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.

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'The United States believes that our beef is safe and that the markets ought to be open to it all around the world,' Rice told reporters with her South Korean counterpart Yu Myung-Hwan at her side after extensive talks in Washington. 'And this has been a trade issue and we are very desirous of having beef accepted in markets, as should be the case, given its safety and our adherence to international standards concerning beef production and shipment,' she said.

The Korean Foreign Minister indicated that he hoped that the beef dispute would be resolved as quickly as possible by technical experts. The US is currently shut totally out of what was once our third largest beef export customer in the world because of a dispute that Korea claims is a food safety issue following the discovery five years ago of a single case of BSE in the US. The US beef industry calls the continued blockage of shipments unjustified and a trade barrier designed to win favor with South Korean farmers, who have flexed their political muscle as hard as they can on this issue.

Here's a link to an article on Secretary Rice telling the Koreans- It's Time for US Beef.

"House Bill 1916 required the Commission to write tank rules that were no more stringent that the Environmental Protection Agency's rules on Aboveground Storage Tanks, which protected the ASTs that would otherwise be shutdown," said Richardson, R-Minco. "The co-ops and the mom and pop fuel suppliers would be the ones to have to shut down because replacing their tanks would cost tens of thousands of dollars and leave many communities without a local fuel supplier hurting our farmers, schools, and even firefighters." On March 12, the OCC held a hearing to review the AST rules and hear from representatives on both sides of the issue including representatives from the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, the Oklahoma State School Board Association and the Oklahoma Agricultural Cooperative Council-all in support of keeping open the ASTs.

After hearing from all parties, the OCC passed new rules with no amendments that would have weakened House Bill 1916. "Oklahoma needs these tanks to fuel our rural fire stations so communities can be safe and firefighters can reach an emergency situation without first having to drive miles to refuel. They provide fuel for our rural schools so buses can transport our kids and for our farmers so they can power their farm equipment so Oklahomans can eat and have jobs," said Richardson. "This was a win-win situation for all and I commend the Oklahoma Corporation Commission for their decision."

This year, the State Ag Day celebration is set for this coming Wednesday, with at least three "big" events planned. The first is the presentation of the "Ag in the Classroom" contest awards(you can see who has won by going to the link below and the ODAFF website); the second is the presentation of the Oklahoma Beef Backer Award for 2008, and the third event to be held after lunch on Wednesday is the presentation of the Ag Hall of Fame Award for 2008 as the state inducts the newest member of this prestigious group into the Oklahoma Ag Hall of Fame.

In addition, next Thursday, First Lady Kim Henry will present the Governor's Proclamation to the Made in Oklahoma Coalition that April is Made in Oklahoma Month.

Click here for the Oklahoma Department of Ag Website to see the 2008 Ag in the Classroom Contest Winners!

One group that has been very consistent in their position against anything that might be considered advantageous to meat packers is R-Calf USA, and their Chief Executive Officer, Bill Bullard, talked with us after hearing our Clem Ward story. Bullard wanted to clarify that while R-Calf would love to see the government demand more transparency in all cattle contracts- the ban on livestock ownership by packers in the Senate Farm Bill does not in any form or fashion hinder the current alliances or other value added programs, as long as cattle producers maintain ownership of the cattle until they go to the packing plant.

Bullard's comments make up today's Beef Buzz, heard on the Radio Oklahoma Network- and archived on our website on the Beef Buzz page. We have linked today's Beef Buzz with Bill Bullard below- take a listen.

Click here for the Beef Buzz with Bill Bullard of R-Calf.

Dr. Hunger says that reports from other states show little evidence of a huge outbreak of foliar diseases at this point in 2008. One report that he did have came from Texas A&M in the latter part of March- it says "During the fourth week in March in College Station plots, leaf rust severities ranged from 30% on TAM 110 to traces on Fuller."

Oklahoma Wheat Commission Executive Director Mark Hodges was out scouting wheat fields yesterday- and we hope to get his take on wheat conditions for our email and radio reports for Friday morning.

The Monsanto Company and Western Agricultural Insurance Company were co-submitters of the pilot BYE program. Monsanto has demonstrated that its specific triple-stack genetic traits, when used in combination, provide lower yield risk as compared to non-traited hybrids. Currently Monsanto is the only seed organization to have made a submission for the pilot program. However, over 250 companies currently license Monsanto's triple-stack technology. Any approved insurance provider can provide, or partner with a private entity to provide a submission for the premium rate reduction to receive consideration by the FCIC Board.

"With the new seed technology that we are seeing in agriculture it makes sense to evaluate how the technology decreases risk and furthermore evaluate the benefits farmers can receive through decreased crop insurance premiums," said Wulf. The premium reductions are expected to be around 20 percent for those that purchase coverage levels of 70 to 75 percent. While this pilot program does not include Oklahoma, American Farmers & Ranchers thinks that if all goes well, Oklahoma farmers could benefit from this concept in the next couple of years.

Click here to learn more about this pilot program that will reduce Insurance Premiums to farmers using this latest technology.

A final reminder on the OBI Bull Test Sale- 144 Bulls are scheduled to be sold starting at 1:00 PM in the 35th year for the Oklahoma State University sponsored bull test. OBI is the second largest performance bull testing station in the U.S. The station is located between I-35 and Stillwater on State Highway 51.

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.

Click here to check out WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com