~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Friday October 1, 2010
A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and Big Iron
OnLine Auctions!
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-- Talking 744 With Mike Spradling of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau
-- Verasun Creditors Back Off Demands that Farmers Pay Back Money
Received From the Bankrupt Ethanol Maker
-- OSU Ag Economist Dr. Larry Sanders on Council to Advise Lisa
Jackson at EPA
-- OSU Wheat Market Watcher Kim Anderson Worries About Drying Out of
the Southern Plains Wheat Belt
-- As Congress Escapes From DC- NCBA's Colin Woodall Suggests Some
Time in the Country
-- International Baking Industry Expo Shows Promise for Sorghum
-- Think About Some Aloha!
-- 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 proud to welcome Big Iron Unreserved Online Auctions as our newest sponsor of the daily Email. Their next auction is Wednesday, October 13 - featuring Low Hour, Farmer Owned Equipment. Click here for their website to learn more about their Online Farm Equipment Auctions. We are also excited to have as one of our sponsors for the daily email
Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, with 64 years of progress through
producer ownership. Call Brandon Winters at 405-232-7555 for more
information on the oilseed crops they handle, including sunflowers and
canola- and remember they post closing market prices for canola and
sunflowers on the PCOM
website- go there by clicking here. 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. | |
Talking 744 With Mike Spradling of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The President
of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, Mike Spradling, says his group is continuing
to work to educate people statewide about the fiscal dangers of State
Question 744. Spradling contends that voting yes on SQ 744 would result in
less funding for existing state agencies and potentially higher taxes for
farmers and ranchers. The question will be on the Nov. 2 general election
ballot.
The One Oklahoma Coalition that is opposing State Question 744 says
there are four main reasons that they believe voters should oppose this
State Question: Supporters of State Question 744 downplay the impact on other areas of the Oklahoma budget- and say that the state's children do not deserve being last in the region in the amount that the state spends on each pupil. Click on the LINK below to hear the concerns of Spradling and the general farm organization that he represents. We will be talking to other leaders in the rural community about State Question 744 in the next couple of weeks and sharing their stories with you as well. | |
Verasun Creditors Back Off Demands that Farmers Pay Back Money Received From the Bankrupt Ethanol Maker ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Corn growers
who faced a legal deadline to repay money from corn sold in 2008 to the
bankrupt ethanol producer VeraSun received good news Thursday - the
attorneys are dropping their questionable claims for payment. "This is great news for farmers at a time when we need to focus on bringing in our crops," said National Corn Growers Association President Darrin Ihnen. "We're glad the lawyers saw the light and realized they had no legal justification to go after us. We had an excellent team working on this to make sure we had the right information, and to present our case." Because of bankruptcy law, attorneys representing VeraSun creditors were able to seek repayment from farmers and others who received money from VeraSun within 90 days prior to the bankruptcy filing. In late August, hundreds of corn farmers received letters from attorneys threatening legal action. The letters offered to settle the matter with a payment equal to 80 percent of what the farmers received for their corn sales to VeraSun. Farmers had until September 30, 2010 to respond, and NCGA and several state corn associations provided information to growers, encouraged them to respond and helped them find legal resources. Click on the LINK below for more on how this situation developed- and that it now appears these farmers that had valid contracts with Verasun will likely be able to keep the money paid to them for their crop. Click here for more on the Verasun Creditors Attempted Grab of Money Paid to Farmers for their corn | |
OSU Ag Economist Dr. Larry Sanders on Council to Advise Lisa Jackson at EPA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On Thursday,
U.S. Environmental Protection Administration Administrator Lisa P. Jackson
addressed the newly-appointed members of the Farm, Ranch, and Rural
Communities Federal Advisory Committee (FRRCC) during their first official
meeting since being appointed. The FRRCC is an independent committee,
established by EPA in 2008, that advises the agency on a wide range of
environmental issues of importance to agriculture and rural communities.
EPA also announced the new committee members, who were appointed in May. Oklahoma State University Ag Economics Professor Dr. Larry Sanders is one of the new members selected to serve on this advisory panel. In addition, Tom McDonald with Five Rivers Cattle Feeders has one Oklahoma feedlot in their portfolio- Cimarron Feeders in Texhoma. And- Dennis Treacy of Smithfield Foods has hog operations in Oklahoma with their Murphy Brown subsidiary. "EPA is working to ensure that American farmers, ranchers and rural communities are more environmentally sustainable and economically resilient than ever before," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. "America's farmers have a broad impact on everything from daily food prices to widespread environmental impacts to emerging fuel technologies. We need them to be part of our decision making process, and this meeting is yet another step in our engagement with the agricultural community." Click here for more details of the EPA Advisory Committee on farm and ranch issues. | |
OSU Wheat Market Watcher Kim Anderson Worries About Drying Out of the Southern Plains Wheat Belt ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wheat prices
have retreated from the highs of late summer- Fund buying was a key
component of the push higher as we learned about the ban on wheat exports
out of Russia for the balance of 2010. Now, Dr. Kim Anderson of OSU says
it seems like the funds are backing out of the market and prices have
pulled back. It seems that Mr. Market is looking for a support level.
