~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest
farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron
Hays of RON for Wednesday March 3, 2010 A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and KIS
Futures!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Greetings from Anaheim as Thousands of Farmers Begin to Arrive for
the Commodity Classic
-- Certified Angus Beef Premiums Click Along at $25 Million
Annually
-- Poultry Welfare Guidelines Updated
-- Pending Trade Deals Continue to Hang in Limbo
-- A Call to Action- NCGA Asks Agriculture to Help Set the Record
Straight on "Food, Inc
-- For Those of You That Have Asked About Matt Gard
-- Pollard Farms Set for their Annual Bull Sale This Saturday
-- 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. | |
Greetings from Anaheim as Thousands of Farmers Begin to Arrive for the Commodity Classic ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We arrived
Tuesday afternoon in Anaheim in preparation for coverage the next several
days of this joint meeting of the corn, sorghum, soybean and wheat
industries. Our first day of meetings that get underway this morning are
being hosted by Bayer Crop Science. This is their fourth year to host an
Agricultural Issues Forum in advance of this convention- and the lineup of
speakers that we will be hearing from is tremendous- top officials from
Bayer, Cargill Ag Horizons, Rabo Agrifinance, John Deere and US Wheat
Associates to name just a few.
Later in the week, we will be talking to the leadership of all four
grain and oilseed industry groups that make up this annual gathering- and
learning more about a lot of innovations from leading agri industry
leaders. We will be posting stories on our website- and will have several stories from here tomorrow morning in our daily farm and ranch news email. We will also be posting regular "tweets" from this meeting- and you can monitor those a couple of ways. If you don't want a Twitter account- you can go to our website, WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com and look on the lower right hand column. There, you can see the four most recent "tweets" we have posted- and if you check there during the day- you will get some feel of what is being said by the shakers and movers at this meeting. We have our Twitter information linked below- and you can sign up for Twitter and follow us- and that way, you can see all of the "Tweets" that we post from the Ag Issues Forum today and Commodity Classic the balance of this week. | |
Certified Angus Beef Premiums Click Along at $25 Million Annually ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cumulative
grid premium rewards for hitting the Certified Angus Beef (CAB) brand
target stood at nearly $300 million at the end of last year, and they keep
growing at an annual rate of about $25 million paid to producers. That's
the five-year average according to a January 2010 survey; the second-
highest total for that span was 2008, with $25.5 million in premiums
reported.
“The average payout of $98,000 per working day for the last three years shows the continuing relevance of this brand as a producer target,” says Brent Eichar, Certified Angus Beef LLC senior vice president. “Thanks to their long-term commitment to genetic progress and focused management, the supply of high-quality product can meet the growing consumer demand for the best beef their money can buy. One economist who has long followed the mechanics of grid pricing says the very fact that cattle keep earning premiums says the industry's herds continue to improve. Clem Ward, professor emeritus at Oklahoma State University, says, “If we are paying premiums above the average cash price, then it suggests premiums are exceeding discounts and one might argue it means we are moving toward desired quality cattle — or moving away from those discounted by the marketplace.” Read more about the Premiums that continue to be paid by the Ceritifed Angus Beef Program | |
Poultry Welfare Guidelines Updated ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The National
Chicken Council made changes in its animal welfare guidelines and audit
checklist. That's the industry-standard program for assessing animal
welfare programs and practices in broiler and broiler- breeder operations.
The revisions were recommended by a task force of industry veterinarians
and other experts and approved by the NCC executive committee and board of
directors.
The revisions place a greater emphasis on corporate commitment to animal welfare, including a requirement that senior management must sign off on their company's animal welfare program. It also calls for each department of the company handling live animals to have a person in charge of promoting adherence to the Guidelines and each department must have a disaster response and recovery plan. Also, employees must be trained and retrained every year and each company must review their program every two years. Principles stated in the document are: 1/ Poultry raised for food should be cared for in ways that prevent or minimize fear, pain, stress and suffering. 2/ Guidelines for welfare should balance scientific knowledge and professional judgment with consideration of ethical and societal values. 3/ It is the welfare of the chickens themselves that is foremost, not how humans might perceive a practice or an environment. and 4/ Poultry should be treated with respect throughout their lives and provided a humane death when processed for food or when they are euthanized for any other reason. Click here for the link for the full rundown of standards for the National Chicken Council | |
Pending Trade Deals Continue to Hang in Limbo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The newly
released Obama Administration 2010 trade agenda gives little indication
that the White House will quickly advance long-stalled pacts with Panama,
Colombia or South Korea. After a year-long review of Bush-era trade
agreements, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk released the report that
stresses a new export focus, and says the administration is engaged in
unprecedented consultations with Congress over the shape of impending
negotiations on a Trans-Pacific Partnership, an Asia-Pacific free trade
group.
