While the Committee Hearing that was called to order Wednesday morning by the new Chairman of the House Ag Committee Michael Conaway was billed as a review of the State of the Rural Economy- it really turned into a more than two hour question and answer session for Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack.

The questions raised by the Committee members to Secretary Vilsack were all other the map- from Crop insurance to Catfish to Timber to SNAP to CRP to Nutrition Guidelines to West Coast Dock Issues to Farm Bill Signup and bunches more.

Chairman Conaway led off the questioning of Secretary Vilsack- talking crop insurance.  Conway, a CPA, tore into Vilsack's claims that the crop insurance industry was making too much money and that more cuts needed to be made to this farm safety net program.  

Vilsack contends that if you look at the long haul- crop insurance companies have made a lot of money- "The reality is if you look at a long period of time-and I think it's important because folks can point to a year where maybe it was net a loss, one or two years out of the last 15 or 16-we can also point to a place where that return on premiums was 34%, 32%, 32%. So you have to look at the longer, the long trend. And I think what we've found is that this enterprise can be actuarially sound at 12%. On balance, over history, the return has been somewhere between 14 and 17%."

Conaway says you can't use years before 2011 in computations because that was the year that there was a negotiation that lowered the subsidy on crop insurance and that the industry has given him figures that show that the return on investment since that renegotiation is more like six percent.    

To see the give and take between the Chairman and the Secretary- here's the video:

Chairman Conaway & Secertary Vilsack on crop insurance

To read more, including links to Secretary Vilsack's opening statement or to watch the archived webcast, click here.

One of the highlights of the Cattle Industry each year is the Cattlefax Market Outlook Seminar- and anchoring that session each year is the current CEO of Cattlefax, Randy Blach. Blach told producers that 2014 will go down as a market for the ages, we will probably never see a market quite as good as this last year again for a variety of reasons. But that doesn't mean that 2015 won't be a good year for cattle producers, but Blach said it will be a volatile year, and the reality is that it's already been volatile for several months the end of 2014 and into 2015.


We talked with Blach after the Cattlefax session in San Antonio and asked him about the jumping around of yearling and calf prices in our cash markets.  He told us "Every two weeks for the last six months we've been seeing these five to ten percent moves in the market," Blach said. "So this started in July and its February now and its still going on. A five to ten percent move is $10 to $15 a hundred (weight) and those moves and tending to occur about every two weeks, but we had a lot of air under this market."


In looking at 2015, pork and poultry supplies will be ramping up increasing the amount of protein available to the market. Blach said that started taking place last September and October. The unknown has been how much the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus would effect the hog population this year. He said that remains unknown, but the worst of the virus looks to be behind us.  

We are featuring our conversation with Randy Blach on this week's Beef Buzz as heard on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network- today's segment focuses on the volatility in the market as well as Randy's take on the end of January Cattle Inventory Report.  To read or to listen to Randy Blach's thoughts from our conversation, click here.

The battle continues over the need for GMO labels on food products. One group that is using their resources to urge labels at the state level is the Environmental Working Group. Libby Foley with the EWG has written an Op-Ed- cites studies that claim labels on food at the retail level will not impact sales of those food products in any significant way.

Foley writes "Food and biotechnology giants fighting against mandatory labeling of genetically engineered food (commonly known as GMOs) claim that it would have consumers fleeing their products. But the evidence just doesn't back that up.

"In fact, multiple studies have actually shown the opposite: For better or worse, labels have little effect on consumer behavior."

In a recently published study, agricultural economists Jayson Lusk of Oklahoma State University and Marco Costanigro of Colorado State University sought to find out whether consumers who see a GMO label on a product would be more concerned about it than shoppers who see the same product without the label.


Foley says that the result is that "Lusk and Costanigro found that "there was no consistent statistically significant difference in the average level of concern for GMOs expressed by people shown different labels. That is, the mere presence of the GMO label did not lead to a greater level of concern about GMOs." 

Click here to read more on the GMO labeling battle from the EWG perspective.

AFR/OFU to Host 110th Annual Convention 

American Farmers & Ranchers/Oklahoma Farmers Union (AFR/OFU) will host its 110th annual state convention at the Embassy Suites & Conference Center - Norman Feb. 13-14. This year's convention theme is "Rich Heritage, Bright Future."


