 |
We invite you to listen to us on great radio stations across the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network weekdays- if you missed this morning's Farm News - or you are in an area where you can't hear it- click here for this morning's Farm news from Carson Horn on RON.
 Let's Check the Markets!
OKC West is our Market Links Sponsor- they sell cattle three days a week- Cows on Mondays, Stockers on Tuesday and Feeders on Wednesday- Call 405-262-8800 to learn more.
FedCattleExchange.com has a total of 751 cattle on their showlist for the Wednesday, August 29th sale of finished cattle- details will be available after noon today by clicking here.
Steer and heifer calves sold mostly steady on limited
comparable sales Tuesday compared to last week at OKC West - click or tap here for a look at the August 28th sale results.
Today's First Look:
mornings with cash and futures reviewed- includes where the Cash Cattle market stands, the latest Feeder Cattle Markets Etc.
Each afternoon we are posting a recap of that day's markets as analyzed by Justin Lewis of KIS futures- click or tap here for the report posted yesterday afternoon around 3:30 PM.
Okla Cash Grain:
Futures Wrap:
Feeder Cattle Recap:
Slaughter Cattle Recap:
TCFA Feedlot Recap:
Our Oklahoma Farm Report Team!!!!
Ron Hays, Senior Farm Director and Editor
Carson Horn, Associate Farm Director and Editor Pam Arterburn, Calendar and Template Manager Dave Lanning, Markets and Production
|
|
|
Oklahoma's Latest Farm and Ranch News
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
|
Howdy Neighbors!
Here is your daily Oklahoma farm and ranch news update.
|
Featured Story:
Kevin Stitt Will Head the GOP Ticket in the November General Election- Winning the Party's Nomination for Governor
Tulsa Businessman Kevin Stitt has cruised to a Primary Election Runoff victory over former Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett on Tuesday, winning with over 54% of the runoff vote. Stitt will now face former Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson, who secured the Democratic nomination for Governor back in June. Cornett had the most votes back in June as he and Stitt were the top two vote getters in a field of ten.
As we watched the events of last night unfold- we got on Twitter and offered this observation- "Most Ag Groups stayed on the sidelines during the Primary Runoff between Kevin Stitt and Mick Cornett- the rural areas of Oklahoma went big for Stitt and I suspect Ag Groups in general will be ALL IN on Stitt versus Drew Edmondson in the Nov General."
Down the ballot, Republicans had six other statewide races to decide upon- and two races saw candidates win BIG- Matt Pinnell hit the sweet spot of messaging in the runoff compared to the June Primary- Corporation Commissioner Dana Murphy also won the race outright in June- was way ahead of second place Pinnell- but the former Oklahoma GOP Party Chairman kicked it into a higher gear- was apparently seen as a State Capitol outsider compared to Murphy- and he totally turned the race upside down- winning with 58% of the vote.
Murphy will continue to serve as the Chairman of the Corporation Commission- her current term runs thru 2022.
Also winning with a big margin (57%) was incumbent School Superintendent Joy Hofmeister.
Solid wins were notched in the Labor Commissioner race as former State Lawmaker Leslie Osborn beat Cathy Costello while incumbent Corporation Commissioner Bob Anthony advance to the November general election ballot by beating Brian Bingman.
Incredibly close races happened in the State Auditor and Attorney General's races. Cindy Byrd ended up getting about a thousand more votes than Charlie Prater to claim the GOP Nomination for State Auditor. And the rough and tumble Attorney General campaign came down to 269 votes- current AG Mike Hunter prevails in an ugly race with Gentner Drummond- with Hunter surviving his association with the current administration(having been appointed by Mary Fallin) but just barely.
Click or tap here for our complete overview of the night.
A WORD ON THE STATE HOUSE RACES- It was NOT a good night for incumbents running for the State House as most lost the Runoff- a direct fall out of the Teacher Turmoil of earlier this year.
One incumbent that will come back to OKC in 2019 to the State Legislature is John Pfeiffer, Jr.- he won with about 59% of the vote- he has no one on the ballot against him in November.
|
|
President Donald Trump Talks Trade and Assistance for Farmers with RFD TV
President Donald Trump hosted RFD TV Washington reporter Sarah Mock at the White House on Tuesday afternoon- and talked with her about trade and the farm aid package put together by the USDA to help farmers hit hardest by the retaliatory tariffs from trading partners- especially China- that came after the President slapped tariffs on those countries in an effort to get talks going on improving trade between the US and those countries.
Mock started her questions with trade. President Trump acknowledged the tight spot that ag producers are in, while offering assurances that there is light at the end of the tunnel. "I said 'Just stick with me for a little while.' And we're a little ahead of schedule," he said. "A Mexico deal is signed, and it's going to open up Mexico even more. It'll be far better than NAFTA. And we're working on the European Union also, where they have very, very strong trade barriers up, where the farmers can't get their product in. And we're working on Canada."
