From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.ccsend.com] on behalf of Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2011 6:37 AM
To: Hays, Ron
Subject: Oklahoma's Farm News Update
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Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Tuesday February 15, 2011
A service of Johnston Enterprises, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy and American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance Company!
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-- Watching Brown Wheat
-- President Obama Wants to Cut Direct Payments- Again
-- Winter Weather Creates Challenges for Cattle Producers and Markets
-- Coalition Pushes for Action on Colombia and Panama FTAs
-- Troy Hadrick Believes in Promoting Agriculture One Story at a Time
-- OYE Entry Deadline Arrives
-- USDA Says Farm Income and Expenses Rising in 2011
-- 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 brand new website!

And we are proud to have P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy as as one of our regular sponsors of our daily email update. P & K is the premiere John Deere dealer in Oklahoma, with ten locations to serve you, and the P & K team are excited about their new Wind Power program, as they offer Endurance Wind Power wind turbines. Click here for more from the P&K website.

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.


Watching Brown Wheat
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There is a great deal of concern in some areas of the state where we had limited snow cover over the 2011 winter wheat crop and bitterly cold temperatures this last week. We received an update from Dr. Jeff Edwards yesterday, who says- watch and wait.

Dr. Edwards tells us "The extreme cold of last week caused a significant amount of tissue damage to wheat that did not have snow cover. It is important to remember, though, that brown wheat does not necessarily mean dead wheat. I have seen wheat burned to the soil surface in early March and recover to make 60 bushels/A. I am not saying that will be the case this time around, but I do encourage you to give damaged wheat 5 - 7 days recovery time before making any decisions regarding the crop. I will look at some fields late this week and report back to you then."


President Obama Wants to Cut Direct Payments- Again
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Unveiling his $3.7 trillion federal budget for fiscal 2012 Monday, President Obama said his budget proposal "puts us on a path to pay for what we spend by the middle of the decade." Key to this budget path is the President's decision to freeze annual domestic discretionary spending for five years, cutting the federal deficit by some $400 billion over the next decade. Obama said this will reduce domestic spending "to its lowest share of our economy since Dwight Eisenhower was President."

In the case of agriculture, it's not a spending freeze, but rather very significant budget cuts that the Obama Administration is seeking. Direct Payments, Conservation Programs and the Crop Insurance Program all would be cut in a very substantial way. All told, President Obama's fiscal 2012 USDA budget request cuts four-billion dollars in discretionary spending from the fiscal year 2011 request - and more in total spending.

We have a link to the full USDA Budget overview- and at our LINK below- we have that as well as the statement on the budget by Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack- plus we have an audio overview of the budget release from an agricultural perspective- with comments from Vilsack and reaction from the top Republican on the Senate Ag Committee, Pat Roberts of Kansas.

Click here for our story on the Obama FY2012 budget from a farm viewpoint.


Winter Weather Creates Challenges for Cattle Producers and Markets
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Two major winter storms a week apart have cattle producers scrambling to care for animals and maintain production. According to Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Market Specialist Dr. Derrell Peel, virtually all sectors of cattle and beef markets have been impacted by theses storms. In Oklahoma, new snowfall and cold temperature records have pushed producers and cattle well out their normal operating ranges. Winter weather also disrupts markets and it will take some time for ripple effects of the storms to work their way out of the system.

Spring calving cows are either calving now or will be shortly. These cows are vulnerable nutritionally and nutritional stress could cause weak calves and more death loss this spring and/or poor rebreeding that could affect the 2012 calf crop. It is important to provide adequate quantity and quality of feed for cows in order to avoid loss of condition that may not be apparent until after cows calve and begin lactating. Stocker cattle, for the most part, probably experienced poor performance and perhaps some weight loss for several days. It does not appear that there was any widespread death loss due to the storms. Many cattle on wheat had limited forage availability and have already moved to market or will be moving very soon. Several cattle auctions in Oklahoma were closed due to the storms but should be back open as usual this week.

Click on the LINK below to read the rest of Dr. Peel's latest cattle market analysis.

Click here to read the full analysis from Derrell Peel about the cattle marketplace after the back to back snowstorms.


Coalition Pushes for Action on Colombia and Panama FTAs
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A coalition of U.S. agricultural and food organizations is urging President Obama to direct U.S. negotiators to move forward with efforts to finalize free trade agreements with Colombia and Panama. In a letter the coalition asked that FTAs be finalized and that implementing legislation be submitted to Congress as soon as possible. The national legislatures of Colombia and Panama already have approved the trade pacts.

The coalition wrote, "Four years of trade benefits for U.S. farmers, ranchers and food processors have now been forfeited by our inaction on these agreements, and competitor countries have taken advantage of this lapse to grab U.S. market shares. It is time to bring this situation to an end."

