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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Wednesday November 25,
2009 A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and KIS
Futures!
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-- Straight Ahead- Turkey Day and More
-- Energy Independence? The Answer May Be Blowing in the Wind!
-- Bio-Oil and Biochar May be Future of Corn Stover
-- Good Wheat Meeting Coming to El Reno on Pearl Harbor Day
-- The Shorthorn Piece of the US Beef Puzzle
-- Give Thanks- Part One
-- Give Thanks Part Two
-- 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 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. 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. | |
Straight Ahead- Turkey Day and More ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We will not be
having a daily email either tomorrow or Friday- so this is our chance to
wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday- refer to the bottom of this
email to reflect on the blessings we count at Thanksgiving with some
interesting thoughts that email friends have shared with us. If any major
events do unfold in the next few days on the farm news scene- we will have
coverage on our website- www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com.
We do have a guest lined up for this coming Saturday morning for our In
the Field segment as seen by KWTV, News9 in Oklahoma City. Jamey Allen of
the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture will be our guest, as we talk about
some of the latest efforts in the Ag in the Classroom program- and
especially one new idea that is "working out" great in teaching kids more
about where their food comes from. In the Field on News9 airs around 6:40
AM. Markets will be closed on Thursday- and the ag futures will have a short trading session on Friday- closing the open outcry at 12 noon for both the livestock and grain futures.Most livestock auction barns will be taking the balance of the week off- so call to confirm if a sale is on or off before you bring any critters into the loading pens to take them to town. One thing that we are very thankful for is YOU. We have been reporting on the agricultural news scene in Oklahoma since 1977- and our listeners on radio, viewers on TV and now readers of our Email, Webstories and even our Tweets make this long time calling a joy. Every day is different- every day is the chance to help many of you find more profitable and efficient ways to farm or ranch- or perhaps to celebrate our youth through 4-H and FFA- or maybe have a laugh or two along the way. I don't say it as often as I should- but your interest in what we report is very much appreciated- and it's my hope that we can always do our best in covering the world of farming, ranching and other aspects of agriculture and rural living in a way that is useful to you. | |
Energy Independence? The Answer May Be Blowing in the Wind! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's
Secretary of Energy, Bobby Wegener, is excited about the upcoming 2009
Oklahoma Wind Energy Conference that will be held in downtown Oklahoma
City on December second and third. He says the future for the state of
Oklahoma in the wind energy business is bright, if we stay engaged in
moving the stumbling blocks that are now in place as we move from a coal
generated electrical grid in this country to one that takes advantage of
the wind as a key component.
Wednesday is the Early Bird Registration deadline for the Conference- you can call 1-800-203-5494 for information and we have the link to the Wind Energy Conference website as a part of our webstory that has the full audio conversation that we have had this week with Secretary Wegener. That link is below. Researchers believe that Oklahoma could be the second largest generator of wind power in the decades to come for the United States, but that will depend upon getting the transmission lines in place to allow that to happen. Transmission issues, environmental issues and landowner rights issues will all be covered at this 2009 gathering- and we discuss these issues and more with Wegener in our conversation that we have available for you to listen to. Landowner issues are a concern- we had one farmer from Noble County
drop us an email, saying that land owners have to be really careful in
this arena. He writes "take a poll of the landowners where these wind
farms would have to be built & see what that gives you. Sounded good
to us in the Noble County area until we took a closer look at them. No
Corporation Commission oversight, mostly foreign ownership & the
liability issues if they are abandoned. Some signed up over a year ago
with absolutely no activity of any kind since. Leases weren't such a hot
deal either." | |
Bio-Oil and Biochar May be Future of Corn Stover ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Researchers
around the world are trying to economically convert cellulosic biomass
such as corn stover into "cellulosic ethanol." But Agricultural Research
Service scientists have found that it might be more cost-effective,
energy-efficient and environmentally sustainable to use corn stover for
generating an energy-rich oil called bio-oil and for making biochar to
enrich soils and sequester carbon.
The research, under-written by the National Corn Growers Association, suggests it could be more cost-effective to produce bio-oil through a distributed network of small pyrolyzers and then transport the crude bio-oil to central refining plants to make "green gasoline," rather than transporting bulky stover to a large centralized cellulosic ethanol plant. Researchers found that the bio-oil captured 70 percent of the total energy input, and the energy density of the bio-oil was five to 16 times the energy density of the feedstock. Also, the research indicates that about 18 percent of the feedstock was converted into bio-char, which contains most of the mineral nutrients in the corn residues. Using biochar as a soil amendment would return those nutrients to the soil, reduce leaching of other nutrients, help build soil organic matter and sequester carbon. These benefits would help mitigate the adverse environmental effects of harvesting stover for fuel production. | |
Good Wheat Meeting Coming to El Reno on Pearl Harbor Day ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brad Tipton of
the Canadian County Extension office has assembled a first rate winter
meeting for wheat producers to be a part of- he writes to us that "There
are currently some huge issues confronting wheat growers, which are of
growing concern. Topping the list would be herbicide resistant weed
problems that are currently being found in many wheat fields."