You can read more about the interview- and hear the complete conversation by jumping over to our website- click or tap here.
|
|
Sponsor Spotlight
The Oklahoma Farm Bureau - a grassroots organization that has for its Mission Statement- Improving the Lives of Rural Oklahomans." Farm Bureau, as the state's largest general farm organization, is active at the State Capitol fighting for the best interests of its members and working with other groups to make certain that the interests of rural Oklahoma are protected. Click here for their website to learn more about the organization and how it can benefit you to be a part of Farm Bureau.
|
President Donald Trump announced at the start of this week that his Administration, after months of negotiations, is now considering scrapping the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in favor of a new deal exclusively with Mexico. The Administration has implied that Canada could potentially still get in on the deal, but several issues still remain unresolved including Ottawa's dairy, poultry and egg restrictions.
Oklahoma's Junior Senator James Lankford issued a release on the matter, stating that he found the President's announcement regarding trade with Mexico, an "encouraging" initial step toward completing renegotiation of the NAFTA. With many of his constituents in Oklahoma facing a direct impact on the outcome of these negotiations, Lankford has been actively engaged in the conversation on trade, particularly in regard to NAFTA, to ensure that the needs of stakeholders in Oklahoma are met in whatever new agreement comes of these negotiations.
"I look forward to reviewing more details in the days ahead to ensure that a renegotiated agreement is indeed an improvement over the current deal. Any new agreement must provide economic opportunities for the American people and ensure US businesses can remain globally competitive," Lankford said. "I ask President Trump and his team to keep working to bring Canada back into negotiations so that US workers, consumers, and businesses can reap the broad economic benefits of NAFTA."
Once the agreement is finalized, Congress must vote to approve any new trade agreement. Read more about Sen. Lankford's involvement with trade discussions in DC, by clicking here.
|
Kansas State University scientists, in collaboration with the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium, announced this month its landmark scientific achievement of completing the entire reference genome sequence of bread wheat, the world's most widely cultivated crop.
According to K-State researchers, this work will pave the way for the production of wheat varieties better adapted to climate challenges, with higher yields, enhanced nutritional quality and improved sustainability. K-State News released an interview recently with Dr. John Fellers, research molecular biologist with the US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service and K-State Plant Pathology Department collaborator, who talked about the significance of this achievement and the impact it will have on the agricultural industry and global food security.
"Some people would say, it's almost an undertaking like going to the moon, as large as when we first started approaching this," Fellers said, emphasizing the complexity of the work that has gone into this effort. "The wheat genome is huge... 17 billion letters of DNA and its wrapped up in 21 chromosomes. Trying to put all of this together has been a daunting task and we just haven't had the technology or the computing power until the last few years to do this justice."
A key crop for food security, wheat is the staple food of more than a third of the global human population and accounts for almost 20 percent of the total calories and protein consumed by humans worldwide, more than any other single food source. It also serves as an important source of vitamins and minerals. To meet future demands of a projected world population of 9.6 billion by 2050, wheat productivity needs to increase by 1.6 percent each year. With the reference genome sequence now complete, scientists will be able to genetically engineer wheat that is designed to help preserve biodiversity, water and nutrient resources via crop and trait improvement. Click here to read the full story for more information or to listen to Dr. Fellers discuss the significance of this achievement.
|
Once you have something like the Waters of the US rule on the books, it is hard to get rid of it. That is what the Trump Administration has discovered as they have worked to scrap the Obama era rule. Scott Pruitt started the process before he resigned as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, but along the way, environmental groups have worked to stop the repeal of the rule and they have recently succeeded temporarily with a ruling from a South Carolina District Court that has put WOTUS back into play in 26 states, including Oklahoma and Texas. Scott Yager is chief environmental counsel for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and says this kind of legal back-and-forth should be expected to continue as the Administration works to kill WOTUS once and for all.
"Everyone thought WOTUS was dead, but the reality was, Trump's executive order from 2017 didn't kill WOTUS outright. What it did was set the wheels rolling towards the death of WOTUS," he explained. "But the reality we're sitting in today is that that hasn't happened yet and it has to be done by the agencies."
According to Yager, both the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers will have to finalize their repeal of the 2015 rule in order to move this process along. Until that happens, the 2015 WOTUS rule will remain on the books- at least for those 26 states affected by the South Carolina Court ruling. In the meantime, many states are appealing to other District Courts to stay the decision. Yager says if this case is ever going to be put to bed, the agencies involved will have to take the issue upon themselves because Congress has been of no help, unable to pass a bill fixing the problem due to staunch Democratic opposition. However, he says be prepared for the environmental groups to obstruct the process every step of the way.
"Every piece of this is going to be litigated by the environmental groups. As soon as the Administration finalizes their repeal, there's going to be lawsuits all over that," he said. "Ultimately, I believe this issue is going to be decided by a Supreme Court. Hopefully one that has (Brett) Kavanaugh [Trump's second SCOTUS nominee, still awaiting confirmation] on the bench."
