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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Monday December 3,
2007! A
service of Cusack Meats, National Livestock Credit Corporation &
Midwest Farm Shows
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-- Senate Returns to Washington- Will Farm Bill Debate
Resume???
-- AFR's Ray Wulf on Farm Bill Priorities
-- 63rd Oklahoma Farmers Union State Speech Contest a Rousing
Success!
-- USDA's Adds Major Player to the Premise Registration Team.
-- OSU Animal Scientist Steve Damron Honored by USDA.
-- This Week- The Tulsa Farm Show!
-- Looking at the Wheat Market- the Argentine Impact.
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 welcome National Livestock Credit Corporation as a regular sponsor of our daily email update. National Livestock Credit Corporation works diligently to provide unsurpassed service to their customers in the area of livestock financing. Check out the National Livestock Family of Services website by clicking here. Another of our sponsors on our daily email service is Cusack Meats, and Al Cusack wants everyone to know that he APPRECIATES Oklahoma's Farmers and Ranchers! You can go to the Cusack website and select some great gift packs of meat for giving- or for yourself! And, our email this morning is also a service of Midwest Farm Shows, producer of the Tulsa Farm Show coming up THIS WEEK- December 6-8, 2007, as well as the Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City next spring. 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. | |
Senate Returns to Washington- Will Farm Bill Debate Resume??? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Senate
returns to Washington today- but only a period of "Morning Business" is
scheduled at this time- and that won't begin until after lunch according
to the Senate's web site. The Senate left for Thanksgiving Recess two
weeks ago without having considered in earnest the 2007 Farm Bill due to a
disagreement between Members over what and how many amendments should be
offered. While there are reports that Members are nearing a compromise on
the issue, nothing appears to have been finalized. As of this Monday
morning- we are now hearing that there is a distinct possibility that the
Senate may not take up the Farm Bill at all this week
Even if an agreement is reached, timing could be an issue. Other legislation awaiting action in the Senate includes the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a fix for the alternative minimum tax, the State Children's Health Insurance Program and, of course, the vast majority of appropriations bills that have yet to be finalized. Importantly, the Senate is also slated to consider legislation to implement the Peru trade promotion agreement and, if a final compromise can be reached, both the House and Senate could consider an energy package including renewable fuels standard and vehicle fuel efficiency standards provisions. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) said
publicly this past week that he will not support an extension of the 2002
Farm Bill if the Senate cannot finalize its version. That statement was a
break with statements from the Chairman early in the farm bill process and
proposals from some Members in his chamber. Any extension of the 2002 Farm
Bill could mean a further lessening of the budget baseline, making the
already tight financial situation for the bill even tighter. With this in
mind, NAWG and 18 other commodity and agricultural organizations wrote the
Senate Majority and Minority Leaders this week, again urging them to agree
on a road forward that will ensure the completion of the farm bill by the
end of the year. | |
AFR's Ray Wulf on Farm Bill Priorities ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We sat down
and had a conversation with Ray Wulf of American Farmers and Ranchers on
the 2007 Farm Bill. Ray tells us that his top priority is to ensure that
farmers get cash out in the country to help them deal with crop losses in
our state- as well as rapidly rising input costs. AFR continues to
champion the Direct Payment as the most important of the Commodity Title
elements. He also questioned the so called Permanent Disaster program
advanced by Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota- saying that the words
call it permanent disaster assistance- but the money doesn't seem to be
there if you have to file a claim.
On the livestock competition elements being discussed in the Senate- Wulf says his group wants "plenty of competition in the livestock markets" but is cautious about hurting the individual producer by taking away choices in marketing- so to our question about Packer Ownership of Livestock- Wulf expressed interest in the concept but lots of concern about specific language and how to might hinder marketing alliances that involve producers and others down the marketing chain. We have a link below where you can click on and listen to Ron and Ray talk farm policy, as well as what is happening in the insurance business over the last ten months since OFU became AFR and they moved to a national charter from a state charter serving only Oklahoma. Click here to take a listen to Ron and Ray talk farm bill issues and more. | |
63rd Oklahoma Farmers Union State Speech Contest a Rousing Success! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ More than 160
young people gathered on the OSU campus in Stillwater for the 63rd annual
Oklahoma Farmers Union Speech Contest- sponsored by the American Farmers
and Ranchers. District contests were run in November, with the finals this
past Saturday .
