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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Thursday May 7, 2009
A
service of Johnston Enterprises, KIS Futures and American Farmers &
Ranchers Mutual Insurance Company!
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-- Worst Oklahoma Wheat Crop in a Half Century.
-- Kansas Crop Looks Average- Maybe
-- FURIOUS!!!
-- US and EU Reach Deal For Different Compensation in Hormone Beef
Judgement Against the Europeans
-- No Till, Harvesting Short Wheat and More in the Latest PaSS
newsletter
-- Oklahoma Pork Council Responds to First H1N1 Flu Case in
Oklahoma
-- This and That for a Thursday
-- 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. | |
Worst Oklahoma Wheat Crop in a Half Century. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The number is
either 77.5 million bushels or 78.12 million bushels, depending on which
method of prognostication you choose. Two numbers came out of the
Wednesday morning Oklahoma Grain and Feed Association report session of
wheat production all across the state. The first number that was reported
was the total of the eight regions of the state. Those reporters from
across the state predicted a cumulative 3,783,000 acres would be harvested
this year, with a total production of 78.12 million bushels of wheat.
After the audience heard the reports, and based on their knowledge of the
wheat crop conditions, the consensus of the audience at the Grain and Feed
Association meeting came in slightly smaller at 77.5 million bushels of
production.
Either of those production totals would put the 2009 crop at less than half of the 2008 crop of 166,500,000 bushels, and it would be the worst crop in more than fifty years across the state, with only the almost total wipeout annual production in 1955 being smaller- the crop that year totaled just 24 million bushels. We have extensive coverage with multiple interviews that you can listen to on our website, www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com. We talked to several of the presenters from the Wednesday session held at the annual meeting of the Oklahoma Grain and Feed Association in Oklahoma City. We also talked to Roger Gribble of Enid who was helping coordinate the overall presentation for his perspective as well as Dr. kim Anderson, our grain marketing guru to get some perspective on what all of this means from a marketing viewpoint. One comment made by Kim was most interesting. He contends that if we
had a normal "average" crop in Oklahoma and Texas, wheat prices right now
would probably be fifty cents to as much as a dollar cheaper than they are
right now- so the notion that the market doesn't care that the
Oklahoma(and Texas) wheat crop is hurt but Kansas looks okay and the
prices are not going up is wrong. The market has adjusted for that lost
production already. | |
Kansas Crop Looks Average- Maybe ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Day two of the
Kansas Wheat Crop Tour took routes from Colby south to around Liberal,
then eastward to Wichita where the report session for Day Two was held.
Ben Handcock of the Wheat Quality Council says that the counties that most
of the groups went through were very dry over the winter- and the only the
recent rains have saved wheat yield potential in many fields. He points
out that a lot of the fields are a lot thinner than they would normally
be, which could cause problems as harvest arrive.
Tim Bartram, the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Wheat Growers Association, offers a report this morning on what he saw on Day Two of this annual trek that takes teams all across Kansas as well as parts of Nebraska, Colorado and Oklahoma. Click on the link below to jump to our webpage with Tim's report. Click here for more on the Kansas Wheat Crop Tour with Tim Bartram of the Oklahoma Wheat Growers | |
FURIOUS!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Chairman
of the House Ag Committee, Colin Peterson of Minnesota, is FURIOUS over
the announcement by the EPA that they intend to look at biofuels and levy
indirect land costs against ethanol and biodiesel when computing a carbon
footprint of biofuels.
A House Ag Subcommittee hearing turned into Peterson's pulpit on Wednesday, as he announced that "I'm off the train. I will not support any climate change bill. I don't trust anybody anymore." He went to add that the only way he might support a Climate Change bill is to get EPA out of the mix on setting regulations on biofuels- that it all be done within the legislation. He added he's not sure that could ever happen. We have the audio of the Chairman's remarks that very harsh coming from a member of the Majority party against the proposals of the Obama Administration. Click on the link below to get to that audio explosion. | |
US and EU Reach Deal For Different Compensation in Hormone Beef Judgement Against the Europeans ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The United
States and European Union have agreed in principle to a deal that would
gradually expand duty-free access for hormone-free U.S. beef in the
European market in exchange for eliminating U.S. tariffs on EU products.
