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.

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He did tell reporters on Friday midday that comments by Senator Tom Harkin that the Administration is not being cooperative in helping find suitable budget offsets for increased farm bill spending actually means that the Admninistration has offered no offsets that Senator Harkin defines as "suitable." Schafer says the reality is that all three sides are offering budget offsets and that the trick is to find a mix that all three sides can live with and adds up to enough to pay for increased levels of spending above the budget baseline- whatever that number finally is.

Secretary Schafer did talk a little about the Beef Recall from the Westland plant in California as well- he treaded lightly around any criticism of the Humane Society of the US- praising them for offering the video "evidence" of abuse of the downer cows in the pictures they took. He did not offer any thoughts on the revelation that the Humane Society may well have lied to Congress as to the reason they did not offer the video promptly to USDA officials to prevent months of abuse to continue at that now closed plant.
We have some of Secreatary Schafer's comments linked below in a special roundup for you- click to take a listen.

CLick to listen to Ron with comments from Secretary Ed Schafer on the Farm Bill Standoff.

Peterson did take potshots at the Administration for some of their "offset" ideas. For example, the Administration is proposing limits on payments for Oxygen reimbursement under medicare- something that Peterson expressed disgust about- and Tom Buis added his unhappiness about in reaction after the Peterson presentation.

Peterson did say that if they can come to an agreement in general of how the money is to be offset- and how the monies are to be divided up between the various titles- he expects the Staffs to work over the Easter Recess the second half of March- and that Congress can return and pass a final farm bill version in early April in time to make an April 15 deadline- adding that he would support another thirty day extension to preserve budget baseline dollars till mid April to make all of this work.
We have an overview of Peterson's comments to the NFU on the farm bill, plus reaction from Tom Buis as well as from Ray Wulf, President of the American Farmers and Ranchers who tells us that he and the Oklahomans from AFR have their Oklahoma Farmers Union delegate badges on this week here in Vegas- does what happen to those wearing those OFU badges here in Vegas stay in Vegas? Stay tuned- we keep you update from this event. ANYWAY- we have on our front page of our website those three audio links for your review- check them out- the Peterson comments show what the Chairman is really expecting as we head into the first full week of March.

Click here to be jumped over to our front page of our website- go to the entry for March 3 for the coverage from the NFU Convention in Las Vegas.

The Kansas wheat farmer spoke of the need to get a farm bill done NOW- and he also defended Direct Payments and deplored the idea of cutting funding to crop insurance- he indicated the combination of a direct payment plus crop insurance has acted as a good safety net for many wheat producers who have had crop failures during the life of the 2002 farm bill- and he says that wheat has different risk compared to many of the row crops- and has to have that Direct Payment to have some certainty in the ups and downs of wheat production.

He also spoke of the wheat industry being at risk because of not having transgenic wheat accepted by domestic and international customers. The wheat industry feels they are slipping behind in the ability to capture a share of the overall US acreage because other crops that have biotech traits can be grown more economically on a per unit basis than wheat can.

You can hear some of the John Thaemert's comments during the Commodity Classic Wheat News Conference by clicking here.

The Meatingplace report says "There was never any suggestion that (HSUS) not speak with USDA. That was never our advice to them. In fact, we did recommend to them that they speak with USDA," San Bernardino County Assistant District Attorney for Criminal Operations Dennis Christy told Meatingplace.com in a telephone interview. Christy's statements counter testimony that HSUS Public Health Director Michael Greger gave at a House subcommittee hearing. He said the group withheld the video at the request of the district attorney's office."

It's interesting that the story adds that the Humane Society did not want to include USDA in their dealings with the DA's office as the public attorney's interviewed the informant working for the Humane Society. It appears that the Humane Society was not interested in getting any abuse addressed inside the plant as they were not willing to bring the video to USDA, the government entity that could have dealt with the issue almost instantly.

Ronnie Glover will be selling 85 registered Angus bulls. All cattle will be at Auction barn by noon tomorrow for your inspection! Prior to that time they can be seen at the ranch, located 3 miles w of Elgin on US Hwy 277 to Jake Dunn Rd, 1 1/4 miles s. For more information on these cattle, call Ronnie Glover at 580/595-1494 or Eddie Sims- his number is 580/595- 1626 .

We have the link on the National Cattle Services website for the catalog for this sale of the Glover Cattle Company- Click and check it out.