"Dr. Joe Armstrong, OSU Weed Science Extension Specialist, has sampled
and found ryegrass resistance to ALS-inhibiting herbicides in 20 fields
throughout our county. This is shocking and very sobering news for wheat
production profitability when one considers the tremendous amount of
dockage wheat growers took at the grain elevators during last summer's
wheat harvest infested with winter grassy weed seed. Besides Armstrong, they have lined up Dr. Jeff Edwards and Dr. Brian Arnall from OSU to address some key issues beyond the weed problems that may face the 2010 crop. Click on the link below to jump to our calendar listing for this meeting- you do need to call and RSVP if you want to attend- but Brad says come one, come all. Click here for more on the Canadian County Wheat Production meeting on December 7 in El Reno | |
The Shorthorn Piece of the US Beef Puzzle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One of the
three British Beef Breeds that were most popular in the first half of the
20th century was the Shorthorn breed- and while they are the smallest in
U.S. numbers of the three British breeds today (compared to Angus and
Hereford), they still have a loyal following.
Friend and broadcast colleague Andy Vance of the Buckeye Ag Radio Network talked to Dr. Bert Moore about his first year of service as Executive Secretary of the American Shorthorn Association and what role Shorthorn cattle can play in the commercial beef industry. Vance caught up with Moore as the Grand Champion Bull of the breed was being selected at the 2009 NAILE in Louisville, Ky. Click on the link below for this Beef Buzz, as heard on great radio stations all across the state on the Radio Oklahoma Network. Click here to catch our Beef Buzz with Shorthorn Executive Bert Moore | |
Give Thanks- Part One ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fred Schmedt,
who was on staff in the Ag Division at the Noble Foundation for many years
responded to my request for some Thanksgiving Thoughts- and he has a
"mini" devotional ready to go for his Thursday guests and family as they
gather- and I am delighted that he is allowing me to share it with you.
Fred writes:
"Our celebration of Thanksgiving has evolved from a combination of
harvest fests, being thankful for bountiful crops, and giving thanks to
God for all our many blessings. Thanksgiving is in many ways a Farmers
Holiday. It comes at a time in the fall to reflect on the past growing
season and to look forward to the new year. Fred concludes with these words from the Psalmist who describes so very
well what we do in feeding and clothing the world- "He makes grass grow
for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate- bringing forth food from
the earth: | |
Give Thanks Part Two ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Becker
family from Kansas also offered a remembrance of an early Thanksgiving
they shared as a family as they served their country. Mike writes "Our
second Thanksgiving Dinner together in 1972 was at the mess hall in Hanau
Germany. I was on "Commanders of Quarters" duty that day. My wife, 1 year
old daughter and my mother, who had flow to Germany to visit, and I went
to eat a very will prepared meal by the Army cooks. The meal ticket was a
less than $2.00 for each adult. That daughter is now married and living in
Canada with her Canadian husband and their 7 children. Mom is no longer
with us, she died of cancer 3 years ago. But God is Good and we are indeed
THANKFUL."
He brings us a reminder- that many friends and neighbors will be far from home- in harm's way or much closer to being in harm's way than we are here in Oklahoma. Remember our men and women who serve this country this Thanksgiving- say a prayer for their safety and say a prayer that our nation's leaders do NOT take lightly their safety as they are the front line in the WAR on Terror. Finally, I have quoted before from a tiny book written decades ago by a
gentleman by the name of Samuel Guard. The book is a series of prayers for
all the seasons- it's called "The Farmer Gives Thanks." I like the way one
of his prayers related to the fall season ends up and I wanted to share it
with you today- and on through this Thanksgiving holiday 2009. He says
simply "Make our hearts big enough to receive thy bounty in constant
thanksgiving." | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, PCOM, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy, Johnston Enterprises, AFR and KIS Futures for their support of our daily Farm News Update. For your convenience, we have our sponsors' websites linked here- just click on their name to jump to their website- check their sites 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! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We've had
requests to include Canola prices for your convenience here- and we will
be doing so on a regular basis. Current cash price for Canola is $8.20 per
bushel, while the 2010 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available are
$8.40 per bushel- delivered to local participating elevators that are
working with PCOM.
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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