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 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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The hearing going on as we talked with the Congressman about market transparency in financial instruments like credit swaps and the like;
Reorganization of USDA- Congressman Lucas says he is waiting on some specifics from Chairman Peterson on how that might develop later this year. He believes that a key would be to get the Senate to buy into any good ideas that might be developed on the House side.
Implementation of the 2008 Farm Law- Lucas says it will remain a slow go until we see the many different political posts filled in the levels under Secretary Vilsack at USDA.
CRP- Will People Be able to Re-enroll expiring acres later this year?
And finally- reaction to former Senator Tom Daschle pulling his name out of consideration for President Obama's Cabinet.

Click on the link below- and that will take you to the Podacast page with our interview with Congressman Lucas on it.

Click here for our conversation with Oklahoma Third District Congressman Frank Lucas on a variety of ag issues.

The conference this year will feature sessions on soil fertility, crop rotation for eastern and western Oklahoma, soil carbon, residue management, and equipment. The breakout sessions on Feb. 10 will look at grazing, soil microbial changes in no-till, cover crops, strip-till, conversion economics, and getting started with no-till.

The Keynoter on Monday morning is Agustin Bianchini from Argentina. Bianchini has a significant amount of experience in no-till systems similar to those in Oklahoma. Bianchini has a degree in agronomy from the University of Cordoba and a Master in Science degree from Iowa State University. He has extensive experience in soil conservation, crop nutrition and precision agriculture. He will be talking about where we are going with No-till in the next 20 years.

Click here for more information on the 2009 Oklahoma No Til Conference

Buis told the Committee, "Speculators created a market bubble and false sense that higher prices were here to stay and as a result producers locked in higher priced input and feed costs. The economic collapse and bursting bubble have jeopardized the economic livelihoods of many Americans and is rippling throughout our rural communities."

We have the audio testimony of Buis as a part of our web coverage of this story- you can jump there by following the link below.

Click here for more on the testimonty offered on market transparency and CFTC's role in that from NFU's Tom Buis.

With the huge losses that feedlots have been suffering for an extended amount of time- Doud says something has to give. Financially weaker feedlot operators may well go under- and the market may start pricing feeder and stocker cattle cheaper to bring the losses down in the feedlot sector. Doud points to the Crop Credit as a prime example of how the global economics have changed the dynamic in cattle prices in this country- and have done so in a very rapid manner.

Click below for our Wednesday Beef Buzz- a regular radio feature as heard on great radio stations that are a part of the Radio Oklahoma Network

Click here for our Wednesday Beef Buzz that features Greg Doud of NCBA

Nutrient management, soil and water management, integrated pest management and crop management are the four categories stressed in the program, he said. These are the main areas of concern for producers not only for production, but in keeping their costs as low as possible. "A certified crop advisor can help keep a farmer's input costs as low as possible," Metcalf said. "A producer has more control over input costs than he has with the market so this can mean the difference between a profit and a loss."

Most CCAs, like Metcalf, work for cooperatives, chemical companies, and other farm supply businesses. A few contract directly with growers. There are about 90 certified crop advisors in Oklahoma. "This isn't an easy certification to achieve," Metcalf said. "We have to pass a local and a national test to be certified and only about 60 percent of the people who take these tests each year pass them. For those that pass the test, they must have at least 40 hours of continuing education every two years to remain certified."

"This is an important step on the road to the development of cost-effective biofuels made from nonfood plant fiber," said Anna C. Palmisano, DOE Associate Director of Science for Biological and Environmental Research. "Sorghum is an excellent candidate for biofuels production, with its ability to withstand drought and prosper on more marginal land. The fully sequenced genome will be an indispensable tool for researchers seeking to develop plant variants that maximize these benefits."

"NSP is thrilled that sorghum is the second cereal crop to have its genome sequenced," said Tim Lust, NSP CEO. "We applaud the efforts of the DOE Joint Genome Institute to have this sequence completed and look forward to the advances that this accomplishment will bring to producers' fields. Sequencing the sorghum genome will open countless doors to improve grain yields, ethanol yields and move even more quickly to open new markets for sorghum crops. I am confident that this achievement will insure the continued productivity and profitability of sorghum, not only for U.S. sorghum producers, but for farmers worldwide."

One of the things we are doing with Twitter is that we have it now set up that whenever we post a news story on our website- we create a Twitter mini blog posting that provides a blurb on that story and a link to the full story that you can go to.

We invite you to check out Twitter- our link below will take you to our profile and latest postings- lots about our ag stuff and a few items on other observations of life around us. Subscribe to follow us- and others- and enjoy.

Click here to check out Ron_on_RON on Twitter

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.