On our Thursday Beef Buzz, we talk about this tentative deal with the
Chief Economist of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, Gregg Doud.
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and European Union Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton on Wednesday issued a joint statement announcing "a way forward in the long-running dispute over hormone-treated beef." Under the current quota, the EU allows 11,500 metric tons of
hormone-free U.S. beef per year with a 20 percent duty. The
agreement-in-principle would provide for a duty-free quota of 20,000
metric tons in its first three years and expand it to 45,000 metric tons
beginning in the fourth year. The United States will maintain existing
sanctions on EU products during the initial three-year period and
eliminate all sanctions during the fourth year. Clcik here for more on our Wednesday Beef Buzz on the US-EU deal on US beef into the European Market | |
No Till, Harvesting Short Wheat and More in the Latest PaSS newsletter ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The latest
Plant and Soil Science Newsletter is out from this department of the
Division of Agriculture at Oklahoma State University- and it covers
several topics of importance for farmers throughout the southern Great
Plains:
Those topics include Click on the link below for a look at this latest production oriented newsletter that is free from the Plant and Soil Science Department within the Division of Agriculture at Oklahoma State University. | |
Oklahoma Pork Council Responds to First H1N1 Flu Case in Oklahoma ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Oklahoma
Pork Council issued the following statement on this week regarding
recently diagnosed Oklahoma and U.S. cases of the H1N influenza virus:
"The Oklahoma Pork Council has learned that Oklahoma State Department of
Health officials have identified a case of H1N1 flu in Pontotoc County,
and we are aware of cases in other states as well.
"Like all Oklahomans, we are relieved the individual has recovered fully. It is our understanding that preliminary findings in the U.S. cases of this influenza virus do not involve any direct contact between people and pigs. That being said, like all Oklahomans, Oklahoma's pork producers are concerned about this disease." Meanwhile, Medatingplace is reporting that Smithfield Foods' CEO has embarked on a series of media interviews in order to prepare investors, the markets and employees for the company's first loss in 30 years. C. Larry Pope says the effects of misinformation related to H1N1 influenza, coming on the heels of a treacherous 18-month period in the hog and pork industry, means the company will be in the red for its 2009 fiscal year, which ended May 2. | |
This and That for a Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It will be
muddy but the 58th National Land and Range Judging Contest will go forward
this morning- the teams are learning this morning where the secret
location of the contest will be. They are finding out about the same time
as I am writing this- so I won't mention it here- but if you want to go
and see these young people "playing" int he mud- drop me a quick email and
I will tell you the site location.
The best line of the day at the Oklahoma Wheat Crop Report Session came from Avery Eeds of Wheeler Brothers- he noted that while the wheat was not very good and that harvested acres were way down in all of the central Oklahoma counties he covered- something important was noted. Avery says that they saw fewer rabbits and more coyotes as they toured the wheat fields this year compared to last. I'll let you decide for yourself the ramifications of this observation. Finally, the AgWeather folks from the Mesonet team have a new AgWeather newsletter out- with more on freeze conditions and how it has affected the wheat crop. As always, Laura and Al have some excellent suggestions about various reports you can pull for yourself on rainfall, drought and more that can help you with your weather dependent plans. The link for this month's Newsletter is below- click and take a look. | |
Our thanks to KIS Futures, Johnston Enterprises and AFR 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 OKC West
market in El Reno had 3,135 head of cattle in their pens on Wednesday,
with prices steady for the yearling cattle and steady to a dollar up for
calves. Our market reporter offers these comments about the Wednesday
market- "Quality of feeder cattle average to attractive. Quality of
stockers and calves plain to average. Rain and more rain has covered most
of Oklahoma with rainfall moderate to flooding. Supply included 72 percent
over 600 lbs and 35 percent heifers." As far as actual prices- click
here to jump to the USDA rundown of prices from this May 6 market.
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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