Other notes from Thursday in Louisville-  It was a great day for Burlington FFA- the home of your American Star in Agribusiness- the chapter was also recognized as a National Model of Innovation in Chapter Development- winning for their efforts in researching the FFA Creed and working with the small town in Kansas that was the home of EM Tiffany- the author of the Creed- properly recognize his achievements that have impacting the lives of thousands of FFA members.

The Kingfisher FFA Ag Issues team competed in the National Final Four on Thursday morning- no word on results as of yet.  Madelyn Gerkin of Kingfisher represented Oklahoma in the National Creed contest- made it to the Sweet Sixteen but not the Final Four.

After six consecutive years of winning at least one of the National Speech contests- this year Oklahoma has been shut out- with none of the Oklahoma representatives able to reach the Finals stage.

Today- it's National Proficiency Award day- sixteen Oklahoma FFA members will be walking across the stage as finalists- we'll be tweeting and posting results this afternoon.

The National FFA Organization is celebrating a landmark year at the 2015 National Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. The National FFA organization has achieved a record membership of over 629,000 students. National FFA advisor Dr. Steve Brown said the growth stems from growing opportunities in agriculture to provide food and clothing for an increasing world population.


"We know with the growing population, looking at nine billion in the year 2050, that we have a lot of work to do and a lot of food to produce in order to feed a hungry world," Brown said.


The National FFA Organization is working to develop students that will work in production agriculture, processing or agribusiness.   Right now there is a growing need to develop students with employable skills. Brown said there are several reasons why FFA students are in high demand by employers.


"I think they find the communication skills, the leadership skills and the personal development that these students receive as a part of being in agricultural education in our public schools across this country gives them the skills, the team work skills, the employability skills that employers like to have and want in their business and their line of work," Brown said.


I interviewed Brown at the National FFA Convention. You can hear that conversation by clicking here.


Our exclusive coverage of the 2015 National FFA Convention in Louisville is a service of ITC, Your Energy Superhighway. Learn more about ITC Great Plains, LLC by clicking here. We also appreciate the support of the Oklahoma FFA Association and the Oklahoma FFA Alumni Association. Click here for more information about one of the top states in the US in the FFA- the Oklahoma FFA Association. Oklahoma FFA impacts the lives of 27,154 members in 359 chapters across the state.

  

Cattlemen have more and more information on their cattle with new advances in science and technology. One of the newest and most exciting tools producers have access to is called genomic technology. Dr.Tonya Amen, Genetic Service Director for Angus Genetics, Inc. said having genomic technology has changed the way and rate in which cattle can be improved.


Genomic testing also offers important data that can be incorporated into expected progeny differences (EPDs). Amen said these genomic-enhanced EPD's look and work just like a traditional EPD. In adding this new genetic component, she said that adds accuracy to those figures much earlier in the animal's life.


I featured Amen on the Beef Buzz feature. Click or tap here to listen to today's Beef Buzz.


Hays caught up with Amen at the recent Cattlemen's Boot Camp at Oklahoma State University. Click or tap here to hear the full interview.

Commodity prices continue to trade mostly sideways. On this weekend's edition of SUNUP, Oklahoma State University Grain Marketing Specialist Kim Anderson said wheat, corn, cotton and sorghum prices continue to have a hard time moving significantly higher. Wheat prices traded about 15 cents higher this week. The December Kansas City wheat futures contract has been trading from $4.70 to just below 5.00. Anderson said December KC wheat prices have strong support at $4.70 and very strong resistance at $5.20. He said overall wheat prices continue to be on a downward trend since the 2015 U.S. wheat harvest.


In looking at new crop wheat prices, Anderson said local cash prices are running around 28 to 50 cents lower than the July 2016 Kansas City wheat contract. The contract this week was around $5.25, so forward contract prices are running around $4.75 to $5.00 a bushel around Oklahoma.


The commodities futures market continues to be influenced by the weather. Anderson said traders are watching the weather forecasts for the 2016 wheat crop. Additionally, the funds are entering and exiting the market. Anderson said export demand also continues to be a big driving force of wheat prices.   With the strong U.S. dollar, U.S. wheat prices are higher than other countries around the world. Anderson said the quality of the U.S. crop has helped export demand.


"We've got a good quality wheat and I think why we are exporting with a higher price is because we can deliver a high quality product that they can buy and blend in their poorer quality products," Anderson said.


Click here to listen to the full interview.  You can also find the lineup for this weekend's edition of SUNUP.

Statement by Bob Stallman, President, American Farm Bureau Federation, Regarding Election of Paul Ryan to Speaker of the House


"We're excited to learn that Paul Ryan has been chosen to be speaker of the House of Representatives. Speaker Ryan has been a faithful friend of farmers and ranchers in his time in Congress. He has supported sensible changes in enforcement of the Endangered Species Act, backed open and fair trade with the rest of the world, fought chronic overreach by the Environmental Protection Agency and has been working to bring needed relief on the tax burden farmers and ranchers face.


"We have repeatedly called for pragmatism and bipartisan cooperation in Washington, and our new speaker has a record of delivering just those things. We look forward to working closely with the speaker and his leadership team to move the policy and fiscal reforms important to agriculture forward."

The latest Drought Monitor shows that the moderate to severe drought of Southern Oklahoma got whacked in a big way because of the heavy rains of last weekend.  

Drought of any kind- moderate or worse- now stands at 17.68 percent this week after checking in at 36% a week ago.

Click here to see the complete map- courtesy of the Mesonet Ticker.

However- the amount of abnormally dry territory has spread- a lot- across central and northern areas of the state- and it remains to be seen how much rain those areas will get this weekend.

As we write this on a Friday morning- we have rain again in southern areas of the state- hoping for those rains to spread northward to aid our struggling wheat fields north of I-40.