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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On Friday evening, the Task Force met and made final changes to their proposal, with the key change made would allow what is called the "House of Delegates" the right to have sole authority to amend the bylaws of the organization. This move changed the minds of many who were considering a "no" vote, as this seems to offset the item listed in the role of the House of Delegates that said that the House cannot override the Board of Directors.

We talked with Scott Dewald, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association, about the vote- Oklahoma producers supported the concept moving forward- and you can hear Scott's comments about the vote and the details that now must be developed in the next six months.
Scott also told us about a resolution brought forward by OCA to put the NCBA on record as being aggressive against the Humane Society of the US and use resources and develop coalitions that will combat their goal of eliminating animal agriculture in the United States.

Click on the link below to jump to this story from San Antonio where we offered extensive coverage this past week from the cattle industry meetings- those stories can be found on our website by looking at our agricultural news story page on OklahomaFarmReport.Com- I count about 14 stories there from the Cattle Industry Convention- and more stories as we sort through all the stuff we got there will be added in the days to come.

Click here for the story on the wrapup of the Cattle Industry Convention- and our end of the meeting interview with Scott Dewald of the OCA

Nevertheless, 2010 overall should be a better year for the beef industry, said Blach, with beef exports expected to rise and fed cattle slaughter totals expected to decrease. Demand remains the biggest challenge for the beef industry in 2010, said Blach. Though the supply situation is very bullish, demand must stabilize in order for prices to turn significantly higher. We have Blach's wrap up comments to share with you from the 2010 Cattlefax outlook seminar that was held in San Antonio- click on the link below to hear his wrap up from Friday morning.

Fed cattle slaughter totals are expected to be down 2 percent in 2010, and cow slaughter totals should decline by nearly 9 percent. Average carcass weights are forecast to increase slightly and beef production is projected to be down 2.8 percent. Per capita net beef supplies are expected to be down 4 percent due to an expected increase in beef exports and smaller beef production.
In 2010 U.S. beef exports are forecast to increase to South Korea, and to a lesser extent Japan and Vietnam. U.S. beef exports in 2010 are expected to rise by about 8 percent over 2009.

We will have more as the week unfolds from this part of the NCBA meeting- today you can click on the link below and hear Blach's "big picture" comments on the year ahead.

Click here for more on the Cattlefax outlook seminar- and to hear the takehome comments from Randy Blach of the market analysis group.

USW commissioned the study with funding from the USDA/Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) Market Access Program. Dr. Harry M. Kaiser, the Gellert Family Professor of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell and director of the Cornell Commodity Promotion Research Program (CCPRP), designed and conducted the research using established methods he and the CCPRP team developed.

The study showed that U.S. wheat export promotion had a large and beneficial impact for producers and the economy that far exceeded its cost, Dr. Kaiser said. "One of the econometric models we used showed that the overall average revenue benefit to the entire wheat industry from the combined producer and FAS expenditures was estimated to be about $115 for each dollar spent." The study also predicted that increasing the promotion investment has the potential for even greater returns to wheat producers, the wheat supply chain, and the U.S. economy.
Click on the link below for more on this study that shows a lot of success in moving US wheat into the global market.

Click here for more from the US Wheat Study on Investments into Wheat Market Promotion.

Stallman said passage of these agreements is critical at this time because many other countries are negotiating bilateral and regional trade agreements that are reducing U.S. agriculture's competitiveness and market share around the world. "By 2010, there will be more than 600 bilateral and regional trade agreements worldwide with the U.S engaged in fewer than 25," Stallman wrote.

Click on the link below for more on this call by AFBF to start moving now on the Free Trade Agreements with Columbia, Panama and South Korea.

Click here for more the need to push now for the Free Trade Deals to be Consumated.

Kullman is attending the World Economic Forum and participating in the panel discussion on "Rethinking How to Feed the World." According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, food production will need to nearly double by the middle of this century to feed the world population expected at that time. Panelists were asked to consider what it would take to achieve food security, environmental sustainability and economic growth through agriculture.

"Global food security challenges are becoming more complex and interconnected. Collaborations among organizations will need to follow suit - becoming more interconnected to leverage the strengths of organizations across the public and private sectors," said Kullman. You can click on the link below to read more of what Ms. Kullman was saying at the end of this past week about how a lot of people are going to have to cooperate in a lot of ways to have any chance of growing enough food to feed the growing world.

Click here for more from the CEO of DuPont on Agriculture as a Game Changer.

This program will be presented in 2 locations later today on this February first. At noon, the program will be presented in Gate at the Midwest Crop Service Building and in Fairview at 6:00 pm at the Major County Fairgrounds. I have not heard from the Extension folks that are running these meetings if they have decided to cancel these or any of the other meetings in this series this week. I would suggest that you check with your local Extension office before going to the locations set for today.

You can click on the link below for the listing of the other meetings in this series that are planned for the balance of the week. These events, as well as a bunch of others, are slated to happen over the next seven days- our calendar page is full of things that may be of interest to you in your farm or ranch operation. Check our calendar page out!

Click here for our calendar page as found on the OklahomaFarmReport.Com

Oklahoma has four seats on the National Pork Board, based on having the eighth largest hog inventory in the United States. The four members from Oklahoma for 2010 include Oklahoma: Lonnie C. Hoelscher, Joe C. Popplewell, Basil S. Werner and Karen D. Brewer.

Delegates meet annually to recommend the rate of assessment, determine the percentage of assessments that state associations will receive and nominate producers and importers to the 15-member National Pork Board. The Delegate Body will be seated during the March 4-7, 2010, National Pork Industry Forum in Kansas City, Missouri.

Click here for more on the Pork Board Members- and a full list from all states that have been named by Secretary Tom Vilsack

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.