In the latest crop progress report released Monday, August 21, 2017, the United States Department of Agriculture rated the US corn crop condition unchanged from a week ago at 62 percent good to excellent, 26 percent fair and 12 percent poor to very poor. The US soybean condition improved slightly, now rated at 60 percent good to excellent, 28 percent fair and 12 percent poor to very poor. Pasture and rangeland for the US rates have remained unchanged since last week, still rated at 8 percent very poor, 14 poor, 31 fair, 39 good and 8 excellent. Those Pasture numbers do show improvement from the end of July- up two points nationally. For the complete USDA Crop Progress report, click here.

According to the weekly crop progress report from USDA, Oklahoma corn dough reached 85 percent, up 6 points from the previous year and up 2 points from normal. Corn dent reached 54 percent, up 7 points from the previous year but unchanged from normal. Sorghum condition rates 5 percent poor to very poor, 39 fair and 56 good to excellent. Cotton's condition is rated at 2 percent poor to very poor, 7 fair and 91 percent good to excellent. Conditions of pasture and range were rated at 60% good to excellent- which is 15 points BETTER than the July 30th report. To view the complete Oklahoma Crop Progress and Condition Report, click here.


In Kansas, corn condition rated 4 percent very poor, 10 poor, 29 fair, 43 good, and 14 excellent. Sorghum condition rated 1 percent very poor, 6 poor, 31 fair, 53 good, and 9 excellent. Cotton condition rated 3 percent very poor, 4 poor, 38 fair, 50 good, and 5 excellent. Pasture and range conditions rated 2 percent very poor, 9 poor, 33 fair, 50 good, and 6 excellent. To view the complete Kansas Crop Progress and Condition Report, click here.


In Texas, corn's condition in Texas improved since last week, now rated at 79 percent good to excellent, 18 fair, and 3 poor to very poor. Cotton's condition in Texas is currently 55 percent good to excellent, 30 fair, and 15 poor to very poor. Sorghum condition in the state has remained unchanged since last week still rated 78 percent good to excellent, 18 percent fair and 4 percent poor to very poor. Pasture and range conditions are rated at 41 percent good to excellent statewide, 39 fair and 20 percent poor to very poor. To view the complete Texas Crop Progress and Condition Report, click here.

 

The annual race to Rochester, Minnesota has begun- as the Farm Journal Crop Tour is underway- starting in South Dakota and Ohio yesterday. 

They offer corn yield estimates and soybean pod counts as they travel this week- and the first two states where numbers are available show a better Ohio corn crop than average and a worse South Dakota corn crop than average.

Ohio numbers show 164.62 bushels per acre in 2017 versus a three year average of 159.81.  That's not to say that the corn crop does not have a lot of issues- and we have a Youtube from Ohio farm broadcast colleague Ty Higgins that talks corn crop issues and soybean crop potential:

In South Dakota, things looked ok in the area they surveyed- the southeastern corn of that state- which has been largely unaffected by the drought that is just west of there.

Still- the crop shows stress and variability and the South Dakota estimate is 147.97 bushels per acre for 2017- versus 156.14 BPA as a three year average.

The tour continues today- going from central Indiana to central Illinois in the east and from Grand Island, Neb to Nebraska City, Neb in the west- and will eventually converge on Thursday in Rochester, Minn.

If you do Twitter- the hashtag is #FJTour17. 

During the Oklahoma Conservation Summit this past week, I caught up with Jimmy Emmons of Dewey County, president of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts.

He explained to me how his association and the other conservation organizations in the state are now working together, collaborating where they have common ground to accomplish all the same goals they've strived for individually.

"The whole concept [of the Summit] is all about team work and working together instead of as individual agencies or groups, to achieve the same things," Emmons said. "For years, we've all gone out and done our own independent things and we don't want to reinvent the wheel here."


With tighter budgets, Emmons admits, that the groups' cooperation will allow the separate organizations to pool their people and resources.

Emmons says working as a team makes sense as all those in the conservation community share the desire to protect and improve the health of our soil. Through teamwork, he says the organizations will be able to accomplish their collective goals much quicker in the long run.

You can hear Jimmy and I speaking at last week's meeting about the increased cooperation among Oklahoma's conservation community, by clicking here, and also get an update on the cover crop pilot project Emmons and others have participated in and where he sees that headed.

 

In this week's edition of the Cow/Calf Corner newsletter, Dr. Derrell Peel of Oklahoma State University, reviews the performance of beef prices this year, both in the wholesale and the retail market.

According to Peel's analysis, all-fresh retail beef prices were up 1.0 percent year over year at $5.833/lb. in July. Meanwhile, wholesale cutout values have dropped sharply in the past two months, with Choice cutout values down to a weekly average of $197.66/cwt. in mid-August after climbing to a stronger than expected seasonal peak of $250.86/cwt. in mid-June.

