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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Wednesday September 24,
2008! A
service of American Farmers & Ranchers, Johnston Enterprises and KIS
Futures!
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-- Horse Transport Bill - HR6598- Passes the House Judiciary
Committee on Tuesday
-- Wheat Planting Slower Than Normal in 2008- Mark Hodges Says There
is a Reason.
-- More and Better Technology is One Solution to World Food Needs in
the Future- So Says Monsanto
-- Just Exactly What Is on the Mind of Our State Cotton Specialist
This Week???
-- Remember- Crop Insurance Decision is Less Than a Week Away
-- Senate Passes Energy Tax Plan
-- Calendar Remains Busy
-- Looking at our Agricultural Markets...
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 E-Mail. KIS Futures provides Oklahoma Farmers & Ranchers with futures & options hedging services in the livestock and grain markets- Click here for their recent TV Commercial or call them at 1-800-256-2555. We are also pleased to have as a regular sponsor on our daily email
Johnston Enterprises- proud to have served agriculture across
Oklahoma and around the world since 1893. For more on Johnston
Enterprises- click
here for their website! 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. | |
Horse Transport Bill - HR6598- Passes the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The House
Judiciary Committee has passed out by a voice vote on Tuesday afternoon HR
6598, the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act. There was only one amendment
allowed by the Democratic majority of the Committee, an allowance of
adding the Secretary of Agriculture as a "consultant" to the Attorney
General on handling horses that might be seized under this proposal if
allowed to become law.
The bill would criminalize the knowing possession, sale, delivery or transport of horses for slaughter for human consumption across state lines or international borders, punishable with fines and prison terms from one to three years. The passage of this measure out of the Committee is a clear victory for the Humane Society of the US- and a blow to animal agriculture groups, veterinarian associations and others who spoke out strongly against 6598. We have more on the debate of yesterday- and one novel way to describe the consequences of the measure offered by Congressman Steve King of Iowa- who along with Bob Goodlatte of Virginia- attempted to derail the measure to no avail. King says that his bill- if allowed to become law- could enhance the Buzzard population in many areas of the country. I guess you could say he was calling it a "Buzzard barometer." Click on the link below to read more- and to listen to Congressman King's line of reasoning on the outcome in the country if proponents are allowed to block movement of horse out of this country to Canadian and Mexican slaughter plants. Click here for more on the House Judiciary's passage of HR 6598 | |
Wheat Planting Slower Than Normal in 2008- Mark Hodges Says There is a Reason. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Many wheat
farmers have elected not to plant wheat as early this fall as they might
normally across Oklahoma- deciding that the prospect of wheat pasture is
not that interesting to them this year- given the high input costs of
putting a crop into the ground, the relatively high price of wheat
expected at harvest next year, and the concern over disease pressures that
come with earlier planting that allows you to get the wheat field with
enough forage to be able to graze cattle.
We talked on Tuesday with Mark Hodges of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission about the conditions he has seen this fall as we plant wheat in some areas, wait on rain in some locations and wait on the field to dry in others- and in many cases this year, simply wait on the calendar to say "October" before we start. Click on the link below to jump to our website to be able to hear our conversation with Mark on the planting of the 2009 crop, as well as a look back at the marketing efforts of the 2008 crop. Click here for the Wheat Planting Update story on our website, WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com | |
More and Better Technology is One Solution to World Food Needs in the Future- So Says Monsanto ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Monsanto has
launched a multifaceted communications initiative to raise awareness of
the agricultural challenges facing the planet, including a need to double
food production by 2050. The effort builds on the company's pledge to work
with other businesses, citizen groups and governments on needed changes to
meet growing food production demand while conserving key resources. "The
fundamental question for Monsanto and every organization involved in
global food issues is how to produce more, conserve more and improve
farmers' lives" said Jerry Steiner, executive vice president of Monsanto.
"We believe that for agriculture to be sustainable and serve the needs of
our growing population, we must do all three."
