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 have National Livestock Credit Corporation as a regular sponsor of our daily email update. National Livestock Credit Corporation works diligently to provide unsurpassed service to their customers in the area of livestock financing. Check out the National Livestock Family of Services website by clicking here.

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Bob Stallman, President of the American Farm Bureau, praises the move by President Bush- ""The American Farm Bureau Federation is pleased that President Bush has sent the implementing legislation for the Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement to Congress. This important trade agreement is good for U.S. agriculture because it corrects an inequity that exists between U.S. and Colombian agricultural exporters. "Currently, U.S. exports face significant tariffs or other restrictions in Colombia. Meanwhile, 90 percent of Colombian products enjoy duty-free access to the United States due to the Andean Trade Preference and Drug Eradication Act, which Congress recently extended. Congressional approval of the Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement will clear the way for U.S. food and agricultural products to receive duty-free treatment into the Colombian market."

However, Tom Buis with the National Farmers Union urges members of Congress to oppose the Columbian FTA as he explains in this statement issued yesterday morning- ""It is premature to consider the Columbia Free Trade Agreement until provisions for a level playing field have been established. America's farmers and ranchers produce the safest, most abundant, most affordable food supply in the world. Yet our trading partners are not required to meet our high labor, environmental, health and safety standards. Our current trade agreements have failed to live up to their promises. The Columbia Free Trade Agreement is another step in the wrong direction."

The Administration decided they had run out of time to send the measure to Capitol Hill- and transmitted it this week despite the protests of the Majority Democratic leadership, who currently oppose the agreement.

According to the letter - the farm bill under consideration includes the most reform of any other similar legislation passed in Congress - as it eliminates the three-entity rule and generic certificates - tightens the caps on payments - and dramatically reduces the requisite AGI. Ross also points to increased funding for nutrition and conservation and investments in energy and rural development.
Given volatility in prices and inputs - the letter says Congress must continue to ensure a reliable safety net for U.S. farmers and farm families - as the U.S. can't afford to become more dependent on foreign nations for food and fiber.

A late word in from one of the "Big Four" Preconference insiders comes from Sara Wyant of AgriPulse. She covered a speech given by Senator Saxby Chambliss- who says he remains "optimistic" that the ten billion dollars promised by the Democratic Leadership will be forthcoming- it's a matter of when that deal will be completed. Chambliss calls the idea of passing a one or two year extension a "bad idea" because of what happens to the pot of money that will be available at the end of the time of the extension. Sara asked the Senator about some policy specifics and he said it's still "in discussion- all of it."
So- they still don't have the funding and the policy issues remain in flux- that's the word from one of FOUR lawmakers who actually is engaged in the negotiations- at the surface, that sounds like where we were two weeks ago- or four weeks ago- or even six weeks ago- NOWHERE!

One funding plan would be to slice away at Crop Insurance outlays- here's a story from the Des Moines Register on how Colin Peterson sees this working.

Gov. Mike Beebe would not outline specifics of the incentive package after a luncheon speech Monday, but he said the Arkansas Economic Development Commission made its proposal to Cargill last week. At least one other state has indicated it will also offer incentives for the plant to relocate, the governor said.

The city of Booneville and Logan County are also offering Cargill perks to stay, including 35 acres of land close to the plant's current location and free water service for a year. The plant employed some 800 workers. Cargill has said it has not yet decided whether to rebuild the facility.

Dr. Dicks writes "The Time magizine article makes the same mistake that Dennis Avery and the Heritage Institute made during the 1990s. There is no relationship between what the U.S. does or does not do and what Brazil does with respect to conversion of the Amazon. The data clearly show that the Brasil has been expanding cropland area for the last 50 years and it does not matter what the price is, whether the U.S. uses land retirement programs (As Avery insists is the cause), or feed corn gets shifted into ethanol production. Brazil needs foreign exchange earnings and the cheap land (that is the cash cost of it) allows them to produce below U.S. costs and compete in world markets.

"What I find amazing is that no-one talks about how the absence of sufficient government stocks or idled acres has contributed to the huge run-up of prices. In 1995 the mantra was "let the markets work". Seven years latter Oklahoma lost roughly 3 million acres of wheat that essentially went back to forage production. And, it did this through whole farm production rather than by all farms setting aside 20 percent of their land. Over those same seven years stocks dwindled until we were maintaining about 60 days worth of carry over. So the market essentially trimmed agriculture of its excess capacity. And as in the past, just as the market is becoming successful in aligning supply and demand, weather around the globe fails, supplies fall precipitously and yes demand increased slightly so that supplies got extremely tight and prices went through the roof as industries bid for land to plant their needed crops."

"Let the market work - I think there are a lot of people now who wonder about that concept when food is involved."

Doud says that we planted huge acres to corn in 2007, we are swinging a lot of those acres over to soybeans in 2008- and that the market will be forced to buy a lot of those acres back in 2009- keeping corn prices in the upper five dollar to low six dollar range for much of the rest of this year into 2009. He says that really means trouble for cow-calf and stocker operators who face real pressure on the price of their calves, stockers and yearlings as a result.

Doud lays out his case on our Wednesday Beef Buzz, which is heard on great radio stations across the state on the Radio Oklahoma Network- as well as linked on our website, WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com on the Beef Buzz page. We also have today's report linked directly for you below- check it out.

Click here to listen to Ron and Gregg talk corn prices and their impact on cattle producers on today's Beef Buzz.

One gallon of biodiesel can be made from every gallon of pork fat, the company said, adding that it can be used in any concentration with petroleum-based diesel fuel in existing diesel engines with little or no modification. Musket Corp., a fuel trading and distribution company, will market and sell the biodiesel the plant produces.

The biodiesel plant falls under the purview of newly formed High Plains Bioenergy, a wholly owned subsidiary of Seaboard Foods. "High Plains Bioenergy will focus on finding renewable energy sources from our integrated system, and complements the proactive environmental commitment exhibited in our processing plants and farms," said Rod Brenneman, president of Seaboard Foods and High Plains Bioenergy.

The Sale Catalog- available by going to the link below- talks about the genetics from these ranches- "These programs have a solid foundation as producers of moderate, efficient cattle that are backed by maternal traits. Our implementation of Maine Angus and SimAngus is a result for our demand for these type of females."

The sale will be held on the west side of Follett, TX at the intersection of Hwy 15 and FR 2741, at the Jeff Bourquin sale facility. (This is just a few miles west of the Oklahoma state line east of Shattuck and Woodward) The bulls are on feed at Panhandle Feeders in Shattuck, OK. For more information, you can contact Christy Collins at 1-800-975-6313- or go to the link provided below for their full sale catalog.

Click here for the Grass to Grid Sale Catalog- the Sale Happening Saturday April 12.

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

Here are some links we will leave in place on an ongoing basis- Click on the name of the report to go to that link:
Our Daily Market Wrapup from the Radio Oklahoma Network with Ed Richards and Tom Leffler- analyzing the Futures Markets from the previous Day-
Ron on RON Markets as heard on K101 mornings with cash and futures reviewed- includes where the Cash Cattle market stands, the latest Feeder Cattle Markets Etc.
Previous Day's Wheat Market Recap One Pager From Country Hedging- looks at all three US Wheat Futures Exchanges and the why of that day's market.

Daily Oklahoma Cash Grain Prices- As Reported by the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture. Previous Day's Energy Market Recap- also from Country Hedging
The National Daily Feeder & Stocker Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
The National Daily Slaughter Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.