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 Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City April 19-21, 2007, as well as the Tulsa Farm Show held each December. Check out details of both of these exciting shows at the official website of Midwest Farm Shows by clicking here.

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It's too early to tell- but Jeanne believes that we may be seeing the beginning of a cycle where we can have less confidence in getting wheat pasture every year in much of Oklahoma- she says that more and more it is looking like you need to almost plan on the wheat pasture, especially in the fall, as a bonus during years that we get decent moisture early in the growth cycle. She says that clearly the last two years we have not.

She adds that the long term outlook for Oklahoma is for warmer winters, drier conditions and hotter summers. At the same time, she adds that we will have wild cards tossed into the ring with extremes like major cold snaps, flooding and the like along the way. She expresses real concern about getting a significant moisture system into Oklahoma anytime soon based on how the storm tracks continue to run. She says that when we get a system tracking off the Pacific down through Baja California and moving across Mexico and the southern Rockies-we have a better chance of sucking some Gulf moisture around with it and bringing that into the state. The storms that are beating up the Pacific Northwest do little to help us as they almost always track too far north.

Click here for our conversation with Jeanne Schneider of USDA and our long term weather discussion.

Among the ideas that Mike was hearing in Washington this past week:
They plan to move ahead quickly to fill all staff positions and restructure committees- meaning the Democrats as they assume power.
Senate staff are certainly interested in conservation programs and particularly the CSP and how to fully fund and implement the program.
He says there is some discussion with how to allow use of CRP lands and maintain environmental protection, potential to move CRP lands into CSP.
A significant issue that seems to be on the table- Revenue insurance getting serious consideration
Mike says all indications are that NEW hearings on key topics at the direction of subcommittee chairs may start early.

Dr. Dicks has promised to help us flesh out some of the ideas that may be floating around about how Revenue Insurance or Assurance might be structured in a 2007 farm bill draft.

The 2007 conference agenda has been planned to include a variety of topics such as traditional farming, women's safety, recordkeeping and backyard conservation. The planned keynote speaker is Dr. Mac McCrory with OSU/OKC who will present: "As years go by, does intimacy fade?" This year's conference will also feature a "Made in Oklahoma" mini-mall that will highlight products that are made right here in our state, such as buffalo meat products, wine, bath and body products and other food items and gives attendees the opportunity to visit with people who own and operate Oklahoma based businesses.

Pre-registration cost for the conference is $10.00 per person which includes a buffet lunch provided by Klein's catering and refreshments during breaks. Registration for mini-mall vendors will be $50, which will include one meal ticket. Additional meal tickets are available for $10.00 Pre-registration ends December 29th and although the title of the conference implies that the conference is for women, men are welcome as well. For additional conference information, please contact Sheri Nickel at the Garfield County Conservation District at (580)237- 7880.

The second biggest story for cattle feeders in 2006 is the price of corn rising faster than flood waters rushing down a mountain canyon. Drought concerns was the third most important story listed by the TCFA during their year end news conference this past week in Amarillo, while battles over Environmental issues like the Dust Rules unveiled by the EPA was story number four.

In the second five stories they listed- they spoke of the 20th anniversary of the Beef Checkoff, the debate over Animal ID and the fact that Smithfield had announced plans to build a new state of the art beef processing facility near Hooker in the Oklahoma Panhandle- work on that plant is expected to begin as early as January. I have linked the full list of the top ten stories from the TCFA- that link is right below.

Click here for the TCFA Top Ten Stories of Impact for the Beef Business in 2006.

It is very safe to assume that after the markets of this week- our livestock auctions will almost ALL will be finished for 2006- so if you want to move any cattle because of tax considerations- you need to probably get that done right away.

It is also a good idea to take a quick look at where you are financially here for 2006- and if you need to do any last minute adjustments for tax considerations- take care of those issues quickly as we have less than two weeks and 2006 will be history.

Specifically - EPA issued a rule revising the Clean Air Act National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter on October 17th. In adjusting the annual and daily air quality standards for particulate matter - EPA also rejected an earlier proposal to exclude agricultural dust from regulation. Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman says EPA’s rule is not based on sound science - and the decision to regulate agricultural dust will negatively impact U.S. farmers and ranchers.

Farmers and ranchers agree on the importance of producing food and fiber in a fashion that is environmentally sound - but according to Stallman - over-regulation restricts farmers and ranchers from being productive and serving as global leaders in providing safe and affordable food in the U.S. and abroad.

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