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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Monday December 27,
2010 A
service of Johnston Enterprises, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind
Energy and American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance
Company!
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-- EPA Pushes Ahead with Greenhouse Gas Permitting in Early
2011
-- A Year End Conversation with Terry Detrick of AFR
-- Bill Bullard of R-Calf Contends Age Restrictions on US Beef
Exports Are Our Own Fault
-- One of the Big Five Beef Stories of 2010- Animal ID
-- An Inside Look at Beef Processing
-- OALP Alums- Meeting the Noble Challenge Grant Depends on You
-- Our Thoughts and Prayers Go Out to Oklahoma State Professor Jim
Stiegler
-- 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 pleased to have American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance Company as a regular sponsor of our daily update- click here to go to their AFR web site to learn more about their efforts to serve rural America! It is also great to have as an annual sponsor on our daily email
Johnston Enterprises- proud to be serving agriculture across
Oklahoma and around the world since 1893. One of the great success stories
of the Johnston brand is Wrangler Bermudagrass- the most widely planted
true cold-tolerant seeded forage bermudagrass in the United States. For
more on Johnston Enterprises- click
here for their website that features their grain, ports and seed
business! 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. | |
EPA Pushes Ahead with Greenhouse Gas Permitting in Early 2011 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency issued its plan on Thursday for
establishing greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution standards under the Clean Air
Act in 2011. The agency looked at a number of sectors and is moving
forward on GHG standards for fossil fuel power plants and petroleum
refineries-two of the largest industrial sources, representing nearly 40
percent of the GHG pollution in the United States. The schedule issued in
Thursday's agreements provides a clear path forward for these sectors and
is part of EPA's common-sense approach to addressing GHGs from the largest
industrial pollution sources.
"We are following through on our commitment to proceed in a measured and careful way to reduce GHG pollution that threatens the health and welfare of Americans, and contributes to climate change," Administrator Lisa Jackson said. "These standards will help American companies attract private investment to the clean energy upgrades that make our companies more competitive and create good jobs here at home." Agriculture is not directly regulated under these rules issued last week by the Agency- but most observers believe that agriculture will be impacted as the rules are rolled out in the days ahead. Click on the LINK below for more on this announcement by EPA on Friday that they are moving forward without Congress enacting its Climate Change bill that passed the House but ran aground in the US Senate. Click here for more on the EPA's move to regulate Greenhouse Gases in Industry | |
A Year End Conversation with Terry Detrick of AFR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As we end
2010, we had the opportunity to sit down with the President of the
American Farmers & Ranchers, Terry Detrick, and talk with him about a
variety of subjects that were a part of Oklahoma agriculture in 2010- as
well as taking a look ahead into 2011.
We also talk about some of the key personalities that have made news in the agricultural arena in 2010- including Detrick's take on Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas taking on the job of Chairman of the House Ag Committee. The farm leader also heaps praise on the eight years of service given by the outgoing State Secretary of Agriculture Terry Peach. Click on the LINK below to jump to our webstory where you can hear our full conversation with this veteran farm leader as we wind down 2010 and look into 2011. Click here for our visit with Terry Detrick of the American Farmers & Ranchers | |
Bill Bullard of R-Calf Contends Age Restrictions on US Beef Exports Are Our Own Fault ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In separate
meetings held recently with Democrat and Republican staff members of the
U.S. Senate Finance Committee, R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard and former
R-CALF USA director David Hutchins provided a presentation that
demonstrates the U.S. has given beef export markets a legitimate reason to
impose strict age restrictions on U.S. beef exports to prevent the
introduction of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or mad cow disease)
from being introduced into their respective countries.
