From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Friday, March 02, 2007 06:16
To: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
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 Friday March 2, 2007!
A service of Midwest Farm Shows
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-- Biotech Wheat needed to help prevent wheat from becoming "a minor crop!"
-- Wheat Producers still looking for Disaster Aid this spring.
-- Do the South Koreans understand that if they want a Free Trade Deal with the USA- they will have to open up to our beef???
-- In the Southern Great Plains we have dual purpose wheat- what about dual purpose corn???
-- Ag Exports adjusted significantly higher for the current export year.
-- On to Orlando and NFU's 105th Annual Meeting!
-- In Northwestern Oklahoma- check out K101 when you want the latest markets and farm news from RON!!!

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.

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.


Biotech Wheat needed to help prevent wheat from becoming "a minor crop!"
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It's being called a crisis in competitiveness by wheat industry leaders- as wheat acres melt away with other crops offering better profit potential for a variety of reasons. The Wheat Industry says part of that advantage that other crops have- corns like corn, soybeans, canola and cotton- is the biotech bullet. That has lowered the cost of production in many cases and has provided other benefits to the producers of these crops.

Wheat acres have been slipping in recent years- and one of the NAWG officers referred to this as saying, "If we don't address it quickly we may see wheat become a minor crop here in the United States" and he adds that could be bad for our domestic users of wheat as well as bad for those who choose to remain a wheat producer.

As a result, both the National Association of Wheat Growers and U.S. Wheat Associates have passed resolutions that demand progress in getting the biotech train put back on the tracks. They hope to do several things- including educate users in other countries that while we can supply them non-GMO wheat, it will be almost impossible to be able to offer at some point down the road, GMO Free wheat. They also plan on going to other major wheat producing countries and ask that they come along with the US into the new world of biotech at the same time and not use it as a sales point against us- and finally they want to visit with Biotech providers and encourage them to get back into the wheat biotech game. We have our comments from the two top hired hands from these groups linked below- take a listen and see where the wheat industry stands on this issue.

Click here to listen to Coppock and Tracy on Biotech Wheat Strategy


Wheat Producers still looking for Disaster Aid this spring.
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National Association of Wheat Growers CEO Daren Coppock says they are continue to ride the same horse that has been talked about for several weeks ago as the best hope for getting disaster aid through Congress and signed grudgingly by President Bush. That vehicle is the Emergency Military Supplemental for Iraq.

Coppock says that's the ONLY horse out there big enough to carry this load all the way to the barn. He says he has heard all kinds of figures but he believes it will be at least three billion- probably a little more depending on what early 2007 disasters they include. You can hear Coppock's comments to us here at the Commodity Classic on this subject by clicking below.

Click to hear Ron and Daren Coppock on Disaster Aid revisited.


Do the South Koreans understand that if they want a Free Trade Deal with the USA- they will have to open up to our beef???
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The CEO and President of the US Meat Export Federation, Phil Seng, is just back from visits in both Tokyo and Seoul in an effort to assess the situation we find ourselves in regarding beef sales to both countries.

Seng says that he thinks that in Japan, it continues to be slow- but that he is hopeful that we will see the Japanese come to the table later in 2007 to lift the age barrier on beef they will accept from animals of no more than 20 months of age up to at least the 30 month threshold. That will greatly up the amount of beef available from the US to be sold to Japan. He is also hopeful they will ease up on inspections of shipments of US beef into Japan- as they will spend hours going through box after box of beef as it arrives in that country.

When it comes to Korea- Seng says the best thing happening is that the Ag Ministry is finding other parts of their government starting to sit up and say in effect- what are you doing and what are you thinking when it comes to stonewalling US beef from their market. Seng says that he believes that gives us reason to hope that we will have a shot of getting that market reopened to commercially viable trade in the not too different future. You can go to the link below and hear Phil's comments on the Korean situation.

Click here for Phil Seng's take on whether Korea understands- NO Beef NO FTA!