The Panama, Colombia and South Korea deals are being viewed with a wary eye. None has seen action in the Senate. Labor Unions and their congressional allies; and, in the case of the South Korea deal, the U.S. auto and beef industries continue to voice strong objections to the agreements. Representative Kirk will discuss the report at a Senate Finance Committee hearing later today. Despite the Administration's lack of interest in the Colombia, Panama and South Korea trade deals, an ad hoc coalition of food, feed and agricultural entities is urging Congress to promptly pass these deals. Under each pact, many U.S. food and agricultural products would become eligible for duty-free treatment once the agreement is implemented and nearly all would receive duty-free treatment over specified phase-in periods. In a letter signed by 57 companies and organizations, the coalition, led by the National Pork Producers Council, has asked lawmakers to - aggressively expand market access opportunities, as our competitors are doing. The coalition says - other countries are moving forward on a host of trade deals. As an example, South Korea is negotiating or is planning to enter talks on trade agreements with 11 countries, the European Union and blocs representing Southeast Asian and South American nations. The coalition also points out that exports generate 8-thousand U.S. jobs for every one-billion dollars worth of agricultural goods exported. In addition, adding to the bottom line of producers, U.S. pork producers, for example, would see hog prices rise by 11-dollars a head under the South Korea agreement. | |
A Call to Action- NCGA Asks Agriculture to Help Set the Record Straight on "Food, Inc ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am certain
that we will be hearing more about this over the next couple of days here
in Anaheim, but before this Sunday's Oscars, the National Corn Growers
Association is calling on its grower members and industry friends to get
the truth about the documentary film Food Inc. The movie, which NCGA says
is filled with lies, factual inaccuracies and misrepresentations about
America's farmers and food suppliers, is nominated for Best Documentary
NCGA took language directly from the movie to conduct a fact-checking exercise using recent data from sources like the FDA and USDA and found several examples where the filmmakers set the truth aside. So they've developed a factsheet to arm those in agriculture with credible and truthful information to combat the film's arguments. We have more at the link below- and on our website, we have the link to the fact sheets that the Corn Growers have developed to call out the producers of Food, Inc. and question the accuracy of many of the "facts" they have claimed in this production. Click here for more on the Corn Growers and their "beef" with Food, Incorporated. | |
For Those of You That Have Asked About Matt Gard ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fairview,
Oklahoma farmer Matt Gard continues in ICU in Enid- and he will be in
surgery later today- as the doctors go in to stabilize the broken bones in
his back to give him a chance to heal.
Yesterday was Matt's birthday- and if you would want to send belated greetings, a get well card or just a personal note- I know that he appreciate your time and interest. The address for Matt in Enid is | |
Pollard Farms Set for their Annual Bull Sale This Saturday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Pollard
Farms Performance Genetics Bull & Commercial Female Sale will be
happening Saturday, March 6, 2010, 12:30pm at Pollard Farms, Waukomis,
Oklahoma.
Featuring 80 Home-raised service-age Angus bulls, (selling several ET full and half brothers with performance and ultrasound data furnished.) Owner Barry Pollard writes in the sale catalog about this year's set of bulls -"These young herd sires are as uniform, powerful and rugged as any bulls we have sold in the past. Through extensive embryo transfer and intense artificial insemination, we have put together a strong set of genetics that will work in all facets of the industry. The genetics behind these bulls are full of performance and longevity that should work in your operation." You can call Pollard Farms for more information at 580-758-1464 or click on the link below for our calendar listing for the Pollard Farms sale on March 6. You will have the option there of going on to their website where you can download the catalog or view it online. Click here for more on the Pollard Farms Spring Bull Sale on March 6- this coming Saturday. | |
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 $7.65 per
bushel, while the 2010 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available are
$7.80 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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