The final "i"s have been dotted and the "t"s have been crossed on a petition- and Oklahoma cattle producers will now have a chance to sign up- calling for a vote on a secondary state beef checkoff that will complement the thirty year old federal dollar a head beef checkoff.


A working group made up of representatives from the American Farmers and Ranchers, Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association, Oklahoma CattleWomen's Association, Oklahoma Dairy Association, Oklahoma Farm Bureau and the Oklahoma Livestock Marketing Association have been meeting for several months working on the outlines for a state beef checkoff.


"Our working group has met six times and facilitated excellent discussion creating consensus for what a state checkoff would look like," shared Michael Kelsey, Executive Vice President of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association.


The first step in creating a state checkoff involves gathering signatures on a petition. State law requires that a complete petition be 10 percent of the producers of the commodity proposing the checkoff. The Working Group estimates that number to be about 5,500 cattle producers. By signing a petition, a cattle producer is simply saying that they want the opportunity to vote on creating a state beef checkoff.


State law requires that the purpose for a checkoff be on the petition. The Working Group considered many factors and came up with an excellent set of reasons for a state beef checkoff.
The reasons for and purposes of a state assessment are:


-- Increase funds for the core checkoff strategies of market development, promotion, research and consumer information

-- Promote and defend beef and cattle production

-- Aggressively promote and defend beef's importance in a healthy diet


The proposed assessment would be $1 per head at change of ownership. Additionally, all funds collected will be administered by the directors of the Oklahoma Beef Council.  Click here to read more about collections.

Uncle Sam released a pair of reports that were devoured by the grain trade this past Friday- both the monthly WASDE report as well as the September Crop Production Report.  From the Crop Production numbers- we find the nation's corn production is forecast to be the second highest yield and the third largest production on record for the United States. U.S. corn production is forecast at 13.6 billion bushels, with an average yield of 167.5 bushels per acre.


U.S. soybean production is forecast at 3.94 billion bushels, up slightly from August but Tom Leffler with Leffler Commodities saying it was 94 million bushels higher than trade expectations. Based on September 1 conditions, yields are expected to average 47.1 bushels per acre, up 0.2 bushel from last month, but a full bushel larger than what the trade expected.


For Oklahoma- two areas jumped out from the Crop Production report released by NASS- the grain sorghum production number and the details of the Oklahoma Cotton Crop.

Grain sorghum production is on fire here in 2015- pulled by demand from China as they bought much of last year's crop and forward contracted large hunks of this year's crop that is now being harvested.   Nationally, grain sorghum production is projected to be 32% higher than a year ago at 574 million bushels.  The largest milo producing state is Kansas- with a 237 million bushel crop- up 19% from a year ago. Texas is number two- with total production up 29% to 178 million bushels. 

Oklahoma is the fourth largest sorghum producing state in 2015- bypassing Nebraska but being out produced by Arkansas this growing season.  Arkansas has tripled their grain sorghum output to 48 million bushels, while Oklahoma jumps the size of our grain sorghum crop to 25.37 million bushels- up 46% in 2015 versus 2014.

Meanwhile, the US upland Cotton crop is off almost three million bales, with most southern states down by a hundred thousand bales or more.  Texas remains the dominant cotton producing state in the country- at 5.75 million bales- off a little more than 400,000 bales from last year's final production number.

Oklahoma is one of the few states that will actually see a larger cotton crop produced this year versus last- and it's because of more production per acre.  Oklahoma cotton farmers are expected to harvested about 15,000 fewer acres than a year ago- but the pounds of lint per acre is expected to jump up 87 pounds per acre this year versus 2014- giving us a total  of 285,000 bales that could be produced this season.

The pounds per acre has slipped from the August guess of 781 pounds down to 702 pounds this month- but if the September number holds- cotton output will surpass a year ago- which makes sense given the fact that we finally had some irrigation water from Altus- Lugert for the first time in several growing seasons.

We have several resources to point you to- Leslie Smith talked with Tom Leffler about both USDA reports released on Friday- click or tap here to check out their conversation.

We featured Dr. Darrel Good of the University of Illinois in our morning farm news as heard on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network for this Monday- you can always access and listen to our morning farm news in the left hand column of our email- and the full conversation that farm broadcast colleague Todd Gleason had with Dr. Good is available here.

The USDA September Crop Production numbers can be found here.

And the USDA WASDE report from the ERS of USDA is available here.

The crop that has been called the "Staff of Life" is currently under attack- and wheat producers have joined forces with the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture to push back on those attacks that have gotten progressively stronger over the last few years as the US consumer has really paid attention to the Gluten Free conversation. The joint effort has resulted in a half hour TV program aimed at answering questions that have been raised by those who question the value of wheat products in the diets of consumers.

Already seen over the air on OETA several times this month- the program "The Truth About Wheat" is now available on-line. Featured on the program are Dr. Brett Carver, Regents Professor and Wheat Genetics Chair in Agriculture from Oklahoma State University; Dr. Julie Miller-Jones, Board Certified Nutrition Specialist and Licensed Nutritionist and current Distinguished Scholar and Professor Emeritus of Nutrition at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, MN., and Sara Olsen, Colorado Wheat Farmer, Mother & Colorado Wheat Administrative Council board member.

