Taking advantage of some mixed signals from Congress, the USDA has decided to move forward with possible implementation of the GIPSA rules which have been on ice since 2010, slipping them in during these last few weeks of the Obama administration. We talked with Colin Woodall of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association who says the fact that they are resurrecting these rules for implementation, is a big worry.


"We are concerned because these provisions are very similar to what we saw with the 2010 proposal that we worked so hard to try to defeat and defund," Woodall said. "The fact that these are back concern us and really we're talking about the definition of competitive injury and undue or unfair preference."


In laymen's terms, Woodall says that just means the USDA is going to define what is fair in the cattle marketplace. Doing this he says would threaten the industry's alternative marketing arrangements and value added programs.

Woodall told me that there are a lot of unknowns at this point- the Secretary has not consulted with anyone in the industry that he is aware of in what was submitted to OMB to be reviewed- and that it is possible that if these rules come back approved by the Office of Management and Budget- they could be released as an interim final rule without any comment period.

Click here to read more- and to hear our latest Beef Buzz featuring Colin Woodall on this latest regulatory worry coming from the Obama Administration.

 

 

OSU Ag Economics Professor Dr. Jayson Lusk is taking exception with recent claims being made by the Environmental Working Group that when it comes to exports that US Agriculture is not really feeding the world.  In his Blog, Dr. Lusk says  "Basically they argue something along the lines of the following: well, we don't really export that much anyway, and the people we export to are pretty rich, so we're not really feeding the world."

Jayson says that the EWG, in claiming that trade is not a big deal for agriculture, is conveniently ignoring the statistics. He writes "Trade is a big deal for U.S. agriculture.  The data from the USDA shows that we export about 20% of all the agricultural output (both in terms of volume and in terms of dollars)."

And he says that is especially true for certain crops- like cotton and wheat. He points to a recent breakdown of the percentages exported on a crop by crop basis- and it shows an astounding 81% of cotton is exported- and 55% of wheat is exported.

He adds that while the top country for buying wheat is Japan- and has been for many years- when you you look at all of the countries that buy wheat from us- it's countries that are not tremendously rich.  "Many, if not most, of the countries on the wheat buying list have hunger and food insecurity rates far above that in the U.S.   Moreover, their per-capita GDP is far below that of the U.S."

Jayson Lusk says trade does matter- you can read his complete blog on this subject by clicking here.

 

We are used to slow change in the cattle business. But after decades at that pace, a rapid transition has set in.


"Part of that is from technology," said Pete Anderson, research director for Midwest PMS, "as we add technology to any industry it tends to happen faster. Part of it is communication directly from consumers. Where we now understand to a much greater extent what consumers want and what they won't accept and we're reacting to that and part of it is speed of the way everything is happening in the globe these days."


The markets have seen increasingly wild price swings. And those wild swings mean risk management matters- click or tap here to read more of Pete Anderson's thoughts on how the industry is changing faster than ever before- and you can enjoy a video featuring Anderson that is a part of our story- courtesy of the American Angus Association.

 

The folks at the Oklahoma FFA State Office have put together an excellent summary of those who participated in and excelled in Indianapolis during the 89th National Convention of the FFA.

They highlight several of the National Champions that came out of the convention- including American Star Farmer Tyler Schnaithman of Garber and Emily Kennedy of Edmond, who is the National Creed Speaking Champion for 1999.

Click here to take a look.  It includes several pictures taken by the Oklahoma FFA State Officers that can be seen and downloaded on our FLICKR album of the 2016 Convention.

Our exclusive coverage of the 89th annual National FFA Convention in Indianapolis has been a service of ITC, Your Energy Superhighway. Learn more about ITC Great Plains, LLC by  clicking here. We also appreciate the support of the Oklahoma FFA Association and the Oklahoma FFA Alumni Association. Click here for more information about one of the top states in the US in the FFA- the Oklahoma FFA Association. Oklahoma FFA impacts the lives of 27,154 members in 357 chapters across the state.

 

Early fall-winter forage production is particularly valuable in the Southern Great Plains as it allows flexibility for earlier grazing or increased stockpiling.


The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation will host three variety demonstrations for agricultural producers to see six new varieties, developed by the Noble Foundation small grains breeding program, in the field. All three events will start at 10 a.m. The first event will be on Nov. 10, in Leedey, Oklahoma. The second event will be on Nov. 15, in Sherman, Texas. The third event will be on Nov. 17 in Randlett, Oklahoma.


"It's important for producers to see these varieties planted in an environment similar to their own," said Jim Johnson, soils and crops consultant. "The demonstrations will allow producers to see the increased forage production potential of these varieties and talk with plant breeders about how the improved traits can benefit their operations."

Click here for more details about the six varieties coming out of the Noble program- and about the meetings coming in November.

 

 

There are a wide variety of meetings that are on tap during the month of November.

That includes the 2016 Diamond Anniversary Convention of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau.  This year's theme is "Bold Innovators with the Wisdom to See Beyond Tomorrow." Farm Bureau's statewide gathering is coming up November 11th thru the 13th in downtown Oklahoma City.

The Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association have a bunch of regional meetings planned- including their Fall Gatherings and informational meetings on the VFD- the Vet Feed Directive that goes live on January first.

During November, AFR will be running their district Youth Speech Contests- with the state finals in early December in Stillwater.

Details on all of these events- and more- can be seen on our online calendar at OklahomaFarmReport.Com.  Click here to jump to the November listings. 

If we don't have an event that you are responsible for- email me and we will work on getting your event included in this online listing.