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 KIS Futures as a regular sponsor of our daily email update. KIS Futures provides Oklahoma Farmers & Ranchers with futures & options hedging services in the livestock and grain markets- Click here for the free market quote page they provide us for our website or call them at 1-800-256-2555.

We are also excited to have as one of our sponsors for the daily email Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, with 64 years of progress through producer ownership. Call Brandon Winters at 405-232-7555 for more information on the oilseed crops they handle, including sunflowers and canola- and remember they post closing market prices for canola and sunflowers on the PCOM website- go there by clicking here.

And we salute our longest running email sponsor- Midwest Farm Shows, producer of the springtime Southern Plains Farm Show, as well as the December 2009 Tulsa Farm Show. Click here for more information on the Tulsa Show, coming up December 10,11 and 12, 2009.

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The two former presidents that are the point people are Jan Lyons of Kansas and John Queen of North Carolina. "We are being attacked on many fronts by rapidly changing issues and well-heeled groups, which are light on facts but heavy on funding, and they are threatening to put cattlemen out of business," said Lyons, co-chair of the NCBA Governance Task Force, and beef producer from Manhattan, Kansas. "We've carefully reviewed challenges involved with restructuring, including the legal ramifications, and we believe our recommendation improves our organization and makes it the lean, mean fighting machine we need to face the forces lining up against our industry."

The Task Force is recommending a 29-member Board of Directors, 26 of whom are elected by a 250-vote House of Delegates and three ex-officio non-voting members. These include the Federation of State Beef Councils Chair and Vice-Chair and the NCBA CEO. The House of Delegates will include 100 votes from NCBA Affiliates, 100 votes from State Beef Councils, and 50 votes from breed associations and other interested groups. Currently, NCBA has a Board of 274 members, which meet twice a year to make decisions for the organization.

We have more on this story on our website- including audio from the teleconference and webinar that the organization conducted for the media. Click on the llink below to hear their presentation.
Lyons and Queen, along with Kendall Frazier and Forest Roberts from the NCBA staff, admitted during the Q&A portion of the call that a lot of questions remain- including potential cost savings, the makeup of committees, how this new organization will interface with the Beef Board and more- but they added it's a work in progress and more answers will be in place by San Antonio.

Click here for more on the NCBA Organizational Revamp Proposal.

We talk with cattle producer Drake, who says that the Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative (GLCI) was founded to provide high quality technical assistance on privately owned grazing lands on a voluntary basis and to increase the awareness of the importance of grazing land resources.

Drake says that one of the presentations at the Conference in Reno will be from the Noble Foundation of Ardmore, with several officials from Noble involved in the presentation, including Billy Cook, Rick Dixon, Joe Bouton and Michael Cawley.
Bob Drake is our Beef Buzz guest this morning- that's our regular beef industry radio feature heard on great radio stations across the Radio Oklahoma Network. Click on the link below for our Beef Buzz with Drake from the Reno meeting.

Click here for the Tuesday Beef Buzz with comments from Bob Drake from the Grazing Lands Conference Now Underway in Reno

The registration deadline for this event here in Oklahoma has arrived and is today. Contact Marcia Irwin at 405-523-2405 for more information on this event.

Click here for our calendar page item for this registration deadline and more details about the YF&R heading to Tulsa.

One farmer that is excited is Kirby Lewis of Lubbock, Texas who told Monsanto "I grew two Class of 10 candidates and they both exceeded 4 bales to the acre - over 2,000 pounds. One product went 4 2/3 bales per acre and the other made 4 1/3 bales per acre and the quality on both was excellent. They stripped well and they were not too loose in the boll. They were fairly storm-proof and excellent yielders. We are pleased."

USDA estimates that the 2009 class was planted on more than 10 percent of the cotton area last year. Seed production in some areas was challenged, but the company says availability of the Class of 09 should be significantly higher in 2010 and the Class of 10 will be in a good introductory supply.

The farm goods provision was added to legislation to fund dozens of federal agencies for the rest of the 2010 fiscal year, which ends September 30, 2010. ad_icon The U.S. House of Representatives has already approved the massive spending bill, which President Obama is expected to sign into law on Friday.

Congress authorized cash sales of U.S. farm goods to Cuba in 2000 under the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act. But the Bush administration issued rules in 2005 requiring Cuba to pay for the goods through third-country banks before the products left port. According to Senator Baucus, the new provision would allow Cuban buyers to wire payments directly to the United States while the goods are in transit, as Congress intended in 2000.
Even with the extra hoops placed on sales to Cuba- the island nation has been buying US Farm products- and is a top ten destination for US Hard Red Winter Wheat, the type we grow here in Oklahoma. Oklahoma farm leaders have made trips to Cuba and encouraged them to buy Oklahoma wheat, which can be easily shipped from our Gulf ports to Havana.

Click here for a Fact Sheet from the National Association of Wheat Growers on trade with Cuba- They Have Supported the Overturning of the 2005 Rule.

The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture distributes nomination forms and accepts the completed applications. An independent selection committee comprised of leaders from various agricultural organizations chooses each year's inductee. Nomination forms are available from the ODA by calling Jason Harvey, (405) 522-5563, at the agency web page which we have linked below, or by writing Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Ag Hall of Fame, 2800 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105.

Any living person who derives the bulk of their income, or has retired from an agricultural enterprise, is eligible for nomination. Candidates for consideration are agricultural leaders who have exemplified personal values, excelled in production and performance and who have provided a strong role model for the state's youth. "Without question this is the most prestigious award in Oklahoma agriculture and honors the finest people who make up our state's farming and ranching industries," said Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture, Terry Peach. "The contributions to our state's economy, character and leadership provided by our top agriculturists cannot be overstated."

Click here for the Oklahoma Department of Ag Website and the page dedicated to the Hall of Fame

This year's Tulsa Farm Show was the best yet, especially in the amount of traffic flowing through the show from start to finish. In talking to several exhibitors, business was being done and the contacts that you hope to make were being made. One agri businessman told me that a year ago, no one was willing to make hardly any decisions- it was a very uncertain time. In contrast, he says there are still unknowns, but a lot of people seem to be taking the attitude that they need to get on and move their farm or ranch operation forward. He adds that they were looking for value and for equipment that would help them be more efficient or make them money.

Click on the link below and check out all of the pictures from this year's Tulsa Farm Show- I think we have about 136 that have landed on our Flickr page.

Click here for our Tulsa Farm Show Pictures on Flickr

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.