~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Thursday July 16, 2009
A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and KIS
Futures!
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-- US Beef Trade Stuck in Japanese Political Quicksand
-- State Director for Rural Development Sworn In and On the Job
-- We Review the 2009 Oklahoma Wheat Harvest- and Consider the Budget
on the Oklahoma Wheat Commission
-- The Latest on Cap and Trade- Show Us the Analysis of How It
Provides a Net Benefit.
-- Manure Composter Told to Cease and Desist Because of Possible
Pollution Issues
-- Tyson Cutting Back Pork Production
-- The Bull Riders Are Coming to Tulsa!
-- 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. | |
US Beef Trade Stuck in Japanese Political Quicksand ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We are back to
the unknown in dealing with the Japanese and their willingness to open
additional access to US Beef into their country. The latest uncertainty
comes from the rise of a political opposition party that may grab a
majority of seats in their lower legislative body at the end of August.
Gregg Doud, Chief Economist of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association,
says that some preliminary elections held just last week in Tokyo shows
that the opposition has a serious chance of winning the national elections
on August 30th on a platform of "change."
We talked with Doud about the worry by the US cattle industry that we might see this party win and then work to stop imports of beef into Japan from the United States. Apparently, NCBA and USMEF officials have met with the Obama Administration this week on these concerns. Doud says that the Obama Administartion is engaged in discussion- but it appears the problem is partially who should they be talking to- and which party will have their hand on the steering wheel come September first. We have our conversation with Gregg Doud of the NCBA linked below- it's part of our coverage the next few days from here in Denver at the Summer Cattle Industry Conference. The latest questions on moving forward in selling more US beef to Japan is just one of several topics that are being tossed around here as cattle producers gather in from across the country. | |
State Director for Rural Development Sworn In and On the Job ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ryan McMullen
is now officially on the job in Stillwater as the new State Director for
the Rural Development agency of the US Department of Agriculture. McMullen
was sworn in to this new position on Wednesday, and is excited about
taking on this challenge.
McMullen calls this an absolutely fantastic opporutnity to help thousands of rural Oklahomans with a wide variety of programs that are designed to improve the well being of rural parts of the country. He says a high prioirty for him will be to let everyone in rural Oklahoma know of the money available for investment into businesses and infrastructure- to maximize the benefit within the state. We have more on this story- including our conversation with Ryan about what he is expecting as he moves from being a state lawmaker to becoming the "face" of USDA's Rural Development efforts in the state of Oklahoma. Click on the link below to jump to this story. Click here for more on Ryan McMullen moving into the Rural Development Agency of the USDA | |
We Review the 2009 Oklahoma Wheat Harvest- and Consider the Budget on the Oklahoma Wheat Commission ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Oklahoma
Wheat Commission met on Wednesday, setting their spending plan in place
for the new fiscal year that began the first of July. The Commission has
far fewer dollars than last year because of the sharply reduced winter
wheat crop harvested in Oklahoma this year. In 2008, the harvest came in
just over 166 million bushels- this just concluded harvest season put just
75 million bushels into the storage bins of the state.
Mike Schulte, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission, says that he has had to cut hundreds of thousands of dollars from the new fiscal year budget. He says that the Commission is still spending money on breeding research that continues to go on at Oklahoma State University under the direction of Dr. Brett Carver. Schulte says a difficult year like this one shows the need for continuing research to address issues like drought tolerance as well as the ability to handle cold temperatures later into the growing season. You can hear our conversation with Mike Schulte of the OWC by clicking on the link below. | |
The Latest on Cap and Trade- Show Us the Analysis of How It Provides a Net Benefit. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Senators Mike
Johanns and Senate Ag Committee Ranking Member Saxby Chambliss have asked
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to come up with an analysis of the
cost of cap-and-trade legislation for agricultural producers. Johanns
wants to see the analysis organized by commodity and by state. He says the
USDA analysis is important because cap- and-trade will have tremendously
different consequences for different agricultural industries and different
regions of the country.
