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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Monday December 10,
2007! A
service of Cusack Meats, American Farmers and Ranchers & Midwest Farm
Shows
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-- Farm Bill Votes to Begin Tomorrow- we think.
-- The NAWG take on the Farm Bill.
-- Farm Bureau Asks to Weigh In.
-- Sad News from the Conservation Front
-- A Wrap Up from JC Banks on the 2007 Oklahoma Cotton Crop.
-- Lots of Folks Taking Pot Shots at Ethanol
-- Alltech Meetings Begin Tuesday Across Oklahoma!
Howdy Neighbors! Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. One of our sponsors on this daily email service is Cusack Meats, and Al Cusack wants everyone to know that he APPRECIATES Oklahoma's Farmers and Ranchers! You can go to the Cusack website and select some great gift packs of meat for giving- or for yourself! We also welcome American Farmers and Ranchers Mutual Insurance
Company as a regular sponsor of our daily update- click
here to go to their NEW AFR web site to learn more about their efforts
to serve rural America! 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. | |
Farm Bill Votes to Begin Tomorrow- we think. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The U.S.
Senate recessed Friday without further discussion of the Farm Bill. Late
Thursday an agreement was reached to limit the number of amendments to 20
for each party, Republicans and Democrats. When the Senate recessed
shortly after 3:00 pm Friday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada
announced that the list of amendments had been "whittled down" by abut 25
percent. The sorting was expected to continue through the weekend.
At 3:00 pm Washington time today, the Senate will return to work on the remaining farm bill amendments. However, serious action on the farm bill will not take place until Tuesday when recorded votes will be permitted. An aide to Republican Leader Mitch McConnell says the goal is to complete work on the five-year bill by week's end. On Friday, during Farm Bill debate, Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia
defended the safety net provided for in the Food and Energy Security Act
of 2007. The ranking Republican Member of the Senate Agriculture committee
took to the floor in opposition of an amendment offered by Senator Amy
Klobuchar of Minnesota. The amendment would address changes to the
Adjusted Gross Income test and ultimately jeopardize the agriculture
safety net. Sen. Chambliss noted - the pending farm bill already includes
a provision that reduces the income level for determining program
eligibility by 70 percent over a period of two years. | |
The NAWG take on the Farm Bill. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Secretary
of the National Association of Wheat Growers, Kansas producer Jerry
McReynolds, told the Oklahoma Wheat Growers Association Annual meeting
over this past weekend that NAWG continues to push in every direction they
can to get as substantial of a direct payment in the Commodity Title of
the Farm Bill for wheat as is possible. McReynolds says that the direct
payment is all that wheat producers have got when it comes to the safety
net- so making it as high as possible is a wheat industry priority.
NAWG sees no revenue component- neither the House or Senate proposal- that really works for wheat producers. At the same time, they are dubious about the permanent disaster talk advanced by Kent Conrad of North Dakota- he says they are very dubious about the outcome on this proposal. We also talked about the problem that comes up most years that we are writing a farm bill for winter wheat producers- that almost always we seem to be in flux on farm policy well after the planting of the winter wheat crop for the year that the next farm bill is due to take effect. And, we talked about the Bio-tech issue that McReynolds says has to be solved if the business of wheat production is to remain viable over the next ten to twenty years or longer. You can hear our complete interview with Jerry McReynolds by clicking below- it's on our farm bill webpage at www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com Click here to listen to Ron and Jerry on Farm Policy and other issues important to NAWG. | |
Farm Bureau Asks to Weigh In. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma Farm
Bureau Wants to Chime in on Drew Edmondson's Request for an Immediate Halt
to ALL spreading of Poultry Litter in Illinois River Watershed. A motion
asking permission from the federal court in the Northern District of
Oklahoma to submit a brief on the State of Oklahoma's legal bid to halt
use of poultry litter in the Illinois River watershed was filed December 6
by Oklahoma Farm Bureau. "We believe livestock producers are abiding by
state laws, which have more extensive environmental regulations than
required by federal law," Mike Spradling, OFB President said.
While not part of the lawsuit, Farm Bureau represents thousands of Oklahoma livestock producers and other farmers who would be harmed by the legal action. In a motion filed for a preliminary injunction earlier this year, the State alleged poultry litter is polluting the Illinois River watershed. In 2005, the State filed suit against the poultry companies with growers in the watershed. The suit alleged poultry litter is hazardous waste under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). During the 2007 Oklahoma Legislative Session, lawmakers passed legislation clarifying animal manure is not a hazardous waste. "Animal manure has been used as a valuable fertilizer and soil enhancement for centuries and is not a hazardous waste," Spradling said. | |
Sad News from the Conservation Front ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The National
Association of Conservation Districts President Olin Sims' life was cut
short this past week in an accident on his ranch in McFadden, Wyoming. He
truly loved the land and was committed to the work of conservation
districts. He was a family man who was proud of his Wyoming roots. Olin
will be deeply missed by the NACD family.