There are five speech categories- with three age divisions for those five categories- and the top three in each of those categories took home Savings Bonds to help further their education in the years to come. There was also a novice division for grade school age kids as well. Among the winners on Saturday- in the Senior age bracket- Juniors and Seniors in High School- we had Mitch Williams, Hollis in Ag Policy; Amy Peel, Wetumka in Agribusiness; Sara Reasnor, Elgin in Natural Resources; Taylor Tucker, Calera in the Student Organizations category and Tara Burchfield, Fairview in the OFU category. We have a full listing of the top three in all the age brackets and categories on our website- click below for that listing! Click here for that full listing of the winners of the 63rd Annual OFU Speech Contest! | |
USDA's Adds Major Player to the Premise Registration Team. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The National
Cattlemen's Foundation is the latest livestock organization to partner
with USDA to promote premise registration for the nation's farms and
ranches. The foundation joins the American Angus Association, the National
Pork Board, the National FFA Organization, and the IDAIRY coalition
consisting of Holstein Association USA, the National Milk Producers
Federation, the National Association of Animal Breeders, the National
Dairy Herd Information Association, the National Dairy Calf and Heifer
Association, and the American Jersey Cattle Association.
USDA says the partnership will facilitate the registration of additional cattle premises as part of the National Animal Identification System. USDA is expected to soon release a business plan. That plan will outline strategies to help achieve the long term goal of NAIS which is to accomplish trace forward and traceback data within a 48 hour window. That is expected to allow animal health officials to trace a disease back to its source, which ultimately protects other premises and cattle from the adverse economic impact of a disease outbreak. We talk with Bruce Knight of USDA and Terry Stokes of the NCF about this new partnership on today's Beef Buzz- USDA is hoping to add thousands of cattle operations to their Premise Registration list as a result of this deal. Click below and take a listen to what these men have to say about this on our Monday Beef Buzz- a regular radio feature heard on radio stations across the state on the Radio Oklahoma Network! Click here to listen to Ron on our Monday Beef Buzz from RON! | |
OSU Animal Scientist Steve Damron Honored by USDA. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma State
University's Steve Damron has been named a 2007 recipient of a U.S.
Department of Agriculture Agricultural Sciences Excellence in College and
University Teaching Award. Now in its 16th year, the award program
celebrates the critical role educators perform in shaping the agriculture
industry, especially in regards to training future leaders who will
eventually be charged with providing sustainable natural resources, a safe
and abundant food supply, viable communities and other services. Damron is
a professor of animal science in OSU's Division of Agricultural Sciences
and Natural Resources, which includes the college and two statewide
agencies: the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station system and the
Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service.
Since joining the OSU faculty in 1988, Damron has developed and taught courses ranging from an introduction to animal science and agricultural animals of the world to agro-ecosystems being the basis of life, principals of nutrition, pet and companion animal management, livestock feeding and canine handling and training, including distance education classes that serve several hundred students from across the country and around the world. As an educational author, his book "Introduction to Animal Science: Global, Biological, Social and Industry Perspectives" is one of the most widely used animal science texts in the world. During his career, he has received 16 teaching and advising awards from OSU, the University of Hawaii, the University of Wisconsin at River Falls, the National Academic Advising Association, the Alpha Zeta and Gamma Sigma Delta honor fraternities and the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture organization. Damron earned his doctoral degree in animal nutrition and master's degrees in animal nutrition- management from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 1982 and 1978, respectively. He earned his bachelor's degree in animal science from the University of Tennessee at Martin in 1975. | |
This Week- The Tulsa Farm Show! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The big event
for Oklahoma agriculture this week is the 14th annual Tulsa Farm Show- to
be held this coming Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Admission and parking
are free at the Tulsa Fairgrounds- and there will be literally hundreds of
thousands of dollars worth of the latest equipment and technology on
display at this annual gathering- all inside in a heated building.
A variety of demonstrations will be a part of the event once again this year- they will have the FFA Livestock Handling Skills Competition on Thursday and a whole lot more. We have the website for the Tulsa Farm Show linked below- check it out! | |
Looking at the Wheat Market- the Argentine Impact. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our wheat
market has had a good bit of "up" to it in recent days- and at least some
of it is because of possible crop problems in Argentina. Dismissed as
having no real impact on wheat, an early November frost may have done more
damage than previously thought. USDA grain analyst Jerry Norton says in
the last few days there have been several indications that the frost hit
the wheat crop harder than first thought. Private consultants in Argentina
are forecasting as much as a two million ton loss, which would have a
significant impact on the world wheat market and U.S. exporters.
"They are a major exporter, and much of the world has been looking for high quality milling wheat to be coming out of Argentina in the next few months, ahead of the U.S. crop," Norton says. "If their crop is significantly down it will have an impact on world supply." Argentina has closed all registrations for new exports while the damage is assessed, which has contributed to wheat contracts trading nearly limit-up past few days. USDA plans to release a new forecast of the Argentine wheat crop on December 11- a week from tomorrow. The latest report that we have seen from the South American nation is that about 15% of their crop has been harvested thus far- but it is still difficult to tell how much damage was suffered last month with that late freeze. | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows, Cusack Meats and National Livestock Credit Corporationfor their support of our daily Farm News Update. For your convenience, we have our sponsors' websites linked at the top of the email- check them out and let these folks know you appreciate the support of this daily email, as their sponsorship helps us keep this arriving in your inbox on a regular basis! 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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