Chambliss sent a similar letter to USDA Chief Economist Dr. Joseph Glauber, requesting an economic analysis of the legislation. Johanns says - the Department knows that cap-and- trade will increase agriculture production costs, but asserts that the opportunities will outweigh these costs. The Senator hopes this assessment is based on sound economic analysis and not just rhetoric. According to an analysis conducted by the University of Missour based Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, the House cap-and-trade bill could increase the input costs of a typical Midwestern farm by tens of thousands of dollars annually. The Senate will continue to consider this measure from an agricultural viewpoint as the full Senate Ag Committee will hold a hearing on the concept next Wednesday, July 22. | |
Manure Composter Told to Cease and Desist Because of Possible Pollution Issues ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The
Environmental Protection Agency has ordered two companies to fix problems
that could cause manure from the Oklahoma City stockyards to flow into the
Oklahoma River. The EPA issued cease and desist orders to Murphy Products
and the Oklahoma National Stockyards Co. for violating the federal Clean
Water Act, EPA spokesman Dave Bary said Wednesday. They were given 30 days
to report back on how they have solved the issue.
BuzzMurphy Products maintains huge piles of compost, including cattle manure, on land owned by the stockyards about 200 feet from the Oklahoma River. "We did not observe any actual discharges," Bary said. "But our inspectors certainly felt that the potential existed, particularly in a heavy rain, for water from the manure piles to run directly into the river." Meanwhile, the Oklahoma National Stockyards in Oklahoma City remain open for business and will continue to receive and market cattle as usual and will not be affected by the recent cease and desist orders issued to Murphy Products, said Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture, Terry Peach. "Some cattle producers said they were not sure if they can still take cattle to the stockyards and we want to make it clear that the Oklahoma City cattle market is not affected by this issue in any way," he said. "EPA only named the stockyards in their order because the company owned the land where the compost facility is located." | |
Tyson Cutting Back Pork Production ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tyson Pork
Group will reduce production by 20- thousand sows, leaving another
50-thousand sows in production. The reduction is expected to take 10
weeks. The farms being sold are located in Benton and Washington Counties
in Arkansas and McDonald County, Missouri. Oklahoma farms were not
affected.
The Tyson Pork Group, a subsidiary of Tyson Foods, produces finished hogs and younger pigs for sale to pork processors and finishers. However, the sale of younger pigs has slowed because of unfavorable economic conditions such as high grain costs, lack of available capital and a reduction in pork demand. Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson says, - this is a difficult process, but we believe it's necessary as we navigate through the challenging conditions facing the pork industry and effectively manage our live hog business. | |
The Bull Riders Are Coming to Tulsa! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This weekend
professional bull riding comes to the BOK Center in Tulsa for a three day
event. Starting times are Friday, July 17 8:00 PM, Saturday, July 18 7:30
PM, Sunday, July 19 2:00 PM. The BOK Center is located at 200 S Denver
Ave. in Tulsa.
Genuity- the Seed Technology arm of Monsanto- is helping sponsor this weekend's competition and provided us tickets that we were able to share with a few of you. The Professional Bull Riding Series is a high octane sub culture of the professional rodeo circuit- and the popularity among rodeo fans is high. Our own Ed Richards had the chance to visit with one of the top bullriders currently on the ciurcuit- Dustin Elliott of Nebraska. Dustin is one of the Riders that folks will be able to see this weekend during this three day event. Click on the link below to hear their conversation. Click here to jump to Ed's conversation with PBR Superstar Dustin Elliott | |
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! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The OKC West
market in El Reno, Oklahoma had a total Wednesday run of 7,097 head of
cattle, with prices on yearlings $1 to $3 higher- calves were steady.
Market reporters Tina and John wrote Wednesday evening that "Demand very
good for feeder cattle. Corn prices have made a sharp decline since the
spring, thus feed cost on the decline as well. Steer and heifer calves
steady with last week's advances. Demand moderate to good for calves as a
cool front looms and some relief in the extreme temperature is expected in
the very near future. Quality average to attractive with several large
drafts of feeder cattle included." Click
here for the complete report, including a run down of prices from OKC
West in El Reno.
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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