The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization will host a conference on Thursday, Aug. 13th in Owasso, Oklahoma. This event will provide small business owners located in rural areas with opportunities to learn how to grow and support their businesses by partnering with USDA, and other Federal Agencies. The meeting supports Secretary Vilsack's implementation of President Obama's agenda to put Americans back to work and create an economy built to last.


Conference attendees will have an opportunity to participate in a full day of workshops and panel discussions led by program and small business procurement officials from USDA, and other Federal agencies. Topics include acquisition needs and opportunities, procurement methods, business development resources and more. In a continuing effort to increase small business contracting participation, USDA will dedicate a workshop to enhance the competitive posture of small businesses and small farmer-owned cooperatives in rural America.


The event will be held Thursday, August 13, 2015 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Tulsa Technology Center, Owasso Campus, 10800 North 140th East Avenue, Owasso, Oklahoma 74055.


There is no conference fee. Pre-registration is preferred. For further information, click here.

Ag Transition Partners, a group of educators and agricultural consultants, is launching a new, no-cost farm transition planning project that includes webinars, on-site or virtual coaching and action plan templates. The project's multi-layer approach sets it apart from other planning processes, better helping farm families ensure the legacy of their operations.


American Agri-Women, the nation's largest coalition of farm, ranch and agri-business women, is supporting the project, along with Michigan and Minnesota Agri-Women and Wisconsin Women for Agriculture. This project is free for participating farm families and is made possible through a grant from North Central Extension Risk Management Education Center (NCERMEC) and the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.


According to some studies, an estimated 70% of farms and farmland will transition ownership in the next 20 years and fewer than 50% of farmers have estate plans; less than 70% have named successors; and less than 11% have farm business transition plans in place. The consequences of a failure to plan can be severe.


Farmers can learn more about the process by signing up for a webinar, which will be held at noon Central time on August 18: Click here for details on how to register for this webinar.

Slaughter cattle prices have likely reached the bottom. That's according to Livestock Marketing Information Center (LMIC) Director Jim Robb. In speaking at the Southern Plains Beef Symposium in Ardmore on Saturday, he also shared the industry is near the bottom of the market for calf and yearling prices. With increasing cattle supplies and corn prices higher than last year, Robb said he is looking for softer calf and yearling prices for the rest of the year.


"We're not going to make the very strong calf and yearling markets that we did in the fourth quarter of 2014," Robb said. "We're going to have the second highest calf market ever, but it's certainly a softer market on a year-to-year basis. Fed cattle prices will be down year-to-year in the second half, still seasonally stronger."


While fed cattle, calf and yearling prices have been fairly volatile, Robb looks for it good year for cow-calf producers and a decent year for stockers, but it won't be a great year like 2014. Overall, he said herd rebuilding has been fairly modest and domestic consumer demand remains good. In looking at the outlook, he forecast more of an erosion of calf and yearling prices over the next several years, rather than a collapse. He said it's going to take an outside market shock to slow the erosion of prices.

I caught up with Jim Robb at the Southern Plains Beef Symposium held Saturday in Ardmore, Oklahoma  Click or tap here to listen to this Beef Buzz feature.

We also have our complete conversation with Jim posted as a Ag Perspectives Podcast- you can listen by clicking here.

The Noble Foundation's Hugh Aljoe says that a concept that has stuck with him since his college days came from a range management professor at Texas A&M- Dr. Wayne Hamilton. "The time to plan for a drought is when it's raining, and the time to plan for rain is during a drought." I can truly appreciate these words of wisdom more today than ever in my career having the recent experiences of both drought (in 2011 and 2012) and surplus rain (flooding) in the spring of 2015. This leads to the questions of "Are we still in a drought or long-term dry spell?" and "Should we be planning for drought or rain?" The short answers to those questions are "Yes," and "Both - drought long-term and good moisture conditions short-term."


"If you as a producer living in the Southern Great Plains take any stock into the climate and weather predictions, you are aware of the El Nino/La Nina phenomenon and its effect on our region. We are currently experiencing an El Nino effect, which means our region typically receives above-average rainfall. Many producers in Oklahoma and Texas received their expected yearly rainfall in two months (May and June) this year. It has been a very moist first half of the year, providing much needed recovery of deep soil moisture and pond/lake water. However, due to the excessive rainfall amounts, many producers were not able to benefit in forage production. Although there was abundant rain in the spring, it did not equate to surplus forage. The good news is El Nino conditions are projected to remain with us through the remainder of the year. There is still a lot of the growing season left to provide recovery from the drought years and build reserves headed into the fall and winter.

Aljoe has more on how to make the most of current weather conditions that may allow pasture recovery- click here to read all of his comments on this subject.

James Herring has witnessed much during 45 years in the cattle business, but he's been much more than an observer.  His leadership roles, foresight and determination to create relationships that benefit all stakeholders-from rancher to consumer-make him a standout among his peers.  That's why Herring is being honored with the Feeding Quality Forum (FQF) 2015 Industry Achievement Award.


"He's given a lot of his time to really make sure the industry is moving in the direction it needs to be," says Larry Corah, with the Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) brand, noting terms as president of the Texas Cattle Feeders Association and of CattleFax.


"James is probably one of the most innovative people in the industry when it comes to looking at economic impacts and cattle feeding in different ways," Corah says, "like labor cost per head, for example."


The award will be presented during the luncheon portion of the Forum, Aug. 18 in Omaha, Neb., and Aug. 20 in Garden City, Kan.  Click here to read more about James Herring's contributions to the cattle feeding business, including a video featuring Herring's view on why the cattle business has shifted from commodity to quality.

A whole host of states have filed lawsuits against the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers over the Clean Water Rule that is best known as the WOTUS rule- the Waters of the US proposal that many in the ag community consider to be a massive land grab that goes far beyond the Clean Water Law that has passed by Congress in the 1970s.

EPA has asked for all of the lawsuits to be lumped into one massive court case and considered by one district court- that has been granted with lawsuits saying both the EPA has gone too far with WOTUS and lawsuits saying it has not gone far enough to be looked at by the Federal District Court based in Cincinnati.  

However, the Attorney General for North Dakota, Wayne Stenehjem, is asking the Federal Courts to rethink that move-as he says that the various lawsuits have separate arguments and deserve their own consideration.