~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Wednesday July 28, 2010
A
service of Johnston Enterprises, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind
Energy and American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance
Company!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Get Ready to Say "Madam Governor"
-- NCBA responds- Saying Lack of Documentation is Not Lack of
Compliance.
-- Meanwhile, the Soybean Checkoff Gets Clean Bill of Health from
USDA
-- Oklahoma Conservation Officials Remind Us All of Need to Keep
Pushing to Funds to Maintain Flood Control Dams
-- Noble County Pond Management Workshop is Tomorrow in Perry
-- Mandatory Price Reporting Being Promoted by Senate Ag
Leadership
-- DuPont Grabs More Seed Market Share This Growing Season
-- 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 brand new 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. | |
Get Ready to Say "Madam Governor" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ History was
made last night in Oklahoma as both political parties selected female
candidates to represent them in the November general election for
Governor. Former Lt. Governor and current Fifth District Congresswoman
Mary Fallin was declared the winner early in the evening- winning with
just under 55% of the primary vote in her quest to become the GOP standard
bearer.
The drama was provided by the current Lt. Governor and the current Attorney General as Jari Askins defeated Drew Edmondson by less than 1500 votes in the Democratic primary, setting the stage for an Askins versus Fallin contest for this fall. It's safe to say that many in agriculture are pleased to see the current AG fail to win the party's nomination, as animal agriculture has been at odds with Edmondson over his lawsuit against the poultry industry in northeastern Oklahoma and northwestern Arkansas- seeing that as a power and money grab with little regard for trying to improve water quality in the Illinois River watershed. A word about these ladies- both have had excellent relations with
farmers and ranchers across the state. It appears that the strategy of
being everywhere- and especially at every farm, ranch and rural gathering
you can think of- paid off for Askins. One of our computers last night was
set up to watch Twitter- and the Askins team tweeted out county after
county that Askins won over Edmondson. Some of those counties were outside
the major metros and where the political consultants say that candidates
need to pay attention to- but the Lt. Governor needed every vote she got
in those rural counties to offset Edmondson- especially in Tulsa. The
lesson to be learned by those in statewide races- ignore rural Oklahoma
and you put your political wellbeing in harm's way! Click on the LINK below for a single page recap of those state races- including those in the state house and senate. One state Senate race that will be of interest to those in the cattle industry- former President of the Osage County Cattlemen's Association Eddie Fields, who has been serving in the State House, is making a bid to become a State Senator, winning the Republican nomination in State Senate District 10 last night. Click here for more on the State Races from the Oklahoma Primary of Tuesday evening. | |
NCBA responds- Saying Lack of Documentation is Not Lack of Compliance. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ he National
Cattlemen's Beef Association has responded to the Compliance Report that
was produced at the request of the Cattlemen's Beef Board by the
accounting firm Clifton Gunderson that looked at how the NCBA handled beef
checkoff funds in 2008, 2009 and a part of 2010. The following statement
is credited to Steve Fogelsong of Illinois, current President of the NCBA.
"On Monday evening, July 26, we received the independent accountant's
final report. We are committed to achieving accuracy in this report.
Responsible use of the producer dollars and ensuring the financial
firewall are critical. Where mistakes were made, we will correct them.
"NCBA understands the importance of compliance with the financial
firewall and accepts this responsibility without question. It's for this
reason we keep separate bank accounts and our accounting and time keeping
procedures are in accordance with and even exceed most industries'
standards. We have more than 8,000 different coding options for accurately
assigning time and expenses. We strive for accuracy and will continue to
seek clarity on guidelines to ensure compliance." Click here for the rest of the NCBA statement regarding the handling of Beef Checkoff Monies. | |
Meanwhile, the Soybean Checkoff Gets Clean Bill of Health from USDA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With the
cooperation of the United Soybean Board (USB) and the soybean checkoff,
the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Office of Inspector
General (OIG) recently concluded an 18-month review and has announced that
it found no basis for any of the allegations."USB directors and staff are encouraged by the OIG's report," says Philip Bradshaw, USB chairman and soybean farmer from Griggsville, Ill. "The report confirms that, as farmerdirectors, we're doing our jobs as financially responsibly as the federal law that created the soybean checkoff set out for us to do. USB will continue to move forward in achieving profit opportunities for every U.S. soybean farmer." The allegations mentioned above came from the American Soybean Association- and Bradshaw says USB is ready to put the differences between the two groups behind them and move forward in promoting US soybeans. The report indicates that during interviews - some ASA members even said they did not have any documentary evidence that USB was engaged in inappropriate activities. Click on the LINK below to read the news release issued by the United Soybean Board, which includes a link to the full OIG report that is being referenced. Click here for more on the review of the Soybean Checkoff that has been conducted by USDA. | |
Oklahoma Conservation Officials Remind Us All of Need to Keep Pushing to Funds to Maintain Flood Control Dams ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The recent
breach of a dam in Iowa highlights the continued need to focus on the
upkeep and repair of our flood control dams in Oklahoma according to Trey
Lam, President of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts
(OACD). "The dam break in Iowa this past weekend once again shows the need for adequately funding the operation, maintenance and repair of Oklahoma's 2,100 plus flood control dams, Lam said. "Most Oklahomans fail to realize that our state has more flood control dams than any other state in the Union and that nearly 1,500 of these dams will be past their design life in the next ten years. Without the dollars to do inspection, maintenance and repair on these structures, next time instead of Iowa it could be Oklahoma in the news." On this past Saturday, a 30 foot breach opened at the top the Lake
Delhi dam in Iowa. Disaster management officials evacuated some 1,200
people from below the structure after the dam began to fail. By Saturday
afternoon, chunks of a two-lane county highway were breaking off in 15-
and 30-foot blocks and washing away. Within minutes the lake was empty.
