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!

And we are proud to have P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy as our newest regular sponsor of our daily email update. P & K is the premiere John Deere dealer in Oklahoma, with nine locations to serve you, and the P & K team are excited about their new Wind Power program, as they offer Endurance Wind Power wind turbines. Click here for more from the P&K 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.

During his opening statement, Ranking Minority Member Senator Saxby Chambliss outlined several concerns he has with the House-passed American Clean Energy and Security Act and - the tremendous costs associated with its provisions. Chambliss said the cap and trade program will undoubtedly raise production costs for farmers and ranchers. USDA and Texas A&M University are conducting economic analysis of the Waxman-Markey and Boxer bills, with special attention to the effects at the farm gate level and to consumers. Chambliss says - what we have seen of preliminary study results is that no farm will escape the effect of this bill.

We have multiple stories that have come out of the Senate Ag Committee hearing- here are the links to several of them:
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack Says Farmers Win Economically with House Passed Version of Cap and Trade- the Secretary released some analysis of the Waxman-Markey bill and called it good. Click here for more on this story.

In reaction to those USDA numbers- Congressman Frank Lucas Calls USDA Analysis of Cap and Trade Poorly Done- Click here for the statement he offered late in the day.

Bob Stallman of the American Farm Bureau says his group believes that Climate Change Legislation as passed in the US House is a mistake- Click here for his testimony.

Roger Johnson of the National Farmers Union fears the Cost of Doing Nothing- Click here for more on his comments to the Senators

And finally, Saxby Chambliss asked the two farm group leaders- why the differences on this topic- both offer their thoughts on this and you can hear their give and take with the Senator by clicking here.

We also talked about health care reform- he does not think that the Democrats will be able to move Health Care Reform through the House before the August recess, although he admits it is still possible for them to do so.

On NAIS- the National Animal ID System- he believes that USDA will be very hard pressed to develop a mandatory system, even with House Ag Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro demanding that things be changed- or there will be no money for the program in Fiscal Year 2010.

To listen to our full conversation with the top Republican on the House Ag Committee- click on the link we have provided below.

Click here for our Podcast with Congressman Frank Lucas on some of the hot topics that are being pushed through Congress at this time.

Banks writes ""The recent hot weather has caused rapid growth of cotton, if plenty of moisture is available. Irrigated cotton is just at first bloom now, and other than the first fruit branch being about a node higher on the plant than normal, the plant is progressing rapidly. The number of nodes above white flower is a good indicator of plant vigor, and usually, this number is seven or eight at first bloom.
"This year, it looks like the NAWF will be nine to 11, which reflects a very rapidly developing plant. Irrigated cotton should have a growth regulator application by now, but if not, it needs to be applied soon. If the irrigated cotton is not developing rapidly, it needs to be inspected to determine what is holding it back. I have had several people call and say the fruiting looks thin in the plant, but when looked at closely, the squares are located at every position they should be, but the plant is so large they are spread out.

"One thing I have noticed when looking at dryland cotton is the vigor is closely related to water availability to the plant. Of course, this is normal for dryland cotton, but it seems like most of the vigorous fields are no-till fields that have been planted into good residue cover. Most conventional tilled fields have stressed cotton that has been damaged by wind, and much of the moisture has been lost due to the tillage. With our equipment and weed control solutions, no-till is becoming the best way to produce cotton, especially on some of our highly erodible soils. Even on irrigated soils, wind and blowing sand protection provided by the residue will allow a much more vigorous plant prior to bloom.
"Past experience has shown that a vigorous plant going into bloom has a much higher chance of making a good yield than one that has been stressed prior to blooming. A good general rain in the next week or so is really needed to take this crop to a good finish."

Click here for more news for the Oklahoma Cotton Industry- courtesy of North Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas Cotton Interests

The organization had to be build from the ground floor. Bill Greving, a sorghum grower from Prairie View, Kansas and current USCP chairman, says - the goal of every board member is to improve the profitability of sorghum producers. Without that unity of mission, we would not have been able to make as much progress as we have.

