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-- This N That- Fire Danger Big Worry, Hesston Milestone and OSU Livestock Judging Team Places Third in Ft Worth

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Chairman Conaway Rejects USDA Legal Analysis, Presses for Action 

 

House Agriculture Committee Chairman K. Michael Conaway (R-TX) Friday sent a written reply to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack's February 3 letter in which the Secretary denied the request of 100 members of Congress who sent a bicameral, bipartisan letter urging the Secretary to take urgent action to stave off a farm financial crisis in the cotton belt. The members of Congress urged the Secretary to use his legal authority to designate cottonseed as an eligible oilseed for purposes of the Farm Bill. Upon sending a written reply to the Secretary, which can be read in full here, Chairman Conaway issued the following statement:


"I am deeply disappointed in the Secretary's decision because it jeopardizes the livelihoods of thousands of hard working farm families and the countless communities that depend on them. These farm families and communities are left alone to face the predatory foreign trade practices of China, India, and other countries that are, according to the analysis of our own government, wreaking havoc on global cotton markets through heavy subsidies, tariffs, and non-tariff trade barriers. Given the increasingly dire conditions farm families face in the cotton belt and the grave consequences of failing to act, I have little choice but to continue to press for the same kind of responsible, urgent, and meaningful response that has always been taken to address emergencies impacting producers of other commodities."

USDA Seeks to Enroll 450,000 More Oklahoma Acres in Conservation Stewardship Program

 

USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Oklahoma plans to add an estimated 450,000 more acres to the rolls of the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) during fiscal year 2016. NRCS Oklahoma State Conservationist Gary O'Neill encourages farmers, ranchers and landowners to submit applications by March 31 to their local USDA service center to ensure they are considered for enrollment in 2016.


This follows Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack's announcement today of $150 million in funding available through CSP nationwide. CSP is USDA's largest conservation program that helps producers voluntarily improve the health and productivity of private and Tribal working lands through more than 100 different land enhancements.


"The Conservation Stewardship Program is one of our most popular programs with producers because it results in real change on the ground by boosting soil and air quality, conserving clean water and enhancing wildlife habitat," O'Neill said. "With this investment, we'll be able to build on the already record number of acres enrolled in USDA's conservation programs, enabling producers to achieve higher levels of conservation and adopt new and emerging conservation technologies on farms and ranches."


Participants with existing CSP contracts that will expire on Dec.31, 2016 have the option to renew their contracts for an additional five years if they agree to adopt additional activities to achieve higher levels of conservation on their lands. Applications to renew are also due by March 31. 


Click or tap here to read more about the 2016 enrollment period for CSP. 

CattleFax's Randy Blach Says Disappearing Price Discovery Big Problem for Cattle Market

 

It's been a long standing problem- the lack of liquidity in cash cattle market price discovery.  Numbers of cattle actually selling for cash has been on the decline for a lot of years- but 2015 saw those numbers shrink in some weeks to under two thousand head in the southern plains as compiled by the Texas Cattle Feeders Association.

In speaking at the Cattle Industry Convention, CattleFax Chief Executive Officer Randy Blach said there needs to be more points of price discovery on a weekly basis.


"When we have one point of price discovery at 4:30 on Friday afternoon where we trade cash cattle, that's not a very efficient way of doing business, is it?" Blach said.


The downturn in the cattle markets were compounded by a large amount of heavy cattle that were backed up in the system in the late summer and early fall. Blach said the market was offering an incentive to packers to ship cattle out of those areas and move them to areas with less inventory. He said when you do that, you end up with a much more limited cash price market in the central and southern Plains and there isn't any price discovery. At the time, he said 95 percent of the cattle were being sold on a formula or grid and only five percent were selling in the cash market in the central and southern plains and that's when the industry found its tipping point.

It has not been that many years when there were 18,000 to 20,000 head selling weekly in the region. Today, the Texas Cattle Feeders are reporting 1,500 - 2,500 head(and some weeks less than that.)

Things also changed in losing the Cargill packing plant in Friona, Texas. Blach said feeders need access to packing plants. An area like Kansas will probably see more price discovery.

"As long as we have a point of adequate price discovery within that region, I think that's what's most important," Blach said.

I featured Blach on the Beef Buzz . Click or tap here to listen to today's Beef Buzz.

You can also hear the complete conversation that I had with Randy Blach at the 2016 Cattle Industry Convention in San Diego- by clicking here.

USDA, Fuel Up to Play 60 Award $35 Million in School Grants

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the dairy farmer-founded Fuel Up to Play 60 program are providing $35 million in grants to help schools nationwide upgrade their kitchen equipment and infrastructure to help provide students better access to healthy foods, including dairy.


