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The Oklahoma Board of Agriculture convened a public forum on Tuesday in Oklahoma City to hear from stakeholders that have an interest in the growing feral swine population found in Oklahoma. In a public notice about the forum, the Department said "The continued expansion of feral hogs throughout Oklahoma with their destructive nature and prolific reproduction is a concern for many agriculturalists and landowners. This forum is being hosted by the Department of Agriculture to give the public input on solutions and proposed solutions to this concern. Topics the Board of Ag is asking participants to address include specific proposals that were discussed this last legislative session." 

We were at the forum and have posted on our website an audio overview of what was being said- featuring comments from State Ag Secretary Jim Reese, the Noble Foundation's Joshua Gaskamp, Roy Lee Lindsey of the Oklahoma Pork Council and Wild Boar Hunting Ranch Owner Matt Napper.  

You can go over to our Top Ag Story by clicking here and taking a listen- we also have links to our complete Q&A with Lindsey, Napper and Gaskamp that we have posted as Podcasts in our "Listen to Ron" section of the Oklahoma Farm Report website.  The Listen to Ron page is available here.  

Here are some key takeaways from the Forum:

The State Board will be looking at rules regarding the transport of feral hogs- we may see some of their proposals by late summer or down into the fall.  

Domestic livestock can be exposed to a variety of diseases by feral hogs running loose across the state-  the estimated one million hogs statewide can be considered a domesticated livestock health threat that is growing.

Wild hog numbers are growing- Josh Gaskamp told the audience that if you don't have a 70% control of the feral hog population EVERY YEAR- the numbers of hogs are likely to increase. 

Annual damage to crops and wildlife habitat likely exceeds a billion dollars a year across the US.   

One adult feral hog can cause a thousand dollars in damage to a field where a crop like corn or grain sorghum is being grown- in one night.  

This is a hot potato topic for politicians- with emotions especially strong in south central and southeastern Oklahoma.  

Since hogs are smart, elusive and prolific- control will never be easy.  

USDA Acreage and Stocks Reports Spur Rally for Grain Markets 

The latest acreage and grain stocks report provided plenty to move the futures market. On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released their latest estimates. Tom Leffler of Leffler Commodities said there was plenty of trading and wheat, corn and soybeans all finished with double digit gains when the markets closed. Radio Oklahoma Network's Leslie Smith interviewed Leffler Tuesday. Click or tap on the LISTENBAR below to hear the full report.


American farmers planted 1.7 million fewer acres of corn in 2015 than they did the previous year, according to the USDA's Acreage report. The report indicates a 300,000 acre net decrease from the prospective planting report released in March. Total corn planting in the United States total 88.9 million acres, for the lowest planted acreage since 2010. Notably, it still represents the sixth-largest U.S. corn acreage planted since 1944. Leffler said this was lower than trade expectations and the third straight year for a decline in corn acres.   He said is was friendly to the market, but not overly friendly.

U.S. soybean acres were estimated at 85.13 million acres. Leffler said that was lower than trade estimates, but are still a record soybean acreage estimate.


U.S. wheat acres were estimated at 56.1 million acres. That was down one percent from 2014 and Leffler said that had no bearing on the market.


U.S. cotton acres were estimated at 9 million acres. That's 18 percent lower than a year ago.


With the surveys taking place from late May into June, USDA is looking at revising the numbers in the next acreage report to be released on August 12th. Leffler said USDA will re-survey the cotton acres in Texas, the sorghum acres in Kansas and soybean acres in Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri.


On Tuesday, USDA also released the latest grain stocks report.  Across wheat, corn and soybeans, grain stocks came in higher than a year ago.  Click here to read or to listen to the full analysis from Tom Leffler.

For the full Acreage report, click here.

For the full Grain Stocks report, click here.  

Australian Drought Leads to Massive Herd Liquidation, While Helping U.S. Beef Supplies

 The Southern Great Plains saw substantial herd liquidation a few years ago, when the exceptional to extreme drought hit the region. With drought recovery in recent months, the region has started to see herd expansion. Rabobank livestock industry economist Don Close said now Australia is getting similar weather conditions seen in the U.S. in 2011, 2012 and 2013.


"It has been absolutely phenomenal, the rate of liquidation that they have endured in Australia," Close said.


