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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Thursday May 15, 2008!
A
service of KIS Futures, Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma and American
Farmers & Ranchers.
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-- Veto Busting Vote Brings Farm Bill Conference Report to the Brink
of Victory.
-- Led By Oklahoma's Man on the Conference Committee- All Five
Oklahoma Congressmen Vote AYE on Farm Bill
-- Meanwhile, Oklahoma's Senior Senator Weighs In as Schafer Assures
One and All- a Veto is Coming!
-- Promises Promises- South Korea Breaks Promises Made and Offers a
Delay Rather Than Reopening...
-- Last Call for the Lahoma Field Day!
-- Windy City Does a Slap Down on PETA- Reverses Ban on Foie
Gras.
-- Yearling Cattle Markets Continue to RALLY!
Howdy Neighbors! Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. We say thanks to Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma for being a regular sponsor of our daily email update. Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma has ten branch offices to serve your farm financing needs and is dedicated to being your first choice for farm credit. Check out their website for more information by clicking here! We are also proud to have American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual
Insurance Company as a regular sponsor of our daily update- click
here to go to their NEW AFR web site to learn more about their efforts
to serve rural America! 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. | |
Veto Busting Vote Brings Farm Bill Conference Report to the Brink of Victory. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It appears the
U.S. House has sent a strong message to the President. Wednesday afternoon
the House passed the Farm, Nutrition and Bioenergy Act of 2008 by a vote
of 318 to 106. That means that 75 percent of those voting were in favor of
the legislation. And that margin indicates the House would vote to
overturn a Presidential Veto - something the President has pledged to do.
During a news conference following the vote, Minnesota Representative
Collin Peterson credited the National Farmers Union and its President, Bob
Buis, for keeping everything on track.
"I'm so proud of my team," says House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn. "It's been a real struggle, but we've got back to what this committee has always been, a bipartisan committee that works together not as Republicans and Democrats but as people that care about this country and care about agriculture; making sure that our people are the best fed and our farmers are the most successful in the world." Representative Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., gave Peterson and the
committee's ranking member, Bob Goodlatte, R-Va, great credit for keeping
the bill alive and said that this is an example of what Congress can do
when they work together. "I'm very pleased that both parties cast a
majority of their votes for this Farm Bill, I think that is a very
significant point," Goodlatte says. "As a result we don't have a 2 to 1
majority in this vote; we have a 3 to 1 majority." Goodlatte says he
thinks the struggle of the last few months working out compromises
improved on both the House and Senate bills. He pointed out that the
conference report came in $4 billion less than the House bill and $5
billion less than the Senate bill. | |
Led By Oklahoma's Man on the Conference Committee- All Five Oklahoma Congressmen Vote AYE on Farm Bill ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Urged on by
all of the major farm and rural groups in our state- and taking a cue from
the state's inside man on ag issues (at least usually inside)- all five
members of the Oklahoma House Delegation were a part of the 318 members
that voted for the Farm Bill Conference Report. That meant that Tom Cole,
Mary Fallin, John Sullivan, Dan Boren and Frank Lucas all were on board on
what was the decisive vote on the Conference Report- as it sends a huge
signal down Pennsylvania Avenue that the White House has a slim and none
chance of getting a veto to stick- and as Pat Roberts loves to say-
there's only slim and none- and Slim was seen riding out of town this
afternoon!
The lone Democrat of the delegation, Dan Boren, had signaled his intention to support the final farm bill package, whatever it was, to members of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau when they were in Washington more than a month ago. In the past, whenever you mention a farm issue like this major five year package, the other members of the delegation usually relate a desire to get a read on how it impacts Oklahoma from Congressman Lucas. Tuesday afternoon when we were in Congressman Lucas' office- he
admitted that he understood that his vote is not just a single vote- but
one that does carry weight within the delegation. So for those of you that
listened to that Tuesday conversation with the Republican from Roger Mills
County- you could hear in his voice the likely intent to take a deep
breath and vote for the bill. Click here to listen to Ron and Congressman Lucas after the Farm Bill Vote. | |
Meanwhile, Oklahoma's Senior Senator Weighs In as Schafer Assures One and All- a Veto is Coming! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From Oklahoma
Senator Jim Inhofe's staff- we have preliminary word that the Senator will
support the Conference on the Farm Bill and the report that the Senate
will vote on later today.
