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On Wednesday, the US House passed a one year, almost after the fact, tax extenders package that will extend a variety of provisions from the start of 2014 to the end of this month.  

The Senate hasn't set a vote on the package of breaks, known as "extenders." But a top Senate Democrat, Dick Durban of Illinois,  suggested Wednesday that the chamber would have to accept the House's plan, even as lawmakers like Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden have held out hope for a broader tax deal. 

The Obama administration supports the short-term deal to extend the tax breaks for one year.

Earlier, the White House had threatened to veto a package negotiated in the Senate that would have permanently extended tax breaks for business research and write-offs for business-equipment purchases. The Obama administration wanted the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit to be made permanent as well.

If the Senate follows the House's lead and passes a one-year bill, that means Congress will have to revisit the extenders again in 2015.

At least three groups quickly responded to the House vote. The Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association's Michael Kelsey said in an email statement to us "We are very grateful that the House took this important action today." Kelsey is hopeful the Senate will vote quickly to allow cattlemen and others the chance to work with these tax tools in lining up purchase decisions in the last few weeks of the year.

Bob Stallman of the American Farm Bureau also weighed in- "Farm Bureau is pleased the House has acted to extend several key tax provisions this year. We urge Congress to bring a tax extender package to completion before the year's end."  Stallman added that Farm Bureau is still looking for that longer term solution sooner rather than later. Click here for the full statement from Stallman. 

And- we also saw the emphasis on the long term in a statement released by the American Soybean Association.  Their President, Ray Gaesser, was quoted as saying "ASA first and foremost supports a long-term extension of several of the items included in today's short-term fix. These initiatives include the dollar-per-gallon biodiesel tax credit, expensing for farm equipment and infrastructure under the Section 179 expensing provision, and bonus depreciation on farm assets."    

Time is running out on submitting comments on the questions raised by US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack in regards to a new second, separate beef checkoff that he would like to establish in 2015. The deadline to submit responses to the questions raised by the Secretary is December 10, 2014. As of December third, there are only 88 comments that have been listed on the Federal Register website.


In mid October, a multitude of state cattle organizations that are affiliated with the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, sent a letter to Secretary Vilsack expressing their displeasure over the idea of a separate beef checkoff based on the 1996 Generic Commodity Promotion Act.


NCBA President Bob McCan of Texas said of the letter sent to Vilsack "Our state affiliates sent a clear message to the Secretary that they do not want a supplemental checkoff under the 1996 Act. NCBA stands firmly behind our grassroots producer organizations and we will do everything we can to support their efforts. The checkoff belongs to cattlemen, not to the USDA or any administration."


Among the groups signing the letter were the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association, the Texas Cattle Feeders Association, the Texas and Southwest Cattlemen's Association, the Missouri Cattlemen's Association, the Kansas Livestock Association and the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association. Click here for our earlier story about that letter sent to Secretary Vilsack. 

The most vocal farm group in favor of moving to a new checkoff, based on the 1996 law, is the National Farmers Union. Their President, Roger Johnson, did a guest editorial recently on the website Agri-Pulse. "The modernized beef checkoff should be a single program, modeled after the 1996 Act," said Johnson. "It would have a clear separation of the policy organization from the non-political, promotional checkoff entity... exclude processors and importers from positions of leadership, ensuring that beef producers are always at the helm... and be precluded from allocating a single dime to any organization engaged in lobbying." You can read more of the arguments that Johnson is using for making massive changes in the beef check off by clicking here. 

Click here to read more about the public comment period on the beef checkoff.  

Rabobank Releases 2015 Commodity Market Outlook

Rabobank has published its outlook for the global agri commodity markets in 2015, looking at issues of demand, supply and pricing across international agri commodities, and forecasting a 12-month price outlook for 12 major agri commodities.   


In the report, the bank's Agri Commodities Markets Research analysts say that fundamentals in the agri commodity markets appear more balanced through 2015, but they expect narrower trading ranges for many commodities versus 2014. On the demand side, growth has slowed in recent years. However, lower price levels should now encourage consumption growth, which will support prices. Rabobank says key variables to watch in the year ahead are U.S. dollar strength, uncertain Chinese demand growth, slowing biofuel demand, and oil price weakness.


Stefan Vogel, global head of Rabobank Agri Commodities Markets Research, said, "2015 will be another interesting year for agri commodities. Macro drivers remain very much in play and price swings from supply and demand shocks are still likely, given that the stocks for most commodities are not yet at levels necessary to provide an adequate buffer."

The pace of world economic growth has been disappointing during 2014, particularly in the Eurozone where counter sanctions from Russia have hindered economic recovery. Rabobank says that the UK and the U.S. are the bright spots for 2015, but their pace of expansion will be tempered by slow growth elsewhere.  Click here to read more about the outlook for 2015.    

