~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Monday September 21,
2009 A
service of Johnston Enterprises, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind
Energy and American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance
Company!
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-- Cattle on Feed Numbers Deliver NO Surprises- Just Reality
-- State Lawmakers See Firsthand Southwest Oklahoma Water Needs
-- New Wheat Industry Paper Says Biotechnology Will Help Ensure
Adequate Wheat Supplies
-- Reinventing the Beef Quality Assurance Program- We Beef Buzz with
Ryan Ruppert
-- 25X'25 Working Group Claims Biofuels Recycle Atomospheric
Carbon
-- Thoughts and Prayers Needed on This Monday Morning
-- 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. | |
Cattle on Feed Numbers Deliver NO Surprises- Just Reality ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ USDA's Cattle
on Feed Report that was released on Friday afternoon had no surprises- so
says Tom Leffler with Leffler Commodities. Tom breaks down the numbers for
us as he visits with our own Ed Richards about this report. You can click
on the link below to jump to the story on our website and listen to Ed's
conversation with Tom.
Meanwhile in that same story- we have Dr. Derrell Peel's take on the COF report as well. He tells us "Fed cattle markets continue to struggle with lackluster boxed beef holding fed cattle prices in check. Live and feeder cattle futures dropped late in the week along with boxed beef prices. Friday's Cattle on Feed report is not likely to change the situation much. Placements were slightly higher than expected but so were marketings. The on-feed inventory for September 1 was close to pre-report expectations at 99 percent of last year's level." "Most of the increase in placements was in the 800-plus pound weight category. Forage conditions in key summer stocker regions, such as the Oklahoma Osage country and Kansas Flint Hills were quite good and cattle came off later and heavier than in many years. There was also an increase in the lightest placement category, under 600 pounds, but that increase was entirely due to increases in Texas that were no doubt drought-induced movement of lightweight feeders." | |
State Lawmakers See Firsthand Southwest Oklahoma Water Needs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Speaker of
the House and a bipartisan group of legislators toured southwest Oklahoma
at the end of last week as part of an interim study to examine water needs
and infrastructure in the area. Historically, southwest Oklahoma receives
the least amount of rainfall in the state, which often stifles growth in
communities in the area and leaves many farmers without enough water to
adequately take care of their thirsty crops.
"Water is one of the most pressing needs of our state, and this tour has allowed us to see first hand the trials southwest Oklahoma is facing," said House Speaker Chris Benge, R-Tulsa. "The water needs of our state will continue to be an issue in the Legislature, so it is critical to hear all sides of the debate so we can make educated decisions in the future." Click on our link below and you can read up on the various stops made by the Lawmakers and others in the southwestern par of our state. | |
New Wheat Industry Paper Says Biotechnology Will Help Ensure Adequate Wheat Supplies ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Biotechnology
has the potential to help reverse the loss of wheat acres in the United
States and help ensure there will be adequate supplies to feed a hungry
world. That is the conclusion of a new wheat industry analysis released
Thursday. The eight-page paper outlines the competitiveness problem facing
global wheat production and the wheat industry itself, which is
increasingly vulnerable to short-term supply shocks and a long-term cycle
of decline. The paper explains why this matters for the entire food chain
- wheat growers, wheat users at home and abroad, and consumers in the
industrialized and developing worlds.
Organizations collaborating on the paper included the National Association of Wheat Growers, U.S. Wheat Associates, the North American Millers' Association, the Independent Bakers Association and the Wheat Foods Council. The analysis emphasizes that there is no silver bullet to the competitiveness problem. However, it concludes that the rapid adoption of biotechnology traits in other crops produced around the world and grower testimonials in support of these traits lend credence to the idea that biotechnology can make a significant contribution. The authors also devote significant space to their commitment to choice
for consumers who wish to procure non-GM wheat and wheat products and for
producers who choose to meet this demand. Globally, more than two billion
acres of biotech crops have been safely grown, though there is no
commercial production of genetically modified wheat anywhere in the world.
Wheat acres have been declining in the U.S. for three decades, and yield
growth and net returns per acre for wheat have consistently lagged behind
corn and soybeans over the past decade. Click here for the Wheat Industry Paper on the Case for Biotechnology | |
Reinventing the Beef Quality Assurance Program- We Beef Buzz with Ryan Ruppert ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Beef
Quality Assurance Program has been reinvented over the last couple of
years- and leading those efforts at the national level is Ryan Ruppert,
Director of the National BQA Program at the National Cattlemen's Beef
Association. Ruppert says that when the program was put in place in the
early 1980s- it was about antibiotic residue in meat- making sure that
cattle producers kept those residues from hanging around in the animals as
they were harvested. It was also about injection sites on the animals
themselves.
Today, the program is a total management type program- and the emphasis is on things like the care and handling of our beef animals. Ruppert says with the new focus of the program- it's important that as many cattle producers get involved with this new and improved BQA- and become certified by going through the program. Ruppert says that's a key way to tell consumers we are serious about the proper care and handling of our animals. Click on the link below to learn more about the new direction of the BQA program- we talk to Ryan on our Monday Beef Buzz about this fresh focus. Check it out- and in the state of Oklahoma- you can get involved by checking with the Oklahoma Beef Council and finding out from them where a training session will be happening somewhere close to you. Contact Adam McClung at the OBC- his number is 405-840-3777. Click here for more on the BQA national focus as heard on our Monday Beef Buzz | |
25X'25 Working Group Claims Biofuels Recycle Atomospheric Carbon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The 25X'25
Carbon Work Group has recently reemphasized the need for policy makers to
modify pending cap-and-trade provisions to more clearly recognize those
agricultural and forestry practices that can contribute to climate change
regulation and make those practices eligible as offset projects. The
Carbon Working Group also says policy makers should make clear in a final
climate change bill that biofuels, including the biofuel component of
fuels blends, are not obligated under the emissions cap and are a
preferred alternative to fossil carbon-based transportation fuels.
The group says the science is simple. Fossil energy use takes carbon that has been stored for millions of years in the earth and releases it into the atmosphere through combustion. On the other hand, biofuels made from plant matter remove carbon from the atmosphere through photosynthesis prior to combustion. In essence, biofuels recycle atmospheric carbon. As a result, biofuels should not be treated in the same manner as fossil fuels under any climate change cap and trade legislation. At the same time the 25X'25 Alliance recommends natural gas as a bridge fuel to a sustainable energy future by providing a critical low-carbon back-up fuel that can enable deep market penetration of renewable sources such as wind power and concentrated solar thermal power. | |
Thoughts and Prayers Needed on This Monday Morning ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Word comes to
me via the webmaster at the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program that two Alums
of that program need our prayers as we begin this week.
One of those is wheat producer Jeff Krehbiel, has been diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor. Jeff will undergo surgery at Mercy Hospital later today on this Monday, September 21st. Both Jeff and his wife Karen are Alums of OALP. Jeff is also well known to many of you as a past President of the Oklahoma Wheat Growers Association, as well a current board member of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission. Another OALP Alum is battling cancer and your thoughts and prayers for him would also be appreciated. Dean Smith was recently diagnosed with melanoma. Dean had the cancerous area removed and is continuing to undergo treatment. Both Dean and Jeff live in the Hydro area. | |
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 $7.50 per
bushel, while the 2010 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available are
$7.55 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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