"This year's convention theme represents who we are as a company and as an organization," said AFR/OFU President Terry Detrick. "Our vibrant and accomplished history stands as our foundation for our current and future growth, both as an insurance company and as a farm organization that serves the state of Oklahoma."


This year's two-day event features educational speakers such as Oklahoma Mesonet's Al Sutherland, Oklahoma Ag Mediation's Mike Mayberry and National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson. Convention attendees will learn about controversial legislative issues, the challenge of feeding the growing global population, how to communicate agriculture to the public and much more.

To read more about the great lineup and entertainment for this year's convention, click here.   

Confined Production May Be Needed for Herd Expansion 

The nation's cattle producers are responding to the strong economic signals in rebuilding the nation's cow herd numbers. The latest cattle inventory report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows there is some solid growth already, but more numbers will be needed. Rabo AgriFinance Senior Analyst Don Close said the rate of expansion seen in the 2014 was above his expectations. 

 
"The U.S. cow herd must grow if the industry is going to preserve existing infrastructure and regain lost market share," Close said. "In order to for that growth to occur, the beef and cattle community must address main expansion constraints: high capital barriers, declining availability of grazable acres, and aging producers."


The need for grazable acres has gone under the radar when cattle numbers were declining faster than acreage numbers. Now that herd expansion is taking place, Close wonders if grass availability will become a limiting factor. Over the last ten years, pasture availability has declined by 32 million acres, causing producers to weigh options that require less land. According to a new report from Rabobank Food & Agribusiness (FAR) Research and Advisory group. The report, "Outside In: Confined Cow-Calf Production as a Viable Model for Rebuilding the U.S. Cow Herd Numbers" finds that more innovation is paramount to the growth of the U.S. cattle sector.


The report finds that confined production systems present an alternative that replaces high capital requirements with intensified management and labor.  To read more or have the opportunity to listen to my conversation with Don Close, click here.   

Award winning broadcast journalist Jerry Bohnen has spent years learning and understanding how to cover the energy business here in the southern plains- Click here for Jerry's website where there is a link on the Left Hand Column where you can subscribe to his daily update of top Energy News.  

Questions Landowners Should Ask Their Renters About Soil Health

More farmers, ranchers and others who rely on the land are taking action to improve the health of their soil. Many farmers are actually building the soil. How? By using soil health management systems that include cover crops, diverse rotations and no-till.


And when they're building the soil they're doing something else - they're also building the land's production potential over the long-term.


But how do non-operator landowners (people who rent their land to farmers) know if their tenants are doing everything they need to do to make and keep their soil healthy? Barry Fisher, an Indiana farmer and nationally recognized soil health specialist with the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service, recommends that they ask their farming partner these five questions.  Click here to read about the 5 important questions that need to be asked.   

This N That- Memorial Service For Mike Thralls on Saturday; Farm Bill Decision Guide and Superior Livestock Friday Sale Details

Services to celebrate the life of Mike Thralls will be held this coming Saturday afternoon in Billings, Oklahoma at 2:00 PM. Thralls lost an extended battle with cancer earlier this week.

Mike was the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Conservation Commission for 17 years, until his retirement this past August.   

The services for Mike are planned for 2 PM Saturday at the Antelope Valley Church of the Brethren in Billings.  A look at this life and details of the service and burial are available here. 

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The folks over at the University of Illinois have a pretty good looking Decision Guide that may help you with the multiple decisions that need to be made to have you ready to go with the 2014 Farm Law's safety net.

Specifically, the yield-update and base-acre decisions can be made now. and are due to the Farm Service Agency February 27th. The final farm program decision - the choice between ARC and PLC - is due March 31st and this is a decision that can be provided to FSA now as well.

That Decision Guide from FarmDoc is available here.

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Superior Livestock has their regular every other week feeder cattle sale set for tomorrow at 8:00 AM central time.  

This week- 21,500 head will be offered.  We have details on either our Calendar or Auction page at OklahomaFarmReport.Com. Details are also available here on the Superior website.

You can also call 1-800-422-2117 for more information.