Click here for more details about  "The Truth About Wheat " on-line- as well as links back to earlier audio interviews we did with a couple of experts featured in the video.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Friday announced the release of a new report that shows that USDA's Farm to School Grant Program, established and funded through the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, has helped 12,300 schools improve nutritious meal options made with local ingredients for 6.9 million students, while expanding market opportunities for family farmers and ranchers in their communities. Recent studies published in Childhood Obesity and Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior indicate that strong farm to school programs can impact consumption of fruits and vegetables, leading to reductions in plate waste.


"Farm to school partnerships have a proven track record of encouraging kids to eat more healthy foods and creating new market opportunities for the farmers that grow them," said Vilsack. "Congress should act quickly to reauthorize the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act to build on the success of farm to school and the healthier school meals and continue our momentum towards a healthier next generation of Americans."


Through its Farm to School Grant Program, USDA has awarded 221 grants in 49 States, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands over the past three years. Fifty percent of funded projects included expanding healthy menu options offered in the cafeteria; 46 percent included training for food service staff about menu planning, meal preparation, and cooking with local and regional foods; and 65 percent included nutrition education activities. Forty percent of farm to school grants were awarded to rural schools or districts, and 38 percent of grants were distributed in StrikeForce states and territories to address challenges associated with rural poverty.  Click here to read more about farm to school programs.

The window to plant winter canola in Oklahoma is now open- and one consideration that producers need to examine is their weed management plans. OSU Extension Weed Specialist Dr. Angela Post offers the following advice to farmers as they plant the 2016 crop between now and October 10th.


"Winter canola is an excellent rotational partner with wheat.  Integrating canola into a wheat system allows for the cleanup of weedy fields with primarily grassy weed problems. Conventional and Roundup Ready (RR) varieties are excellent choices for managing most grassy weeds including ALS-resistant populations, because grass-only herbicide options can be used in canola without crop injury.  For specific grasses that are very difficult to control, like cereal rye and jointed goatgrass, it is advisable to use canola in year one of your rotation and Clearfield wheat in the second year of your rotation before going back to conventional wheat varieties. Due to sensitivity of canola, Clearfield wheat varieties should not be used the year prior to rotating into canola.


"Canola planting time is here and many are going out now with preplant burndown applications.  Remember that canola is sensitive to dicamba, 2,4-D, and MCPA and these products should not be used inside of 30 days before planting.  Glyphosate, glufosinate and paraquat are all potential options for removing broadleaf weeds in no-till systems prior to planting.  These products have no planting restriction for canola. Tillage is the best option to remove weeds in conventionally tilled systems.  Click here to read more about weed management in canola.

American Ethanol made a huge splash at the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in central Missouri, the largest unsanctioned boat race in the Midwest. More than 100,000 spectators gathered to watch nearly 100 boats race along the one-mile course, but only one boat was crowned as the "Top Gun"-the American Ethanol 51-foot Mystic Powerboats catamaran. The boat was named after its fuel sourced and logged a top speed of 208 mph.


"The American Ethanol catamaran definitively proved that ethanol and marine engines are more than compatible," said Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy. "The team chose to run on ethanol because the fuel performs better and burns cooler than regular gasoline. Unsurprisingly, the second place boat was also powered by homegrown American ethanol," Buis said. The driver of the boat, Myrick Coil, said, "This boat accelerated harder than any boat I have ever been in. It was also the biggest boat I have ever driven. Those two things usually don't go together!"


John Cosker, owner of Mystic Powerboats, added, "All of our hard work leading up to the event paid off when the boat came alive off of the start line and rocketed to a clocked speed of 208 mph. It showed America the power behind American Ethanol."

Click here for more.

The rainfall was spotty- but several locations across mostly northwestern Oklahoma received rainfall this morning that could help with planting of both winter canola as well as early planting of winter wheat.

As of 6:15am this morning- checking the Mesonet rainfall totals for the last 24 hours we see both Putnam and Watonga Mesonet stations have topped six tenths of an inch of rainfall- several more spots have recorded four tenths of an inch- which gives producers a little moisture to work with as they look at moving a planter into their fields. 

Click here for the real time Rainfall map for the Mesonet- we have selected the 24 hour map so it gives you the rainfall for the state for the past 24 hour period from the point you click on it.

The seven day forecast from both News9 and News on 6 suggest more rainfall may be in the works by the end of this week and into the upcoming weekend- which with the start of the State Fair of Oklahoma- makes perfect sense!

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Our guest this past Saturday morning on In the Field was Mark Hodges- and we asked him to put his Oklahoma Genetics hat on for this conversation on KWTV, News9 in Oklahoma City.

In case you are out of the OKC TV market- or simply slept in Saturday morning- here's a link to our website that will give you a chance to see our visit with Mark- and also includes our earlier audio conversation about planting wheat for the 2016 growing season.