OSU Dairy Club Wins National Ag Education Competition

Oklahoma State University students have been honored national for being advocates for agriculture. The Animal Agriculture Alliance announced the results of its sixth annual College Aggies Online (CAO) scholarship competition. The nationwide program helps college students share agriculture's story and become passionate spokespeople on behalf of the food and fiber industries.


CAO is an online competition open to all college students with an interest in agriculture. Since its launch in 2009, more than 2,500 college students from more than 160 different colleges and universities have registered to compete in the program. The Alliance wishes to thank the 2014 College Aggies Program sponsors which include Tyson Foods, Inc., the National Pork Producers Council Foundation, Dairy Management, Inc. (DMI), Fair Oaks Pig Adventure, Belstra Milling Company and the United Soybean Board.


Members of the Oklahoma State University Dairy Science Club formed the top-scoring club with 107,450 total points. The club will receive $5,000 and a trip for two club representatives to the Alliance's annual Stakeholders Summit in Kansas City, Missouri to be formally recognized.  Click here to learn more about the online competition.  

U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, Chairwoman of the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, Wednesday said that farmers and ranchers need to take advantage of public-private partnerships and programs meant to improve water quality in our lakes, rivers, and streams. Stabenow said the agriculture industry has already become a part of the solution when it comes to solving the crisis surrounding water quality. Farmers and ranchers have the ability to take steps to improve their management practices through voluntary conservation programs that were significantly bolstered in the 2014 Farm Bill.


Water quality, or the pollution of water by nutrients, animal waste and soil erosion, is a national issue and agriculture has an important role to play in maintaining and improving water quality in watersheds affected by farming operations. USDA's Natural Resource Conservation Service has a number of programs that can help farmers address water quality and give farmers the correct tools to implement conservation activities that reduce their footprint on the environment.


"No group understands the importance of water and soil quality more than our nation's farmers and ranchers," said Chairwoman Stabenow. "Agriculture has played a critical role since the 1985 Farm Bill, when Congress first created the conservation title. Our farmers want to be part of the solution, and they are, which is why we made conservation such a focus in the 2014 Farm Bill."


Stabenow's comments came during a hearing that's part of a larger effort to find collaborative solutions to address water quality issues across the country. Click here for more comments from Chairwoman Stabenow as well as a link to archived webcast of Wednesday's US Senate hearing.  

Case IH Helping Farmers Connect with Partners

Data and telemetry are among the most talked about features of precision farming today. In the last 20 years precision farming has really evolved from planting crops in a straight line via satellites to migrating into being a consumer technology with new apps and applications. Whether farmers have a Case IH combine, tractor or sprayer -- data can easily be transferred wireless. Case IH Director, Precision Solutions and Telematics Trevor Mecham said telematics allows Case IH products to be transfer information back and forth for everything from machine health to diagnostics.  


As the precision agriculture industry talks about data, Mecham said its important farmers know they control of their own data. Case IH has announced its new AFS Connect 2.0, a new farm management system, where a modem is installed into the cab of the tractor. This allows for the transfer of information from the tractor to others. This allows data or information to be shared back and forth between the farmer and their agronomist or machine servicing manager at their local dealership. Mecham said the number of people that access that information is determined by the farmer. 

Radio Oklahoma Network's Leslie Smith interviewed Mecham at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention in November. Click here to listen to the interview or to read more about how farmers can utilize this new technology.  

Friday's Coming- and That Means Superior Livestock's Every Other Week Auction- Plus the Joint Sorghum-Wheat Meeting Planned for Enid

It's the next to last regular auction in 2014 for the Superior Livestock folks- and on Friday morning, there will be a total of 21,000 head of cattle that will be offered, starting at 8:00 AM central time.  

Ahead of the auction start- they will have their regular feature, Superior Sunrise, at 7:30 AM. The sale can be seen on both DISH Network channel 232 and on the Superior Click to Bid website.

Click here for the detail page for this sale on the full Superior website- or give them a call at 800-422-2117.  

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The Oklahoma Sorghum Association and the Oklahoma Wheat Growers Association will hold their 2nd Annual Joint Convention Dec. 5, 2014, in Enid, Okla., at the Hoover Building on the Garfield County Fairgrounds. Registration with coffee and donuts will start at 8:30 a.m., and the program will begin at 9:00 a.m.


The focus of this year's meeting is farm bill implementation. The two primary speakers for the general session are Jim Bellmon, Agricultural Program Specialist with the Oklahoma FSA office, and Dr. Jody Campiche, OSU Assistant Professor of Agricultural Economics and farm policy specialist. The Keynote lunch speaker will be Trey Lam, Oklahoma Conservation Commission Executive Director. 

There will be breakout sessions in the afternoon for the two commodities.  Click here to see the agenda and to learn about those breakout sessions.