Lam and other conservation officials worry that if the state of Oklahoma has to make more major cuts in spending in Fiscal Year 2012- it may mean fewer conservation professionals that can help make sure disasters like the one in Iowa does not occur in Oklahoma. "It is imperative that our policy makers continue to support conservation work in Oklahoma, that includes continued funding from the state," Lam said. "We understand the need to cut funding this last year to help balance the state's budget during a crisis. We have to remember, however, that if this trend continues, we may face a situation where we won't be able to maintain the work force necessary to ensure the safety of our flood control dams, let alone continue all the other work we do to protect our state's water quality, conserve our soil and help protect our wildlife habitats. We have to make sure this doesn't happen not only if we want to protect our natural resources, but also if we want to insure the protection of the lives and property of all Oklahomans. This disaster in Iowa should drive that point home." | |
Noble County Pond Management Workshop is Tomorrow in Perry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Asking the
right questions of the right people is essential to solving pond
management issues. That is why the Oklahoma Natural Resources Conservation
Service, the Noble County Conservation District and the Oklahoma
Department of Wildlife Conservation are hosting a workshop to answer
questions about existing ponds, new ponds and managing aquatic vegetation.
The workshop is free to the public, and begins at 9:00 a.m. on July 29,
2010, at the Noble County fairgrounds in Perry.
The discussion portion will include fish species identification and proper stocking rates in farm ponds and aquatic plant identification and control of aquatic vegetation. The group will tour several area ponds to demonstrate seining and talk about different pond inventory methods. NRCS District Conservationist Russell Peterson says, "Most people don't have a farm pond just for fishing. The primary purpose of ponds in Noble County is usually for cattle or irrigation purposes. Properly managing a pond helps water quality no matter what the use is." Click here for more details of this Pond Workshop planned for tomorrow in Perry. | |
Mandatory Price Reporting Being Promoted by Senate Ag Leadership ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The chairman
of the Senate Ag Committee, Blanche Lincoln, has joined Ranking Member
Saxby Chambliss in introducing bipartisan legislation that would
reauthorize mandatory price reporting for five years. This legislation
will extend reporting requirements of livestock daily markets and makes
two significant changes from existing law. The bill calls for Mandatory
Reporting of Wholesale Pork cuts in order to expand transparency to the
pork industry and further protect producers. The bill also instructs the
Secretary of Agriculture to establish within one year an electronic price
reporting system for dairy products.
Senator Chambliss says - mandatory reporting has proven to be a valuable tool for the livestock industry. Senator Lincoln says - Congress needs to act and approve this legislation quickly in order to maintain transparency and certainty in our livestock markets. This bill will guarantee transparency of the livestock marketing sector and help improve producers' ability to access fair market prices. Senator Chuck Grassley is speaking out in response to the bill.
Grassley said, - it's imperative that this law be extended before it
expires or it's likely the packer interests will be playing loose with the
numbers and independent producers will be left in the cold. Grassley added
- transparency in the market place is critical for fair and accurate
reporting. | |
DuPont Grabs More Seed Market Share This Growing Season ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DuPont further
increased its North American market share in both corn and soybean seed
products this growing season, resulting in strong sales and earnings
growth. DuPont's Pioneer Hi Bred business increased its corn market share in North America by two points and its soybean market share by four points - gains split equally between the Pioneer brand and other brands distributed through its PROaccessSM business strategy. "This continued growth is a strong testament for our 'Right Product Right Acre' strategy," said Paul Schickler, president - Pioneer Hi-Bred. "Our focus on addressing individual grower needs is paying off." With its "Right Product Right Acre" strategy, Pioneer works with customers to match the best seed with their specific needs through a wide selection of innovative product choices and differentiated service before and after the sale. Its success has been building and is the result of a multiyear investment not only in research and development but also in the Pioneer sales force who can serve farmers locally. Read more on this story by clicking on the LINK below. Click here for more on the DuPont- Pioneer increase in market share for seed in several key crops. | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, PCOM, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy, Johnston Enterprises, American Farmers & Ranchers, KIS Futures and Big Iron Online Auctions 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- FREE! 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 $7.55 per
bushel, while the 2011 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available are
$7.65 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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
|