In the Southern Great Plains we have dual purpose wheat- what about dual purpose corn???
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Here in the southern Hard Red Winter Wheat belt, we know all about grazing your wheat until First Hollow Stem (BTW-Are you checking on that in your fields?) but now one of the leading corn seed companies, Pioneer and their parent company, Dupont, are looking hard at breeding lines of hybrids that will produce a high grain yield and also yield a higher than normal amount of corn stover to be harvested in two ways. First, up to half of it might be removed to be turned into cellulosic ethanol, while the other half would remain on the field to offer cattle grazing as well as the environmental benefits needed to provide nutrients for the next crop, mulch to help conserve moisture and organic matter to help condition the soil.

This is a job for Bill Niebur, who is Dupont's Vice President for Crop Genetics Research and Development. Here at Commodity Classic, one of the activities that has developed over the years is a string of non stop news briefings of what's new from some of the major companies in R&D in the business of agriculture. These started yesterday after we heard from the three major commodity groups that make up the Commodity Classic (Corn, Soybean and Wheat Growers).

Pioneer has the genetics in their inventory that can offer larger amounts of stover that will hang on through harvest- and Niebur says it's a matter of matching that up with great grain yielding strains. We chatted with Niebur after his presentation and we offer this look into the future for you today if you click on the link below.

Click here to listen to Ron and Bill Niebur of Dupont talk about Multi Purpose Corn.


Ag Exports adjusted significantly higher for the current export year.
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U.S. Ag Secretary Mike Johanns says USDA has increased the forecast for ag exports. The revised projection is a record 78-billion dollars for fiscal year 2007. According to Johanns - that would be a 9.3- billion dollar increase over last year - the second largest increase on record. It would also mark the fourth year of back-to-back records.

The majority of the increase - Johanns says - is the result of grain and oilseed sectors. He says trends like demand for corn, reduced competition for wheat and only moderate growth in South American oilseed production are driving the rise in export value and keeping U.S. competitiveness strong.

Johanns says USDA is also expecting considerable growth and record sales for livestock and horticultural products. The Secretary says exports of livestock and poultry products are expected to increase by 1.2-billion dollars. Johanns says that’s supported by higher meat volumes to a number of markets. The 1.3-billion dollar increase expected in horticultural exports - Johanns says - is driven by rising sales of processed products.


On to Orlando and NFU's 105th Annual Meeting!
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We will be around here in Tampa for a few more hours- mainly to listen to US Trade Ambassador Susan Schwab late this morning as she addresses the Commodity Classic opening General Session- then spends some time with reporters following those remarks. After Ambassador Schwab- we plan on heading for Orlando and getting set to cover the 105th annual meeting of the National Farmers Union that opens their meetings this evening.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is scheduled to speak to that opening session of the NFU, and also to be on hand is Collin Peterson, the new Chairman of the House Ag Committee, with the Democratic takeover of the House.

I was told by both Ray Wulf and Terry Detrick that they have a full delegation of OFU members that will be in Florida for these meetings and will be pushing several issues important to Oklahoma Farmers Union here at the this meeting. Top of mind topics at this meeting will include the usual- Disaster Aid, Farm Bill and a normal topic for NFU meetings- competitiveness. That is especially relevant for NFU in the livestock sector as they have championed Mandatory COOL as well as supporting Tom Harkin's ideas on limiting packer ownership of livestock. We will have coverage from Orlando firs thing Monday morning for you on both the Radio Oklahoma Network as well as here on this morning email update.


In Northwestern Oklahoma- check out K101 when you want the latest markets and farm news from RON!!!
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They are the most listened to radio station in the state by farmers- have been for years- and we are proud to have our daily farm news and market updates as the key element for K101 's farm and ranch news coverage daily.

Check out our reports from RON on K101 throughout the day- we have linked below a listing of those reports that you can print out and keep close to your radio so you can have the latest and most accurate farm news to be found in Oklahoma.

If you are outside of K101's listening area that goes out a long way from Woodward- drop us a note and we'll be glad to give you a list of stations where you can hear our daily farm and ranch news and markets from the Radio Oklahoma Network. We appreciate your support!!!

Click here to see the lineup of programs available on K101 Radio out of Woodward!!!


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.

Click here to check out WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com



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