Click here for the Catalog page for both the Glover Cattle Company sale as well as the Blackjack Angus Sale set for Saturday.

He also believes that they will do a better job in monitoring the movement of older cows into slaughter in the days ahead because of this incident. You can hear the Secretary's comments on our Monday edition of the Beef Buzz, heard on great radio stations that are a part of the Radio Oklahoma Network. We also have it linked on our website on our Beef Buzz page- and invite you to check out not just this Beef Buzz- but also the programs from the last two weeks that are finally up on the Beef Buzz page at WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com.

We have them listed by date- and the week of February 18, we have Beef Buzz shows with Andy Grosetta, new President of the NCBA and Kevin Good of Cattlefax. The week of February 25- all five shows are with Randy Blach- and if you want some of the best insights on where the Beef Cattle Industry is today that are available anywhere at any price- go listen to these five Beef Buzz reports.
The Ed Schafer Beef Buzz on the Westland Beef Recall is the one dated March 3 at the bottom of the page.

Click here for the Beef Buzz with Ron and Secretary Schafer on the California Beef Recall Status...

As we wrap up our coverage of this event- I wanted to offer you five areas of differences that stick out to me in comparing China in 1984 when I traveled there with Class One of this Program versus China here in 2008. Here goes:
ONE- We were watched. In 1984, we were closely watched from the time we arrived in Beijing to the time we took the train across the border into Hong Kong. There was a feeling of relief when we left China and entered the then British Controlled Hong Kong. The feeling in the country was a tightly controlled and ruled Communist country. We saw soldiers with weapons everywhere we went- and westerners really stood out. In 2008, we were watched, but it was much lower key and the oppressive feeling I had several times back in 1984 was not really felt in 2008. Some of our class members did mention cars that were obviously following our group- and it was mentioned to me once that they were really nervous about having me around as a journalist- worried I might write something that would be negative.
TWO- Smog!!! The air around Beijing was dirty in 1984 when we arrived in the dead of winter and it was soot as much as anything. I remember being bothered some by the smoke of all the coal being burned to keep people warm. Here in 2008- it was a constant smell and look to the air- smog from automobiles as well as industrial output that gave us a constant curtain of smog that hung down upon all three cities that we were in.

THREE- Modern Transportation. I remember when we arrived in Beijing in 1984 seeing a small 1940ish truck pulling luggage carts around on the tarmac outside our plane. It was also seeing folks traveling mostly on foot or by bicycle. My, how things have changed as the Beijing airport was brand new- with their new terminal opening right after we left- and the Shanghai airport a magnificent structure that looked like two massive sea gulls. There were cars everywhere- millions in Beijing when there were probably not 50,000 when we were there in 1984. Add to that modern buses and subways- a lot of people are getting around in very modern transportation.
FOUR- The West has arrived! When we were in Beijing in 1984- there was almost nothing "western" in the city of Mao. That included clothes for the average Chinese. Except for their children, who did have some clothes that were from our world, adults were drably clothed in gray, black or olive green- mostly in the so called "Mao" jackets. There were no stores that bulged with modern stuff- the closest was a couple of small stories we saw in some of the neighborhoods that boosted of small nine to 13 inch black and white TV sets. Today, it's all about High Fashion and Fast Food- McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut and lots of Starbucks. The shopping in Beijing was truly world class- but also a good dose of third world peddler thrown in as well. At the Silk Street Market, nearly every vendor called out to us as we passed and wanted to sell us what we needed. Capitalism has arrived and currently co- exists with Communism.

FIVE- Private Enterprise. When in China in 1984, we were glorified tourists- we had a couple of stops that were somewhat farm related-we had a historic meeting with Chinese Ag officials in the Great Hall of the People- but not much more. Here in 2008, stop after stop showed off dairy processing, beef production, wholesale marketing, private Ag research and greenhouse research and production. And, in every case, it was a private enterprise that had been started in the late 1990s or early this decade. China is letting their people have enough wiggle room to work on solutions to feed their 1.3 billion mouths (and growing) three times a day.
It was a remarkable journey- and the progress made by China is nothing short of amazing. They have their problems as they modernize- and I think we saw a lot of opportunities of selling them Oklahoma farm goods, if we can successfully think like them to understand what they believe they want and need. The key is perception- and building relationships that can help you deliver on either the need or the want- or perhaps both.

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