The coalition pointed out that the agreements will provide important new market access to U.S. food and agricultural exports, which, in turn, will create U.S. jobs and strengthen rural economies. Many U.S. food and agricultural products will become eligible for duty-free treatment in Colombia and Panama as soon as the agreements are approved, and virtually all will receive duty-free treatment over specified phase-in periods.

Click here for an article from England on how the Chinese are making moves in Colombia that are putting pressure on the Obama Administration to get the Trade Deals Rolling Quickly.


Troy Hadrick Believes in Promoting Agriculture One Story at a Time
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Troy Hadrick and his wife Stacy decided several years ago that they needed to stand up for the industry and lifestyle they love- farming. According to their website, Advocating for Agriculture, "Troy and Stacy realized right off the bat that the best way to combat negativity toward agriculture was to stand up and tell your own story. No one can dispute your story. It is yours. But for too long, those of us in agriculture have been letting someone else do the talking for us. They also realized that they can't do it all themselves.

"In 2006, Troy and Stacy decided that they needed to share the importance of standing up and telling the story of agriculture with producers. What started out as a 25 minute speech at the South Dakota Women in Agriculture Conference has evolved into Advocates for Agriculture. Word traveled fast about this young couple in South Dakota and soon they were being asked to speak at locations across the United States."

We caught up the Hadricks at the Cattle Industry Convention in Denver, where they offered instruction to those going through the Masters in Beef Advocacy program. As we talked with Hadrick about opportunities to tell the story of agriculture, we discussed his famous YouTube video of pouring out the wine in a bottle of Yellow Tail Wine in protest to that company supporting the HSUS. That video was posted a year ago- and it caused a major pushback by supporters of livestock agriculture, which resulted in Yellow Tail backing away from future support of the Humane Society run by Wayne Pacelle.

Click here to go and listen to our conversation with this Agricultural Social Media Guru and How He is Talking Agriculture One Story at a Time


OYE Entry Deadline Arrives
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The deadline to get your entries in for the 2011 Oklahoma Youth Expo is midnight tomorrow night, February 16, 2011.

Inclement weather has pushed back the deadline by a few days, but it is now here- and if you plan to be a part of the show- you have to get those entries in as detailed on the OYE website.

The 2011 Youth Expo is expected to be another record breaker- with the dates for this year's event March 11-21.

Click here for the OYE webpage on entries for the 2011 Youth Expo.


USDA Says Farm Income and Expenses Rising in 2011
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According to USDA's Economic Research Service net farm income will be up nearly 20 percent in 2011, totaling 94.7-billion dollars. This is despite a 20-billion dollar jump in production expenses. The 2011 forecast is the second highest inflation-adjusted value for net farm income recorded in the past 35 years. Cash receipts are expected to increase 9.1 percent, with cotton, soybean, wheat, and corn receipts showing the largest gains.

The value of the farm sector's equity or net worth is forecast to rise 6.8 percent. The estimated increase is largely due to an estimated 6.3-percent increase in the value of farm business real estate. The farm business sector's debt-to-asset ratio is expected to decline from 11.3 percent in 2010 to 10.7 percent in 2011, and the debt-to-equity is expected to decline to 12.8 percent in 2010 to 12.0 percent in 2011. This indicates the farm sector's solvency position remains strong.

In 2011, average family farm household income is forecast to be up 4.0 percent over 2010 to $86,352. Both on-farm and off-farm income are forecast to be up in 2010 and 2011, compared to the previous years. In 2011, 12.9 percent of the income of farm families is expected to be from farm sources, with the rest from off-farm income.

Click here to see the report from the Economic Research Service of the USDA.


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.

Click here to check out WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com


Let's Check the Markets!
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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 $10.00 per bushel, while the 2011 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available are $10.75 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:
Our Daily Market Wrapup from the Radio Oklahoma Network with Ed Richards and Tom Leffler- analyzing the Futures Markets from the previous Day-
Ron on RON Markets as heard on K101 mornings with cash and futures reviewed- includes where the Cash Cattle market stands, the latest Feeder Cattle Markets Etc.
Previous Day's Wheat Market Recap- Two Pager From The Kansas City Board of Trade looks at all three US Wheat Futures Exchanges with extra info on Hard Red Winter Wheat and the why of that day's market.
Daily Oklahoma Cash Grain Prices- As Reported by the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture. <
The National Daily Feeder & Stocker Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
The National Daily Slaughter Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
Finally, Here is the Daily Volume and Price Summary from the Texas Cattle Feeders Association.



God Bless! You can reach us at the following:
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phone: 405-473-6144
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