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 USDA budget comes in at $26 billion which is .7% of the total Obama budget. While there is more money for nutrition and perhaps a few more dollars for conservation- from that point on- it's all about cutting back on traditional agriculture programs.

There are cuts proposed in the Farm Program Commodity program, in crop insurance and in the MAPP overseas promotion program. And the Obama Administration says that the job of the RC&D is done as far as the feds are concerned- it's up to the states and local government to fund that program from this point forward as they zero it out.
We have the webstory with more of the highlights and the link to a six page summary of the USDA proposed budget by President Obama.

Click here for the Fiscal Year 2010 Obama Budget as it relates to USDA.

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association points out that the Obama Administration wants to deal with the Estate Tax issue through their budget blueprint. NCBA says in their weekly Capitol Concerns email "Of note, the budget proposes maintaining the estate tax at its 2009 levels of $3.5 million for individuals and $7 million for couples, at a rate of 45%. By freezing 2009 estate tax parameters, the budget estimates federal revenue would increase by $121 billion over five years and $288 billion over 10 years. Under current law, the estate tax is set to expire and will fully repeal in 2010 for one year. In 2011, the estate tax will reset at pre-2001 levels (55% and only $1 million exemption). If no further action is taken, President Obama's proposal will nullify the sunset schedule for the estate tax by freezing the 2009 levels."

Several groups and lawmakers weighed in on the budget numbers for USDA- we have several of those linked as stories on our website this morning. The link below takes you to our ag news page- scroll down and look for the stories that begin with the slug "Obama Administration's Fiscal Year 2010 Budget"- those we have comments from include the National Cotton Council, Congressman Frank Lucas and Senator Saxby Chambliss.

Click here for our ag news page found at WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com

Grain & cotton farmers will have the ability to break the practice of non-selective herbicides on every field every year. McDowell adds: "The best way to slow herbicide resistance is to rotate crops .and, herbicides." Hybrid sorghum resistant to dinitroanalines makes that rotation possible and practical.

We caught up with David Thomas of Sorghum Partners, who tells us more about this discovery and what it may mean to sorghum growers in the next few years. He sees the first varieties with this breeding in the Hybrid within two or three years- if things stay on schedule. Jump to our link below and you can see more on this story and listen to our conversation with David about the benefits of this advancement for the grain sorghum business.

Click here for more on Herbicide Resistant Sorghum being bred by Sorghum Partners

We sat down and talked with Executive Director Jeramy Rich about the 2009 event- he says most entries are in- with nearly 13,800 animals now entered to come and compete in Oklahoma City in mid March. Seven Thousand youth are expected to participate in the 2009 event from all 77 counties- and Rich says despite the economic challenges happening today here in Oklahoma and across the country- we will still see about $2 million to be awarded in prizes and scholarships to these young people.

Jeramy will be our guest on Saturday morning on our TV segment, In the Field, that is seen on KWTV News9 in Oklahoma City. Our segment runs during the local news bloc that is on Saturday mornings from 6 to 8 AM- our interview with Jeramy will be on around 6:40 AM. By the way- some folks that receive KWTV over the air have been having some problems gettingt he digital signal to line up right. If you are having trouble with a converter box or a digital tuner in a TV, go to your settings and rescan the digital spectrum- that should help you re-acquire the KWTV signal just fine. For more on getting this done, click here for the News9 website and info on tuning the signal in.
Our link below is to our webstory found in the Blue-Green Gazette part of our website with Jeramy Rich. Click on it to to hear our conversation with Jeramy as we talk about the facilities, the entries and the sponsor support lined up for the 2009 show.

Click here for more on the 2009 Oklahoma Youth expo as we get an early preview with Jeramy Rich of the OYE

That places Detrick in the role of being a key player as the group tries to decide how to define itself and who to elect to their National Presidency with the word that Tom Buis is leaving NFU for the ethanol maker Growth Energy. (By the way- Detrick says after talking with Buis before the announcement became public- he sees the value of Buis in this role to be a vocal advocate for biofuels from ag products and agrees with the idea that Buis can do more for rural America there than by staying at NFU)

Terry tells us that their by-laws say that in this type of last minute situation, any NFU that can secure ten delegates to sign off on their nomination can run for the office of President for this one year unexpired term that Tom Buis leaves. Detrick has NO interest in the job- one that he ran for without success in 2002. he says that there is plenty for him to do at AFR as he has taken the reins after the departure of Ray Wulf earlier this month.
Terry Detrick does expect a wide open convention- and says that Oklahoma plans to go to the national meeting next weekend with an open mind as to who they might support for the job. He mentioned that he had already had phone calls seeking support from some possible candidates- knowing the importance of the huge Oklahoma bloc that will go to Washington and cast a vote. We plan on being in Arlington, Va for that meeting and will be following the Oklahoma delegation's decisions with interest.

Secondly, in talking with some of our fellow farm broadcasters, it appears that there are states dead in the middle of the crosshairs of the HSUS. One of them is apparently Ohio, where HSUS rolled into the state- met with ag and livestock interests and told them bluntly- we are going to put into place changes in state law in how livestock are to be treated- you can either meet with us and have a seat at the table and help make it happen- fight us and raise money and we will raise more and we will win. I am not sure what specifics they may want to be changing- but probably if you look at the Prop 2 accomplishments- that is what they are probably after at the very least. It is a scary time to be in the livestock business when a group feels that cocky about their ability to tell you how they think livestock should be raised and handled.

Finally, we have the groups that go over the top when it comes to violence against those in the livestock and animal protein business. Attacks on the global food chain from animal rights and environmental extremists jumped 42% - from 155 in 2007 to 220 in 2008 - according to Arlington, Virginia-based Animal Agriculture Alliance (Alliance). Worse yet, claimed attacks on food retailers in the USA from groups like the Animal Liberation Front exploded 377%.
We have more on this story from the Animal Agriculture Alliance on our website- and it's linked below- click to check it out.

Click here for more on the Animal Agriculture Alliance story on Animal Agriculture Terrorism.

Thursday and Friday- you can travel to Yukon and the 2009 Express Ranch Spring Limousin and Angus Bull Sale. Express Ranches will be selling 600 bulls plus 225 females during this two day sale. For more information, you can call 1-800-664-3977 or click here for more on this sale offering.

Finally, next Saturday, March 7- mark your calendars and plan to be at Pollard Farms in Waukomis for the Pollard Farms Performance Genetics Angus Bull & Commercial Female Sale. One Hundred service age Bulls will be offered and a great selection of females will sell, too. For information, call Pollard Farms at (580) 758-1464- or click here for our Auction listing with a link to their catalog for the March 7 sale.

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.