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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Monday July 21, 2008!
A
service of American Farmers & Ranchers, KIS Futures & Johnston
Enterprises!
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-- NCBA on Record Against Government Intervention in Renewable Fuels
Marketplace
-- Lots of Additional Coverage from Denver.
-- Optimism Flowing Out of DOHA Talks
-- Legislation Introduced in CRP Acreage Situation
-- NCBA Lobbyist Defends Decision to Oppose Senator Johnson's FMD
Measure
-- Trapping Time for Those Boll Weevils
-- Groups Urge Quick Confirmation for Keenum
-- 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- Clic k 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. | |
NCBA on Record Against Government Intervention in Renewable Fuels Marketplace ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Translated,
that means the NCBA is now officially opposed to the current timetable of
the Renewable Fuels Standard that was put in place when the Energy Bill
was passed into law about a year ago. The cattle industry group claims
that the number of gallons of ethanol mandated by Uncle Sam puts an
artificial demand into the market for grains for ethanol plants- raising
the costs for livestock and for exports of feed grains.
The group claims they support ethanol development in this country as one of several reneable energy options that could begin to help wean this country off of foreign oil. NCBA believes ethanol should have to compete and be profitable from the marketplace- not from a government mandate. We have details on other issues that NCBA worked on this past Saturday at their Board of Directiors meeting- as well as some audio conversation that we had with Gregg Doud, Chief Economist of the NCBA on this food vs. fuel debate. We have all of that on our website at the link below- check it out. | |
Lots of Additional Coverage from Denver. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We have
several other stories posted on Friday and Saturday from the Summer Cattle
Conference in Denver- our event coverage a service of Hudson Livestock
Supplements. We have the wrap up of the NCBA policy side of the meetings-
as the an interview with Dave Bateman- the current chair of the
Cattlemen's Beef Board on how their midyear meetings went.
We will also be posting a few more stories from this year's summer meeting on our website as this week unfolds- and we invite you to go to our website and look for the Cattle Industry Insights block ad on the right hand side of the page- just above our weather information that comes in from News9 and News on 6. By clicking on that button- you find dozen or more reports from the Denver meeting. Take a look- and this is the same page where we will be adding stories later this month from the annual convention and trade show of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association. Click here for the Cattle Industry Insights Page found on WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com | |
Optimism Flowing Out of DOHA Talks ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A
representative group of ministers, members of the World Trade
Organization, will start talks Monday based on the latest agriculture
draft text issued by Ambassador Crawford Falconer. In fact as you read
this on Monday morning- the first sessions should be ending in Europe.
U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab says there is a sense of momentum, and she remains - cautiously optimistic - about the chances of a breakthrough during this week's talks on the World Trade Organization's Doha round. Schwab wants a deal that generates trade. That means major developing countries like India, Brazil, China, South Africa, Argentina and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations must further up open their agriculture, manufactured and services markets. She brushes aside any concern that the long-running Doha talks are
hand-cuffed by the fast-approaching U.S. Presidential election. She
explains - the good time to close a trade deal is when there is enough on
the table. | |
Legislation Introduced in CRP Acreage Situation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kansas
Representative Jerry Moran has introduced legislation that would override
the court order that halted Critical Feed Use of Conservation Reserve
Program acres. Moran says the program was authorized by USDA - to address
rising feed costs - and, he says there was - reasonable planning by USDA
to address conservation concerns. As we reported on Friday- the American
Farmers & Ranchers organization(AFR) is strongly supporting this
legislative fix to the court battle that CRP has fallen into.
The Congressman called the legal action - short- sighted and harmful. Moran noted - producers expended time and money to fence and prepare CRP acres for grazing and haying. He added, during this time of high feed prices, our livestock producers do not need one more thing to worry about. On Tuesday afternoon, a judge in Washington State will receive information on negotiations now going on between USDA and the National Wildlife Federation. Negotiators have been challenged to come up with a workable solution to the concerns put forward by the NWF. | |
NCBA Lobbyist Defends Decision to Oppose Senator Johnson's FMD Measure ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our Monday
Beef Buzz comes from Denver and a conversation that we had with Colin
Woodall of the NCBA Washington office. This past Thursday, the Senate
Appropriations Committee approved by a voice vote a proposal of Senator
Tim Johnson's that would require the Secretary of Agriculture to "certify"
that Argentina is safe from FMD before beef can be imported from the South
American nation.
While several groups are supporting the Johnson plan- groups like the National Farmers Union and R- Calf USA, the NCBA opposes the idea. NCBA's Woodall says that while they are all for exercising caution in dealing with Argentina because of FMD concerns- they don't like the idea of a subjective "certification" like that called for by the South Dakota Senator. Our conversation with Woodall on this is our Monday Beef Buzz that is being heard on radio stations around the state on the Radio Oklahoma Network. In addition, we have an archive of many of our previous Beef Buzz shows on our website at WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com. We have a link below of that Beef Buzz page- and you can click on the latest Beef Buzz on that page for this visit with Colin Woodall. Click here for our Beef Buzz page on WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com | |
Trapping Time for Those Boll Weevils ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's
Boll Weevil trapping season is well under way, according to Joe Harris,
executive director of the Oklahoma Boll Weevil Eradication Program. "As of
July 15, the Oklahoma Boll Weevil Eradication Organization, headquartered
in Hobart, Ok., has mapped and placed traps on almost 152,000 cotton acres
across the state.
"This is a 13 percent decrease in mapped acres from 2007 and is representative of decreases in acres across the belt as cotton continues to compete with corn and soybeans. Acres reflected on our eradication manager program will vary during the season as some fields are abandoned and transferred to inactive status while others are identified and added to the system. Trapping protocol for 2008 requires the placing of one trap per 40 acres of cotton with traps to be checked ever three weeks. Two complete cycles have been run and no boll weevils have been caught anywhere in the state. "A critical feature of the trapping effort is a comprehensive quality
assurance program coordinated by Asst. Dir. John Henderson. The program,
used belt-wide, provides assurance that trappers are bringing in suspect
insects for positive identification and that traps are properly placed and
in good repair, being checked on time and contain current pheromone lure
and insecticide strips. Because finding boll weevils, even a "hitch-hiker"
that may ride into the area on a vehicle, is essential to the continued
success of the eradication program. Henderson encourages anyone who thinks
they have found a boll weevil to take it to the nearest OBWEO office in
Hobart, Altus or Frederick for positive identification." Click here for more on the Boll Weevil effort here in Oklahoma. | |
Groups Urge Quick Confirmation for Keenum ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The National
Cotton Council, the National Association of Wheat Growers and 33 other
farm groups write a glowing letter to the Senate Ag Committee, asking for
quick confirmation of Dr. Mark Keenum as a Governor on the Farm Credit
Administration Board.
Keenum has been nominated for the remainder of a six-year term expiring in May of 2014. The groups praised Keenum and requested a hearing on the nomination and quick confirmation by the Committee and the full Senate. "Our organizations represent a significant number of those who work in the food and agriculture sector. We believe it is critically important to place a proven leader in this key position as expeditiously as possible. We believe Dr. Keenum is well-qualified for the position through his unique combination of education, experience and service and we urge his confirmation." Click here for a link to the full letter sent by the major ag groups in support of Mark Keenum. | |
Our thanks to Johnston Enterprises, KIS Futures and American Farmers & Ranchersfor 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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