Anderson tells Dave Deken on this weekend's SUNUP program that he IS CONCERNED about dry weather and the wheat acres that have been planted thus far. Those worries stretch from Kansas down across much of Western Oklahoma. You can watch Kim Anderson on SUNUP Saturday morning on OETA- and you can listen before then the conversation that Kim had with Dave by clicking on the LINK below. Besides listening to Kim Anderson- you can also check out the program lineup for SUNUP this Saturday morning in our webstory that we are directing you to. SUNUP is seen on the OETA system at 7:30 AM Saturday morning. Click here to go and take a listen to Kim Anderson talking wheat crop conditions and marketing. | |
As Congress Escapes From DC- NCBA's Colin Woodall Suggests Some Time in the Country ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ National
Cattlemen's Beef Association Vice President of Government Affairs Colin
Woodall encourages members of Congress to take the opportunity to listen
to rural Americans while on recess. Congress departed Sept. 29, 2010, for
pre-election recess. "As members of Congress hit the campaign trail, I encourage them to venture out to farms and ranches where folks are worried about the future of their operations," said Woodall. "They are worried because of the overwhelming increase of government intrusion into their businesses without any sort of logical reason." Woodall said members of Congress need to listen closely to grassroots
producers about the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Grain Inspection,
Packers and Stockyards Administration's (GIPSA) proposed rule on livestock
marketing; the Environmental Protection Agency's "excessive" regulations
on agriculture; and "burdensome and unnecessary" taxes. He said these
three issues alone could put many farmers and ranchers out of business
while also stifling younger generations from entering the family
operation. The policymakers are not expected to return to their Washington D.C.
offices until Nov. 15 for a lame-duck session. Although Woodall said the
agenda for the lame-duck session is largely dependent upon the outcome of
the Nov. 2 elections, he is hopeful estate tax relief for agriculture and
other small businesses will be a topic of discussion. He said if Congress
doesn't move on this issue by the end of the year, farmers and ranchers
will be hit with a 55 percent death tax. | |
International Baking Industry Expo Shows Promise for Sorghum ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Sorghum
Checkoff hosted a booth this week at the International Baking Industry
Expo (IBIE) in Las Vegas, Nev., to promote sorghum as a whole grain,
gluten-free solution for the commercial baking industry. "Interest in
sorghum here at IBIE has been phenomenal," said Virgil Smail, Sorghum
Checkoff executive director. "Producers don't always recognize the
magnitude of certain industries, and this is a huge opportunity for
sorghum. We want to deliver a quality product that helps meet the needs of
the wholesale bakers as well as the needs of the end-user."
Smail, a past president of the American Institute of Baking, also said the Sorghum Checkoff is working with ADM Company and other contacts in the baking and snack food industries to promote sorghum as a whole grain flour, which offers many health benefits. ADM is working to produce sorghum flour in commercial quantities to make available to the American food industry. Because sorghum can be ground into gluten-free flour, it is especially useful to those with intolerance to gluten found in wheat flour. ADM is promoting sorghum in their booth at IBIE by distributing cookies made with sorghum flour. "Consumers are requesting products that are gluten-free, whole grain or an old world grain," said Florentino Lopez, Sorghum Checkoff marketing director. "Judging by the interest generated at IBIE, that request is being heard. Sorghum can offer consumers a cost-competitive option for gluten-free, whole grain products." Lopez said many companies, both domestic and international, are interested in learning more about sorghum and how it can be utilized in existing and new food products. "There are still many questions to be answered and a lot of work has to be done in the sorghum food industry program," Lopez said. "This could be a viable international and domestic opportunity for sorghum." Click here for some more info from the Sorghum Checkoff folks about Gluten Free possibilities | |
Think About Some Aloha! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you have
been to our website in recent days- you may have noticed the banner ad at
the top of many of the pages that speaks of a trip that we are planning
for early 2011. A travel agency that has worked with several of my
colleagues in the farm broadcast community approached us earlier this year
with the idea of promoting a trip with our viewers, listeners and readers.
After checking with our peers within the farm broadcast community and getting good reviews on the quality of work that Holiday Vacations does- we have decided to give it a go. It's a pleasure to invite you to think about traveling with Jan and I to Hawaii in January of 2011 for a three island tour- including several days where we will be making some agricultural stops to get a perspective of agriculture that can only be seen in Hawaii. For example, we will be stopping at the Monsanto facility on Maui and
have a chance to see their work which facilitates their research here on
the mainland. With the weather conditions in Hawaii- they can perform
trials year round- speeding the process of getting new products through
the pipeline. Click here for more on this Hawaiian Adventure coming January 2011. | |
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 $8.85 per
bushel- as of the close of trade on Thursday, while the 2011 New Crop
contracts for Canola are now available are $9.15 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
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