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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Thursday April 2, 2009
A
service of Johnston Enterprises, KIS Futures and American Farmers &
Ranchers Mutual Insurance Company!
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-- Smaller than an Average Oklahoma Wheat Crop- the word from Dr.
Jeff Edwards
-- Tobacco Today- What's Tomorrow for the FDA?
-- Cow tax, Direct Payment Attack, Farm Truck Weight Relief on the
Mind of Oklahoma Farm Bureau in Washington This Week
-- Milk Income Loss Contract Payments Soon to Come
-- Japan Seen as Opportunity for US Beef- especially in the Middle
Meats
-- Check the Calendar-
-- The Best Stations in Enid to Catch Oklahoma Farm and Ranch News
and Markets
-- 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. | |
Smaller than an Average Oklahoma Wheat Crop- the word from Dr. Jeff Edwards ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The 2009
Oklahoma Hard Red Winter Wheat Crop looks to be a less than average crop,
mainly because of the southwest area of the state where drought means that
crop is beyond repair- that's the word from State Wheat Specialist Dr.
Jeff Edwards of Oklahoma State University. Dr. Edwards adds that Central
and North Central Oklahoma have the best looking wheat at this point of
the growing season, with northwestern Oklahoma into the Panhandle also
have wheat that has been severely stressed, but is not as far along as we
see in southwestern Oklahoma- so the snow cover in that part of the state
may be beneficial to that region's wheat crop.
Dr. Edwards says he thinks that farmers by and large have applied
enough nitrogen to this year's crop- with many of them waiting until the
very last moment in late February or early March to topdress the 2009
crop. We have our conversation linked below that we recorded with Jeff Edwards on Wednesday while we were in Stillwater working with the Oklahoma FFA Star Candidates. Click on the link for our story and the audio from our OSU State Wheat Specialist. Click here for more with Dr. Jeff Edwards on the status of the 2009 Oklahoma Wheat Crop | |
Tobacco Today- What's Tomorrow for the FDA? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The top
Republican on the House Ag Committee, Frank Lucas of Oklahoma's third
district is strongly opposed to HR 1256- a measure that would allow the
FDA to regulate tobacco. Lucas sees this as a road that will "ultimately
result in FDA being on the farm micromanaging farmers."
Lucas adds "FDA has clearly proven it is severely overburdened with its current authority. Just look to the recent examples of salmonella found in peanut and pistachio products. Why would we give a huge new expansion of authority to an agency that has proven it can't handle the load it has? Can you honestly tell the American people to have confidence in the FDA to protect them?" Lucas also believes that this gets the FDA foot in the door with
farmers on telling them how they may farm. "farmers should be aware that
this means FDA will come directly on your farm and tell you how to
operate. Producers will bear the brunt of this legislation. FDA will tell
producers what type of seeds they can plant, the methods in which they
cultivate those seeds, the records they must keep and on and on and on."
While we are talking tobacco farmers today, Lucas and others believe that
FDA might eventually seek such authority anytime there is a perceived
threat to human health. Click here for more on HR 1256 from the Frank Lucas viewpoint. | |
Cow tax, Direct Payment Attack, Farm Truck Weight Relief on the Mind of Oklahoma Farm Bureau in Washington This Week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ About seventy
members of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau are in Washington this week for their
annual Congressional Action Tour- and the President of the general farm
group, Mike Spradling of Tulsa County, says they have had the opportunity
to visit with most of the Oklahoma Congressional delegation. Among the key
issues they have met with members of Congress about- the so called Cow
tax, the Obama Administration's budget proposal to prevent farmers with
more than $500,000 in gross receipts from receiving direct farm supports
and the farm truck weight issue.
On those first two issues, Spradling says they received assurances from Republican and Democratic lawmakers that they will not allow the EPA to push forward with an assessment for greenhouse gas emissions by livestock. Spradling says that Senator Coburn was especially emphatic in his comments about this subject. The also heard widespread opposition to the Obama budget plan to grab Direct Farm Payment monies to be used in nutrition and other areas of the budget that would not be beneficial to rural America. Spradling offered thanks to both Congresswoman Mary Fallin as well as
to Congressman Dan Boren for their work on the farm truck weight issue and
believes that this measure may be gaining some momentum. Click here for a Farm Bureau update on their journey to Washington this week. | |
Milk Income Loss Contract Payments Soon to Come ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Earlier this
week Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack told Congress USDA is prepared to begin
making payments in the Milk Income Loss Contract program. USDA determines
the per hundredweight payment rate for the applicable month by subtracting
the Boston Class I price for that month from the $16.94 MILC payment
trigger price, established in the 2008 Farm Bill, as adjusted for feed
costs, and multiplying the difference by 45 percent.
