Howdy Neighbors!

Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. We are proud to have KIS Futures as a regular sponsor of our daily email update. KIS Futures provides Oklahoma Farmers & Ranchers with futures & options hedging services in the livestock and grain markets- Click here for the free market quote page they provide us for our website or call them at 1-800-256-2555.

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Others elected at the 2010 meeting included Vice President John Porter, Stillwater; District 3 Board Member Scott Blubaugh, Tonkawa; and, At Large Board Member Melody Cummings, Elk City. These elections were a central part of the two days of business and education sessions at the Oklahoma City Convention.

Detrick was successful in losing the CEO title, as delegates voted Bylaw changes that provided for a professional to be hired as the Chief Executive Officer of the insurance company going forward. Other bylaw changes that were made were designed to strengthen the corporate governance of the insurance side of the equation.

Click on the link below to hear some brief comments from Detrick after the results of the election were known- as well as a link to a video of the election results that we took with a new tool we plan on using in the days to come- Ustream.

Click here for details of the Presidential win for Terry Detrick at the AFR Convention in OKC

For example, we tweeted as Terry Peach led off the morning lineup of speakers "Ok Sec of Ag Terry Peach tells AFR that ag groups can fuss behind closed doors- but when the door opens- an united front must be seen." Later in the morning, we spotlighted Senator Ron Justice as he spoke "Sen Ron Justice tells AFR/OFU that state question 744 will be bad 4 Okla because money will be stripped from other essential services."

Saturday night- we tweeted about the organization honoring the life of service given by former OFU President George W Stone, who did not seek another term on the Board of Directors at this meeting. "AFR/Okla Farmers Union honors George W Stone for his 60 years as a leader in the organization. Stone was longtime Pres of Ok Farmers Union. Stone was also Pres of Nat Farmers Union in the 80s- told the banquet crowd he was proud of the organization." One of the last Tweets from the AFR meeting was a quote from Lt. Governor Jari Askins- ""Life is like a windmill- the work doesn't get done unless it's a little bit windy" the wrapup words to AFR from Lt Gov Jari Askins."

We will be tweeting later today from the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Leadership Conference- and you can see our most recent four tweet updates by going to our website- and looking on the lower right hand column and you will see the "Twitter" widget. Click on the link below to see a full listing of the Tweets that we made from the AFR meeting- and there is info there on how to "follow" us.

Click here to see our Twitter Feed- and you can follow the instructions to sign up if you would like to.

Prior to his presentation to the largest state affiliate of the populist national farm organization, we talked with Johnson about a variety of subjects. He contends that health care remains a major problem in rural America- and something must be done to address the challenges that people in rural areas face with a limited number of doctors, long drives to reach health care and the economic viability of rural hospitals and clinics.

We also talked about the Disaster aid package being advanced by Senator Blanche Lincoln as a part of the "Jobs" bill. He called it a heavy lift to get it passed, and expressed little enthusiasm for the measure.

Click on the link below for our Ag Perspectives Podcast that features our full conversation with Roger Johnson.

Click here for our conversation with Roger Johnson, President of the National Farmers Union

Oklahoma State University Livestock Market Economist Dr. Derrell Peel says that some of the pounds that we have lost because of harsh winter weather conditions in the southern plains is simply gone- we won't recapture it and that will reduce the tonnage produced here in 2010- further tightening the market supply for cattle ready to head to the packing plants.

We have more with Dr. Peel on our Monday Beef Buzz- as heard on great radio stations across the state that are a part of the Radio Oklahoma Network. Click on the link below to hear the first segment of our conversation that we had with Dr. Peel on Saturday afternoon, just before he offered a market update to members of the American Farmers & Ranchers in Oklahoma City.

Click here for our Beef Buzz with Derrell Peel of OSU on the Rising Cattle Market

“Now Serving: 9 Billion: A Global Dialogue on Meeting Food Needs for the Next Generation” highlighted the opportunities and challenges facing farmers and nations in the coming century, especially as global population continues to rise, resources become more scarce, and climate and pest pressures continue to mount. Participants from over 30 countries on four continents shared their thoughts and perspectives with the panel of experts as part of this global dialogue

Nina Fedoroff, science and technology advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lamented the reluctance to embrace modern plant science. Surprisingly, Fedoroff, said she believes that the organic garden at the White House feeds into the public's fear of biotechnology "I think that people need to understand that organic farming is really inefficient farming, which is why you pay twice the price for organic products."
Click on the link below to read, hear and even see more from that special web event on the need for cutting edge ag technology to feed a rapidly growing world population.

Click here for more on the 9 Billion People Web Event from Last Friday at the Newseum in Washington.

They also quote Jones from an interview that he conducted with the BBC and add that "the raw data, collected from hundreds of weather stations around the world and analysed by his unit, has been used for years to bolster efforts by the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to press governments to cut carbon dioxide emissions."

We have the link to this article below- sounds like Professor Jones and his colleagues that profess the need for drastic action to force changes in human behavior may have a even more rapid meltdown of their credibility than the glaciers they have been discussing.

Click here for more on the latest twist on Climategate from jolly old England.

Later in the week, several other events are also happening, including a Carbon Sequestration Program Info Conference at the Garfield County Extension Office in Enid. There are lots of questions about Carbon Sequestration that producers have- and this session on Wednesday is designed to answer many of those questions.

Click on the link below for our calendar page- we have several more events still to come in February across the state- and a lot of things now on our calendar for the month of March- and we invite you to go and check details of all of these activities out. AND- if you have events that we need to include on our calendar- please email them to me and we will get them included for you on what is the most comprehensive calendar of farm and ranch and rural events going on in the state of Oklahoma.

Click here for our calendar page as found at WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com

We also invite you to check out our website at the link below to check out an archive of these daily emails, audio reports and top farm news story links from around the globe.

Click here to check out WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com

Here are some links we will leave in place on an ongoing basis- Click on the name of the report to go to that link:
Our Daily Market Wrapup from the Radio Oklahoma Network with Ed Richards and Tom Leffler- analyzing the Futures Markets from the previous Day-
Ron on RON Markets as heard on K101 mornings with cash and futures reviewed- includes where the Cash Cattle market stands, the latest Feeder Cattle Markets Etc.
Previous Day's Wheat Market Recap- Two Pager From The Kansas City Board of Trade looks at all three US Wheat Futures Exchanges with extra info on Hard Red Winter Wheat and the why of that day's market.
Daily Oklahoma Cash Grain Prices- As Reported by the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture. <
The National Daily Feeder & Stocker Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
The National Daily Slaughter Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
Finally, Here is the Daily Volume and Price Summary from the Texas Cattle Feeders Association.