The National Cotton Council (NCC) says numerous invalid assumptions severely limit the credibility of The International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development's (ICTSD) recent paper entitled, "The 2014 Farm Bill and its Effects on the World Market."


While the ICTSD described its paper - which includes a significant focus on crop insurance, including the Stacked Income Protection Plan (STAX) - as an "impartial, evidence-based assessment," NCC President/CEO Dr. Gary Adams said the paper is very misleading and "does not capture the realities of today's cotton market or global cotton policies. Cotton growers in the United States respond to market signals, not government programs, when making planting decisions."


Adams said that the ICTSD report: 1) fails to accurately model current cotton policies; 2) imposes crop insurance purchase decisions on the model that are not in line with historical experience; and 3) inflates impacts by overestimating expected benefits from insurance.


The ICTSD report stands in contrast to a 2014 Congressional Research Service report that stated "... total indemnity payments under both STAX and any other cotton-specific crop insurance are prohibited from exceeding the value of the insured crop, thus further minimizing any potential production incentive."


Another evaluation of the 2014 farm law's cotton provisions conducted by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development concluded that "... the incentives to produce cotton in the United States will be weaker than they were during previous decades." The report also found that "... expenditures under STAX are estimated at about one eighth of the cotton subsidies paid under the 2002 Farm Bill and about one third of the subsidies paid under the 2008 Farm Bill."


Adams said the ICTSD paper also misrepresented the marketing loan program by failing to incorporate the modifications of the upland cotton marketing loan included in the 2014 farm law.  Click here to read more.

As is often the case, the Placements from this past Friday's Cattle on Feed Report set the tone for the data, showing cattle placed into feedlots in this country under the numbers of a year ago and 5.5% less than what the trade analysts were predicting ahead of the government release of the report. Tom Leffler with Leffler Commodities says that USDA reported August placements at 1.63 million head. He said that was 18.6 percent lower than the five year average, the second lowest August placement number of the past 20 years and the third largest placements of the past nine months.

The on feed count from the Friday government report shows 9.99 million head on feed in US feedlots. That was three percent above last year. Nebraska saw an increase of over four percent, while Texas and Oklahoma was unchanged versus a year ago. Market Analyst Tom Leffler of Leffler Commodities said this was the largest September on feed number of the past three years.


"Today's on feed number is the tenth time, out of the past eleven months, that the on feed has experienced year over year increases," Leffer said. "So we are continuing to see a report larger than what it was a year ago."


While placements were less than a year ago overall- the heaviest weight category reported by Uncle Sam showed 800 pound plus cattle were placement in greater numbers by a year ago by 3.9 percent.  "Now the 800 pound placements have been higher now the previous 12 of 13 months, so we continue to see those heavy weight cattle coming in, which is also one of reasons we're seeing such heavy weight cattle coming out of feed yards, also," Leffler said. 


Radio Oklahoma Network's Leslie Smith interviewed Tom Leffler of Leffler Commodities Friday afternoon. Click or tap here to read more or to listen to the full interview.

A new report by Kansas State University establishes priorities to increase demand for U.S. beef. The study was co-authored by Kansas State University Livestock Market Economist Glynn Tonsor and Center for Risk Management Director Ted Schroeder. They came up with five bottom-line opportunities and priorities for the cattle industry. Tonsor said it's important for the cattle industry to understand that all revenue that the cattle and beef industry realizes begins with consumer beef demand. This includes improving perceived food safety and product quality offered to today's consumer.


The last large beef demand determinate study by K-State found that food safety and product quality are the two beef demand determinates. Tonsor said these two factors impact demand and these are things the industry can influence. The beef industry knows that U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) matters to beef demand, because as income goes up, beef demand also increases, but that is not something the beef industry can influence. Rather, Tonsor said it's better to influence food safety or food quality, as it makes sense to prioritize those factors that are drivers of demand and they are things that can be influenced.   Additionally, he said helping consumers sort fact from fiction through visible information campaigns and being a leader in working with producers to bridge the gap are valuable initiatives that the beef industry needs to look at.


The study also looks at why beef demand has held up the last three or four years. In order for the industry to continue to maintain or build beef demand, Tonsor said it's going to be important to understand why the industry has seen this demand strength. Some possible reasons include identifying the segment of the population that was the least impacted by the recession and how this segment has maintained a heavy beef consumption pattern.

Click or tap here to listen to today's Beef Buzz.

The 27th annual School Land Trust lease auctions will begin October 19th in Beaver County and conclude November 3rd in Shawnee. This year's fall lease auctions will include a total of 497 leases in 34 counties.


