can benefit from this knowledge," said Gary Sandefur, OSU Provost.


The 16-week course, taught by OSU College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources Agricultural Economics Professor Bailey Norwood, will be conducted entirely online and is open to anyone. It will focus on topics including livestock care techniques, the industrialization of agriculture, the impact of local food on the local economy and the role of politics and culture in food.


"OSU continues to serve as an international leader in agricultural sciences, and this course, taught by one of the field's most notable experts, will present the most up-to-date knowledge available about food production and safety," said Sandefur.


The course will be separated into modules and will include videos, readings, virtual farm tours and online office hours. Students will engage in the course by uploading photos related to assignments and will participate in forums to discuss topics covered in the class. The format of the online course provides Norwood with an opportunity to explore new and contemporary teaching methods. 

The course will begin Jan. 12.  Click here to learn more about the course being made available to the public.   

Obama Uses Executive Order to Address Immigration   

President Barack Obama announced his plans to use executive order to address immigration in the United States- addressing the nation Thursday night to share his plan in allowing nearly five million people in the country illegally to avoid the consequences of their invasion of our country. Agricultural organizations have already started to weigh-in on Obama's immigration plan.

American Farm Bureau's Bob Stallman says the President's plan fails to help agriculture in having enough help to harvest the fruits and vegetables of this country. His full statement from Thursday night can be found here. 

National Council of Farmer Cooperatives CEO Chuck Conner said, "for what appears to be a small subset of current agricultural workers, the President's actions will alleviate some pressure in the short term but does not offer these workers, their families, their communities or their employers the long term assurance they deserve. To mix metaphors, we as a country should not bring people out of the shadows only to let them twist in the wind." Click here to read more from NCFC.

In light of the President's announcement Thursday, the Agriculture Workforce Coalition (AWC) said,"the only way to permanently fix agriculture's labor shortage is through legislation. As we look forward to the start of the new Congress in January, we strongly urge the House and Senate, Democrats and Republicans, Congress and the Administration, to come together and pass legislation that both deals with the reality of the current agricultural workforce and recognizes the need for a new, market-based visa program to meet farmers' future labor needs.  Without such legislation, farmers will continue to be unable to find the workers they need to pick crops or care for livestock; more food production will go overseas; local economies across the country will suffer; and the American consumer will pay more for the food they eat." Click here to read more from AWC.

Less Than $50- That's the Price for a Thanksgiving Dinner for Ten- According to American Farm Bureau

The American Farm Bureau Federation's 29th annual informal price survey of classic items found on the Thanksgiving Day dinner table indicates the average cost of this year's feast for 10 is $49.41, a 37-cent increase from last year's average of $49.04.


The big ticket item - a 16-pound turkey - came in at $21.65 this year. That's roughly $1.35 per pound, a decrease of less than 1 cent per pound, or a total of 11 cents per whole turkey, compared to 2013.


"Turkey production has been somewhat lower this year and wholesale prices are a little higher, but consumers should find an adequate supply of birds at their local grocery store," AFBF Deputy Chief Economist John Anderson said. Some grocers may use turkeys as "loss leaders," a common strategy deployed to entice shoppers to come through the doors and buy other popular Thanksgiving foods.


The AFBF survey shopping list includes turkey, bread stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a relish tray of carrots and celery, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and beverages of coffee and milk, all in quantities sufficient to serve a family of 10. There is also plenty for leftovers.


Foods showing the largest increases this year were sweet potatoes, dairy products and pumpkin pie mix. Sweet potatoes came in at $3.56 for three pounds. A half pint of whipping cream was $2.00; one gallon of whole milk, $3.76; and a 30-ounce can of pumpkin pie mix, $3.12. A one-pound relish tray of carrots and celery ($.82) and one pound of green peas ($1.55) also increased in price. A combined group of miscellaneous items, including coffee and ingredients necessary to prepare the meal (butter, evaporated milk, onions, eggs, sugar and flour) rose to $3.48.


In addition to the turkey, other items that declined modestly in price included a 14-ounce package of cubed bread stuffing, $2.54; 12 ounces of fresh cranberries, $2.34; two nine-inch pie shells, $2.42; and a dozen brown-n-serve rolls, $2.17.


 Click or tap here to read more about the cost of this year's Thanksgiving meal (and to see a video version of the story as well).

Anderson Offers Little Optimism for Higher Commodity Prices

The outlook for commodity prices isn't very bright. That's according to Oklahoma State University Grain Marketing Specialist Dr. Kim Anderson. In this weekend's edition of SUNUP, Anderson breaks down the outlook for canola, wheat, corn and soybeans. Commodity prices on all four crops are struggling to move higher.   

He spends a lot of time in his conversation with Dave Deken talking about wheat stuck in a trading range and wallowing around between $5.80 and $6.20.  He says wheat has a demand problem right now and until that is solved- being stuck in the mud with that old sow rolling around will continue.

He says the excitement of the week for both corn and wheat came when word got out about a cargo of French wheat being imported into the US (to the East Coast) to be used for feed.  The fundamental hurt to the US Wheat market is nil- but it did have a psychological impact for a short time- it actually has a bigger impact on the corn market- because it was so cheap compared to corn and it was being used for feed.  So, it helped set a ceiling on corn prices short term.

