~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Monday March 17, 2008!
A
service of the Southern Plains Farm Show, American Farmers & Ranchers
and KIS Futures!
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-- Services Set for Paul Hitch.
-- Peterson says the 2007-2008 Farm Bill Has to be Done by the end of
the Month!
-- Radio Oklahoma Network and McDonalds Salute Commercial Gilt
Champs!
-- Oklahoma Starting to See Some Disease Pressure on the 2008 Wheat
Crop.
-- Who will win this year's Community Partnership Award?
-- Economist Claims that "The biofuels program is, in effect, a
regressive tax on food production."
-- A little later than normal on this St. Patrick's Day...
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 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 "new look" website or call them at 1-800-256-2555. We are also proud to have American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual
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Services Set for Paul Hitch. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We reported to
you on Friday in a special update the news of Paul Hitch passing away this
past Friday morning after a tough battle with cancer. Information is now
available on the services for Hitch. They are scheduled for Wednesday,
March 19 at 2 p.m. at Victory Memorial United Methodist Church at 6th and
Roosevelt in Guymon.
The Texas Cattle Feeders Association wrote a nice tribute to Paul in their weekly newsletter as they said "Hitch, 64, provided leadership for TCFA in many capacities including chairing several committees, as association Chairman in 2000, and as the founding chairman of TCFA's group marketing project, Consolidated Beef Producers, Inc. He also represented TCFA on the NCBA Board of Directors and on several NCBA committees, rising to President- Elect in 2007 before resigning for health reasons. Current TCFA Board Chairman Walter E. Lasley said, "Paul is one of the great leaders of our industry who has made immeasurable contributions to the entire cattle industry. He always put the interest of the overall industry above his own business interests. Now the most important thing is for everyone to keep Paul's family in our prayers and thoughts." As we mentioned Friday- while the Hitch legacy has been in the cattle
business, Paul saw opportunity with other enterprises and was not afraid
to take the family business in those new directions. When Seaboard
announced they were coming to Guymon, Paul Hitch jumped into the swine
production business- raising market hogs for the Seaboard plant- Hitch
Enterprises also has a substantial farming operation, a commodity firm and
more. | |
Peterson says the 2007-2008 Farm Bill Has to be Done by the end of the Month! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ While Congress
has a new extension on the 2002 farm law- at least portions of it to
preserve the budget baseline- through the 18th of April- the Chairman of
the House Ag Committee, Colin Peterson, told reporters Friday night that
he thinks they have to finally get most of the decisions done on a new
farm bill by the time they get back to Washington from the Easter recess-
or their will be no deal at all.
Discussions are expected to continue through the break on funding, jurisdiction and title allocations. Discussions this past week focused on funding offsets, though no agreement was reached between the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee due in part to Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) being hospitalized with flu-like symptoms. Despite the fact that funding offsets weren't finalized this past week, the $10 billion over baseline figure was agreed to by the four principals and Congressional leadership, and title allocation work resumed Friday. Early in the week, agriculture leaders in the House said they were considering putting a proposal forward that would fund a new farm bill with current baseline spending projections, but that idea was reportedly scrapped on Friday in favor of using $10 billion above baseline. | |
Radio Oklahoma Network and McDonalds Salute Commercial Gilt Champs! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The 2008
Oklahoma Youth Expo is moving along at a rapid clip- with the Barrow and
Market Lamb shows getting underway on this Monday morning. All of these
shows will move towards the selection of the Grand Champion Barrow, Market
Lamb and Steer on Wednesday afternoon.
We have the Champions from the some 800 commercial gilts that were shown to tell you about this morning- and they include the Supreme Commercial Gilt shown by Adam Holik of the Prague FFA Chapter. The Reserve Supreme Champion Commercial Gilt was shown by Cheyenne Gaff of the Timberlake 4-H. The World's Largest Junior Livestock Show will wrap up this coming Thursday afternoon with the Premium Sale of the very top animals at this year's event- the auction expected to generate as much as $800,000 for the young people who shown this top animals- the sale begins at 4:00 PM. | |
Oklahoma Starting to See Some Disease Pressure on the 2008 Wheat Crop. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We got a late
Friday report from Dr. Bob Hunger from OSU on disease observations for the
2008 Oklahoma Wheat Crop, with most fields a beautiful green and starting
to grow rapidly.
