|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Tuesday March 10, 2009
A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and KIS
Futures!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Oklahoma Delegation to NFU Has a New Leader in 2009- Terry
Detrick
-- More than Dead on Arrival
-- USDA's Vilsack Details More than $500 Million in Stimulus Spending
for USDA Projects
-- Even Costco Is Getting In on the Animal Rights Debate
-- Even with the Feud Between the United Soybean Board and the ASA-
Soy Checkoff Support is Solid
-- Based on Early Nose Counting- Congressman Moran May Be Able to
Make the Jump to Senator Moran in Kansas
-- 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 proud to have KIS Futures as a regular sponsor of our daily email update. KIS Futures provides Oklahoma Farmers & Ranchers with futures & options hedging services in the livestock and grain markets- Click here for the free market quote page they provide us for our website or call them at 1-800-256-2555. We are also excited to have as one of our sponsors for the daily email
Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, with 64 years of progress through
producer ownership. Call Brandon Winters at 405-232-7555 for more
information on the oilseed crops they are crushing, including sunflowers
and canola- and remember they post closing market prices for canola and
sunflowers on the PCOM
website- go there 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. | |
Oklahoma Delegation to NFU Has a New Leader in 2009- Terry Detrick ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma
delegates to the National Farmers Union are led here in 2009 by their new
President of the American Farmers & Ranchers, Terry Detrick of Ames.
Detrick says that he has preached a message of the need for Farmers Union
to work with other groups whenever and wherever they can in the coming
year- and he pledges that he is willing to roll up his sleeves and help in
that effort.
Here in Arlington, Va., we talked with Detrick about the policy process- and he indicates that he believes there are several areas where we may see some positive improvement in the positions of the National Farmers Union, based on the efforts of Oklahoma to insert language they feel is better for production agriculture. Detrick also says he is looking forward to a trip to the White House on Wednesday with other members of the National Farmers Union board- he says he is looking forward to the dialogue that may be available for Administration leaders. We spent a few minutes between sessions talking with Terry Detrick on Monday afternoon- and our conversation is a part of our webstory linked below- click and jump there to see more on the AFR presence here in Arlington at the 107th annual meeting of the NFU. | |
More than Dead on Arrival ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Chairman
of the House Ag Committee, Collin Peterson of Minnesota, was one of the
stars of the show on Monday at the National Farmers Union Convention that
is being held in Arlington, Va. Peterson told the membership that the
Obama Administration stepped into a hole on their proposal within the Ag
portion of the Fiscal Year 2010 Budget when it comes to trying to grab the
pot of money in the 2008 farm law that was reserved for direct farm
program payments.
The Obama Administration wanted to end Direct Payments to producers with gross receipts of $500,000 or more annually. That was drawn howls of protest across farm country- and most lawmakers that have reacted to it- Democrats as well as Republicans- have called that a bad idea. Peterson called it a "very stupid idea" and told reporters here at the NFU after he spoke to members that it is "more than dead on arrival." We have more on this story- and audio from Chairman Peterson on this subject- click on the link below to take a listen. | |
USDA's Vilsack Details More than $500 Million in Stimulus Spending for USDA Projects ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Agriculture
Secretary Tom Vilsack announced on Monday that USDA will be delivering its
first actions implementing the $28 billion provided in the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). "President Obama
responded extraordinarily to a crisis unlike any since the Great
Depression and his efforts and that of the USDA will have a significant
impact not only in rural communities but in communities across the country
struggling with today's tough economic times," said Vilsack.
"Implementation of programs in the act will help stimulate local
economies, create jobs as well as protect and restore the environment."
About 2,000 farmers will have low cost loans available to them from the
FSA- this under the Direct Operating Farm Loan Program. Beginning and
disadvantaged farmers will be targeted for these funds. To see the full list of initial ideas from the USDA on how to spend the billions that are a part of the stimulus law- click on our link below and review our story- we also have the link there to the USDA Recovery site as well. Click here for more on the USDA Spending Efforts in the Stimulus Package | |
Even Costco Is Getting In on the Animal Rights Debate ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the
magazine that Costco sends to their discount club members on a regular
basis, there is a two page spread on the question, "Should Animals Have
the Same Rights as People?"
The author of the article says "Animal rights advocates say that animals' basic interests should be given the same consideration as human beings' similar interests. They believe animals should no longer be regarded as property, or used as food, clothing, research subjects, or entertainment, but should instead be viewed as legal persons and members of the moral community. Critics argue that since animals are unable to make moral choices they should not be regarded as possessors of rights. There is nothing inherently wrong with using animals as resources, they add, so long as they do not suffer as a result." They then offer opinions of Costco members- and then "guest editorials"
from a PETA rep and from David Martosko who is with the Center for
Consumer Freedom(you might remember him from the OCA convention of last
year). Click here for the link to the Costco article on the Animal Rights Debate. | |
Even with the Feud Between the United Soybean Board and the ASA- Soy Checkoff Support is Solid ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Better than
seven out of every 10 U.S. soybean farmers continue to support their
soybean checkoff, and more than three out of four expressed familiarity
with the details and specifics of the checkoff, according to the most
recent checkoff-funded producer attitudes survey. The survey also found
that support for the checkoff is uniform across the country.
"These survey numbers show the seriousness with which our dedicated volunteer checkoff farmer-leaders take their responsibilities," said USB Chairman Chuck Myers. "The 50 percent share of national checkoff collections from upward of 600,000 soybean farmers was at just over $67 million for 2008 and anticipated at just over $64 million for 2009. So investing that money wisely and responsibly is our primary focus and responsibility. I think feedback such as this survey is a strong indication that farmers are comfortable with the work we're doing on their behalf." We have more details of the study in our story on our website- click below to check that out. Click here for more on how soybean producers currently feed about their checkoff. | |
Based on Early Nose Counting- Congressman Moran May Be Able to Make the Jump to Senator Moran in Kansas ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A group known
as Stay Red Kansas has conducted a Straw Poll among Republican activists-
and Congressman Jerry Moran of the big First District of western Kansas
may be able to follow in the footsteps of Pat Roberts who jumped from the
Congressional seat in the First District in the late 1990s and grabbed one
of the US Senate seats in Kansas.
Roberts has announced plans to retire- and it looks like Moran may be the candidate to beat on the Republican side of the aisle. In this straw poll, Moran easily beats Congressman Todd Tiahrt 64.3% to 35.7%. Click here for the Stay Red Kansas website for more details on their poll | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows, Producers Cooperative Oil Mill 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. | |
Let's Check the Markets! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The estimate
for the Oklahoma City cattle market from their Monday sale was 12,000
head, with prices under some pressure. Feeder steers were steady to 1.00
lower, except 700-800 lbs ending 1.00 higher. Feeder heifers 1.00- 3.00
lower. Demand moderate to good for feeders. Stocker cattle and calves
steady with good demand. The five weight steers brought from $100 to
$111.50 while the seven weights cleared from $86.25 to $97. Click
here for the full report from the Monday Oklahoma National Stockyards
feeder auction.
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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
