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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Thursday July 12, 2007!
A
service of Midwest Farm Shows
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-- Governor Henry Says Oklahoma Deserves and Needs Disaster
Declaration!
-- Another Multi Million Bushel Cut in the 2007 Oklahoma Wheat Crop
Expected from USDA.
-- Kansas Wheat Crop in South Central Kansas Just as Ugly as that
found in North Central Oklahoma.
-- We will all be COOL- because it appears this version of source
verification is on its way- courtesy of the 2002 Farm Bill.
-- Ft. Reno Site in Central Oklahoma NOT a Finalist for Plum Island's
Replacement Facility!
-- The dryland cotton starting to look better in southwest
Oklahoma.
-- Poultry Industry Putting Best Foot Forward in an Effort to Promote
Solutions outside a Courtroom.
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 recently concluded Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City, 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. | |
Governor Henry Says Oklahoma Deserves and Needs Disaster Declaration! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In a letter to
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns, Governor. Brad Henry has
requested a Secretarial Disaster Designation for all of Oklahoma's 77
counties for weather that has occurred since January 1. Such a designation
is necessary for Oklahoma farmers to have access to assistance from the
federal government. "The combinations of extreme rainfall, flooding, high
winds, tornados and freeze due to extreme low temperatures have caused
serious and extensive damage," the letter states. "Oklahoma's wheat crop,
for example, was projected to produce 160 million bushels, but at this
time there has only been approximately 90 million bushels harvested.
If any more wheat is harvested it will have poor quality and a very
low value."
Governor Henry also noted that hay producers are experiencing similar losses. USDA Farm Service Agency representatives will do damage assessment reports for each county. The Governor adds "While we are working with FEMA to secure assistance for local governments and individuals, we cannot forget about Oklahoma's farmers and ranchers who, more than any of us, feel the effects of extreme weather. Agriculture is a cornerstone of Oklahoma's economy and we must do all we can to see that our producers get the help they deserve." | |
Another Multi Million Bushel Cut in the 2007 Oklahoma Wheat Crop Expected from USDA. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This morning,
we will have the July first wheat crop production estimate released at
7:30 am Central time...and there are actually two reports that will be
out- both the supply demand numbers as well as the crop production numbers
for winter wheat.
It's very possible that we could see the Texas crop raised some more from the June estimate while the Kansas crop could be left alone or moved a few million bushels up or down- depending on how the berry counters gauge the poor wheat production in south central Kansas versus the much better crop in western Kansas. The question for Oklahoma is not IF they will drop the size of the Oklahoma wheat crop from the June production guess of 151 million bushels- the question is HOW MUCH they will drop that number. A lot of wheat industry leaders would be delighted if we ended up with a 120 million bushel wheat crop this year- and you can see the figure in the story above that was contained in the letter to Mike Johanns from Governor Henry- 90 million bushels- that's not a lot better than the disastrous 81 million bushels grown in the drought year of 2006. It is especially hard to see this huge drop in wheat production after hopes for a decent crop were there in April and May. We have a preview audio report linked below- and this file will turn into a review of the actual numbers by around 8:30 am this morning.Listen now to get the preview early or after 9 am central- listen to get a review of the actual numbers from USDA! Click here for the July 12th Wheat Crop Numbers- a preview early and a recap of the numbers later! | |
Kansas Wheat Crop in South Central Kansas Just as Ugly as that found in North Central Oklahoma. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The final
Kansas Wheat Crop Update of the season is out- and it shows that farmers
in south central Kansas- especially Wichita and points south are really
struggling- just as Oklahoma producers are in north central portions of
our state.
The Andale Coop just west of Wichita will likely receive twenty percent of their normal production this year, while an elevator in Conway Springs reports only about ten percent of the crop has been harvested thus far- with farmers likely to not harvest most of the remaining acres, although they are having trouble in getting crop insurance adjusters in to possibly zero out many of their fields. We have linked the final report of the season below for you if you want to review further details of the problems found in south central counties of the largest wheat producing state in the country, Kansas. Click here for the final report of the wheat harvest season from Kansas. | |
We will all be COOL- because it appears this version of source verification is on its way- courtesy of the 2002 Farm Bill. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We wrap up our
conversation with Dr. Derrell Peel of OSU today- as we talk about COOL-
and what producers need to be thinking about as September 2008 gets closer
and closer.
