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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Memorial Day Weekend,
2008! A
service of The Oklahoma Bioenergy Center, Midwest Farm Shows and KIS
Futures.
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-- Lots To Cover This Coming Week-
-- The REAL DEAL wraps up tonight at the State Fairgrounds in
Oklahoma City!
-- National Cattlemen Want New Bio Secure Facility Built to Replace
Plum Island.
-- Undersecretary Tom Dorr in Oklahoma City on Thursday- Tells Small
Farmer Conference There are Lots of Opportunities to Grab!
-- Farm Bill Now 14/15s Law!
-- See You Tuesday
-- Checking the 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- Click here for their "new look" website or call them at 1-800-256-2555. Our email this morning is also a service of Midwest Farm Shows,
producer of the Tulsa Farm Show that is held each December, as well as the
just concluded Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City. Check out
details of both of these exciting shows at the official website of Midwest
Farm Shows by clicking here. 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. | |
Lots To Cover This Coming Week- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This coming
week- starting Tuesday- we will have lots to tell you about including-
The Wrapup of the 2008 State Legislature- They dropped the curtain on the 2008 Legislative Session- and we will have coverage from a rural and ag perspective. I can tell you the good news that two of the priorities for ag interests were covered- the $25 million for conservation infrastructure repairs is a part of the $475 million dollar Bond Issue planned by the State. AND- late Friday- we got word that the funding for the $2.5 million needed for the Lab Equipment for the brand new state of the art testing/diagnostic lab being built by the State Department of Agriculture was approved. More on Tuesday! HARVEST is Rolling- we will have a Harvest Update on Tuesday- and it appears that this could be a much better harvest season here in 2008 compared to really the last three years- PLEASE drop us an email if you have some early harvest activity going on and we will be sharing both what we gather as well as what we receive from our many friends who read this email. Finally- the first of the week- we have GOOD news from Eastern Oklahoma as Rick Stubblefield has pointed us to the results from the first round of bacteria sampling from the Illinois River- and the numbers seem very positive for agriculture in the watershed. | |
The REAL DEAL wraps up tonight at the State Fairgrounds in Oklahoma City! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For the 24th
year, the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association has their annual Range Roundup
underway- a working cowboy rodeo that features some of the most historic
ranches in this state (or any state) as real cowboys from these operations
battle in a half dozen events. This year's event is half done- the first
session was last night and the second and final session is tonight at the
State Fairgrounds Arena in Oklahoma City- 7:30 PM.
The ranches that will compete in 2008 include If you want more information, we have details and a link for more info on our calendar page at WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com- scroll down to the entry on the Range Roundup and check it out! Click here for the calendar page at WWW.Oklahoma FarmReport.Com | |
National Cattlemen Want New Bio Secure Facility Built to Replace Plum Island. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We mentioned
yesterday that the American Farmers & Ranchers were offering their
thoughts to Congress on the need to have a National Bio and Agro-Defense
facility. AFR is not in favor of building a new facility that does not
have a significant buffer zone that keeps it physically separated from
livestock here on the mainland of the United States.
Another group that offered testimony to that same House oversight Committee was the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) President-elect Gary Voogt emphasized the need for a new diagnostic and research facility to protect American agriculture from foreign animal diseases. Voogt, a cattle producer from Marne, Mich., addressed committee members about the devastating impact that could be felt nationwide as a result of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. This disease has not been found in the United States since 1929, but is still a problem in many foreign countries. NCBA feels the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, located off the coast of Long Island, N.Y., has not been adequately funded or maintained for the purposes it is intended to fulfill. Cattlemen support construction of a state-of-the-art foreign animal disease research facility to replace Plum Island, but the organization is not advocating for a specific location. | |
Undersecretary Tom Dorr in Oklahoma City on Thursday- Tells Small Farmer Conference There are Lots of Opportunities to Grab! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The
Undersecretary for Rural Development, Tom Dorr, was in Oklahoma on
Thursday as a keynoter for a Conference on Opportunities for Small Farmers
to Prosper in these challenging times. A. lot of the talk at this
Conference was about Value-Added agriculture
Dorr told the conference at Langston in Oklahoma City that "This is an historic opportunity for rural America- probably the greatest new opportunity for wealth creation in rural America in our lifetimes. This is change, big time." The Undersecretary told the audience that while the USDA is still committed to some of the traditional things that Rural Development has funded in previous years- that he understands it is time to be forward thinking- saying "we are dealing with a radically changed environment for agriculture and rural development. This is not business as usual. This is an enormous opportunity for those who are prepared to participate. It's an exciting prospect !" | |
Farm Bill Now 14/15s Law! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The number on
the bill has changed but the Conference Committee report on the Farm Bill
survived yet another vote in the House by a slightly smaller veto proof
count. Bill number 6124 carries in the House 306 to 110- this is the full
farm bill- all 15 Titles not a title short as was the veto override of
yesterday afternoon.
Later in the day on Thursday- the US Senate decided to go ahead and override the President's Veto and accomplished that easily by a 82 to 13 margin. That means that 14 of the fifteen Titles are the law of the land. It is our understanding that the Senate will vote on the full Conference Report again after the Memorial Day Recess- and that then the full bill- all fifteen titles will be transmitted all over again to the White House- and that the President can either sign that measure or veto it- which will mean two more votes on the Farm Bill before we can finally and fully put this puppy to bed. Several groups have released their "love" for this 2008 Farm Law- pretty well done now- and we will be spending some time this coming week to start to figure out what the various components really mean for Oklahoma farmers and ranchers. Be watching for that. | |
See You Tuesday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We will not be
sending an email this coming Monday as our country celebrates Memorial
Day. We will resume our normal daily schedule on Tuesday.
Memorial Day will see Uncle Sam taking the day off as well- with government offices closed, no mail delivery and the major equity markets all closed as well. The Ag futures markets will be closed- with open outcry and electronic trading both shut down. At the same time, it's a very important weekend for our livestock and
poultry producers- as Memorial Day has always been considered the
unofficial start of the summer season- and a MAJOR grilling holiday.
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Our thanks to KIS Futures, the Oklahoma Bioenergy Center and Midwest Farms Shows 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. | |
Checking the Markets... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As we
mentioned above- no markets for Monday- but the links below will catch you
up on where we stand as of the end of his past week- through the Friday
trade.
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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