Many of our Oklahoma farm friends enjoyed the excellent work that Jody Campiche did when she was on staff in the Ag Economics Department at Oklahoma State University- she offered great insights into the ins and outs of farm policy in the 2008 farm bill- and worked closely with Bart Fischer and others on the House Ag Committee staff as Chairman Frank Lucas put the pieces together for Title One of the 2014 Farm Law.

Well- Dr Campiche got noticed- and the National Cotton Council enticed her to leave Stillwater- and she now serves as the Cotton Council's vice president, Economics & Policy Analysis.  This past Saturday- she was front and center at their annual meeting in Dallas- and she offered a state of the cotton market report to those gathered.

Dr. Campiche told the Council that while cotton prices have stayed higher than several other commodities over the past crop year- lots of factors give cotton prices a lot of uncertainty- including 1) concerns about world demand, 2) Chinese imports below historical levels, 3) weakness in other commodity markets and 4) a stronger dollar. Although several bearish indicators are still in place, a lack of exportable supplies in Central Asia and West Africa coupled with India's reduced exports is helping to support current prices. In addition, unfixed on-call sales are providing support to futures prices. However, the struggling global economy and man-made fiber competition underscore the challenging landscape facing cotton demand.

Read more from Dr. Campiche's outlook for US cotton producers by clicking or tapping here.

 

Over the weekend, Oklahoma Pork Council Executive Director Roy Lee Lindsey joined me as my guest on our In the Field segment on News 9. To see the KWTV conversation, click or tap here.


Off camera, Lindsey and I talked about all the latest in the pork industry going on these days, including the record year the pork industry had in exports.

"I think when we started '16 we were really concerned about would we get to previous year's exports, much less would we exceed them and possibly get to a record," he said. "And so to close out the year with record exports was a tremendous boon for us. I don't think anyone expected that."

A good thing they performed so well, too, he explains because had the US not sold as much as it did last year, with all the pigs and product coming down the pipeline we would have had a concerning economic situation on our hands.

Lindsey also responded to a recent incident where animal rights activist group Mercy For Animals released secretly filmed footage from a Caddo County hog farm. He says after working undercover for a month at the farm, all the perpetrator could show were pigs being castrated, sows in stalls and more baby pigs being moved down a hallway at one time than probably should have been.


"There were no examples of animal abuse," Lindsey asserted. "Even Temple Grandin looked at the video a said, 'I don't see anything here that says this is abusive."

Lindsey and I talked about all this and more, including details on the upcoming Oklahoma Pork Congress. To listen to our conversation or to read more, click here.

The Chinese government came out last year expressing its interest in reopening their markets to American beef. Today, months later, negotiations are still ongoing with the Asian nation to strike a deal agreeable to both the potential exporter and importer. According to US Meat Export Federation CEO Phil Seng, the Chinese are all about the process, slow, steady and thorough. He and I spoke recently about the current status of the terms.

"What we're working on right now of course would be the terms of that opening, the terms of sale, if you will," Seng reported. "Frankly, traceability looms very large."


Apparently, having an effective trace back system in place is a very important factor for the Chinese negotiators. Seng says though that we have a voluntary system prepared that producers could enroll in and their product would be exclusively sold to China, something that has already been done in European markets. He says, too, that other questions remain out there that need to be worked through. Overall though, he remains confident that there are possible solutions to all these questions and he's sure the US could deliver the product the Chinese want and finds their green light to engage in negotiations as very encouraging.


"I think we have enough in place with our export verification programs to give assurances to our valued customers internationally that we can trace back with our bookend system," Send said. "We have the producers that are willing to do it, we have the product they want, it's just a question of getting it right."


Listen to Seng and I's discussion over the ongoing negotiations with the Chinese in attempts to open the Asian market to US beef, on Friday's Beef Buzz - click here.

National in scope, the Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences, or MANRRS, mission is to promote academic and professional advancement by empowering minorities in agriculture, natural resources and related sciences.