Australia has received some unexpected rains in recent weeks, that is very counter seasonal to the El Nino weather pattern. Close said that will buy livestock producers some time, but he forecasts that once the market starts to rebuild the price explosion in the Australian market will be even greater than what the U.S. saw in the 2014 cattle market.


"Just the rate of liquation that they have had in Australian in the last two and half years is going to be a huge, huge drain," Close said. "It's going to take years to rebuild the numbers once it does rain."


With the strong beef prices in the United States, a lot of that Australian beef is being shipped and sold in the U.S.  I featured Don Close on our latest Beef Buzz, as heard on great radio stations across the southern great plains. Click or tap here to listen to this feature. 

Cattlemen Need to Manage Technology for Efficient Genetic Progress

No doubt cattlemen are producing more with less, but they'll have to keep on their game. New Mexico State University College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences Dean Lowell Catlett said cattlemen have to think about feeding a growing world population.


"If we are going to feed 9 billion people like we do right now 7.2 billion people, we have very intensive, efficient operations, Catlett said. "When I went to college, it used to be 6-8 pounds of feed to get a pound of beef, but operations now do it in 3-4. We have seen fabulous efficiencies and it is done by intensive management of livestock."


Applied technology allows the cattle community faster progress. Today D-N-A sampling helps cattlemen look at each animal and adjust management accordingly. That promises to bring out the best in each cow and breed.  Click here to read more to watch this video news release from the American Angus Association and Certified Angus Beef.  

Op-Ed: Ag Futures Pit Trading - The End of an Era

Op-Ed Written By Cassie Fish, CassandraFish.com


For those of us that have traded these markets for decades, this week marks the end of an era. The agricultural trading pits at the CME and CBOT were a place where the professional market maker assumed risk and the commercial trader laid it off with confidence and transparency. There was a distinctive and very discernible action to read, a road map as it were, for a dedicated student of the market.


The trading floor was a vital community as well as a place of commerce. Every major cattle feeder and beef packer talked to someone on the floor, sometimes multiple times daily as information was shared, ideas exchanged and lifelong friendships forged. Farm kids fresh out of college headed to Chicago to seek their fortune and if they stuck with it could learn valuable skills and find opportunities available nowhere else.


The migration to electronic trading is virtually complete. Traders now fly blind with transparency a thing of the past. Computer algorithms generate orders at lightning speed and attempt to read the book before blowing through it. Gone are the days of multiple scaled up or down orders providing fodder for the market to chew through, which created a certain methodical pace much of the time. Here to stay is much greater volatility much more frequently- some of it meaningless in the broader context.  Click here to read more.  

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 to subscribe to his daily update of top Energy News.

Maui Ban on GMOs Knocked Down by Federal Judge

From several news organizations in Hawaii- we learn that the county ban on GMOs that was voted in last fall by  the Hawaiian island of Maul has been struck down by a federal judge.

From the website civilbeat.com-  

A federal judge has invalidated Maui County's moratorium on genetically engineered crops that voters approved last fall.

Judge Susan Mollway said in a ruling filed Tuesday that the ordinance is "invalid and unenforceable" because it is preempted by state and federal law.

That's similar to the reasoning that Judge Barry Kurren relied upon to strike down both Hawaii County's partial ban on genetically modified farming and Kauai County's pesticide disclosure law last year.

Mollway emphasized that the ruling is not a statement on whether genetically modified organisms are beneficial or detrimental.

"The court recognizes the importance of questions about whether GE activities and GMOs pose risks to human health, the environment, and the economy, and about how citizens may participate in democratic processes," she said. "But any court is a reactive body that addresses matters before it rather than reaching out to grab hold of whatever matters may catch a judge's fancy because the matters are interesting, important, or of great concern to many people."

Read more about the decision by Judge Mollway by clicking here.  

Hawaii is an extremely important part of the seed business in the US- as the climate allows seed companies to produce multiple generations of crops each year in their process of perfecting traits that can be used commercially here on the mainland.  

All of the major seed companies have research farms on one or more of the islands that make up the state of Hawaii.  

It's Big Iron Wednesday  

It's Wednesday- and that means the Big Iron folks will be busy closing out this week's auction items - all 293 items consigned.  Bidding will start at 10 AM central time.                

Click Here for the complete rundown of what is being sold on this no reserve online sale this week.

If you'd like more information on buying and selling with Big Iron, call District Manager Mike Wolfe at 580-320-2718 and he can give you the full scoop.  You can also reach Mike via email by clicking or tapping here.