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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Monday November 16,
2009 A
service of Johnston Enterprises, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind
Energy and American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance
Company!
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-- Flinchbaugh on Climate Change and the Raging Cultural War Within
Agriculture
-- Federal Reserve Says Midwest Farm Economy Weakens
-- Sheding a Little Sunlight on HSUS
-- Agri- Innovations- A New Feature of Our Website
-- Pollards Farms Featured for Their Cattle Cloning
-- The Calendar This Week- Wheat Commission Meeting and More
-- Congrats to Ken Root- and Cyndi Young
-- 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 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! It is also great to have as an annual sponsor on our daily email
Johnston Enterprises- proud to be serving agriculture across
Oklahoma and around the world since 1893. For more on Johnston
Enterprises- click
here for their website! 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. | |
Flinchbaugh on Climate Change and the Raging Cultural War Within Agriculture ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr. Barry
Flinchbaugh of Kansas State University has a warning for those in
agriculture that are not negotiating for the best possible Cap and Trade
deal under the Climate Change Legislation umbrella- but instead are intent
on defeating it- the warning is that the 500 pound gorilla in the room on
Greenhouse Gases is not Congress- but rather the EPA. They have been given
the green light by the Supreme Court to regulate Greenhouse Gases and if
they have the final say- agriculture will not like it.
He adds that if agriculture puts its full weight behind an effort to negotiate a good deal- that Cap and Trade can be a net positive for most of US agriculture. But if agriculture insists they can "whip it," it's likely that EPA will end up regulating Greenhouse Gases as Flinchbaugh points out- you don't overrule a Supreme Court Decision. We also talked with Dr. Flinchbaugh about what he calls a cultural war, now underway within the agricultural family. It's a result of the politics swept President Obama into office- and some supporters of the President who feel they must impose organic, natural and Local Food mandates on everyone. We talk with Dr. Flinchbaugh about these folks and how they are at odds with those who favor modern production agriculture. Click on the link below to jump to our Ag Perspectives Podcast with Dr. Barry Flinchbaugh, ag policy guru with Kansas State University. Click here to jump to our conversation with Dr. Barry Flinchbaugh on Climate Change and More | |
Federal Reserve Says Midwest Farm Economy Weakens ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Federal
Reserve Bank of Kansas City says lower income contributed to a weaker farm
economy during the third quarter in some Midwest and Western states. The
Fed's survey of banks in the 10th district says falling crop prices and
weak demand for meat contributed to lower income. As a result of the lower
income, bankers reported the lowest loan repayment rates since 2003, and
the number of loan extensions jumped.
The 10th Federal Reserve District in Kansas City covers Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Colorado, northern New Mexico and western Missouri. Across the district farmland values remained steady from the second quarter to the third quarter, but compared to a year ago, farmland values were down 2 percent to 4 percent. Click on our link below for the website of the Federal Reserve of Kansas City- specifically their webpage for their Agricultural credit surveys. You can download from there the PDF of the current survey. Click here for the Fed Reserve of KC's website for their latest agricultural credit survey. | |
Sheding a Little Sunlight on HSUS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Center for
Consumer Freedom is headed up by David Martosko- he spoke in 2008 at the
Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association convention and we have followed his
exploits since that time. Martosko is one of the players in the animal
agriculture arena that pushes back against groups like the Humane Society
of the US.
It is the contention of Center for Consumer Freedom that "today's animal rights movement has never wavered from its ultimate aim: the complete abolition of a long list of consumer choices that most Americans enjoy. These include meat, dairy foods, hunting, fishing, zoos, aquariums, circuses, rodeos, fur, leather, wool, and silk." Martosko and his group have compiled a sheet they call seven things that you didn't know about the HSUS. We have it linked for you below- take a look and see if you agree with the Center for Consumer Freedom or not in their assessment of the HSUS. | |
Agri- Innovations- A New Feature of Our Website ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We have
created a new section on our website, www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com. The
section is called Agri-Innovations, and it will be spotlighting new
products, goods and services that are available to the farm and ranch
community. One of our first stories in this new section of the website was
posted this morning- and takes a look at the latest Precision Ag
developments with John Deere.
