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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Friday June 29, 2007!
A
service of Midwest Farm Shows
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-- A Carpet of Green (Bad news for the remaining wheat harvest)
-- Higher Regents Back Down as they Honor the Legislative Intent of
Providing $2.9 Million Direct to OSU Extension and Research Efforts.
-- Another Lawmaker Talking Farm Bill Extension for this fall.
-- The Case for Using Certified Wheat Seed this fall!
-- The Feed Grain Versus Grain for Fuel Debate of Major Concern for
Cattlemen.
-- South Korea taking the next step to full reopening to US
Beef.
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 recently concluded Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City, 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. | |
A Carpet of Green (Bad news for the remaining wheat harvest) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The rains
continue- so harvest stands still. Unfortunately, stuff that is green is
not standing still- weeds are growing and may make many of the fields that
have yet to be harvested worthless. we get one picture painted for us by a
producer that has harvested 25% or less of his crop and will find it hard
to finish harvest even when this current low pressure system finally gets
shoved eastward.
This producer from north central Oklahoma writes "In this area a large majority of acres left have major weed problems. Fields are being overtaken with crabgrass, bindweed, buckwheat, sunflowers, flax, and pigweed. The wheat that has been cut is very likely the best wheat we will see this year, which, of course, has been nothing to brag about. At this point, with the rain that has fallen over the last couple of weeks, there will be a lot more acres abandoned now, because of the weed pressure, than we thought even two weeks ago. Many wheat fields are becoming a carpet of green at this point." He adds that many producers are also very worried about a marketing issue as well. As prices roared higher this past spring and the crop looked like it was made, producers did some forward contracting of their crop- and now they face the problem of not being able to fulfill those contracts. We have a link below to our front page of our website- and today, we will have an update on harvest news by around 9 am, after USDA updates their acreage numbers at 7:30 am central. Click here for the latest on harvest coverage by going to our website, WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com | |
Higher Regents Back Down as they Honor the Legislative Intent of Providing $2.9 Million Direct to OSU Extension and Research Efforts. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Most of the
muttering was done on Wednesday in a Committee session as Regents
expressed displeasure with the strings attached to some of the monies sent
to them by state lawmakers. But in the end, the Committee allowed two of
the earmarks specified by the State Legislature to flow through to the
specific institution, and the $2.9 million allocated for the OSU Extension
Service and the OSU Ag Experiment Station will go to Stillwater with no
deductions.
The Full Higher Regents Board affirmed that decision by okaying the budget without further comment on Thursday morning. Dean and Vice President for the Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources at OSU, Dr. Bob Whitson, was pleased with the final outcome and expressed his gratitude for these monies. In talking to us after the Regents meeting yesterday in Oklahoma City, he thanked the agricultural groups that rallied in support of these monies and for the lawmakers who kept the pressure on to see this process through. We have the full conversation with Dean Whitson linked below for you to get an update on how these monies will be used as well as how things are going in searching for several key Department Heads. A key element of this $2.9 million allocation is that the Legislature annualized this number, which seems to mean that witht he Regents accepting this direct allocation this year, the precedent is there for that to be passed through in future years. That gives OSU the stability with those dollars to add positions that have needed to be filed in several areas for years- and should bring us up to levels of staffing in the ag division not seen since 2002. It was an Orange Letter Day for OSU agricultural efforts. Click here to listen to Ron and Dr. Bob Whitson talk $2.9 million worth of OSU progress. | |
Another Lawmaker Talking Farm Bill Extension for this fall. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Senator John
Thune of South Dakota is talking about the possibility of extending the
present farm bill. The Senator blames a delay in the U.S. Senate in
marking up a new farm bill proposal. Therefore, neither the Senate nor the
House is likely to consider parameters of a bill in July Thune says if
Congress postpones serious work on a Farm Bill until after the summer
recess in August, chances increase lawmakers will run out of time in the
legislative year and will probably be forced to extend the existing bill.
