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 "new look" website or call them at 1-800-256-2555.

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We have our conversation (at least the on the record portion) with Congressman Lucas linked below. Even as we talked with Congressman Lucas, another closed door meeting was underway with the insiders who are making the deals between the House and the Senate on this 2008 Farm Bill. They were arguing over "beneficial interest" as it impacts LDPs and the ownership of the grain- as well as the AGI income thresholds that would be a cutoff of higher income producers and non producers to be eligible for price supports. And we are told they still have money issues to resolve- in other words how to fully pay for all the stuff they want to do and satisfy the ever shifting demands of Speaker Pelosi- not to mention the White House.

We have been told that there will be NO more public meetings of the Conference Committee- that once the deal is done- the report will be quickly circulated and Conferees will be asked to sign off on the document. Peterson's office has also been shopping for groups to blindly support the final package- sight unseen- and at this point, there are few takers except for sugar and the National Farmers Union. One veteran lobbyist has stated that they have to see details before they are willing to say that their membership supports the measure.
The bottom line is that we continue in a state of flux- not unlike where we have been for weeks if not months on this 2008 Farm Bill journey. The hope is that the Principals will be able to come together with a final deal- but that may be more wishful thinking than reality as the final issues remain huge.

Click here to listen to Ron and Congressman Lucas talk Farm Bill at the US Capitol on Tuesday afternoon.

Among those testifying at this hearing is Bill Bullard, CEO of R-Calf USA. His group is dead set against the purchase by JBS of Smithfield Beef and National Beef. Meanwhile, Bullard's testimony will be offset by the Brazilian head of the family that owns JBS-Swift, Wesley Batista. Others to testify will include Steve Hunt, CEO of US Premium Beef (a major shareholder of National Beef- they have blessed the JBS purchase); Douglas Ross, Special Counsel for Agriculture, Department of Justice; Peter Carstensen, Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin Law School and Dillon Feuz, Ph.D., Department of Economics at Utah State University.

Also later today- The U.S. Senate's Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs will hold a hearing today on fuel subsidies and their impacts on food prices. The hearing begins at nine o'clock Central time in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The Committee is chaired by Senator Joe Lieberman. Bruce Babcock, professor of economics at Iowa State University and director of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, will testify. Babcock will focus on federal ethanol policies and their short- and long- term impacts on the price and availability of ethanol, corn and other agricultural products.

The Director of Marketing for the Oklahoma Wheat Commission, Mike Schulte, is driving a van in this year's tour- his second year on the tour- and he tells us in an overview of Day One- which we have linked below- that his group saw "a lot of great wheat" as they traveled in Central Kansas. Mike says most fields they stopped and did tiller and head counts on reflect a potential of forty to fifty bushel wheat this year- if Mother Nature will cooperate between now and harvest. He reports some Hessian Fly issues, and only light disease pressure on the opening day of the tour. By the end of the day, as they got deeper into northwestern Kansas- some wheat reflected some drought stress- but still, the average tour yield for Day One stood at 45.4 bushels per acre.

Day two will take Tour Participants from Colby west into a little of Colorado and across western Kansas, southwestern Kansas, a little of northern Oklahoma and will end tonight in Wichita. We have an overview that Mike has provided us- play by play if you will from Day One- and we have that linked for you on our website and you can directly jump to that by clicking below.

Click here to listen to Mike Schulte of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission with his Day One Report From the Wheat Quality Council HRW Wheat Tour

Dr. Hunger adds this on stripe rust- "Dr. Carver also noted that stripe rust has continued to be active on the Lahoma Station. Here at Stillwater, I also noticed some active stripe rust, but only in isolated pockets."

Paul Penner is the National Association of Wheat Growers Environment and Renewable Resources Chairman- he's from Hillsboro, Kansas and he offers these thoughts on ug99- "The progress promoted by world wheat production is under threat today, however, by something most Americans don't even know exists - a new and highly virulent race of a old wheat disease, a disease that has been under control since the days of the Green Revolution. Ug99, named such because it was first discovered in Uganda in 1999, is a race of stem rust, a disease that infects the vascular tissues of wheat plants. It can cause 100 percent yield loss in infected plants. This new race is virulent on plant genes that have provided stable resistance for nearly five decades. A large proportion of world wheat is now highly vulnerable, including nearly all spring wheat varieties and 75 percent of winter wheat varieties planted in the U.S."

Penner adds "Though the disease had been contained to Africa, the world got confirmation earlier this year that it had spread to Iran, meaning that the wheat fields of that country, Iraq, Pakistan, India, Syria and Turkey - which account for 20 percent of world wheat production - will soon be threatened as it spreads further on wind or clothing." He worries that global wheat research dollars are being cut- including support from the United States. While we boost food stamps and WIC by Billions of Dollars- we cut research dollars that could help prevent millions from starving in the years ahead if we can beat ug99 which a lot of scientists believe we can, with adequate research support. We have the full article written by Paul Penner linked below-

Click here for the Paul Penner "Word on Wheat" article regarding ug99

Lloyd C. Day, administrator of USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) commented on the next steps in the process of implementing a national checkoff. "Now that a final order has been published, a certification process will begin for organizations to become eligible to put forward names for the National Sorghum Checkoff Board," said Day. "USDA will then start accepting board nominations from these organizations and the Secretary of Agriculture will appoint directors to serve on the National Sorghum Checkoff Board."

The Sorghum Promotion, Research and Information order will collect 0.6 percent of net market value for grain sorghum. For sorghum forage such as hay and silage, the assessment will be .35 percent of market value and will only be collected from first handlers who purchase more than 5,000 tons per year.

Click here for a Fact Sheet that has more Information About the National Sorghum Checkoff

Section 9006 of the Farm Bill makes available grants and guarantees loans to agricultural producers and rural small businesses for assistance in purchase of renewable energy systems and making energy efficiency improvements. The workshop is sponsored by the USDA Rural Development office, the US Department of Energy's Wind Powering America program, the Oklahoma Windpower Initiative, Oklahoma State University, the University of Oklahoma, and the Oklahoma Renewable Energy Council. Participants will learn of rural possibilities for alternative energy, energy audits, and energy conservation.

Workshop presenters will be Jody Harris of USDA Rural Development (Farm Bill 9006 and application process), Ray Chambers of Savanti Energy Services LLC (energy audits), Angie Albers of the Oklahoma Wind Power Initiative (community and small wind applications), Mike Kizer, Oklahoma State University Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering (irrigation pumping efficiency), Bob Willis of Sunrise Alternative Energy (solar power applications), and Doug Hamilton (poultry energy). Interested parties are encouraged to come, meet the experts, and learn about the energy future that can help the bottom line of rural enterprises. Please contact Angie Albers at 405 325 8870 or email her at albers@ou.edu to save a spot at this workshop.

We have a flyer that tells a little more about this workshop linked on our calendar page at WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com- Click here to jump to the calendar page.

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

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:
Our Daily Market Wrapup from the Radio Oklahoma Network with Ed Richards and Tom Leffler- analyzing the Futures Markets from the previous Day-
Ron on RON Markets as heard on K101 mornings with cash and futures reviewed- includes where the Cash Cattle market stands, the latest Feeder Cattle Markets Etc.
Previous Day's Wheat Market Recap- One Pager From Country Hedging- looks at all three US Wheat Futures Exchanges and the why of that day's market.
Daily Oklahoma Cash Grain Prices- As Reported by the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture. Previous Day's Energy Market Recap- also from Country Hedging
The National Daily Feeder & Stocker Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
The National Daily Slaughter Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.