|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Thursday March 22,
2007! A
service of Midwest Farm Shows
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Ag Day at the State Capitol big success at several venues!
-- Mexican visit by Oklahoma Wheat Commission likely to yield some
harvest time visitors!
-- Did you get it or miss it?
-- Senator Inhofe supports WRDA.
-- Cattle Prices this month are all about the weather!
-- Talks Stall over Beef and Rice in Seoul
-- Listen to Ron with Sandy, Don and Mason!
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 Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City April 19-21, 2007, as well as the Tulsa Farm Show held each December. 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. | |
Ag Day at the State Capitol big success at several venues! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We
congratulate several folks who were honored during the Ag in the Classroom
award ceremonies in the Governor's Blue Room on Wednesday- including the
Ag in the Classroom Teacher of the year Joyce Flowers- we had a story on
her a few weeks back when she was first announced as being the recipient
of this honor.
Three top prizewinning 6th Graders were honored for their essays written in competition this year through the Ag in the Classroom efforts. Claiming first prize was Katelyn Garvie of Burlington, second place was Harli Ridling of Sentinel and third place was won by Cordell Setters from the Empire school in Duncan. The best Ag in the Classroom Poster out of 2301 entries belongs to Mariah Hooper, a 5th grader from Stilwell. The 4th Floor Rotunda was filled with exhibits from organizations and groups that represent various aspects of Oklahoma agriculture. ODA officials tell us that they were in a "sold out" position again this year when it came to booth space under the dome, with a waiting list of about 10 who wanted to come but there was no room. We visited with several lawmakers and lobbyists about how agriculture fares under the Budget plan unveiled earlier this week- and we offer comments from Mason Mungle if you click on the link below. | |
Mexican visit by Oklahoma Wheat Commission likely to yield some harvest time visitors! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mark Hodges,
the executive Director of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission, along with
Commissioners Keith Kisling and Don Schieber were in Mexico City this past
week as U.S. Wheat Associates held a reception celebrating their new
office in one of the most populous cities in the world.
Schieber called the trip a success, as the OWC contingent met with several wheat millers and bakers who have used and liked Oklahoma wheat. He tells us that the Mexican millers have gotten some of their wheat since this past harvest via ship out of the New Orleans port, but far prefer the unit load concept of a wheat shipment by rail straight from the heart of the Hard Red Winter wheat belt- the Mexican millers telling OWC that the quality and consistency of the wheat they get is higher when it come from a concentrated area around where that unit train has originated. Schieber invited several top Mexican buyers to come to Oklahoma this spring when wheat harvest kicks off and ride in the combine with him as we harvest the 2007 crop- he expects they will be here to check out his new combine, complete with three computers on board and a 36 foot wide header! Don and I talk about the trip to Mexico promoting Oklahoma wheat- and you can hear that by clicking below. Click here to listen to Ron talk with Don Schieber of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission! | |
Did you get it or miss it? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It almost
sounds like a brand new TV game show- but it's the question we heard
phrased several different ways yesterday during the Ag Day festivities at
the State Capitol. What we are talking about are the rains promised this
week to be sweeping across the plains. Some got them in spades (and almost
needed a boat to float in) while others were having to count the amount of
rainfall drop by drop.
The latest guidance we are seeing from the National Weather Service comes in these thoughts from their Forecast Discussion out of the Norman, Oklahoma National Weather Service office- "THE MAIN RAIN EVENT WILL PROBABLY BE THIS WEEKEND THOUGH, AS A MAJOR UPPER-LEVEL SYSTEM PASSES OVER THE PLAINS. THERE SHOULD THEN BE A BRIEF CLEARING FOR MONDAY. THEN RAIN CHANCES INCREASE AGAIN INTO THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK AS ANOTHER LARGE STORM SYSTEM APPROACHES FROM THE WEST." Biggest amounts of rain up to this point this week have fallen in Oklahoma from Grant County straight east over through Osage and Washington counties. The official largest amount we have seen on the Mesonet looks to be Foraker in Osage County, altho we had reports from Don Schieber out of Kay County who lives just east of Blackwell that he got around 5 inches of rain at his house and there were even heavier amounts just to his south in northern Noble County. It was also good to see major wheat producing Grant County have a report from Medford of 2.86 inches of rain from these recent storms. | |
Senator Inhofe supports WRDA. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At a recent
hearing on Capitol Hill, Oklahoma's Senior Senator Jim Inhofe told his
colleagues that he supports the Water Resources Development Act - or WRDA.
Inhofe says that while there was progress made in getting WRDA done in
2006- they were not able to move it to a successful conclusion and that he
hopes that this measure that will update and upgrade the infrastructure of
our waterways across the mid section of the country.
Inhofe also voiced his appreciation to the Army Corps of Engineers and their work to clean up the toxic waste site at Tar Creek. We have a audio wrapup of Inhofe's comments during a Subcommittee session this past week- and wanted to share that with you. Click here to listen to Senator Inhofe on WRDA and the Army Corps of Engineers | |
Cattle Prices this month are all about the weather! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That's the
take of Dr. David Anderson of Texas A&M, who we feature today on the
Beef Buzz from the Radio Oklahoma Network. Dr. Anderson thinks our cattle
prices for both slaughter cattle as well as stockers and feeders will
average above a year ago on a quarter to quarter basis during 2007.
He adds that the sharp run up in cattle prices this spring is a function of reduced weights because of production being hurt with wintery weather since late November- that reduced beef tonnage through the beef supply pipeline by a significant amount. We have linked today's Beef Buzz below- check it out with Dr. David Anderson of TAMU. Click here for Ron's latest Beef Buzz- featuring David Anderson! | |
Talks Stall over Beef and Rice in Seoul ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It sounds like
a dog food formulation- but the combination of beef and rice continue to
be ingredients that could choke a Free Trade Agreement with South Korea.
Officials from the two countries talked ag issues in Seoul- failed to make
any progress and agreed only to talk again at a higher level in final
ministerial meetings planned for next week in a last ditch effort to get a
Free Trade Deal done before the March 31st deadline that looms.
March 31st is the final day that President Bush can report he has a deal with South Korea and work it through the system in time for it to fall under the protection of a straight up or down vote under his expiring Trade Promotion Authority. While many on the Korean government believe that beef from the United States should be allowed into their country again- none of those agencies have broken the death grip on the issue that the Ministry of Agriculture continues to hold. This agency is super protectionist and wants NO beef from the United States- period! They claim that you just can't be sure if any bone fragments that might come into their country from the US might actually be Specified Risk Materials and could carry BSE. They indicate that they won't accept OIE recommendations on beef movement from the US, which are expected to be finalized in May that will show that as long as you remove SRMs, any beef, boneless or bone-in of any age will be safe coming from the US. Here is a link from one of the articles of the morning on the stalled out talks. | |
Listen to Ron with Sandy, Don and Mason! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our morning
farm news report is linked below, as we talked about the Ag Day
festivities of yesterday at the State Capitol, state support for OSU's
extension and Ag research and even some thoughts about "happy wheat" with
Kay County wheat producer Don Schieber.
You can hear our reports on 34 radio stations across the state of Oklahoma on the Radio Oklahoma Network. Our morning farm news is also on our web site where you can listen on your time schedule any time- you go to our main page- select "Listen to Ron!" on the left buttons and then select the listen link at the top of that page. We also have it linked below, as you'll hear comments from State School Superintendent Sandy Garrett, Mason Mungle as well as Don Schieber. Check it out- and be listening through the day on a station in your area for reports from Ron Hays and Ed Richards on the Radio Oklahoma Network! | |
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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