Thune warns about writing a farm bill in a Presidential election year. If it comes to that, Thune says, Congress should extend the bill for two years, not just one. So, could Wisconsin Representative Ron Kind's FARM 21 bill receive serious consideration? Thune says that if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi weighs in behind it - who knows what will happen. He calls an amendment like Kind's - a disaster for production agriculture. Is Senator Thune right about the House not considering the House Ag Committee's Farm Bill in July? We will likely get an answer to that later today as House Ag Committee Chairman Colin Peterson has a teleconference planned midday to give reporters an update on the farm bill status. The next step that must be taken is to schedule the full House Ag Committee's markup of the legislation, which was promised right after the Fourth of July recess. | |
The Case for Using Certified Wheat Seed this fall! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That's the
lead story in the latest Wheat Production Newsletter prepared by state
wheat specialist Dr. Jeff Edwards. He tells producers "Over the past two
years wheat farmers have been faced with record-setting drought followed
by record-setting rainfall. The negative effects of these extreme weather
events have been compounded by heavy foliar disease pressure and the
breakdown of some of our most popular leaf rust resistance genes. These
events have a majority of farmers ready to change some or all of the wheat
varieties in their lineup. Many of these farmers, however, don't feel they
can afford to buy certified seed to plant their acres this fall and will
plant the same varieties that underperformed in 2007."
Dr. Edwards says the cost is not really all that great when you consider the benefits- perhaps as low as five to six dollars per acre extra to upgrade to certified seed. Jeff has the numbers detailed and I would suggest you take a look at them- it surely makes a lot of sense to greatly reduce the number of acres we have in Jagger and Jagalene in this state for the 2008 crop. In talking with Brett Carver, he believes that there should be at least three different wheat varieties in a typical wheat farm operation. That allows us to have different maturities and different levels of resistance to various challenges Mother Nature throws at us from year to year. We have the latest OSU Wheat Production Newsletter linked below- check it out! | |
The Feed Grain Versus Grain for Fuel Debate of Major Concern for Cattlemen. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Today's Beef
Buzz features Gregg Doud of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association- who
tells us that he can think of no other issue that has more impact on the
cow calf producer and his ability to be profitable over the next couple of
years than the competition between ethanol and feed uses of corn.
He explains his concerns in today's Beef Buzz and says that cattle producers simply want a level playing field in competing for those bushels of corn "mano a mano" with the ethanol plants. That means not unfairly subsidizing ethanol in the years ahead. You can hear Doud's arguments regarding corn by listening to today's Beef Buzz, heard on stations that are a part of our Radio Oklahoma Network family. If you missed today's show, we have it linked for you below and available on our website on the Beef Buzz page. Click here for the latest Beef Buzz, featuring Ron with Gregg Doud of NCBA. | |
South Korea taking the next step to full reopening to US Beef. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ South Korea
said Thursday it will conduct on-site inspections of beef industry
facilities in the United States this weekend ahead of talks about further
easing Seoul's restrictions on imports of American beef. An eight-member
government delegation will visit cattle ranches, slaughter houses and
animal feed facilities to check the sanitary condition of American beef
from Saturday through July 8, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
said in a statement.
The spokesman from their Ag Ministry says that if all goes smoothly, we could see a complete move to OIE standards for US beef to be followed as early as September. Currently, the Koreans are accepting US boneless beef under thirty months of age. OIE standards would allow beef of any age to be exported, bone in or boneless, as long as the specified risk materials were properly removed. South Korea seems to be moving forward with this process, based on promises made in the final stages of the US-South Korea Free Trade Agreement that just make it under the Fast Track Authority that expires for President Bush tomorrow. The FTA will also lower tariffs for US beef and pork, further enhancing the potential benefit to the US livestock industry. | |
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 and make plans to be an exhibitor at either the Tulsa Farm Show this December or the Southern Plains Farm Show next spring! 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
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