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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Wednesday August 26,
2009 A
service of Johnston Enterprises, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind
Energy and American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance
Company!
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-- The Canola Countdown- Wheat Farmers Moving Acres into This
Alternative Crop
-- Atrazine Under Fire by Natural Resources Defense Council
-- Oklahoma Ag Leadership Class 14 Heads for the Panhandle
-- Beef Cattle Well Being the Focus of a New Independent Advisory
Group Being Formed- Dr. Bob Smith a Part of Inaugural
-- Feedlots Fight to Reach a Profit
-- From the Hand that Feeds U.S.- An Interesting Look at the
EWG
-- Let's Check 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 pleased to have American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance Company as a regular sponsor of our daily update- click here to go to their AFR web site to learn more about their efforts to serve rural America! It is also great to have as an annual sponsor on our daily email
Johnston Enterprises- proud to be serving agriculture across
Oklahoma and around the world since 1893. For more on Johnston
Enterprises- click
here for their website! 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. | |
The Canola Countdown- Wheat Farmers Moving Acres into This Alternative Crop ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There is a
tremendous amount of optimism about the number of acres that will be going
into Winter Canola this fall across the state of Oklahoma. Promoters of
the fall planted and June harvested crop believe we could see upwards of
100,000 acres in canola this fall. One "whisper" number we have been told
by one pioneer who has pushed canola hard is perhaps even 150,000 acres.
The decisions that must be made to plant canola are now upon wheat farmers across the state. If you plan on planting this alternative to wheat, you will need to be sourcing seed and you will need to get with your crop insurance agent and file your intentions to plant canola. The deadline for signing up your intentions to buy insurance on canola you might plant is Monday, August 31, 2009. The planting window for winter canola across the wheat belt in Oklahoma is for the most part the month of September- through about the first week of October. There are several reasons to put at least some of your acres into canola this fall, especially if you are having problems with grassy weeds like cheat or ryegrass. Rotating canola onto your wheat fields with those problems gives you a chance to use herbicides that can clean up those problems- and provides you the chance to produce cleaner wheat when you rotate it back to that ground. Click on the link below to read more on Canola production- as well as the chance to listen to Dr. Tom Peeper of OSU on the advances that have been made over the last three years in bringing canola to a position where more and more farmers are willing to try planting canola in a couple of fields this fall. And those who have tried a small planting this past fall- got a canola crop where wheat failed this past spring- are gearing up to plant several hundred acres this year. | |
Atrazine Under Fire by Natural Resources Defense Council ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Natural
Resources Defense Council reports that drinking water containing the
herbicide - atrazine - could pose a greater public health risk than
previously thought because regular municipal monitoring doesn't detect
frequent spikes in the chemical's levels. The NRDC says the missed spikes
likely occur after rain and springtime application of the herbicide.
Scientists with atrazine manufacturer Syngenta called the NRDC report -
alarmist - and said the spikes fall within one- and 10-day limits that the
EPA considers safe.
The NRDC reported documented spikes in atrazine in the water supplies of Midwestern and Southern towns in agricultural areas, where the herbicide is applied to the vast majority of corn, sorghum and sugar cane fields. Atrazine is an endocrine disrupter and can interfere with the body's hormonal activity and the development of reproductive organs. NRDC senior scientist Jennifer Sass says - our biggest concern is early-life-stage development. If there's a disruption during that time, it becomes hard-wired into the system. These endocrine disrupters act in the body at extremely low levels. Therefore, - these spikes matter. Syngenta toxicologist Tim Pastoor says, - atrazine is one of the best studied, most thoroughly regulated molecules on the planet. He says, - those momentary spikes are not going to be injurious to human health. NRDC scientists and lawyers argue that the EPA's limits are too lenient, given studies showing the effects of low levels of atrazine on rats and other animals and the fact that it is nearly impossible to epidemiologically trace the chemical's effects on humans. | |
Oklahoma Ag Leadership Class 14 Heads for the Panhandle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's one of
the most eye opening regional seminars that OALP class members have in
their two year experience in this rural leadership development program.
OALP Class 14 travels this morning first to Woodward and then on to Guymon
for the next couple of days. For the class members who don't live in the
Panhandle, it's their first trip to Texas and Cimarron Counties- and the
level of ag production and agribusiness blows them away.