Listen to Yager discuss the current status of the Administration's effort to repeal and replace WOTUS, on yesterday's Beef Buzz - click here.
|
|
Sponsor Spotlight
KIS FUTURES specializes in Futures and Options for Institutions, Commercials, Hedgers, and Individual Traders and executes trades for its clients in the following markets: Livestock, Grains, Energy, Metals, Softs, Financials, Currencies, and Stock Index Futures. For more information, please give them a call Toll Free at (800) 256-2555. Click here for their website to learn more.
And- their iPhone App, which provides all electronic futures quotes is available at the App Store- click here for the KIS Futures App for your iPhone.
|
John Deere is rolling out new precision ag solutions and updated software that can be used on more brands of equipment while providing expanded applications. These new products include the 4240 Universal Display, AutoTrac™ Universal 300 guidance solution and updated 18-2 Gen 4 software, all designed to help farmers farm even better in 2019 and beyond.
The new weather-resistant 4240 Universal Display adds to the Gen 4 display family as an affordable, portable, and durable option for many types of farming operations, no matter what Mother Nature brings. In addition, John Deere is introducing AutoTrac Universal 300 for use on John Deere and other brands of machines that are not AutoTrac ready. This newest guidance product offers even more features customers will find useful compared to AutoTrac Universal 200, which it replaces. These include easy, automatic setup; a smaller, more comfortable steering wheel; and a quieter steering motor in a weather-resistant housing.
Lastly, John Deere has updated software for its Gen 4 family of displays with the Software Update 18-2. This software update provides improvements in performance, machine uptime and cost and convenience of operation by adding customer-requested functionality.
For more information on the new 4240 Universal Display, AutoTrac Universal 300 guidance system and 18-2 Gen 4 software update, jump to the Agri-Innovations page on our website.
|
Although the US economy continues to grow, and unemployment dwindles, the rural economy is being threatened by a variety of stress factors that have weighed on profitability. CoBank published a new study recently that explains how inflated wages have resulted from labor shortages throughout the agricultural sector which has forced agricultural employers to compete with other industries.
According to Ben Laine, a senior economist with CoBank, migrant workers from Mexico, who have typically sustained the agricultural workforce, are now opting to seek employment by way of other means through such industries as transportation, construction, hospitality and mining which actually aligns more with their backgrounds in many cases. In addition to immigration controls like tightening borders and increased immigration enforcement, birthrates in Mexico are falling and populations are moving toward urban areas, leaving fewer people with agricultural backgrounds who would be interested in U.S. farm work.
Without a clear solution to the labor shortage in sight, these challenges are likely to persist in the years ahead. If this trend does indeed continue, Laine predicts that it could actually become more cost effective for the U.S. to import commodities rather than import the labor to produce them domestically.
Click here to read more or to review CoBank's new study entitled 'Help Wanted' in full.
|
OSU Soil and Water Conservation Management Specialist Jason Warren Talks Fall Planting Season
With wheat planting beginning soon in Oklahoma, the Oklahoma State University Extension Service is hosting two Fall Crops Tours.
The first is this Thursday, August 30, in Goodwell, and the second is September 6 in Elkhart. Several crops will be featured including corn, soybeans and grain sorghum. The tour will also look at bermuda grass.
Listen to OSU's Dr. Jason Warren, Soil & Water Conservation Management Extension Specialist, speak about these upcoming events, providing all the details, in an interview with Don Atkinson of WheatSquared - click here.
|
Florida Cow Tests Positive for BSE- Details Expected Today from USDA
Word came last night as we were watching the election returns come in here in Oklahoma that we have a case of BSE- or Mad Cow- in Florida.
This is the first case in the US since last July when an 11 year old cow was found in Alabama with the disease- it's expected that USDA will offer details this morning.
We conversed via Twitter on the subject with Dr. Glynn Tonsor of K-State about the discovery- Dr. Tonsor says the reports on this Florida cow indicated that "As was the case in Alabama, the infected cow in Florida was not slaughtered for food and no meat from the animal entered the human food supply."
Dr. Tonsor also reminds us "The incidence of BSE in the United States is extremely low, and will remain so. The United States currently has a 'Negligible BSE Risk' status from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) - the lowest possible risk in the world."
|
|
Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, P & K Equipment, Livestock Exchange at the Oklahoma National Stockyards, Oklahoma Farm Bureau, Stillwater Milling Company, National Livestock Credit Corporation, Oklahoma Beef Council , Oklahoma AgCredit, the 2018 State Fair of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Cattlemens Association 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- at NO Charge!
We also appreciate our Market Links Sponsor - OKC West Livestock!
We invite you to check out our website at the link below too that includes an archive of these daily emails, audio reports and top farm news story links from around the globe.
God Bless! You can reach us at the following:
phone: 405-473-6144
|
|
|