Kim's complete comments that will be a part of the SUNUP program are available right now here- and of course you can actually see he and Dave Deken converse on SUNUP on Saturday and Sunday on OETA.   

US Drought Monitor Shows Drought Expanding in Oklahoma

Drought expanded this past week in Oklahoma. The latest US Drought Monitor report released Thursday shows 82 percent of the state remains in drought. That's up five percent over last week. The latest report has 6.56 percent of the state in exceptional drought (D4), the highest level of drought rating, 15.01 in extreme drought (D3), 25.61 in severe drought (D2), 17.24 in moderate drought (D1) and 17.71 under abnormally dry conditions. At this time only 17.88 percent of the state is out of drought. A week ago 22.43 percent of the state was not given a drought rating.


Northeastern Oklahoma has received the largest amount of relief from the drought as the region is no longer receiving a drought rating. Drought remains the most intense in south western Oklahoma with five counties under the exceptional drought rating. Neighboring counties are in extreme drought. Across the northwestern part of the state and in the Panhandle there is a patch work of areas in extreme drought, along with moderate to severe drought levels. In Oklahoma 1.9 million people are still effected by the ongoing drought.


The Climate Prediction Center released their winter forecast and it showed increased odds for below normal temperatures and above normal precipitation for most of the state. In the weekly Mesonet Ticker report, State Climatogist Gary McManus responded by saying December is one of Oklahoma's driest months of the year, so he does not think that will necessarily mean the state will be substantially wetter. McManus continues to watch the impact of El Nino. At this point he thinks this will be another winter like last year where there was cold air incursions from the north into the eastern half of the U.S and the west was under lots of ridges of high pressure.


Click here to read more about the drought outlook from the Climate Prediction Center. 

Drenching Wheat With Roundup_ the Latest Management Practice According to the Internet

If you believe everything on the Internet- it may be time to buy a few acres out around Kenton- go off the grid and get into survival mode.  Of course, that would mean that you would lose contact with all the crazies on the world wide web- and you might be too far from the nearest Whole Food Market- but these are tough times.

Imagine the housewife trying to do what's best for her family- and she is already scared to death of evil GMOs because they will cause a painful death in all of her family members when they turn 50- that hasn't been proven yet- but this one blogger has said it's a matter of time. And of course, she's worried about gluten that has been slipped into wheat in the last twenty years.  Anyway, this lady suddenly sees a blog post that there is something worse than gluten or advanced breeding techniques in wheat- the drenching of all wheat conventionally produced in the US with Roundup.  Her husband bought Roundup to kill the weeds in the cracks of their sidewalk one time and it's toxic stuff- so this. is. bad.

WELL- the truth is that drenching wheat shortly before harvest is not standard practice. The article references a report that has been debunked from Samsel and Seneff in 2013 alleging glyphosate residues are responsible for the surge in Celiac disease. The Celiac Disease Foundation has also challenged the report. Roundup brand agricultural herbicides are proven safe for the applicator, the environment and the consumer, when used according to label instructions. Growers apply pesticides in a manner that is approved by EPA.  

In talking with a variety of wheat industry folks- Roundup is used in the southern plains as a very last resort at harvest time if rain is delaying harvest and weeds are getting out of control.  The wheat plant is already dead and Roundup is used for the weeds with harvest to follow once things dry out. That happened in a few situations this past summer in north central Oklahoma when it started raining at harvest and kept raining for awhile.  

We have discovered that a few farmers in North Dakota and up in Canada do use Roundup as a desiccant.   One farm wife in North Dakota has stepped up and explained how they use Roundup at the front end of the wheat harvest cycle to control the ripening of the wheat and to avoid having to swath their wheat- but do a straight harvest with a combine.  Click here for her lengthy explanation of what she calls using Roundup as a Pre Harvest aid.

I talked to Dr. Jeff Edwards yesterday afternoon for a moment- and he says he is working on an explanation to help refute the claims of the original article that we pointed you to above- that response from a southern great plains perspective should be out in a matter of days.

By the way, one of the staffers at the Kansas Wheat Commission/Growers has written a piece that can be found here- she quotes Brett Carver and others who point out how this is not how we produce wheat here in the Hard Red Winter Wheat belt.

Oklahoma State Alumna Minnie Lou Bradley Receives Highest National Honor

Oklahoma State University alumna Minnie Lou Bradley has been selected to the most prestigious honor an animal agriculturist can receive: Having her portrait hung in the Saddle and Sirloin Gallery in Lexington, Kentucky.


"Throughout her more than 60-year career, Mrs. Bradley has been an innovator, an educator, an industry leader, a steward of the land and a master breeder," said Clint Rusk, head of the OSU Department of Animal Science. "She is genuinely revered in the livestock industry and exceptionally worthy of being the 2014 portrait honoree."


The portrait presentation took place on Nov. 16, during the 41st annual North American International Livestock Exposition. The gallery is believed to be the largest portrait collection commemorating a single industry, with honorees selected by their peers. The collection was established in 1903.


Anyone who wishes to donate to the Minnie Lou Bradley induction fund can still do so by contacting the Oklahoma State University Foundation by phone at 1-800-622-4678 or by visiting the organization's website by clicking here.