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 email update. KIS Futures provides Oklahoma Farmers & Ranchers with futures & options hedging services in the livestock and grain markets- Click here for the free market quote page they provide us for our website or call them at 1-800-256-2555.

We are also excited to have as one of our sponsors for the daily email Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, with 64 years of progress through producer ownership. Call Brandon Winters at 405-232-7555 for more information on the oilseed crops they handle, including sunflowers and canola- and remember they post closing market prices for canola and sunflowers on the PCOM website- go there by clicking here.

And we salute our longest running email sponsor- Midwest Farm Shows, producer of the springtime Southern Plains Farm Show, as well as the just concluded Tulsa Farm Show. Click here for more information on the Southern Plains Farm Show, coming up April 15,16 and 17, 2010.

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.

Others may look at some high achievements of this past year- and desire to hang onto the year every moment they can.

We are continuing the countdown of what we see as the top Farm News Stories of 2009- yesterday, we shared with you Ten down to number six- click here for the email of yesterday to see the summary of those major stories that we detailed on Wednesday. (Those of you that are on PLDI may or may not have received the email of yesterday- many folks with that address got blocked as the Pioneer email service continues to be ornery from time to time.

Today- we end the year with a look of five all the way to number one- let's start our final list of the year with number five!

The State of Oklahoma has presented its case in the trial that began back in September. This past week, as the trial stretched into its 13th week, the defense began its presentation with its own experts. Its first expert testified that the dominant source of phosphorus that spurs the production of algae in the Illinois River comes from wastewater treatment plants rather than poultry litter.

Our look at this story includes an interview that we conducted earlier this year with Attorney General Edmondson about this case and his hopes at that time to get a favorable ruling- a ruling that now seems less and less likely.

Click here for the Number Five Story in Oklahoma Agriculture for 2009- the Poultry Power Play

I am humbled that several groups picked up and used the following statement from our October 26th email where I summarized how big a deal the results that Oklahoma FFA members had assembled was- and how I saw it as historic. Here's what we wrote right after Indy 2009- "I have been covering the annual National FFA Convention since the late 1970s- having followed the exploits of Oklahoma FFA members in Kansas City, Louisville and now Indianapolis. It's been exciting to see the achievements of those that wear the Blue and Gold Jackets with Oklahoma across the back- but 2009 was the most incredible Convention I have ever been a part of. Oklahoma went to Indianapolis with high expectations because the large numbers of those members that had qualified to be at the 82nd Annual Convention as a participant. I think it's safe to say that those expectations were met or exceeded in almost all areas."

Click on the link below and it will hook you up with a reminder of the numbers of national awards that Oklahoma FFA grabbed while at the National meeting- bringing them home to Oklahoma.
As I talked with Oklahoma FFA Executive Secretary Kent Boggs several weeks after the national convention, he was still in awe of the success- and was already starting to worry about how you "do it again." As we end 2009, we don't have to worry about that right now- let's just celebrate one more time the victories of this past October!

Click here for Story Number Four for 2009- Oklahoma FFA Wins Big in Indy!

It has been a legislative battle, with the House Passing the so called Waxman-Markey Cap and Trade bill with just two votes to spare- this vote coming just before the Fourth of July recess. As the summer wore on and all eyes shifted to the Senate, one of the key players was Oklahoma's Senior Senator, Jim Inhofe. The Senator is the ranking Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, and the Chairlady of that Committee, Barbara Boxer of California, hoped to fast track a similar bill through the Senate. She ran into complete Republican opposition at every turn- and was not able to satisfy numerous members of her own party that worried about the impact of this proposal on the US Economy. It was also concerning to Inhofe and others that even if the measure was eventually signed into law- it would have virtually no effect on reducing temperatures around the world.

We have audio and even some YouTube from Senator Inhofe on this not yet completed battle. And we also have links to stories that we did along the way with Congressman Frank Lucas as well as with K-State Ag Economist Dr. Barry Flinchbaugh. Click on the story below and feel the heat from this Global Warming special- the Number three story for 2009- Climate Change.

Click here for the Number Three Story for 2009- the Climate Change Epic

The pork industry was already in huge trouble because of the amount of red ink that had gushed out of the business in 2008 and early 2009. However, economists had predicted that by the summer of 2009- there might be a chance to breakeven and even make some money if you were a hog producer.
However, the appearance of this misnamed human disease caused US hog prices to fall- and many of our best international customers to close their markets to US pork first- and ask questions later. The flood of red ink continued through the late spring, summer and fall. The losses in the pork industry are truly staggering.

Click on the link below and we take you to one of several stories that we did on this number two story for 2009 on the H1N1 factor. We have an interview within this story with Roy Lee Lindsey on the damage done by H1N1- damage that still is being felt even as we ring down the curtain for 2009.

Click here for the Number Two Story of 2009- H1N1's Harm That Was Visited On the Pork Industry

Then came the freezing temperatures as the stressed crop was well ahead of normal maturity by late February into March. By the time the harvest was done, USDA was calling it a 79,200,000 bushel wheat crop- less than half of the 2008 crop. The crop that was harvested also had quality issues, with lots of foreign matter mixed in with the grain that came in from the field. Protein levels were also weak- making this crop even tougher to market. The loss of half of the crop from the previous year means millions of bushels gone- and several hundred million dollars not flowing through the rural communities of Oklahoma.

Some of those dollars were recouped from Crop Insurance payments- and more will be made up with the ACRE payments when they finally arrive in the mailbox later in 2010. However, the pain was real as farmers had to face up to the reality that the bushels of high quality grain were simply NOT there.

Click here for more of this Top Story of 2009- the Painful Wheat Harvest of 2009 (or non harvest for many producers)

Monday, our livestock auction markets return with their first sales of 2010- starting with the usual Monday sales like Joplin, Tulsa and the Oklahoma National Stockyards.

Our hope for you and yours is a Happy and Prosperous 2010- Happy New Year!

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- Two Pager From The Kansas City Board of Trade looks at all three US Wheat Futures Exchanges with extra info on Hard Red Winter Wheat and the why of that day's market.
Daily Oklahoma Cash Grain Prices- As Reported by the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture. <
The National Daily Feeder & Stocker Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
The National Daily Slaughter Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
Finally, Here is the Daily Volume and Price Summary from the Texas Cattle Feeders Association.