Dr. Hunger reports "Samples received during the last week have included a positive for wheat spindle streak mosaic virus in a sample of Endurance from north central Oklahoma. Remember that wheat spindle streak mosaic virus is transmitted by the same soilborne fungus that transmits wheat soilborne mosaic virus. Endurance is resistant to wheat soilborne mosaic virus, but susceptible to wheat spindle streak mosaic virus. Wheat spindle streak mosaic virus is favored by cooler temperatures (<50 F) whereas wheat soilborne mosaic virus has a higher temperature optimum (50-70 F). Because of this, I have not noticed as much damage to wheat in Oklahoma from wheat spindle streak mosaic virus as compared to wheat soilborne mosaic virus. "Several positives for barley yellow dwarf virus were detected from around Stillwater. These samples were from earlier planted wheat (the first half of September). Although these areas had been sprayed for aphids, there had been high levels of aphids present and BYDV apparently was transmitted and the wheat is now showing symptoms. In my field visits this past week around Stillwater, no leaf rust or powdery mildew were observed, but symptoms of wheat soilborne and spindle streak were just beginning to be obvious in my screening nursery." | |
Who will win this year's Community Partnership Award? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That's a
question that will be answered in about a week during the the Oklahoma
Community Institute's 9th Annual Conversations on Community Renewal Award
Banquet.
Twelve communities throughout the state were nominated for the award based on their economic development practices, their successful utilization of USDA Rural Development programs, their partnerships and participation in REI programs and services, and participation in the services offered by the Oklahoma Community Institute (OCI). A panel of representatives from USDA Rural Development, REI, and OCI narrowed the field from 12 to four finalists: Central High, Guymon, Miami, and Wewoka. According to the panelists, there were several strong nominations evidencing the proactive economic development efforts taking place throughout Oklahoma. More details on this process- and other things that are going on with the USDA Rural Development Office in Stillwater can be seen in their March edition of their regular newsletter. We have it linked below- check it out. | |
Economist Claims that "The biofuels program is, in effect, a regressive tax on food production." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At the recent
American Meat Institute meeting in Nashville, a strong case was made about
the high cost of ethanol policy on corn prices we have seen in this
country. The actual increase that ethanol policy has provided is about
$2.77 per bushel for farm level prices in 2008, according to economist Dr.
Tom Elam, the president of FarmEcon LLL. Speaking at AMI's Annual Meat
Conference in Nashville this week, Dr. Elam said ethanol tax credits have
added about $1.33 per bushel to corn prices and may drive costs above $5
at the farm level in 2009.
Dr. Elam cites other impacts from the nation's biofuels program
including: Elam adds that the federal government's renewable fuel program will also lead to a financial hit on the U.S. food industry of about $100 billion from 2005 to 2010, adding that he expects food price inflation to be around 5% or 6% in 2009. | |
A little later than normal on this St. Patrick's Day... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We are running
a little later than normal on this Monday March 17- computer issues have
caused some delays on this Monday- and it sure feels like a Monday.
As we get this out a couple of hours later than normal- we do want to remind you that we appreciate one and all that offer feedback on this daily email. It really does reflect what you are interested in- as I get information from many of you on events going on and subjects that you tell me that are important to your bottom line. Anytime you have an event coming up in an organization that you are a
part of- let us know- we'll be glad to publicize it for you. And we
appreciate your commentary on the farm news we report- it gives us
valuable insight on how the farm community feels on the farm news that is
happening all around us- day in and day out. | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows, American Farmers and Ranchers Mutual Insurance and KIS Futuresfor 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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