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 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 also welcome Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma as a regular sponsor of our daily email update. Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma has ten branch offices to serve your farm financing needs and is dedicated to being your first choice for farm credit. Check out their website for more information by clicking here!
And our email this morning is also a service of Midwest Farm Shows, producer of the Tulsa Farm Show that is held each December, as well as the just concluded Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City. 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.

Mark's comments come as OSU's Dr. Bob Hunger has issued his latest on disease concerns for the 2008 winter wheat crop across the state. Dr. Hunger writes on Monday "With days of 90 degrees temperature arriving this week, wheat is quickly maturing, so there is not much new information to report regarding wheat diseases in Oklahoma. The one important new item is that wheat stem rust has been found in plots near Marshall, OK (approximately 40 miles west of Stillwater) and at Stillwater. This was found at both locations on McNair 701, which is a variety that is highly susceptible to stem rust. Stem rust has not been found on any other lines or varieties at these locations. Wheat stem rust occurs in Oklahoma only occasionally because our wheat generally matures sufficiently early so that it avoids infection."

Dr, Hunger adds "samples testing positive for one or more of wheat streak mosaic virus, high plains virus, and/or barley yellow dwarf have been received from the Oklahoma panhandle."
We have a link to Dr. Hunger's ongoing disease updates for you to check out- you can jump via the link below.

Click here for the latest Disease update from OSU Plant Pathologist Dr. Bob Hunger

Regarding our spring planted crops- "Corn planted was at 94 percent, while corn emerged, at 83 percent, was 15 points ahead of normal. Sorghum seedbed prepared was at 83 percent and was 18 points ahead of the five-year average. Sorghum planted had reached at 24 percent, six points behind normal, with 15 percent of the crop emerged. Soybeans seedbed prepared increased 11 points from the previous week to 76 percent. Just over one-third of the State's soybeans had been planted while soybeans emerged was at 11 percent, eight percentage points behind the five- year average. Peanuts seedbed prepared increased seven points from the previous week to reach 98 percent. Peanuts planted was at 52 percent, with peanuts emerged at 26 percent, both behind normal. Cotton planted, at 37 percent, was six points behind the five-year average."

To review the latest crop weather update for the state- just click below and you can see where crop, pasture and livestock conditions now stand.

Click here for the latest Crop Weather Update for Oklahoma.

He adds that a cash wheat price holding above $7.25 should be available to Oklahoma wheat farmers this harvest season- and Dr. Anderson says that the potential of a large crop globally may well mean that prices fall from there and could easily be down to around $6.00 a bushel by early fall. He thinks this may be a year that you should seriously consider selling across the scales at harvestime.

One final issue that we talked with Dr. Anderson about has to do with high levels of rye in our wheat- he sees this as a potential disaster for some wheat producers that have a significant amount of rye hanging on in their wheat fields- you can expect major discounts on wheat that has rye in it- and if there is too much, Dr. Anderson says you may hear from your grain elevator operator- sorry you can't dump it because I can't sell it.
We have our conversation with Kim linked below and you can take a listen- if you involved in the wheat industry- you may want to check it out.

Click here to listen to Ron and Kim dissecting the Wheat Marketing Options as the 2008 Harvest Arrives.

Doud says that the ruling party in Japan is facing even a tougher opposition party then the new Government in South Korea is now dealing with when it comes to accusing the party in power of kowtowing to the US over the safety of our beef regarding BSE.

While it appears that the new government in South Korea will be able to get that market open once again to US beef in a reasonable amount of time- the timeline for Japan widening their the rules for US beef is very uncertain. We have pushed for a full reopening using OIE international animal health standards- but that is being called totally unacceptable by many of the opponents to US beef in Japan.
We talk about all of this in todays' Beef Buzz as heard on the Radio Oklahoma Network- and linked below for your audio pleasure as well. Click and take a listen about the uncertain future we face in getting more beef into Japan.

Click here to Beef Buzz with Ron and Gregg Doud of the NCBA on Japan and US Beef!

District three includes Kingfisher, Canadian, Blain, Dewey, Cluster, Washout, Roger Mills and Beckman counties. The vote is to decide on three nominees of wheat producers- those three names will be given to the Governor and he has the final say. The spot currently held by Tom Glazier expires as of July first- but Tom will continue to serve until a new commissioner is named by Governor Henry. We would normally expect to have a nominee selected and named by the Governor's office by sometime in early July- but you never know how the timetable will play out.

There will also be a Oklahoma Wheat Commission meeting planned for that morning at the same location- beginning at nine AM.

For more on the mission of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission- here's a link to their website

"At a time when millions of Americans are being forced to tighten their belts, it is obscene that politicians in Washington are refusing to rein in wasteful spending. USDA spent over $19 million on conferences in 2006, sending employees to a 'Congressional' seminar at a Hawaiian resort, to a 'green' conference at a Virgin Islands resort, and to '7 Habits of Highly Effective People' conferences in Las Vegas," Dr. Coburn said.

"The Department of Agriculture, the first in a series of agency conference oversight reports I'll be releasing, is just one among many federal agencies that I believe has overspent on non-essential conferences and travel. Our federal agencies spent more than $2 billion on conferences from 2000 through 2006, USDA's conference spending alone has almost tripled since 2000, and little is being done about reining in this discretionary spending. Whether it is sending 270 employees in one year to Mickey Mouse's house in Orlando, attending 28 separate 2006 conferences in Hawaii, or spending a quarter-of-a-million dollars on Las Vegas resort- based conferences, these USDA trips have the appearance of a 'spring break' mentality for federal employees who are tasked with helping farmers and keeping our nation's food supply safe.

"Last week Congress passed another bloated farm bill that failed to rein in the wasteful pork-barrel farm politics of the past. I voted against the bill because Congress put the priorities of special interest non- farm lobbyists over the long-term interests of our nation's farmers and ranchers in a nutrition/social programs bill, with a few farm programs thrown in. But one worthwhile item in the farm bill is the inclusion of a conference transparency provision I helped author. If this provision is ultimately passed into law, USDA will have to begin posting detailed reports about its annual conference expenditures on its public website and taxpayers can join me in scrutinizing the Agency's travel spending."

To see the full report- click here and we will jump you to it.

The Blood Institute reminds everyone that each time you donate blood you receive vital health checks at no cost including pulse rate, blood pressure, body temperature and anemia (iron level). The Beef Council wants everyone that beef is one of nature's best sources of iron for the diet. Beef is also an excellent source of protein, zinc, vitamin B12, selenium and phosphorus, and is a good source of niacin, Vitamin B6 and riboflavin.

The Oklahoma Blood Institute and the the Oklahoma Beef Council will be teaming up in this "Beef Up the Beef Supply" at ten difference locations of the Blood Institute around the state.

Click here for more details about this Beef and Blood Promotion Set for This Friday!!!

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.