"We are urging U.S. Senators to cease their efforts to gain age-limit concessions from China, South Korea, Japan, Singapore and other countries that impose such restrictions until the U.S. first reinstates adequate import restrictions to stop the importation of cattle with a high risk for BSE from entering the U.S. and commingling in the U.S. cattle herd," said Bullard. The countries of Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Russia and Singapore all impose at least a 30-month age restriction on the cattle used to produce U.S. beef or beef products for export to their countries. These age restrictions have remained in force since December 2003, when an imported Canadian cow infected with BSE was discovered inside the U.S. border. | |
One of the Big Five Beef Stories of 2010- Animal ID ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For the final
week of 2010- we are going to look back over some of the major issues that
have impacted the US beef cattle industry over the past twelve months. The
issue we focus on today is Animal ID. It was decided as we ended 2009 and
began 2010 by the US Department of Agriculture that the NAIS approach of
keeping a national animal ID system in place was hopeless- and Ag
Secretary Tom Vilsack and the USDA unveiled a different approach to trying
to put into place an animal disease traceback program that would work
effectively if needed because of a disease outbreak.
In February and March we had Beef Buzz reports and we pull from those
reports to look back on an issue that is in no way close to being
resolved. Click on the LINK below for this Beef Buzz- as heard on radio stations across the Radio Oklahoma Network. We also have many of our Beef Buzz shows from this past year on our website- www.OklahomaFarmReport.com- and you can go there, click on the Beef Buzz button on the left hand side of any page- and review our Beef Buzzes month by month. Click here for today's Beef Buzz as we look at the isse of Animal ID and Animal Disease Traceback. | |
An Inside Look at Beef Processing ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ellie Krieger
is a dietician and hosts a program on the cable channel, the Food Network.
She has written an amazingly positive review of a tour she made a few
weeks ago through the Cargill Beef Processing Plant in Plainview, Texas.
Her article in the Huffington Post starts with this paragraph "I just got back from west Texas where I toured a big industrial beef processing plant and I am still in shock by what I witnessed there. But I am not shocked in the way you might expect based on the negative portrayals of the beef industry that seem so rampant in the media. Rather, I am stunned by how humanly the animals were treated and by the detailed attention given to food safety at every stage of the process." She toured the Cargill plant in Plainview- starting at where the meat is cut into steaks and roasts- and moving backwards- ending at the point of harvest of the live animals. You can read her analysis of the day- which you will really enjoy (unless you are Wayne Pacelle) by clicking on the link below. Click here for the Huffington Post Blog by Ellie Krieger of the Food Network. | |
OALP Alums- Meeting the Noble Challenge Grant Depends on You ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Noble
Foundation has been a major supporter of the Oklahoma Ag Leadership
Program since fundraising for the Program began with Class 2- they have
continued the practice of offering a challenge grant to the Alumni of the
OALP. The 2010 Challenge is $20,000. Alums will see their gift to the
running of the program matched dollar for dollar by the Noble Foundation.
Time is running short to be a part of this effort. The new Director of
the program, Dr. Edmond Bonjour, says as of last week that we are running
a little behind on the number of alums that have given versus a year ago-
and we still have a few thousand dollars to go to finish matching the
Noble Grant. You can also call the OSU Foundation directly and make a credit card pledge- just be very specific with the folks at the Foundation that this is a gift for the OALP. The phone number for the Foundation is 405-385-5100. Edmond asks that you let him know that you have given that way- as it often takes several days for the word to get back to the OALP office that such a gift has been received. | |
Our Thoughts and Prayers Go Out to Oklahoma State Professor Jim Stiegler ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr. Jim
Stiegler of the Oklahoma State University Plant and Soil Science
Department is mourning the loss of his son and daughter in law who were
killed in a automobile accident on Christmas Eve in Texas. Dr. Stiegler
has traveled to College Station where his eight month old granddaughter,
Emily, fights for her life from the accident that made her an orphan.
The newspaper in College Station tells of young Dr. Stiegler. "James "Chris" Stiegler, 35, was a rising star at Texas A&M. He just completed his first semester as a soil and crop sciences faculty member, fresh off earning his doctorate from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and moving to College Station, from Stillwater, Okla." "The couple will be buried in Stillwater, where they have many family
and friends. James Stiegler said the family hopes to set up a scholarship
fund for Emily, but didn't yet have details." | |
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 $10.05
per bushel- as of the close of business yesterday, while the 2011 New Crop
contracts for Canola are now available are $10.70 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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