Organized in July of 2008, the United Sorghum Checkoff Program has developed a strategic plan to guide the board's decisions; established a management contract with the National Sorghum Producers Association; and hired staff to lead key program areas in research, market development and communications. Some of the funded research projects will generate results for use by growers relatively soon, such as the production handbooks, while others are more intensive efforts that will produce more long-term results.
Louise Rigdon of Blackwell is Oklahoma's representative on this national board.

Click here for more information on the Sorghum Checkoff- this jumps you to NCSP website

Victor says the focus will be on the number of cattle placed into feedlots as he writes "June Placements are expected to be 8.0% smaller than last year. Keep in mind that this drop versus June of 2008 placements is on top of last year's 8.4% decline from 2007 levels. In fact, this is the smallest June Total in 13 years. Sharp losses in previous months of cattle feeding have created an equity drain for this sector which is inhibiting new placements. Cattle placed in June will be marketed from October through February."

And Joe adds "Allendale anticipates a Marketing total 0.8% smaller than June of 2008. This is the smallest Marketing total since USDA started the current data series in 1995/96. There was one more day to market in this year's June. Marketing will remain under last year's level through August."

Victor says it adds up to the Cattle on Feed total, at 5.0% under last year's July 1, which would be the smallest for that month in 10 years if Allendale is right their guesses about the Friday afternoon report.

Senator Coburn says that changes in the contract may be justified, but he cautions against making changes that could harm economic activity. The Oklahoma lawmaker says that he does not think that index funds are the problem, but rather the current structure of the CBOT wheat contract.

We have Senator Coburn's comments on our website- click on the link below for that story and a chance to listen to what the Senator was saying regarding how to best balance an unfettered market versus government oversight that is in the best interest of the public.

Click here for more on Senator Coburn's comments about the Wheat Contract problems discussed by Congress this week.

During the U.S. Wheat meetings this week in San Diego, the group worked on International Trade and Biotech issues. Michael Michener, Administrator, U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), addressed the Board and affirmed FAS' strong support for export market development. He also pledged that FAS will honor Congress' clear desire to continue investing in export market development on behalf of U.S. farmers.

Wataru "Charlie" Utsunomiya, USW Country Director, Tokyo, Japan, introduced a team of Japanese milling executives who participated in the Board meeting. The team included: Mr. Masakatsu Yokozawa, President, Showa Sangyo. Co.Ltd., and Chairman, Japan Flour Millers Association; Mr. Masaaki Kadota, Senior Managing Director, Japan Flour Millers Association; Mr. Kenji Takihara, Manager, Operations Group, Nisshin Flour Milling Inc.; and Mr. Masayuki Tomitaka, Administration Team Manager, Nippon Flour Mills, Co., Ltd. Mr. Kadota described the Japanese wheat market while Mr. Yokazawa emphasized that it is in the best interests of the U.S. wheat industry to carefully consider the wishes of its customers as biotechnology traits in wheat are developed. Mr. Yokazawa also noted that there is likely to be significant change in the Japanese wheat importing process in the long-term.

Click here for more on the US Wheat Board Meetings held this week in San Diego

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.

Click here to check out WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com

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:
Our Daily Market Wrapup from the Radio Oklahoma Network with Ed Richards and Tom Leffler- analyzing the Futures Markets from the previous Day-
Ron on RON Markets as heard on K101 mornings with cash and futures reviewed- includes where the Cash Cattle market stands, the latest Feeder Cattle Markets Etc.
Previous Day's Wheat Market Recap- Two Pager From The Kansas City Board of Trade looks at all three US Wheat Futures Exchanges with extra info on Hard Red Winter Wheat and the why of that day's market.
Daily Oklahoma Cash Grain Prices- As Reported by the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture. <
The National Daily Feeder & Stocker Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
The National Daily Slaughter Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
Finally, Here is the Daily Volume and Price Summary from the Texas Cattle Feeders Association.