Precision Agriculture is continuing to more a part of modern production agriculture as farmers embrace this technology- and John Deere is one of the leaders. We talked with Jason Beuligmann of John Deere about the RTK signal system, which offers precision guidance to lower input costs, save fuel and reduce passes in the field. You can learn more about the RTK Network and how it helps to make Precision Agriculture even more precise- we have a conversation with Jason from this past week's NAFB meeting in Kansas City. Check it out. Click here to learn more about the RTK networks available from John Deere | |
Pollards Farms Featured for Their Cattle Cloning ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A very
interesting article looks at cloning of animals down on the farm- and that
farm Reuters is featuring is Pollard Farms of Waukomis, Oklahoma. They
write of the Pollard operation "To the untrained eye, Pollard Farms looks
much like any other cattle ranch. Similar looking cows are huddled in
similar looking pens. But some of the cattle here don't just resemble each
other. They are literally identical -clear down to their genes."
Of the 400-some cattle in Barry Pollard's herd of mostly Black Angus cattle there are 22 clones, genetic copies of some of the most productive livestock the world has ever known. Pollard, a neurosurgeon and owner of Pollard Farms, says such breeding technology is at the forefront of a new era in animal agriculture. "We're trying to stay on the very top of the heap of quality, genetically, with animals that will gain well and fatten well, produce well and reproduce well." We have the entire article linked below- it goes into more detail on where cloning is headed for animal agriculture, including the case for consumer acceptance. Click here for the article on cloning featuring Pollard Farms. | |
The Calendar This Week- Wheat Commission Meeting and More ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Oklahoma
Wheat Commission meets this morning at 9:30 AM, and kicks off a
somewhat less busy week of activities found on our daily calendar. One of
the things on the OWC agenda is to discuss some possible changes in the
underlying law that established the Wheat Commission- hoping to find
legislative support to get out from under the Central Purchasing
requirements of state government.
Also happening today is the Oklahoma Hereford Association's production sale that is associated with their annual meeting. Herefords in Native America will feature some of the best Hereford genetics to be found anywhere- with consignors from several states having cattle in the sale at the Jacobs Ranch near Sulphur that starts at noon. There are other activities as well- and you can review them all by going to our website calendar page- click on the link below. Click here for our Calendar page as found at www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com | |
Congrats to Ken Root- and Cyndi Young ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As we wrap up
this morning- I wanted to say Congrats to two of my colleagues that have
Oklahoma ties who were called out for being "outstanding in their field"
as farm broadcasters.
Ken Root, who is now heard daily on WHO Radio in Des Moines, Iowa, was named the 2009 National Farm Broadcaster of the Year. Root is a native of central Oklahoma- and was a radio and TV broadcaster with Russell Pierson at WKY Radio and Channel 4 in Oklahoma City back in the 1970s. Ken moved from there to OSU Extension for a short time- then on to Kansas on the Kansas Ag Network and a TV station in the Wichita market. During his career, he also helped establish the first national farm talk show- Agritalk, which is now hosted by our friend Mike Adams. Cyndi Young of the Brownfield Network won the 2009 Oscars in Agriculture award- the premiere achivement award for journalistic work as a farm broadcaster. Cyndi is from Illinois, but we coaxed her down to Oklahoma, where she worked for about a year with us over across town at the ag radio network that we used to be a part of. She loved her time in the southwest, but her roots were midwestern- and she returned to Illinois and then later became the Farm Director of the multi state Brownfield Network- where she has done an amazing job in making Brownfield a player not just in radio, but on the internet and more. But, for me, she will always be one of my "kids" and when she wins high honors, it makes me awfully proud. | |
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 $7.75 per
bushel, while the 2010 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available are
$8.00 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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