OALP's current class will get inside both a pork processing plant (Seaboard in Guymon) as well as National Beef Plant in Liberal- will see firsthand the Seaboard biodiesel plant using the byproducts from the Seaboard Pork Plant- and will also see an ethanol plant while across the state line in Liberal. A look at the feedlot industry, irrigated and dryland crop production, confined pork production and even a stop to chat with the owner of No Man Land's Beef Jerky will also be a part of the travel. One of the highlights for 2009 is a joint gathering of the current class along with alums of OALP, the Kansas, New Mexico and Texas Ag Leadership programs on Thursday evening- two dozen or more alums from the program are expected to be a part of that session in a unique four state gathering. As we mentioned, the current class is the 14th group to go through the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program- run by Oklahoma State University under the advisement of a committee of industry leaders. We have the OALP website linked below- check it out- and start thinking now about who you know that needs to be in Class 15- maybe that someone is you. | |
Beef Cattle Well Being the Focus of a New Independent Advisory Group Being Formed- Dr. Bob Smith a Part of Inaugural ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Leaders from
academia and the beef industry are announcing the formation of an
independent advisory group to focus on beef cattle health and well-being.
The North American Food Animal Well-being Commission for Beef
(NAFAWC-Beef)-which includes world-renowned experts in animal
well-being-will advocate for increased research funding for animal
well-being, facilitate the communication of research results in a more
timely manner, advance best management practices in cattle health and
welfare, and serve as an unbiased, science- and production- based group to
address concerns about animal well-being. Dan Thomson, Jones professor of
production medicine and epidemiology at Kansas State University, and
Joseph Stookey, professor of applied ethology, Western College of
Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, will serve as commission
co-chairs. Dr. Bob Smith of Oklahoma State University is one of the 21
inaugural members of the commission.
"Animal well-being issues extend beyond the agricultural community," said Thomson. "People across the country are looking for more information on animal care and handling, and we're eager to share our story with them. This new partnership brings an impressive wealth of experience and expertise to the table to help bolster ongoing research and education in the area of cattle care." (We have additional comments from Dan Thomson you might want to review on our website- comments that came from the recent K-State Beef Cattle Day in Manhattan- Click here for that story) NAFAWC-Beef will help direct research efforts, field studies and
assessment tools for the North American beef industry in relation to beef
cattle well-being in order to provide science-based recommendations for
cattle management practices. Click here for more on the new Commission being formed to address Cattle Well Being Issues | |
Feedlots Fight to Reach a Profit ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It is a real
battle in the meat trade domestically with US produced beef facing strong
competition from imported processed meat from Australia as well as from US
pork, with the lack of pork exports from this country dumping large
tonnage of pork back into the domestic meat pipeline.
We talk about this battle with OSU Livestock Market Economist Dr. Derrell Peel- and he says that means that moving higher on cash cattle prices is a struggle. He says he believes we will end up somewhere above $85 this fall, but a number with a nine in front of it is not likely. Click on the link below and read more of what Dr. Peel has to say- and you can hear his comments at this link as well as the latest Beef Buzz. Click here for our Wednesday Beef Buzz- featuring Dr. Derrell Peel of OSU | |
From the Hand that Feeds U.S.- An Interesting Look at the EWG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The
Environmental Working Group (EWG) caused quite a stir in rural America
when it released its farm subsidy database in 2004. Farmers were
justifiably mad that their personal financial information was being aired
publicly. But what made growers the maddest was the way EWG packaged and
misrepresented the information. Farm program benefits were lumped together
over multiple years in an attempt to make figures look bigger and were
shown in isolation with no broader context, leaving the impression that
farmers were camped out at their mailboxes awaiting checks.
The Hand that Feeds US is a coalition of groups and individuals in production agriculture that want to push back against groups like Ken Cook's EWG, a group that vilifies large family farms as being somehow evil and definitely too rich to be getting any government help. Well, this group has decided on their website to offer a few figures about the EWG- nothing that will probably generate the media interest like seeing how many dollars Scotty Pippen has gotten in USDA program supports ($79,000- all from the CRP). They report that EWG has received over $14 million dollars in support over multiple years, has paid no taxes, has spent over two million dollars attacking farmers and their CEO Ken Cook has been paid over a half million dollars in compensation. You can click on the link below to see the full profile of the EWG on the Hand that Feeds US website- it's a fun read. Click here for more about the Environmental Working Group- an analysis from the Hand that Feeds US | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, PCOM, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy, Johnston Enterprises, AFR and KIS Futures for their support of our daily Farm News Update. For your convenience, we have our sponsors' websites linked here- just click on their name to jump to their website- check their sites 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. | |
Let's Check the Markets! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We've had
requests to include Canola prices for your convenience here- and we will
be doing so on a regular basis. Current cash price for Canola is $8.00 per
bushel, while the 2010 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available are
$8.10 per bushel- delivered to local participating elevators that are
working with
PCOM.
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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