Steiner believes that agriculture will have to be proactive in resolving the challenges of food availability, climate change, energy demand and drought. He said the world will need to actively evaluate and implement approaches that can help local farmers rise to meet these challenges. "We believe boosting crop yields on each acre already farmed is one part of the solution. Getting more output from each unit of input is another. There is no one silver bullet or single way to accomplish all of this. Addressing these challenges will require the collaborative efforts of diverse organizations working together." We have more on this story- as well as the link to their new website that they are rolling out with this effort (and it is pretty cool looking) all in a story on our website, www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com. That story is linked below. | |
Just Exactly What Is on the Mind of Our State Cotton Specialist This Week??? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ COTTON HARVEST
AID applications are on Dr. J.C.Banks' mind these days. The Oklahoma State
University Extension state cotton specialist says weather conditions have
made timing the cotton harvest and application of harvest aids "a moving
target." "Cloudy days in August plus cooler than normal temperatures are
both factors to consider when planning cotton harvest work," he said. "I
observed some fields in early September where using the cut boll technique
and bolls above cracked boll, I estimated they would be ready for harvest
aid application about the middle of September.
"These fields are not ready yet, and may not be ready for a couple of weeks. When our late August cloudy and rainy weather occurred, we expected and received a heavy fruit shed of bolls from flowering until they were about thumb sized. After this fruit shed, the plant had a lot of squares that would normally have been shed later due to fruit load, but stayed on the plant because a portion of the fruit load had been lost due to the cloudy days. At this time, these squares are mid to full sized bolls and will contribute to yield they are worth keeping. Even though many of the bolls are nearly full sized, these bolls will not be fully matured until early to mid October. This is especially critical in dryland areas because dry weather prior to late August had limited boll set and the young bolls will be a significant portion of total yield. "In some fields I have observed, the difference between a thumb sized
and a full sized (but not yet mature) boll is about eight to 10 days. In
dryland areas this year, many small sized bolls in the lower and middle
part of the plant had stopped development due to the drought.
Unfortunately, these bolls will not start developing again. There is
nothing we can apply to the plant to start these bolls growing again. Our
yield and quality will depend on late and warmer than usual fall weather
to mature the crop. We've had these weather conditions in two of the last
three years, so again, we are betting on these conditions to deliver a
good yield for the state." Click here for the NTOK website for more on the cotton business in Oklahoma, Kansas and north Texas | |
Remember- Crop Insurance Decision is Less Than a Week Away ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ USDA Risk
Management Agency Administrator Eldon Gould says producers and crop
insurance agents are busy thinking about the fast approaching deadline for
fall seeded crops. The sales closing date for 2008 fall crop insurance is
next Tuesday, September 30.
There is a list of 11 crops that are affected by that closing date and Gould says there are no changes from last year to the crops covered under fall planted crop insurance. Of course here in the southern plains, the big crop to be insured is the winter wheat crop. "I would suggest that people do it as soon as they can," Gould says.
"Get together with their agent so they can review their policy for their
crops for the fall seeded season." Click here for that story of a couple of weeks ago with Scott Bulling of OFB | |
Senate Passes Energy Tax Plan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The U.S.
Senate has passed bipartisan legislation extending tax incentives for wind
energy, biodiesel and other clean energy sources. The legislation also
includes a tax incentive for oil refineries to encourage more refining and
lead to lower gas prices.
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says - it's good to see a tax package advancing that recognizes forward-looking energy tax policy. He called the package - critical to helping consumers and building the nation's energy independence. The same legislation also protects millions of Americans from the alternative minimum tax, or AMT, and extends expiring family and business tax cuts. The House of Representatives could take up the overall bill at any time. | |
Calendar Remains Busy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We have added
several new items to the calendar this week on our website,
www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com. Among the things added- the full list of
auctions planned by the Oklahoma School Land Commission in October and
November for their land leases.
We have also added details of what should be a very interesting meeting in October that will take place in Goodwell- it will offer producers ideas about how best to utilize Ethanol By-Products in their beef cattle operations- from feedlots to stocker operations to Cow-Calf. You can scroll through and see all of these items and lot more happening as it relates to Oklahoma agriculture and rural areas on our web calendar. And we remind you to let us know when you have items that we need to be
adding to the calendar. It's impossible for me to be everywhere at once-
and if you can be my eyes and ears about things going on- and tip me off
on those events- you'll be helping us share that word with a statewide
audience- and beyond- that read this email and check out our website.
Click here for the latest happenings that we have on our calendar at WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com | |
Our thanks to Johnston Enterprises, KIS Futures and American Farmers & Ranchers for 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. | |
Looking at our Agricultural Markets... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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: | |
God Bless! You can reach us at the following: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
phone: 405-473-6144
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