Two years ago, a student chapter of the organization was chartered at OSU and is now housed in the division's College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.


These days, as the group works toward finding its rhythm and carving its niche in the broad landscape of student groups on campus, some members of the OSU MANRRS contingent have already gotten a taste of what the organization offers through attendance at its national conference.


"MANRRS is an organization with a national network that provides a lot of great opportunities for students," said Cynda Clary, associate dean of CASNR. "Membership is open to students of all backgrounds. It's meant to be a place to help students connect with each other as well as build their network and set of professional skills."


MANRRS is only one aspect of the ongoing diversity efforts in play across both the university and DASNR.


"Certainly as we are in the business of sending students into the world, our goal is not just to graduate students but to graduate students who are socially, culturally and globally competent," said Jason Kirksey, OSU vice president for institutional diversity. "You do that when you've got diversity of the student population, faculty and staff as well as interactions and engagements that promote a broader sense of understanding of the world that surrounds us."

Click here to continue reading this story for more information about MANRRS and its impact at Oklahoma State University.

You may have the chance to win a FREE registration to the Animal Agriculture Alliance's 2017 Stakeholders Summit!

Themed "Connect to Protect Animal Ag," the summit is scheduled for May 3-4 in Kansas City, Missouri and will build on the 2016 Summit's focus of taking action to secure a bright future for animal agriculture.

The Alliance announced a contest for this year for contestants to compete for free registrations to the event.

"It is vitally important that farmers and ranchers be involved in the discussions of emerging issues that occur at our Summit," said Kay Johnson Smith, Alliance president and CEO. "We are committed to finding new ways to get the word out about Summit to this important audience and encourage attendance. We hope that offering complimentary registrations to farmers and ranchers through this contest will do just that, and look forward to welcoming the winners at Summit!



Free registrations will be awarded to the top entries in two different competitions - a blog contest and a photo contest. Discount registrations will be offered to the second and third place entries.

Not a farmer or rancher? You can still help spread the word about Summit and win a prize through the "Refer-A-Friend" contest! Encourage friends, co-workers and colleagues to attend the event, and have them put your name as the referrer when registering. If someone enters your name, you will be entered to win one of ten prizes. You must be present at the 2017 Summit to claim your prize.

For more  information about that contest and your chance
 to win a free registration to the 2017 Stakeholders Summit, click here.

Former Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack was the recipient of Growth Energy's highest recognition last week, honored with America's Fuel Award, during the eight annual Executive Leadership Conference.

"We are thrilled to recognize Secretary Vilsack with the America's Fuel Award for his remarkable commitment to the nation's most successful energy policy, the Renewable Fuel Standard. We thank Secretary Vilsack for his unwavering dedication to the growth and success of the American ethanol industry throughout his time as Secretary of Agriculture and Governor of Iowa," said Emily Skor, Growth Energy CEO, "We are forever grateful for his leadership and present this award as a token of our appreciation."

The America's Fuel Award is presented to an individual who has gone above and beyond the call of duty to act as a champion for the renewable fuels industry.

Click here to get the full story about Vilsack's recent honor.

 

Rain has already arrived in parts of the Oklahoma Panhandle- and the bigger, slow moving system will be hitting Oklahoma later this morning- and chances of precipitation looks really good- especially in southern Oklahoma this afternoon through tomorrow morning.

The five percent of the state that has no drought will actually get the most rain- based on a future rainfall graphic provided to us by Lacey Swope at News9 KWTV:



We do have another rain making system that is out there that could arrive by the weekend- and the seven day Precipitation Forecast Graphic from the National Weather Service seems to signal that north of I-40 may get more in that go round:



Our thanks to Bryce Anderson of DTN posting this graphic showing the southern plains with the potential wet stuff. Temperatures are such in a ten day outlook we have seen this morning that it is likely to be wet stuff and not frozen.