From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2008 07:35
To: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
Subject: Oklahoma's Farm News Update
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Thursday January 17, 2008!
A service of American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance, KIS Futures & Midwest Farm Shows
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- New Crop Wheat Prices Have Jumped About a Buck since last week- now what?
-- Wiesemeyer on the 2007-2008 Farm Bill.
-- Animal Welfare- A Serious Issue for Livestock Producers...
-- Planting "Bin-Run" RoundupReady Soybeans Illegal
-- OSU Extension Plans Grain Sorghum Meetings late this month into next...
-- FFA Night at the Oklahoma City Blazers Hockey Game with Laredo Friday Night!

Howdy Neighbors!

Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. We are proud to welcome KIS Futures as a regular sponsor of our daily E-Mail. KIS Futures provides Oklahoma Farmers & Ranchers with futures & options hedging services in the livestock and grain markets- Click here for their website or call them at 1-800-256-2555.

We are also proud to have 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!
And our email this morning is also a service of Midwest Farm Shows, producer of the just concluded Tulsa Farm Show, as well as the Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City this coming April! 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.


New Crop Wheat Prices Have Jumped About a Buck since last week- now what?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's an excellent example of how volatile this market currently is- I sat in Kim Anderson's office on campus at Oklahoma State University yesterday morning- and we talked about the wheat futures in Kansas City being down about a dime basis the July contract- so we talked about sixty cent gains in round numbers for the new crop wheat prices since last Friday and the spark that lit this market up- the USDA Winter Wheat Seedings Report. Well, by the time I got home, the KC wheat futures had closed with a turnaround- gaining 14 cents on the day and pushing our four day gains to right at a dollar per bushel. The swings are wide and getting bigger as we are using prices that we not too long ago would have thought were soybean prices- prices with an 8 or 9 in front of them.

Dr. Anderson says there is fear in the market right now- it's fear on the part of the international buying community- they see the US hard red winter wheat crop as the "exportable" crop in the world that is the next wheat crop to be harvested- and they feel they have to buy it at harvest.

The advice from Kim Anderson on marketing your wheat- you might forward contract a small part of your anticipated production at the current price that can be had in the state- around $8.40 to $8.50 per bushel. But beyond that small percentage- Anderson says you may want to wait and see how market conditions develop in the next couple of months before you plan on pulling the trigger on further sales.
We have our conversation in Kim's office parked in cyberspace for you- click and take a listen!

Click here to listen to Ron and Kim talk wheat marketing.


Wiesemeyer on the 2007-2008 Farm Bill.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He's the Dean of Washington Ag Journalists- and Jim Wiesemeyer of Informa Economics says that the White House continues to demand that Congress figure out how to pay for the 2007-2008 Farm Bill- and to do it without a tax increase of any kind. He tells us that it's clear that until this is solved- little of the Commodity Title can be finalized- and that Conservation priorities remain unsettled as well.

Will there be a veto? Wiesemeyer thinks that is really up to the Democratic leadership as it appears that Acting Ag Secretary Chuck Conner will continue to act as a warning canary if the bill is too toxic to the White House liking- and will signal that early to Congressional leadership- it will then be up to them if they want to challenge the White House over a veto or not.

He does not see an end to Direct Payments for farmers, even though there are many groups that do not like them. He does see the likely solution on the budget as "across the board" cuts in spending in all titles of the farm bill. As to when we might get a farm bill, he sees the earliest resolution as March 15- and it's very possible to see this slipping into April- which means we will probably have some hard red winter wheat harvested in south Texas before the farm bill is finally put to bed. You can listen to our full conversation with Jim Wiesemeyer by clicking on the link provided below- we discuss a wide range of issues with Jim as the Washington Farm Bill Follies continue.

Click here to listen to Ron and Jim Wiesemeyer


Animal Welfare- A Serious Issue for Livestock Producers...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The animal agriculture portion of our US Farm and Ranch ecojnomy is in the middle of a war- a war being waged by those who will not quit until they see the elimination of animal agriculture as we know.

The President of the American Farm Bureau, Bob Stallman, is a cattle producer from southeast Texas and he says that he understands how serious an issue this is- and he says that while AFBF has devoted resources in the fight at the legislative and regulatory level- the public marketplace is a tougher place to exert as much influence as groups like the HSUS- the Humane Society of the United States. They are able to buy blocks of stock and then put pressure on companies to toughten up their animal welfare standards that are often tought for livestock producers to live up to.