Dr. Peel says the biggest problem is the lack of certainty over what the final rule will look like from USDA. Peel says it is hard to plan when you don't have the groundrules to plan by. He does advise stocker operators especially to begin to get into place a way to offer a "paper trail" for animals that will come and go across your pastures so that your animals will not be penalized for not having the right information associated with them Derrell has been with us this week on the daily Beef Buzz from the Radio Oklahoma Network- heard on radio stations across the state. We also have a full lineup of previous Beef Buzzes that can be listened to anytime on our website, WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com. We have linked to the Beef Buzz page below and you can scroll down to the July 12 program to hear from Dr. Peel has to say about COOL. | |
Ft. Reno Site in Central Oklahoma NOT a Finalist for Plum Island's Replacement Facility! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Department
of Homeland Security has announced five site finalists for the National
Bio and Agro-Defense Facility. The 450-million dollar federal laboratory
will be located in Kansas, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina or Texas.
The lab is expected to bring major federal investment - employment
opportunities for hundreds of scientists and collaboration with local
researchers - ultimately boosting the bioscience prestige of the region
where it's located.
The new facility will replace a smaller lab currently located at Plum Island, New York. It will be home to Department of Homeland Security, Department of Agriculture and Department of Health and Human Services scientists. Those scientists will research biological and agricultural threats to humans and animals. DHS is expected to announce the final site in 2008 and the lab should be operational by 2014. While some in Oklahoma were hopeful that the state could win this "Plum" prize, groups that represent livestock producers were uneasy about having such high octane diseases under lock and key right in the middle of our state. For example when we were in Washington recently with the American Farmers and Ranchers group, they expressed major reservations about this facility being built in Oklahoma. It now appears they will not have to worry further. | |
The dryland cotton starting to look better in southwest Oklahoma. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As we
introduced our Mali radio friends to Oklahoma agriculture and radio this
week- we had the chance to stand in the dryland cotton patch of Roger
Fischer in Tillman County. Roger and the folks from Mali had a good
conversation about how we produce cotton as well an interesting
conversation about biotech cotton and also our farm subsidies and how they
impact cotton farmers in Mali.
We talked with Roger about his cotton crop- pretty well all planted but suffering a bit from cool, overcast conditions for much of June. He hopes for drier and hotter weather to get the crop developing as it should. We have that audio conversation linked below on our Featured Audio page of our website- it is the top story on this page with a July 12 dateline. Go this page and take a listen- Roger offers some good insight on this year's crop conditions in the southwest as well as how no till has treated him. Click here for the Featured Audio page of WW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com | |
Poultry Industry Putting Best Foot Forward in an Effort to Promote Solutions outside a Courtroom. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Poultry
Community Council has debuted a new advertising campaign that focuses on
addressing the environmental issues with Oklahoma's rivers in a
conversational, approachable manner. "The main goal is to educate our
audience utilizing wit, humor, common sense and some 'no-brainer' logic,"
said Jackie Cunningham, director of community relations for the Poultry
Community Council.
Part of the ad talks about looking for and finding solutions that will help Oklahoma's environment without destroying this part of the rural economy. The ad speaks of soluitions "Like comprehensive nutrient management plans to regulate the proper use of nutrients in the Oklahoma Scenic Watersheds. A transportation program where litter is shipped to other farmers across our state who then use its valuable nutrients to help their crops grow. And transforming litter into a commercially available, all-natural plant food for gardens and landscapes all across our country." We have linked the full ad on our website and you can go and take a look at it now by clicking below. Click here for the print ad that has been put together by the Poultry Community Council. | |
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 and make plans to be an exhibitor at either the Tulsa Farm Show this December or the Southern Plains Farm Show next spring! 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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