|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Thursday November 2,
2006 A
service of Midwest Farm Shows
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Farm Bureau's PAC is number two in the state!
-- Bobby Smith of Fairview new Chairman of Oklahoma Beef
Council
-- Oklahoma Farmers Union kicks off Statewide Speech Contest this
afternoon.
-- The Pins and Needles Experience- Letting South Korea check your
beef!
-- Governor's Water Conference on tap November 13-14 in OKC
-- Wheat Checkoff changes have taken effect this week
-- USMEF's We Care Campaign- BRILLIANT!!!
Howdy Neighbors! Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. Our email this morning is a service of Midwest Farm Shows, featuring the Tulsa Farm Show December 7-9, 2006 and the Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City April 19-21, 2007. Check out details of both of these exciting shows at the official website of Midwest Farm Shows by clicking here. If you have received this by someone forwarding it to you, you are welcome to subscribe and get this weekday update sent to you directly by clicking here. | |
Farm Bureau's PAC is number two in the state! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Based on
monies that were handed out to candidates running in either a statewide
race or a statehouse race, the Oklahoma Farm Bureau's OkAgFund ranked
number two in the state in the number of dollars contributed to candidates
from the beginning of this year through August 7th. They have handed out
some additional dollars since that time as well.
The Farm Bureau Political Action Committee has chosen to support both Democrats and Republicans in various races across the state. In two statewide races, they have chosen to contribute money to both the Democratic and the Republican candidate- that has happened in the Lieutenant Governor's race between Todd Hiett and Jari Askins and in the Insurance Commissioner race, they have offered cash for the campaigns of both incumbent Kim Holland and challenger Bill Case. They have elected to offer only a small donation to the Governor Brad Henry campaign while giving nothing to Ernest Istook. And they have given $5,000 to the James Dunn campaign as he faces incumbent Drew Edmondson for Attorney General. In the statehouse races, there is one state Senate race, District 26 between Todd Russ and Wayne Walters; and three House races in Districts 6, 29 and 50 where they have chosen to give money to both major party candidates. For a look at the complete list- click below. Click here to see the money provided to candidates by the Oklahoma Farm Bureau PAC. | |
Bobby Smith of Fairview new Chairman of Oklahoma Beef Council ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We are just
now a month into the new fiscal year for the Oklahoma Beef Council- and
the OBC has new officers that will be presiding over their next board
meeting November 17th in Oklahoma City. Bobby Smith, who is the LMA
representative on the Council, is the new Chairman for 2006-07 and
operates the Fairview Auction. Vice Chairman of the Council this year is
Burke Healy of Davis, who has been serving as the national Vice-Chairman
of the Joint Retail Service Committee of the Cattlemen's Beef Board and
the State Federation of Beef Councils.
We mentioned yesterday that Executive Director Heather Buckmaster is painting the California Beef Council a verbal picture to show them the many different programs that Oklahoma spends checkoff dollars on. We talked with Heather about that as well as a look back to last week and the Quality Beef Summit sessions held in Stillwater- you can hear our conversation with the top hired hand of the OBC by clicking below. | |
Oklahoma Farmers Union kicks off Statewide Speech Contest this afternoon. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OFU is kicking
off their 62nd annual speech contests this week. Students aren't required
to pre-register. All district contests will begin at 4 pm, with the first
of those district meetings planned for this afternoon at 4 pm in Wilburton
(District II). Elizabeth Kirkland tells us they could still use additional
judges for most of the district locations. You can give her a call at
405-218-5563 for more information.
Here's the rundown of the district contests to be held over the next few weeks by OFU:
| |
The Pins and Needles Experience- Letting South Korea check your beef! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Creekstone
Farms Premium Beef LLC is the official guinea pig for the U.S. beef
industry, as they are the ones that airlifted a shipment of nine tons of
U.S. beef into South Korea at the beginning of this week that was the very
first shipment of our product in almost three years to that country.
The company has been told to expect a rigorous inspection of the shipment for up to 10 days. Joe Meng, Creekstone Vice President told Dow Jones Newswires that "We hope they don't destroy the product." He adds that "We're feeling a little hung out there. We're a bit on pins and needles, but we know we've done the best we can with this product we have shipped over there." Meng adds that they have a significant order from a trading partner in Korea and will quickly ship more- assuming that no unexpected problems develop from this first shipment. South Korea has said they have reopened their market for US Beef, but have been hyper sensitive over any bone fragments or chips that might arrive with the beef that is shipped in- so US beef processors have been reluctant to ship product and risk being cited by a overzealous Korean inspector for something that has nothing to do with the safety of the product. | |
Governor's Water Conference on tap November 13-14 in OKC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The first half
of November is extremely busy when it comes to meetings- but one that
looks very interesting is the upcoming 27th annual Governor's Conference
on Water at the Cox Convention Center in downtown Oklahoma City November
13th and 14th. The theme for 2006 is “Oklahoma’s Water Plan: Charting a
Course for Sustainable Growth."
This meeting runs Monday afternoon through early afternoon on Tuesday- State Ag Secretary Terry Peach is on the program Monday afternoon speaking to water from an agricultural perspective while Clay Pope will be on the same panel as Peach as he offers a conservation perspective. Ronn Cupp from the State Chamber of Commerce rounds out that panel on Monday afternoon as he speaks to the needs of business when it comes to water in the years ahead. We have the link below that will take you to the website where you can register or simply view the full agenda which is now available. Click here to be taken to the Water Conference information that is online. | |
Wheat Checkoff changes have taken effect this week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HB2606 that
was passed by the State Legislature and signed into law by Governor Henry
has taken effect this week- as of November first- and provides a
modification in the procedure for the refund of assessment fees for wheat
producers. In the past, some grain elevators would keep the forms on file
and even fill out the forms for producers that wanted a refund from the
state wheat checkoff.
Now, producers are required to write the Oklahoma Wheat Commission themselves in order to get the form and then submit it directly to the OWC. That measure was sponsored by House Ag Committee Chairman Dale DeWitt of Braman and Senator Gilmer Capps of Snyder. | |
USMEF's We Care Campaign- BRILLIANT!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The U.S. Meat
Export Federation continues to promote the safety of U.S. beef in markets
we are re-entering (such as Japan) with the "We Care" campaign, which is
perhaps one of the most well thought out campaigns for U.S. farm products
in a long long time.
A good example of that is provided to us in a news release from the USMEF as they report on a man and wife beef producing team that have been in Japan helping put an American Cattle rancher face on the campaign, allowing consumers to connect the food they eat to those who produce it. Tom and Cindy Beechinor gave out U.S. beef samples and talked with consumers at the Kansai Radio Festival, an event sponsored by their state organization, the Washington State Beef Commission (WSBC). They also participated in the USMEF booth at a New Orleans-style food and music event in Osaka. More than 1,000 samples of U.S. beef were distributed with positive reactions from Japanese consumers. An informal survey showed more than 50 percent of consumers would “definitely” purchase U.S. beef at retail stores and restaurants. It's a little ironic that the Beechinors are from Washington state, where the "Cow that stole Christmas" came from that started our multi-year journey in the world of BSE lunacy. The "We Care" campaign is proving to be worth its weight in gold for the U.S. beef industry as efforts are made to regrow what was once the largest international market for U.S. Beef. Click here for the full story on the Beechinors in Japan for the WE Care Campaign | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows for their support of our daily Farm News Update. Go to their website at the link at the top of today's email for more information on either the Tulsa Farm Show or the Southern Plains Farm Show. 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. | |
God Bless! You can reach us at the following: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
phone: 405-473-6144
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
