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!

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"This is a common-sense reform that allows Oklahoma farmers and ranchers to maintain and improve barns, pens, storage sheds and other facilities without having to worry that someone will file a frivolous 'nuisance' lawsuit," said DeWitt, R-Braman. "Potential lawsuits - even bogus ones - effectively discourage investment in rural Oklahoma."

"This law removes a barrier to economic development in rural Oklahoma and gives our farmers and ranchers a little more peace of mind," said Justice, R-Ch ickasha. "We need to encourage farm improvements and modernization, not penalize it." Under the bill, if a lawsuit is ruled "frivolous" by the court, the defendant would be allowed to recover all court costs from the litigant.

House Bill 1482 passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives 96-4 and cleared the Senate 40-2. Gov. Brad Henry signed it into law this week.

The House passed the measure by a 87 to 9 vote, which means that House members accepted the Senate Amendments to the measure. On Tuesday of this week, Governor Brad Henry signed this measure into law.

The measure had several co-authors on the House side- including House Ag Committee Chairman Don Armes, along with Representatives McMullen, Renegar, Smithson and Cannaday. Senator Mike Schulz of Altus was the sponsor on the Senate side of the building.

Click on our link below for the language of this bill- as well as comments we got from House Ag Committee Chairman Don Armes after final passage of this measure through the House last week.

Click here for more on HB2151as passed and signed into law by the Governor

We are starting to get emails from some of you with these same worries. Don Bachman from north central Oklahoma sums it up well in an email sent yesterday morning- BEFORE even more rain was dumped on those counties overnight. Don says "Ron, it's obvious that the wheat crop is in trouble statewide, but just in the last few days the wheat in our area (northcentral Oklahoma-Ponca City to Medford) has been showing a lot of wheat that's dying due to too much water. Especially fields that drain poorly are turning white. This isn't just terrace channels or low lying areas. It's whole fields. Many of these fields had seemingly survived the freezes. And since this just started showing up I'm sure the wheat tours didn't take this into account. It looks to me like Oklahoma will be hard pressed to reach that 75 to 80 million bushel projection."

We got another report on Monday as we headed to El Reno for that event from Nardin of these same concerns. It's a tough situation, and hard to take for those who survived the freeze, believed they could still make a wheat crop- and now see the plants in their fields drowning before their eyes.
If you have any first hand observations of your wheat that you can share with us- drop me an email at the address at the very bottom of today's email- would like to get your input. AND, for those of you in southern Oklahoma- any updates on where you stand on your choices after wheat- we want to hear from you as well.

Click here for our earlier report from Jeff Edwards on the status of the 2009 Oklahoma Wheat Crop

Pope points out that hog prices fell about nine cents a pound with the news of the Flu- but as of yesterday, ahd fully recovered in the cash market. Exports are looking better, with the wild card still being China.

We have an audio recap of his comments made to the Investors Conference in New York yesterday- click on the link below for that and more on what was reported by Smithfield on this situation.

Click here for more on Smithfield's Larry Pope and his thoughts on H1N1 Flu- with it now in "past tense"

Martosko says "Barring any surprises in his confirmation hearing this week, Harvard Law School Professor Cass Sunstein will become the new White House "regulatory czar. Best known off-campus for the best-selling book he co-authored last year with economist Richard Thaler (Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness), President Obama's choice to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) has generally been a popular one. Using government to "nudge" us toward better choices sounds good in theory. But now Sunstein is in the position to put this idea into practice."

Further into the op-ed, Martosko gets to the bottom line potential problem with this activist at the wheel of a key Government agency. "As recently as 2007, Sunstein publicly argued in favor of a legal ban on hunting, and for the elimination of meat-eating. In 2004, he co-authored a book on the animal liberation philosophy which sets out an ambitious plan to give animals the legal "right" to file lawsuits. But a 2002 working paper Sunstein wrote at the University of Chicago contains the biggest red flag about what may lie ahead. "There should be," Sunstein wrote, "extensive regulation of the use of animals." What kind of regulations could our newest czar have in mind? A cheeseburger tax? A steakhouse zoning ordinance? A vegetarian overhaul of the National School Lunch Program like the one proposed by the Norfolk-based PETA?"
These are interesting and dangerous times that animal agriculture finds itself in- and this newest Obama appointee may add to both of those categories, if his past track record is a clue.

Read more from David Martosko on new Obama Administration Insider Cass Sunstein

The EU will provide duty-free access to 20-thousand metric tons of hormone-free beef from the U.S. for each of the next three years. That's reportedly in addition to an existing quota for 11-thousand-five-hundred tons for U.S. beef that carries a 20-percent tariff. The U.S. can maintain existing duties related to the EU's failure to comply with the World Trade Organization ruling against its hormone-fed beef ban.

In the fourth year - the duty-free quota can be increased to 45-thousand tons for one year. In return - the U.S. has agreed to drop all duties related to the WTO case. After that fourth year - the EU and U.S. can return to the table to discuss the possibility of continuing the agreement. In the meantime - both sides have agreed not to take further action in the WTO dispute for the next 18 months. Either party can request a WTO dispute panel after that time - but the findings wouldn't be issued until the end of the fourth year of the agreement.

The restoration has been a cooperative effort between Elvis Presley Enterprises and John Deere - an initiative that also includes future sales of die-cast replicas of Elvis' tractor. Students at Northwest Mississippi Community College restored the tractor with guidance from John Deere.

Elvis acquired his John Deere 4010 tractor with the purchase of a Mississippi ranch in 1966. Having grown up around farming in Tupelo, Elvis knew he needed the best equipment possible to care for the land he had just purchased. Family members and close friends of Elvis tell stories about the enjoyment the famous entertainer had while working with his tractor. After Elvis sold the ranch, the tractor moved to Graceland and was used to maintain the beautiful landscaping on the property for decades.
It has been retired from service- and now restored and will be celebrated with a special-edition, die-cast version of the tractor will go on sale in November at authorized John Deere dealers nationwide, on ShopElvis.com and at Graceland.

Click here for more on Elvis and His John Deere- Thankyouverymuch.

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.