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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The web site for Farm Credit Services of East Central Oklahoma offers the following as a brief bio for Hub. "Hub Ariola is no stranger to agriculture. The Watonga native was raised on a farm and cattle operation in the small Western Oklahoma town. He moved off the farm to pursue a college career at Oklahoma State University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in agronomy in 1978. Ariola went to work for Farm Credit in June of that same year, and has since worked in numerous Farm Credit offices across Oklahoma and in Dodge City and Pratt, Kan. Ariola was named President and Chief Executive Officer of Farm Credit Services of East Central Oklahoma, ACA in 2002."

Hub has been well known for his active support of youth and young adults in their pursuit of excellence in farming and ranching. That includes support well beyond the call of duty for FFA and 4-H contests, speech competitions and even programs like the recently completed Oklahoma Young Cattlemen's Leadership Program- he and Farm Credit Services of East Central Oklahoma were sponsors for these young men and ladies.

Peterson tells us it appears that HB 1434 has been set aside for this session- this is the James Covey proposal that would have required producers to register any use of 2-4-D anywhere in the state from May through October- I have heard from cotton producers who wanted this legislation saying they needed it to protect their crops from spray drifts- and I have heard from the OCA saying this is a priority for them to see this measure be killed. It appears that for this session anyway- that second line of thought has prevailed.

Peterson, who talked with us last night during the 2007 Oklahoma Farm Bureau Leadership Conference, says there should be enough money in the state's coffers to get the most needed items done- including the possible supplemental allocation of $2.9 million dollars for OSU Extension and the Experiment Station that was derailed last year at the end of the session- we have been told by OSU officials that this is will allow the OSU Division of Agriculture to continue forward to start bringing staff levels back up in several depleted areas in both segments that help the University carry out its Land Grant status.

Click here to listen to Ron and Lori talk about Legislative Priorities for Farm Bureau in 2007!

The Congressman tells me that the 2007 language is one of the unique things in his measure- he's still pushing to get that included in the measure that will go forward- but is uncertain if that will happen or not.

We also talked with Congressman Lucas about the pot of money that is needed to be able to start writing the 2007 farm bill- and he fully expects an almost shocking number from the Democratic Leadership and the Budget Committee to be offered to the Committee to start the process. He says we should not panic if that happens- he has been told that they will simply have to go back and plead a specific higher number once that initial "lowball" is pitched. He did say that the $18 billion less than the 2002 bill assumptions proposed by the USDA may look "generous" compared to what the number that Speaker Polosi and her minions may propose in the next few weeks. Stay Tuned!

Click here to listen to Ron visit with Congressman Lucas about Disaster Aid and the Pot of Money for Farm Bill Writing.

Each of these meetings are formatted the same way- they include an evening meal sponsored by Pfizer Animal Health, with the program including an Animal Health update from Pfizer, followed by an OCA Issues update. Supper at each of these meetings happens at 6:30 pm- with the program wrapping up by around 8:30 or so.

Five more of these meetings are planned this week and next. Tonight, OCA staff will hold their southwest District meeting at the Comanche County Fairgrounds in Lawton, on Thursday, they will be at the Claremore Expo Center in Claremore and next week, they have meetings scheduled in McAlester, Sulphur and Woodward. For information on these District events- you can call the OCA office in Oklahoma City at 405- 235-4391.

The gathering will hear from Immediate Past National President of the National Association of Conservation Districts, Bill Wilson of Kinta, as well as from Oklahoma's new Lt. Governor Jari Askins. Several "green" groups are included on the program on Monday, as Andy McDaniels of the Oklahoma Wildlife Federation and Mike Fuhr, State Director of the Oklahoma Nature Conservancy will discuss their positions on both state and national Conservation issues.

The group has a Legislative Reception and Dinner planned for Monday evening and will be hearing from Oklahoma House Speaker Lance Cargill Tuesday morning. We have linked their full schedule below that is on the Oklahoma Conservation Commission website.

Click here to review the agenda for the 2007 Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts Meeing.

The bill by Rep. Jerry Ellis, D-Valiant, would prohibit lawsuits against agricultural based non point pollution locations until a variety of preliminary steps are taken, including a study to determine whether they are responsible for the pollution and development of a watershed implementation plan by the Oklahoma Conservation Commission.

Environmental Secretary Miles Tolbert was at the subcommittee meeting held yesterday and did not address the House members- but was reported as saying afterwards that it would take 18 years to work through the list proposed by state lawmaker Jerry Ellis if this measure became law. It's uncertain if this measure could impact the current litigation brought by State Attorney General Drew Edmondson against the northwest Arkansas Poultry Companies as he claims that chicken litter is the basis of pollution in the Illinois River watershed. Ellis said the measure would not prohibit state officials like the Environmental Secretary and the Attorney General from filing lawsuits against non point source polluters- but would require officials to work with farmers, ranchers and poultry growers to resolve problems before going to court. The measure does say that "This language does not prohibit administrative or legal action against individual agricultural producers who are not complying with state law."

Both KITO and KGND will be carrying four of our shows that Ron Hays anchors daily on RON. Those reports include Morning Farm News, our daily Beef Buzz, Midday Oklahoma Farm News and our Oklahoma Stocker Feeder Review. In addition, these stations carry farm news and markets from Larry Steckline's Mid America Ag Network, making it the right place in northeastern Oklahoma to tune in for agricultural information ALL DAY LONG!

You can find KITO-FM at 96.1 as they boom across much of northeastern Oklahoma with their country music format, while KGND has recently switched to a Sports Format and can be heard on the AM dial at 1470. We are glad to welcome them to our growing Ron on RON family!

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