More than 30 million students - or three out of every five - rely on school meals once or twice a day. However, according to a 2014 Pew Charitable Trusts survey, 88 percent of schools reported lacking at least one piece of equipment they needed in order to serve healthier foods.


"These grants will go far in helping thousands of schools that face a daily reality that students often arrive hungry, which impacts their ability to learn," said Paul Rovey, Arizona dairy farmer and chairman of Dairy Management Inc., which manages the national dairy checkoff. "This partnership between Fuel Up to Play 60 and USDA really helps create meaningful changes in the lives of children by making it easier to offer healthy school meals."


Fuel Up to Play 60 has become the nation's most effective program of its kind by reaching students in 73,000 schools. It was created by dairy farmers and the National Football League with support from the USDA to foster the next generation of healthy, high-achieving youth.  Click or tap here to read more about Fuel Up to Play 60.

 

Syngenta Obtains Judgment Against South Dakota Plant Variety Protection Act Violator

 

Syngenta has obtained a $25,000 settlement from Paul and John Mayclin, Mayclin Farms, Plankinton, South Dakota, in response to their Plant Variety Protection (PVP) Act violation. Mayclin admitted to unauthorized sales of Syngenta's AgriPro® brand winter wheat variety SY Wolf.


The PVP Act states that protected seed may not be sold, re-sold or used to produce seed without permission of the developer. The law allows for legal action against all parties involved in transactions that violate the law, potentially including the seller, the buyer, the cleaner, grain elevators and any other parties.


"We owe it to our seed associates and producers who follow the law and buy their certified seed legally to prevent illegal use of our federally protected seed," said Darcy Pawlik, product marketing lead for Syngenta's cereals business. "We must stop illegal use of our genetics if we are to have a forward-looking seed industry with continued improvements in good quality grain."

 

Click or tap here to read more about this settlement.

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Bayer Seeks to Stop EPA's Decision on Valuable Insecticide for Farmers

 

Crop Science, a division of Bayer, announced Friday it has refused a request by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to voluntarily cancel the uses of flubendiamide in the United States and instead will seek a review of the product's registration in an administrative law hearing.


The company believes the methods used by the EPA exaggerate environmental risk and would deny farmers access to a critical pest management tool. Sold in the U.S. by Bayer under the trade name Belt®, flubendiamide is approved for use on more than 200 crops because of its strong pest performance, favorable environmental and toxicological profile, and excellent fit in integrated pest management (IPM) programs.


The EPA claims uses of flubendiamide may harm benthic organisms that live in the sediment of waters near agricultural fields, without any evidence of harm in more than seven years of commercial use. Bayer strongly disagrees with the EPA's methodology, which is based on theoretical models and assumptions that exaggerate risk. Years of water monitoring studies have shown residues of flubendiamide and its metabolite are well within safe levels established for aquatic invertebrates.

Click or tap here to read more.

Cotton Producers Intend to Plant 9 Million Acres in 2016- Up 6% From Year Ago- Oklahoma Expects 14.4% Jump 

 
U.S. cotton producers intend to plant 9.1 million cotton acres this spring, up 6.2 percent from 2015, according to the National Cotton Council's 35th Annual Early Season Planting Intentions Survey.

Upland cotton intentions are 8.9 million acres, up 5.7 percent from 2015, while extra-long staple (ELS) intentions of 208,000 acres represent a 31.2 percent increase. The survey results were announced today at the NCC's 2016 Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas.


In Oklahoma, the expectation is that cotton producers will add about 30,000 acres compared to what was planted in 2015- the NCC intentions show Oklahoma at 246,000 acres for this spring. That's a 14.4% jump from a year ago. Texas will also increase acres in 2016, with total acreage in the largest cotton growing state expected to top the five million acre level at 5.066 million acres. Overall, Texas cotton acreage is expected to increase by 5.6 percent with south Texas responsible for the statewide increase. The survey responses indicate that cotton growers expect to plant land that was idled in 2015 due to excessive moisture. Little change in acreage was indicated in the state's other regions.


Dr. Jody Campiche, the NCC's vice president Economics & Policy Analysis, said, "Planted acreage is just one of the factors that will determine supplies of cotton and cottonseed. Ultimately, weather, insect pressures and agronomic conditions play a significant role in determining crop size."


Besides the southwest acreage gains for 2016- it looks like the Mid-South will be expanding cotton acres this spring- click here for the complete story from the National Cotton Council meeting from this past weekend in Dallas. (and it's nice to have a story featuring Jody Campiche who moved on from the OSU Ag Econ Department this past year to the National Cotton Council)

This N That- Fire Danger Big Worry, Hesston Milestone and OSU Livestock Judging Team Places Third in Ft Worth

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