The MILC payment trigger price of $16.94 is adjusted upward when the National Average Dairy Feed Ration Cost for a month is greater than $7.35 per cwt. Using information provided by the National Agriculture Statistics Service, the MILC payment trigger for the month of February has been adjusted to $17.33, for a final MILC payment rate of $1.5132. Beginning April 1, USDA expects to issue approximately 50-million dollars to dairy producers for milk produced in February. USDA expects to issue MILC payments on milk produced in March in early May and MILC payments on milk produced in April in early June, after USDA has adjusted the MILC payment trigger price for feed costs and determined the final payment rate for those months. | |
Japan Seen as Opportunity for US Beef- especially in the Middle Meats ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ While the
sluggish U.S. economy places downward pressure on middle meat prices,
USMEF has been undertaking efforts to promote an expanded range of beef
cuts in targeted overseas markets to help maximize the cutout value for
producers. Japan has certainly been a key audience for USMEF's promotional
efforts given that nation's historic appetite for U.S. beef, including the
desire for delicious steaks. Given the strength of the Japanese yen in the
international currency market as well as its relatively strong economy
despite the current global economic challenges, USMEF is working to take
advantage of the competitive pricing of U.S. middle meats by aggressively
working to expand the presence of U.S. steak on Japan's dinner menus. This
focus is consistent with the goals of the Beef Checkoff Program and the
Beef Promotion Operating Committee, which have been evaluating new methods
of driving up demand for high-quality middle meats.
"Seeing the demand for middle meats in the domestic market soften, we are looking for every way to enhance their appeal in the eyes of overseas consumers," said USMEF President and CEO Philip Seng. "Although Japan certainly has economic concerns of its own, it remains strong compared to most other nations and the market sets up very well for the promotion of high-end beef cuts." We have details on several of the recent promotions that have been undertaken to help grow the Japanese market for US middle meats- and you can read those details by clicking on the link below. Click here for more on the growing Middle Meat Market for US beef in Japan. | |
Check the Calendar- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We are headed
to Altus this morning for a special announcement planned by the Oklahoma
Department of Agriculture regarding field staff that will be working with
farmers and ranchers in the use of 2,4,D during the non restricted time
frame between now and May first- we'll have details tomorrow here in the
daily email.
Northwest Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association have a Cow and Bull Sale planned for next Tuesday- and we have details about that on our calendar page. We invite you to click on our link below and scroll down to Paril 7 to get more details about this event. And, while you are there, check out the multitude of events that we have for the months of April and May- and we have more stuff that we will be adding later today as time permits. Click here for the OklahomaFarmReport.Com Calendar page- check it out! | |
The Best Stations in Enid to Catch Oklahoma Farm and Ranch News and Markets ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We are proud
of our one-two punch of KGWA AM along with KOFM FM that broadcast across
north central Oklahoma from Enid. KGWA at 960 on the AM dial calls itself
the Information Station, and features a great lineup of talk shows,
anchored by Russ Limbaugh during the middle of the day. Add to that great
local news and sports with J Curtis Huckleberry- and a great lineup of our
RON ag programming- KGWA is an Excellent station to be able to hear Ron
and Ed on RON.
Click here for the webpage for KGWA that we have on our
OklahomaFarmReport.Com site.
If you like great country music and live locally produced programming on the FM dial- you need to check out Hot Country 103.1, KOFM. Throughout the day, you can check the latest farm and ranch news, as well as market updates from the Radio Oklahoma Network on KOFM- click here for our webpage details of this station that reaches across all of north central Oklahoma. Our link below is of our full listing of radio stations across the state that carry our Radio Oklahoma Ag Network programming- our listing on this page is close to complete as we have just a few more stations to add details on in the days to come. Take a look at the list- and check out those stations that are closest to you. Click here for our radio stations that partner with us on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network. | |
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! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OKC West in El
Reno saw a short trading day on Wednesday, with 2,218 head of cattle in
for the sale. Our market reporter tells us "Few feeder steers steady to
1.00 lower. Few feeder heifers steady to 2.00 higher. Demand moderate for
feeder cattle. Light numbers making it very difficult to make a load.
Steer and heifer calves steady to 2.00 higher with good demand. Lighter
numbers this week as conditions remain muddy making it difficult to move
cattle. Rains came thru again Monday evening and more rain is expected in
parts of the state this evening. Pastures, though are improving greatly
following these rains." Click here for all
of the numbers from the OKC West market for this week.
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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