Stallman is our guest on today's Beef Buzz- and wehave today's report linked below. The Beef Buzz is a regular radio feature of the Radio Oklahoma Network and heard on great radio stations across the state. You can also go and listen to many of our Beef Buzz shows since I joined the Radio Oklahoma Network over a year ago on our website- www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com. Go there and click on Beef Buzz to brouse through the shows you can select from and listen to.

Click here for Ron and Bob Stallman on today's Beef Buzz.


Planting "Bin-Run" RoundupReady Soybeans Illegal
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mississippi farmer Herman McFarling battled Monsanto and lost over his plan to scoop out his soybeans from 1998 and replant them in 1999 and 2000. According to a group critical of the biotech giant, the Center for Food Safety, Monsanto has an army of employees spread out across the country searching for farmers who violate their Technology Agreements with Monsanto by trying to plant saved seed.

The U.S. Supreme Court has let stand a lower court's ruling that Monsanto can control the future use of seeds. That is to say Monsanto's agreement with farmers that they "can not plant saved Roundup Ready soybeans" is permissible by the courts. Earlier, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that the second-generation seeds were - nearly identical copies - of Monsanto's patented seeds. A district court injunction had barred their use, calling their ruling - simply a prohibition against unlicensed use of the patented invention.

The group Center for Food Safety published a report on the practices of going after farmers who do not honor their written agreements in 2005- and we have it linked for you. It describes a lot of what was going on in this case of McFarling vs. Monsanto that has just been finalized at the US Supreme Court level earlier this month.

Click here for the Center for Food Safety report on Monsanto surveillance out across the countryside.


OSU Extension Plans Grain Sorghum Meetings late this month into next...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service has arranged for grain sorghum producers the opportunity to refresh their production knowledge and plan for the 2008 planting season. They have prepared a program to learn about the newest production techniques and marketing options for the 2008 harvested crop. Producers will also be afforded the opportunity to see what research programs are being investigated to improve production efficiencies and profitability.

The Cooperative Extension Service will offer 8 different meetings for producers to attend. The locations include Kingfisher, Enid, Perry, Fairview, Cherokee, Medford, Ponca City and Alva. We have the complete list of times, dates and locations for each of these meetings on our calendar at WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com. Click below to go to the web site and scroll down to January 29- the date of the first meeting planned in Kingfisher to get details on all eight locations.

Headlining the speakers list will be Dr. Jeff Dahlberg. Dahlberg is the Research Director for the National Sorghum Producers Association located in Lubbock, Texas. Dahlberg has been to several of these meetings in the past and is very familiar with our grain sorghum production techniques. Dahlberg will outline the research initiatives that the National Producers Association are working on for our producers benefits and address the directions of the USDA Farm Program that is hoping to firm up price supports for growers in this area. Other speakers will include Rick Kochenower, J.C. Hobbs and Roger Gribble.

Click here to go to our calendar page for more details on these sorghum producer meetings.


FFA Night at the Oklahoma City Blazers Hockey Game with Laredo Friday Night!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
American Farmers and Ranchers is helping sponsor FFA Night at the OKC Blazers Hockey Game Friday night- and it's not too late to get tickets from your FFA chapter and help support the Oklahoma FFA Foundation. HALF of the price of the tickets being sold by the FFA members will be donated to the Foundation!

In addition, FFA members who are at the game will be eligible to win some great prizes, including some show prospects courtesy of Express Ranches. Click here for a flyer from the Oklahoma FFA website telling more about the evening's festivities.

We talked with Ray Wulf of AFR about the event- and why AFR is sponsoring it- you can hear Ray's comments by going to the link below and taking a listen!

Click here to listen to Ron and Ray talk about the FFA Night at the Blazers Hockey Game!


Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows, KIS Futures and American Farmers and Ranchersfor 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.

Click here to check out WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com



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

Forward email

This email was sent to ronphays@cox.net, by ron@oklahomafarmreport.com

Oklahoma Farm Report | 10700 Whitehall Blvd | Oklahoma City | OK | 73162