At the same time, select cutout values also increased from January to a weekly seasonal peak of $224.54/cwt. in mid-May before dropping to last week's $194.81/cwt.

This has presented an exceptional Choice-Select spread of $30.38/cwt. during the second week of June, representing an exaggerated seasonal pattern for this year. In fact, Dr. Peel says this was the highest weekly Choice-Select spread since the BSE-induced market turbulence in October, 2003.

"The dramatic seasonal Choice-Select spread pattern seems to mostly be a reflection of dynamic Choice beef demand; unexpectedly strong in the spring and struggling recently," he writes. "Wholesale beef product values indicate that middle meats have weakened the most recently with rib and loin values dropping relatively more compared to chuck and round values."

Over the long-term, Peel says wholesale beef product markets continue to adjust following the unusual price relationships that have emerged since 2014.

"Looking back, the past five years provides a good case study to help understand the complexities of beef demand and substitution between beef products as well as the interaction between beef and other meats in dynamic meat market conditions," Peel stated.

Click here to get the full story on the current dynamics playing out in today's meat markets, by reading Peel's complete analysis of the markets.

For many years the Animal Agriculture Alliance has published reports on animal rights conferences, as a way to be the industry's eyes and ears, to monitor activist groups in order to stay ahead of potential threats and offensive tactics towards producers and packers. I spoke with AAA's Hannah Thompson-Weeman about the group's latest report on the National Animal Rights Conference that took place recently, put together by the Farm Animal Rights Movement.

"The animal rights groups are more and more, encouraging their members to be very aggressive in going after animal agriculture," Hannah said. "There have been speakers who have been to jail before. They encourage them to break the law; be willing to push boundaries and be as aggressive as you have to be."

Hannah reports that of the many tactics discussed at this year's conference, there was particular emphasis made for members to utilize what they term as "confrontational activism," or "open rescues." She says this is the opposition's tactic for breaking into farms and releasing animals from barns. Speakers also are encouraging members to step up on-site protests and vigils at farms and processing plants.

"One speaker mentioned that if you have concerns about animal welfare - you should call an activist group, don't call the police, because they think the police is somehow in cahoots with animal agriculture," she said. "It's very alarming to the industry about the tactics these groups are willing to take."

Listen to Hannah Thompson-Weeman of the Animal Agriculture Alliance review with me more highlights on the report from this year's Animal Rights Conference, on yesterday's Beef Buzz - click here.

We are featuring our conversation with Hannah for several days this week on the Beef Buzz- but if you want to hear our complete interview in one sitting- click or tap here for that Podcast which is available as well.

While continuing to stress the importance of their message, "Do no harm," to agricultural trade gains under NAFTA, the National Association of Wheat Growers has acknowledged a few areas in which the trade treaty could actually improve upon.

The first round of these NAFTA negotiations wrapped up this week and before the next round gets underway, NAWG hopes to impress upon negotiators where they have identified some weak links in the 23-year-old agreement.

NAWG's CEO Chandler Goule stated in a release which areas he believes to be appropriate places to begin in improving NAFTA.

"The wheat industry can benefit from some enhancements to NAFTA. A good place to begin are the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) rules that the three countries already agreed to as part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations," stated Goule. "With the global push to reduce tariffs, non-tariff barriers (particularly SPS barriers) to trade are becoming increasingly common. It is critical that the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures in any agreement are transparent and based on scientific principles."

Goule also specifies Canada's grading system for U.S. wheat as another term in the agreement in need of attention, citing the unfair practice of Canada's wheat free to enter the US elevator system without hindrance, yet US wheat brought to Canada is rather immediately downgraded to feed wheat.

This glaring difference is highly concerning and disenfranchises farmers near the border, Goule says.

For more of Goule's remarks or to learn more about NAWG's suggestions regarding areas in which the NAFTA Treaty can be improved, click over to our website to read the full statement.

 

From Jerry Goodson- "There will be a late season cotton update meeting sponsored by the Carnegie Co-op Gin at lunch today- August 22nd.  The meeting will be held at the El Charros restaurant in Carnegie and will start at 11:30 am.  Jerry Goodson and Randy Boman will be present to discuss late season management and any other issues.  There will be a lunch sponsored by Ken Lege with PhytoGen Cottonseed.  For more information, please contact the Carnegie Co-op Gin at 580-654-1142.

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Good news for the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program- the fund raiser Blessings of the Field is sold out- sorry if you didn't get tickets as it looks to be an amazing night this coming SATURDAY evening, August 26 at White Dog Hill in Clinton. 

Thanks to Mike Schulte and the Ag Leadership Oklahoma organization for organizing this event, proceeds will be going to support the leadership development efforts of the OALP.

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Superior Livestock kicks off their four day Big Horn Classic this morning on DISH Network Channel 232 and on Superior Click to Bid.Com- starting with Superior Sunrise at 8:30 AM Central and the Auction following at 9 AM Central.

165,000 to be sold this week- click here for more details.