In the email provided to us "Senator Jim Inhofe looks forward to casting his vote in support of the bill when it reaches the Senate. "This important legislation is long overdue. It has been given many extensions and now it is time to provide our farmers with the assurance of these vital programs," says Senator Inhofe. "The passage of this Farm Bill will ensure that Oklahoma continues to be a leader in America's agriculture production." Senator Inhofe pushed for provisions that are included in the bill that will benefit Oklahoma's farmers, including transitional assistance to encourage development of biofuels and including language supporting grant proposals to find innovative ways to make use of animal waste, specifically poultry waste. Senator Inhofe's office will release a full report of the bill's impact for Oklahoma's farmers upon the final passage." Speaking of emails- we have the latest statement from USDA Chief Ed
Schafer- and it's the same song from USDA- just another fresh verse.
"Eight months behind schedule, Congress will send a bill to the President
that is trade distorting and fails to provide meaningful reform to the
adjusted gross income limit, beneficial interest or the international food
aid program. However it is better late than never for the beneficiaries of
the massive earmarks in this bill, like the $170 million for the salmon
fishermen on the West Coast, or $500 million for a single entity land buy
in Montana, just to name a few. | |
Promises Promises- South Korea Breaks Promises Made and Offers a Delay Rather Than Reopening... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The South
Korean government has apparently given in to internal pressures and
announced they won't be importing U.S. beef as previously agreed to. The
Asian Times reports that tens of thousands of young Koreans have been
hitting the streets of downtown Seoul to protest the trade deal which was
to begin May 15. Gregg Doud, Chief Economist for the National Cattlemen's
Beef Association, says the decision comes as a surprise -- even as Korean
auditors were in the U.S. to help get trade started.
Doud says, reports from the South Korean government indicate the delay in beef trade will last a matter of days. However, other reports indicate it will be several weeks before the United States is permitted to ship beef into South Korea. Public protests in South Korea have escalated recently due to consumer concern about the safety of U.S. beef due to BSE. According to Doud - the delay in implementing the new beef agreement is purely political. We have the latest comments from Gregg Doud( after we were in his office on Monday- things fall apart on Wednesday). Doud is featured on our Thursday Beef Buzz heard on great radio stations across the Radio Oklahoma Network. Click below to take a listen! Click here for the latest Beef Buzz- featuring comments from Gregg Doud of NCBA. | |
Last Call for the Lahoma Field Day! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chad Godsey is
a relatively new specialist on the agronomy team at OSU, and he joins the
line-up of experts who will be making presentations during the popular
Northwest Oklahoma Wheat Research Tour at OSU's Lahoma research location
TOMORROW, starting at 9 AM. Chad will be discussing utilizing soybeans in
a wheat cropping rotation.
A lot of the usual players are on the program- including OSU wheat breeder Dr. Brett Carver, Grain Marketing Economist Dr. Kim Anderson and Oklahoma Wheat Commission Executive Director Mark Hodges- just to name a few. The tours begin at 9 AM, with a lunch to follow the tours right around noon. It's one of the larger spring field days found in the state- and we have it listed with some additional details on our calendar page- and there are also a lot of other things happening that we have linked on our calendar page as well- click on the link below to jump to our Calendar page at www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com!!! Click here for the Calendar page at www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com | |
Windy City Does a Slap Down on PETA- Reverses Ban on Foie Gras. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An Associated
Press story reports that PETA got taken to the cleaners in Chicago, as the
Chicago City Council decided they did not need to act as the city's food
police as they reversed a two year old ban on the serving of Foie Gras in
city restaurants.
AP reports that PETA is not pleased. "People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals called the repeal a political maneuver benefiting the restaurant industry. The Norfolk, Va.-based group said the council's first "compassionate decision was reversed in a secretive, rushed bow to special interests that benefit from the cruel treatment of animals." Wednesday's vote was led by Mayor Richard M. Daley, who called the ban
the "silliest" ordinance the City Council has ever passed. The repeal
measure passed by a vote of 37-6 with no debate, an about- face from the
original ban, which passed in April 2006 by a vote of 48-1. | |
Our thanks to American Farmers & Ranchers, Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma and KIS Futures 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. | |
Yearling Cattle Markets Continue to RALLY! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Two of the
Wednesday markets that we got preliminary reports on early this morning-
Southern Oklahoma Livestock Market in Ada- and OKC West in El Reno, both
had nice rallies in the yearling cattle they sold yesterday. The Ada
market jumped three dollar per hundred higher, with five weights from $112
to $122 and seven weights from $104 to $107.50.OKC West sold over 6300 head of cattle- yearling weights were from $1 to $3 up- and that included six weights from $11 to $117, seven weight steers from $109 to $112.75 and eight to nine hundred pounders from a dollar a pound to $1.07 per pound. 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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