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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Friday November 3, 2006
A
service of Midwest Farm Shows
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-- Today is first day of FSA County Committee Voting.
-- OkieCotton website up and running for the Oklahoma Cotton
Council!
-- LAGP Update as of November 2nd- 688,742 and Rising.
-- Once we get to January- Farm Bill Debate will become a
sprint!
-- Check out our radio reports daily on the most listened to farm
radio station in Oklahoma- K101!
-- Farm Credit sponsoring Fall FFA Contests this coming Monday.
-- Today is the OCA Fall Cattle Drive
-- Beef Buzzing with Terry Stokes of NCBA
Howdy Neighbors! Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. Our email this morning is a service of Midwest Farm Shows, featuring the Tulsa Farm Show December 7-9, 2006 and the Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City April 19-21, 2007. Check out details of both of these exciting shows at the official website of Midwest Farm Shows 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. | |
Today is first day of FSA County Committee Voting. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Agriculture
Secretary Mike Johanns has announced that the 2006 Farm Service Agency
(FSA) county committee elections starts today, Nov. 3, 2006. The deadline
for eligible voters to return ballots to their local FSA offices is Dec.
4, 2006. "The county committee system allows producers to make important
decisions concerning the local administration of federal farm programs,"
said Johanns. "I urge all eligible farmers and ranchers, especially
minorities and women, to get involved and vote in this year's elections."
Committee members apply their knowledge and judgment to make decisions on disaster and conservation payments, establishment of allotments and yields, producer appeals, employing FSA county executive directors and other local issues. FSA committees operate within official regulations designed to carry out federal laws. To be an eligible voter, farmers and ranchers must participate or cooperate in FSA programs. A person who is not of legal voting age, but supervises and conducts the farming operations of an entire farm, can also vote. Agricultural producers in each county submitted candidate names during the nomination period held last summer. Eligible voters who do not receive ballots in the coming week can obtain ballots at their local USDA Service Center. Dec. 4, 2006, is the last day for voters to submit ballots in person to local USDA Service Centers. Ballots returned by mail must be postmarked no later than Dec. 4. Newly elected committee members and alternates take office Jan. 1, 2007. | |
OkieCotton website up and running for the Oklahoma Cotton Council! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Oklahoma
Cotton Council has a website up and running, which we have linked below.
It has their Directors listed, contact info for their new Executive
Director Harvey Schoeder of Frederick, who we introduced you to several
weeks back, as well as their goals and objectives.
The top two objectives of this fairly new body representing the various aspects of the cotton business in the state are first "To promote and protect the interests of the Oklahoma cotton industry" and secondly "To foster improvement of the conditions under which Oklahoma cotton and its products are produced, processed, and sold." | |
LAGP Update as of November 2nd- 688,742 and Rising. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We checked in
with Jack Carson and the folks at the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture
yesterday afternoon and got an update on the number of applications they
have received for the Livestock Assistance Grant Program- which is being
funded by the $6.5 million block grant that USDA gave the state of
Oklahoma to divide among livestock operators that need help with forage
for their stock as they head into winter.
As of 4:00 pm yesterday, there had been 5,516 applications taken in by the ODAFF, with a total of 688,742 animal units on those operations that are being claimed by producers. If my calculator is running right- that's an average right now of about 125 animal units per operation that has applied for assistance. If we end up with say, two million animal units that actually are signed up, that could mean that each application could receive as much as $350 to $375 If we have a higher number of animal units, the per AU calculation would obviously go lower. Jack does remind us to remind you that as you fill out the application form, be sure to include your tax ID number or you can't get a check from the state. He also tells us of one informational meeting planned for this coming Monday at 6:30 pm in Prague at the Middle School Cafeteria. He also adds that if you are interested in an informational meeting in your community- call and the agency will make every effort to accommodate your request. | |
Once we get to January- Farm Bill Debate will become a sprint! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That's the
assessment of Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns. These comments coming
from Johanns as he appeared in Arizona, campaigning for Congressman Rick
Renzi and speaking to several Arizona farm leaders. Secretary Johanns says
we have had lots of preliminary talk with his own Farm Bill Listening
Sessions across the country, as well as the field hearings held by both
the House and Senate Ag Committees. But he adds, "Come January, the real
work will begin."