"Over 110,000 acres are being offered in these auctions," said Keith Kuhlman, Director of Real Estate Management Division for the Commissioners of the Land Office. "Some leases are suitable for grazing or farming operations and others are ideal for recreational hunting, fishing or other personal enjoyment uses."


Most leases are for a term of five years, he said. Minimum bids are listed for each tract. Detailed lists are available from the CLO at (405) 604-8100 or 1-888-355-2637. The information is also available on line at www.clo.state.ok.us.


Leases in Beaver County will be auctioned at the Beaver County Fairgrounds at 2 p.m. October 19th. Cimarron County leases will be offered at 9 a.m. October 20th at the Cimarron County Fairgrounds, and bidding for Texas County leases begins at 2 p.m. at the Texas County Fairgrounds in Guymon on October 20th.  Click here to read more about lease auctions. 

Oklahoma State University is looking at ways cow-calf producers can improve management of native range. OSU Associate Professor of Range Cattle Nutrition Ryan Reuter discussed range management options at the Kenneth and Caroline Eng McDonald Foundation Beef Symposium that was held in downtown Oklahoma City. Reuter prioritized three main management strategies.


"We need to be prepared to protect our native range from overgrazing, we need to be planning to give late season rest to those native pastures and we need be trying to incorporate prescribed fire and I think those are three key things we need to plan to do," Reuter said.


As livestock producers have dealt with five consecutive years of drought, it has been hard to rest rangeland when grass resources were limited. Also, with higher land values, Reuter said it's harder for producers to have another pasture to rotate cattle to. In order to rest pasture, cattlemen may be forced to lease additional land, sell cattle or put cattle in a confinement system. Reuter said this allows producers to move cattle off the pasture, while still having them remain productive.

Click here to read more and to listen to my Q&A with Ryan Reuter about semi-confinement systems.

This past Thursday, the Senate Agriculture Committee advanced reauthorization bills for livestock mandatory reporting and the U.S. Grains Standards Act, both of which are set to expire at the end of the month. Senator Pat Roberts, the Chairman of the Senate Ag Committee, praised his ranking member, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, for helping him develop this legislative package which the Chairman hopes will pass the Senate quickly and be considered by the House before the end of the Fiscal Year.


According to the statement from Senator Roberts as he convened the business meeting this past week- "the Agriculture Reauthorizations Act of 2015 consists of three titles, including H.R. 2051 - the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 2015, H.R. 2394 - National Forest Foundation Act Reauthorization, and H.R. 2088 - U.S. Grain Standards Act Reauthorization.  Earlier this year, the House of Representatives approved these bills by voice vote on the suspension calendar.


"The proposal before the committee modifies each bill to reflect bipartisan and bicameral agreements and packages them into one legislative vehicle. The Congressional Budget Office reviewed the proposal and determined it has no impact on direct spending or revenue.    


"Starting with Title one, Livestock Mandatory Price Reporting requires packers to inform the Department of Agriculture of the prices they pay livestock producers for cattle, hogs and lambs, and the prices they receive for wholesale meat cuts.


"The Department then publishes an array of reports that detail the sale transactions occurring between livestock producers and meat packers.


"This information is critical for farmers and ranchers who raise livestock and entities in the meat trade, because it provides them a landscape of the marketplace for livestock and meat and provides information for them to make informed business decisions.

Click here to read more about the measure passed by the Senate Ag Committee last week.

 

Most of last week- we were watching the weather maps which predicted goodly amounts of precipitation- and depending on where you live- you feel really blessed by the rainfall this MOnday morning- or-  you are wondering what happened??? 

If you used US 183 as your dividing line in the western part of the state- it is really spotty to non-existent west of that highway- altho a few Mesonet stations in the western counties did well- Elk City pulled in 1.55 inches, Cheyenne .94 inches and Seiling with three quarters of an inch of rainfall.  Of course, just up 183 and Highway 3 in Woodward- the Mesonet site there only has recorded one hundredth of an inch of rainfall from the weekend- not much to write home about.

The southeast also is feeling left out as well- McCurtain County is getting rather crunchy as little to no rain hit this drought spot in our state.  In fact, the 12% of the state that has been shown as being in moderate to severe drought as of Tuesday of last week- those areas in southern Oklahoma got only marginal amounts of rain from this system.


The Rainfall winners included Oilton with over four inches of rain (west of Tulsa)- with five Mesonet sites recording more than two inches of rain from this weekend- Kingfisher, Chickasha, Acme, Ada and Byars.

Here's the map that shows where the rain was- and where it was not this weekend- the latest forecast we have seen from Jed Castles at News9 is showing the arrival of fall this Wednesday morning at 3:21 AM- but only limited rainfall chances over the next nine days.