We had Olin on our TV segment a couple of weeks ago as we interviewed him about the conservation elements of the 2007 Farm Bill- he's the President that has followed the tenure of Bill Wilson of Oklahoma as the NACD President. That interview is still linked on our front page of our website under "Today's Agricultural News." We have the NACD web site linked below- as funeral details are set, they will be publishing that on their site. Click here for the the National Association of Conservation Districts website. | |
A Wrap Up from JC Banks on the 2007 Oklahoma Cotton Crop. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The 2007
growing season for cotton producers had lots of concerns as the season
played out- but in the end, Dr. JC Banks, the Oklahoma state cotton
specialist, says things have turned out very good. This cotton season
started with most producers delaying planting to wait on planting
moisture, Banks says. "When the rains came, many areas had too much
rainfall causing waterlogging on some soils. This caused a shallow root
system that was sensitive to stress. This stress further delayed the crop,
and we knew we had to have a good warm fall to mature the crop. Well, it
ended up good.
"Our late conditions have been good, and it looks like we may have a record per acre yield for Oklahoma. We have just finished ginning our plot samples from our replicated variety tests and we have some preliminary data together. Fiber samples have been sent to the Texas Tech Fiber Labs at Lubbock and we will be able to complete the reports when fiber quality results get back. When we get fiber quality data back, this information will be part of our OSU Cotton Demonstrations in Oklahoma booklet that will be available. "We have five irrigated performing variety tests with 16 varieties
evaluated in each test and some of the top performing varieties are
Fibermax 1740 B2F, Deltapine 143 B2F, Phytogen 485 WRF, Fibermax 9180 B2F,
Fibermax 9063 B2F and Stoneville 4554 B2F. We have harvested six
replicated dryland tests, each containing 25 varieties. Some top
performing dryland varieties have been Deltapine 174 F, Fibermax 958 F,
Fibermax 1740 B2F, AFD 5064 F, Fibermax 9068 F and Fibermax 9180
B2F. | |
Lots of Folks Taking Pot Shots at Ethanol ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I have linked
below a good example of a lot of the bad press that ethanol is getting
these days as Congress works on the Energy Bill. It speaks of the
livestock industry joining with a wide assortment of other players in
wanting to say nay to a new higher Renewable Fuel Standard.
The House has actually come around to the Senate thinking on a Renewable Fuel Standard which will jump to 36 billion gallons of ethanol by the year 2026- with about 15 billion gallons of that allocated to come from corn and other grains. As we heard last week from Livestock Economist Jim Mintert - that sets in place a high floor for the price of feed grains in the years to come- if we successfully hit that target. The current RFS is 7.5 billion gallons. Click here for the Motley Fool take on Biofuels- specifically corn based ethanol. | |
Alltech Meetings Begin Tuesday Across Oklahoma! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's being
called the 2008 Calf Country Profit Tour and the Alltech company is going
to be out crisscrossing the state of Oklahoma this week with lunch and
dinner meetings at 18 locations to explain to cattle producers how they
can deal with scours in baby calves without antibiotics.
Matt Case is the regional representative for Alltech- and he is coordinating these meetings all across the state of Oklahoma THIS week. The product they are especially promoting is Bio-Mos. We talked with Matt during our recent Farm Broadcasters meeting in Kansas City and we have that conversation linked for you on our website on our calendar page. And, we have the listing of the 18 locations across the state where Alltech will be holding their lunch and dinner meetings. Many producers have received invitations in the mail- if you did not or simply want more information about these meetings planned for tomorrow through Thursday- call their office in Springfield, Mo. at 417- 886-1000. Our link below is to our calendar page- scroll down to the December 11- 13 listing for the Alltech meetings and you will see where they are stopping- and you can click on the link there to listen to our visit with Matt Case on their product lineup and these Calf Country Profit Meetings. | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows, American Farmers and Ranchers Mutual Insurance and Cusack Meatsfor their support of our daily Farm News Update. For your convenience, we have our sponsors' websites linked at the top of the email- check them out and let these folks know you appreciate the support of this daily email, as their sponsorship helps us keep this arriving in your inbox on a regular basis! 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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