"You better be ready to not only sprint, but dead out run because this farm bill will be fast and furious," as Secretary Johanns adds, "It has to be passed in '07." The Arizona producers that dialogued with Johanns complained about the Bush Administration's call for payment limits, saying that cotton farmers would be badly hurt as their operations would quickly hit payment ceilings if current limits were lowered dramatically as we draft the next farm bill. Johanns called those comments "typical for folks raising cotton." I don't think he feels much sympathy for those who believe their only way to stay competitive is to farm more acres. | |
Check out our radio reports daily on the most listened to farm radio station in Oklahoma- K101! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We are very
pleased to have as a part of the Radio Oklahoma Network KWOX at 101.1 FM,
based in Woodward. Their giant signal has been the top farm radio for many
years here in the state- and you can hear Ron Hays and Ed Richards
throughout each weekday on K101!
Click below to go our web site and our page that gives you a complete lineup of our programs that can be heard each day on K101. If you are not hearing Ron Hays on the Radio Oklahoma Network on your local station, call the station manager and ask him to jump on the bandwagon because you want to hear "Ron on RON!" Click here for the program lineup from Radio Oklahoma Network on K101! | |
Farm Credit sponsoring Fall FFA Contests this coming Monday. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This Monday
afternoon, the Farm Credit Associations of Oklahoma are sponsoring five of
the newer Career Development Events that are a part of the FFA scene. Both
4-H and FFA members are welcome to participate- but they will be following
the rules that are used at the state and national FFA levels for the five
categories.
The five CDE categories include Agricultural Communications, Farm Business Management, Marketing Plan, Job Interview and Ag Sales. The Contest is being held at Meridian Technology Center in Stillwater, beginning at 1:00 pm. State FFA Executive Secretary Kent Boggs told us last week when we were in Indianapolis at the National FFA Convention that Farm Credit stepping up to help run this competition will really help our teams from Chapters across the state polish their skills as several of these events are only offered at the state level, with the top chapter heading to the National competition with little preparation, which makes it very hard to compete at the highest level. | |
Today is the OCA Fall Cattle Drive ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Right after
lunch today, the OCA Fall Cattle Drive rolls into OKC- West in El Reno,
and it looks like it should be a replacement female sale that just about
any cattle producer will be able to find some genetics that will help his
cow herd. The sale begins at 1 pm- and A.J. Smith is the man to contact at
405-235- 4391. We do have the info on the event linked below.
This morning- the fall Board of Directors Meeting for the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association will be held, beginning at 10 am. The Oklahoma Cattle Women also plan a meeting this morning as well. Click here for a look at the sales details of the OCA Fall Cattle Drive | |
Beef Buzzing with Terry Stokes of NCBA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our guest here
at the end of the week on our daily Beef Buzz is Terry Stokes, CEO of the
National Cattlemen's Beef Association, who tells us that NCBA believes we
need to make a major push after the elections to get Congress to pass the
proposal that would clarify that animal manure is not a hazardous waste
and therefore not subject to the so called Superfund Laws.
Click below and you can hear Terry's comments about this issue that is a "very close to home" subject for Oklahoma with our Attorney General in his high profile fight with the northwest Arkansas Poultry companies- using the Superfund liability act to pursue his lawsuit. Click here to listen to Ron and Terry Stokes on today's Beef Buzz. | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows for their support of our daily Farm News Update. Go to their website at the link at the top of today's email for more information on either the Tulsa Farm Show or the Southern Plains Farm Show. 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. | |
God Bless! You can reach us at the following: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
phone: 405-473-6144
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