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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Friday March 20, 2009
A
service of Johnston Enterprises, American Farmers & Ranchers and
Midwest Farm Shows!
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-- Senator Jim Inhofe Reintroduces Truck Weight Bill
-- The Obama Administration Tells Farmers- IF you want to sign up for
the 2009 Farm Program- you WILL allow us access to tax records.
-- Lucas urges EPA to petition Court to rehear decision on use of
pesticides
-- Dr. Kim Anderson Likes This Week's Wheat Price Rally.
-- Oklahoma Youth Expo Rolls Into the Second Weekend
-- Oklahoma's Ag Day is this coming Tuesday, March 24
-- Looking at our Agricultural 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 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! We are also pleased to have as a regular sponsor on our daily email
Johnston Enterprises- proud to have served 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. | |
Senator Jim Inhofe Reintroduces Truck Weight Bill ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ U.S. Senator
Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) today re-introduced common sense bipartisan
legislation with Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.)
to address a problem faced by a number of farmers and ranchers in Oklahoma
and around the country when they drive their goods across state lines.
Currently, just by driving between two states that do not have a
reciprocity agreement for farm truck weights, like Oklahoma and Kansas,
these farmers are exceeding an unnecessarily low federal weight definition
for commercial motor vehicles and are being ticketed and fined.
Several farm groups praised the reintroduction effort- Bob Stallman of the American Farm Bureau offered a letter of praise for the move saying "On behalf of Farm Bureau members across the nation, I thank you for your continued commitment to ending these burdensome and costly regulations." American Farmers & Ranchers as well as the Oklahoma Farm Bureau
also greeted the reintroduction with enthusiasm. AFR's Terry Detrick said
"The new legislation is a step in the right direction in allowing farmers
and ranchers to transport their commodities without unreasonable
regulations that have no impact on roadway safety." | |
The Obama Administration Tells Farmers- IF you want to sign up for the 2009 Farm Program- you WILL allow us access to tax records. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Obama
Administration continues its drive to make farm program signup for farmers
as onerous as possible- the latest demand that farmers must sign a release
of their tax records to be eligible to sign up for farm program benefits.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Thursday that the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have
begun efforts to ensure that high-income individuals and entities who
request USDA payments meet income limits set forth in the 2008 Farm Bill.
Beginning with the 2009 crop year and for successive years, in order to be eligible for USDA payments all recipients will be required to sign a separate form which grants IRS the authority to provide income information to USDA for verification purposes. Before IRS will provide the information for a particular producer, IRS form 8821, or a similar form, must be obtained from each producer authorizing the release of information. Failure to obtain such form will make the producer ineligible for program benefits. | |
Lucas urges EPA to petition Court to rehear decision on use of pesticides ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Today, Ranking
Member Frank Lucas sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) Administrator, Lisa Jackson, and to U.S. Attorney General Eric
Holder urging them to petition the United States 6th Circuit Court of
Appeals for a rehearing of a recent decision by the court. The decision
vacates EPA's 2007 rule exempting certain pesticide applications that are
compliant with the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act
(FIFRA) from the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)
provisions of the Clean Water Act (CWA). The court's decision will require
American farmers to obtain redundant permits for the application of all
FIFRA-compliant biological pesticides whenever those pesticides might find
their way into waters of the United States. FIFRA requires the EPA to
register only pesticides that the agency has determined will not cause
unreasonable effects on the environment. In essence, this decision is
duplicative.
"If this decision stands, then it will require millions of applications for permits. The EPA is not equipped to handle that caseload, so there will not be a timely issuance of these required permits. As a result, farmers won't be able to conduct their operations as they should. It will ultimately jeopardize their livelihoods. This decision penalizes EPA and it penalizes farmers. It's bad for everyone," said Ranking Member Frank Lucas. Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH) co-signed the letter as Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture. The petition for a rehearing must be submitted before April 9, 2009. We have more on this story on our website- including the complete letter sent by the lawmakers to EPA. Click on the link below for more. Click here for more on the letter Congressman Frank Lucas has sent to EPA | |
Dr. Kim Anderson Likes This Week's Wheat Price Rally. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr. Kim
Anderson says the rally of this week in the wheat market of some sixty
cents per bushel through Thursday's close is significant, although he
thinks that we may be close to a top near term on wheat. He says it may be
a gamble to hold remaining wheat stocks for perhaps another thirty cents
per bushel that might be added before this rally tops out.
At the same time- he sees little reason to forward contract 2009 crop wheat at this point- since the local wheat prices are only about at the average cost of production for this year's crop- slightly above five dollars a bushel. Dr. Anderson's comments are available for you to hear by clicking on
our link below- and of course you can see Kim and Clinton Griffiths on
Saturday morning on the OSU Ag Communications show SUNUP. | |
Oklahoma Youth Expo Rolls Into the Second Weekend ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Earlier this
week, the 2008 Miss Rodeo America, Amy Wilson of Colby, Kansas, spent some
time at the Oklahoma Youth Expo and was one of the speakers for the "This
One is for the Girls" event that attracted about 300 this year and was
hosted by the Diamond Hats.
We had the chance to visit with Amy about rodeo, showing livestock and her year as a traveling ambassador for the livestock industry as Miss Rodeo America. I really enjoyed the part of our conversation about animal rights activists- she believes that livestock owners really care for their animals- whether it's a beef heifer for a youth project, a horse for rodeo or a commercial cattle operation- she says that the bad actors in this regard are few and far between. Our Conversation with Amy is featured as one of our stories you can see this morning on the Blue Green Gazette with coverage all about the Oklahoma Youth Expo. We will be posting several stories later today- that scholarship list we promised yesterday will be coming later this morning, a look at the breeding ewe show of yesterday, more showmanship results, the OSU Day Activities at the Youth Expo and on Sunday evening- your first chance to see on the internet or any other media source the Grand Champions in the Market Lamb, Market Steer and Market Barrow arenas. Click on the Blue Green Gazette link below- and come back several times between now and the end of the weekend- we will have fresh stuff up there several times today, Saturday and Sunday. Click here for the Blue Green Gazette- your home for 2009 OYE coverage. | |
Oklahoma's Ag Day is this coming Tuesday, March 24 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jack Carson
with the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture emails us with some of the
first details that have really come out on the Ag Day celebration planned
for this Tuesday at the Oklahoma State Capitol in Oklahoma City.
Jack writes: | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows, American Farmers & Ranchers and Johnston Enterprises 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. | |
Looking at our Agricultural Markets... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Stockman's
Livestock in Apache had more than a thousand more this week from a week
ago and a year ago with 4,402 head selling yesterday. Yearlings were mixed
with lighter yearlings $1 to $3 higher and those over 800 pounds $1 to $2
lower. Calves were called $4 to $7 higher. Five to six hundred pound
steers brought $107 to $116.50 while seven to eight hundred pound steer
yearlings came in from $85.50 to $97.25 For the full Apache market update,
click
here for the report- it should be updated with yesterday's numbers a
little after 8 AM on Friday.
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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