You'll remember we started this season out with high hopes for our wheat crop here in Oklahoma, having cool temperatures and sufficient moisture that allowed for an early planting. Then the weather took an about-face and we've been praying for rain ever since. Those prayers were finally answered recently, and with that moisture, Dr. David Marburger, state wheat specialist, told me this week, things may start to turn around for this wheat crop.


"I know the crop ratings went down. That's because we were pretty dry going from the end of November into the beginning of the year," Marburger said. "But this rain was welcomed and that's definitely going to help improve some of our condition and it's going to have enough soil moisture really here to kind of help carry us through the winter."


According to Dr. Marburger, the wheat crop condition here in the state is rated "good to mostly fair" currently. But, while he expects crop conditions to continue to improve, he says producers will likely finish what they started regardless of the condition come harvest, referring to his impression from his engagement with producers around the state.


"Going into this growing season, producers didn't know quite what to do, whether or not they were going to be taking their wheat to grain or just go ahead and focus more on grazing," Marburger said, surmising that producers will make their final decisions closer to first hollow stem. "Moving forward from here, I'm going to suspect a lot of our producers are going to stick with their plan whether they are dual purpose or maybe have an increase in some of those graze out acres."

You can listen to my full conversation with Dr. Marburger for more of his advice to wheat producers in the state, by clicking here.


Marburger will join me this week for our In the Field segment on KWTV News9 in the Oklahoma City area on Saturday morning at 6:40 a.m.

Oklahoma Farm Bureau will honor nine of Oklahoma agriculture's top advocates with the 2016 Oklahoma Farm Bureau Champion Award during the OKFB Legislative Leadership Conference this coming March.

"Representing thousands of farmers and ranchers across our state, Oklahoma Farm Bureau is committed to furthering agriculture and rural Oklahoma," said Tom Buchanan, OKFB president. "We sincerely appreciate the leadership and efforts of this group during the 2016 legislative session."

Presented by the OKFB board of directors, the award honors state leaders and lawmakers who went above and beyond to defend agriculture and rural Oklahoma in the 2016 legislative session.


For a look at those being honored this year, click here.

Earlier this week, U.S. Sen. John Thune of South Dakota and by U.S. Reps. Kristi Noem and Sanford Bishop introduced  The Death Tax Repeal Act of 2017 to Congress, initiating the process to kill the federal estate tax.

Many farm and ranch families are asset-rich and cash-poor, with most of the value of their estate attributed to the value of the land, livestock, and equipment they use to grow food and fiber for consumers around the world. Yet the death tax forces them to pay based on the often non-liquid value of those assets.

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association has long advocated for a full and permanent repeal of the death tax and applaud this bipartisan action in Congress that has failed in the past. However, with a Republican majority and a president that favors repeal, NCBA is hopeful this will be the opportunity they have waited for.

To read NCBA's original statement regarding this move to bury the Death Tax, click here.

AND- we featured comments from American Farm Bureau's Pat Wolfe this morning on our Radio Oklahoma Ag Network stations- she argues now is the time to get the Death Tax repeal across the finish line- ahead of comprehensive tax reform later this year- click here to listen to her comments.

This week on SUNUP, Oklahoma State University Grain Market Specialist Dr. Kim Anderson again talks wheat prices both domestically and abroad. According to him, despite climbing prices over the last few weeks, we have seen those back off a bit this week. Anderson attributes a waning export demand as the culprit for this deceleration.


He reports wheat prices down about $0.15, still on a short run-up pattern on the long-term, bending to downward and sideways pressure. Corn, he says, down as well but only a nickel, drawing little attention to this change as the market remains in an up-trending pattern. Meanwhile, soybeans are down $0.20 on a short-term up trend, he reports.

And while President Trump and his team work to forge new trade deals in the wake of withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Russia and Ukraine continue to chip away at the global market. He stresses the importance of producing a high quality crop this year to stay competitive internationally.


To read more or to listen to Anderson's commentary on wheat prices this week, or for more from SUNUP's other guests, click or tap here.

One issue sure to be a hot topic this year at the upcoming Cattle Industry Convention - the industry's ability to sell more US beef into the international marketplace. Thad Lively with the US Meat Export Federation spoke recently with our Associate Farm Director Carson Horn about some of the strategies his organization is adopting to increase our overall share of the global beef export market.


"I think all of us who are involved in the export side of the business see great opportunities out there in the global market but I think if we're realistic, we also know that that's a very competitive place," Lively said. "If we're going to continue to have the kind of success that we've seen over the last 20 years or so - we're going to have to keep our eye on the ball."


Lively says this means taking the pulse of consumers in each market regularly to maintain an accurate understanding of their individual expectations. He admits at times it can be easy to fall into the frame of mind of just wanting to move product, but he contends his organization is at a turning point in knowing that in order to take full advantage of the growing opportunities in the international marketplace, we as an industry must focus on staying competitive.


"There's no hesitation and there's no doubt on anybody's part that exporting is going to continue to be an important part of this industry, probably going to continue to see growth there," Lively assures, but adds. "If we're going to be a healthy, red meat industry, we're going to have to be successful in the export markets."

Listen to Lively explain in depth USMEF's strategies to secure a bigger piece of the beef export pie for the US, on yesterday's Beef Buzz - click here.

In a recent opinion piece, Farm Policy Facts takes a more "poetic" approach in making a case for farmers, pushing back on critics of the safety net programs included in the Farm Bill. This piece recites passages from the popular poem The Farmer, which has been featured in a recent commercial, lending a sympathetic tone to what farmers endure to grow our daily food and fiber.

"It was written at a time when the United States was facing historic change and progress of every kind from industrial capacity to oil production to even major innovations in agricultural technology and production. Although the country was predominantly rural, it was rapidly growing its urban centers. One can imagine that Amelia E. Barr, the poem's author, observed this new trend with a bit of alarm. Despite listing a number of professions and describing their importance, Barr concludes we still need farmers - emphasizing their significance by ending each stanza with the repetitive verse.


"As we begin 2017 with a new president, a new Congress, and soon a new, confirmed agriculture secretary, as well as an expiring farm bill, we wanted to make certain this message made it to Washington.

"Indeed, America's farmers and ranchers - roughly one percent of the population - feed the remainder. And, these men and women rely upon the certainty of a farm safety net to help them make it through tough times like what they are experiencing today. As lawmakers begin discussions surrounding reauthorizing a new farm bill, it is important to remember that we are all the beneficiaries of sound farm policy that affords us a safe, secure, and affordable food and fiber supply."

To jump to the original article for your chance to read the full poem, click here.

Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association president Richard Thorpe penned a letter on Tuesday voicing TSCRA's strong support of the Red River Gradient Boundary Survey Act.


The Act, filed by U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry and Sen. John Cornyn, will finally provide legal certainty to landowners along the Red River who have faced an unprecedented land grab by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Since 2014, the BLM has laid claim to an estimated 30,000 acres of privately owned property along a 116 mile stretch of the Red River. Their attempted seizure has left innocent families in debt and legal limbo as they fight to keep land that they have owned for generations.


The legislation calls for a survey of the contested area using the gradient boundary survey method developed and backed by the U.S. Supreme Court to find the proper ownership boundary between public and private lands. Further, it provides Texas and Oklahoma the authority to oversee the survey and approve the results. Finally, it will provide for a notification and a copy of the survey to be sent to each individual land owner who is affected.


To read more, including the letter TSCRA submitted to the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation, click here.