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Featured Story:

Oklahoma Wheat Crop Pegged at 130.65 Million Bushels- Forty Percent Above 2015 Production (And Kansas Tour, Too)

 

Thirty days or less from harvest- the potential for the 2016 Oklahoma winter wheat crop is the best we have seen since 2012.

Crop Scouts who reported on Wednesday at the Oklahoma Grain and Feed Association annual meeting in Oklahoma City talked about a crop that had it's potential trimmed some by multiple factors- freeze, lack of early spring rains, foliar disease and various bugs- but those scouts concluded that the favorable planting conditions and moisture going into winter were enough to help set this crop up for an above average finish late May and into June.

The scouts predicted the crop would come in at 130.65 million bushels on an average yield of 34.4 bushels per acre- based on harvested acres totaling 3.82 million acres.

Those who heard their reports also got to vote on the size of the crop- and the average guess in the room at the OGFA meeting was for a 128.48 million bushel crop- based on 33.6 bushels per acre.

We have a couple of webstories you need to check out.  First, we have the summary of the day's findings, complete with a conversation that we had with Mike Schulte of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission- click here to jump there.

Then- we have the blow by blow analysis of the crop scouts- click here to see their slides that summarize what they are predicting on a county by county basis.

The Oklahoma number- at least the informal survey number, was reported to the Wichita report session of the Kansas Wheat Crop Tour by Mark Hodges with Plains Grains.

The Kansas Crop is also looking far far better than a year ago- after the two days, scouts have sampled from over 600 fields and estimate what they see suggests 48.2 bushels per acre- over 49 bushels per acre was the Wednesday average.

Click here for our details of the Kansas Tour- and of the Yellow Route that traversed northern Oklahoma and included Chris Kirby of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission and fellow Farm Broadcaster Jesse Harding of Nebraska- they each contribute to our information from the Kansas tour and the Oklahoma portion of it- Jesse talks with Wheat Commissioner Kenneth Failes about his crop in Alfalfa County- so be sure and go check this webstory out. 

Limited Elevator Storage Could Present Problems This Wheat Harvest - Kim Anderson Explains

 

OSU Grain Marketing Economist Dr. Kim Anderson says the projected high yields for this year's wheat crop might not impact price potential, but too much wheat could cause elevators to run out of storage space before harvest is over. He says those storage issues could mean an increased basis at affected locations. We discussed this with Dr. Anderson at the OGFA meeting yesterday in OKC.

"I've talked to a couple of elevators that are already bagging it; they're already planning on putting it on the ground," Anderson says. "With that happening and we run out of space, I think that basis is going to go in the tank, and also, they'll probably insist on buying that wheat now so they can move it on out into the market."

In light of the current low wheat prices, Anderson says significantly higher yields will ultimately benefit producers.

"Prices were already down, so the more wheat you have to sell, I think the better off our producers are going to be," he says. "But they're going to have to get through harvest and through finding a home for all of this product."

While Anderson usually recommends selling crops by thirds - one third at harvest, one-third in September or October and the final third in November or December - he says producers may want to consider an alternative strategy this year. 

 

Click here to read more about Anderson's 2016 wheat marketing recommendations and to hear our full interview.

Op-Ed: Monarchs Still Need Milkweed and Farmers Are Growing It

 

In light of recent media reports suggesting that loss of milkweed habitat is no longer the chief threat to the dwindling monarch butterfly population, David Wolfe, director of conservation strategies at Environmental Defense Fund, wrote a blog about why milkweed is still of critical importance to monarch recovery efforts. He also discusses how a new program is in the works to enroll farmers and ranchers in restoring this vital habitat across America's Corn Belt. Read his blog entry below.

"I am watching the rain pour down outside my window as I write this blog. El Niño is once again giving central and north Texas a good drenching, which has brought with it some severe and deadly flood conditions. But the rains are a welcome sight to Texas farmers and ranchers who have become all too used to drought and wildfire conditions. And they aren't the only ones benefitting from the heavy rains.

"All this wet weather has resulted in a spectacular display of spring wildflowers, including vast expanses of milkweed and nectar plants that the iconic North American monarch butterflies need to survive and thrive.


"Recent headlines suggest that milkweed loss is just one of several threats to monarch populations, with drought, habitat fragmentation and reduced availability of nectar plants also influencing the species' decline. In reality, all of these threats are interconnected in a recipe that could spell disaster for the monarch."

 

 

Read Wolfe's complete blog entry about monarch recovery efforts.

Beef's Second Annual 30 Day Protein Challenge Launches This Month

 

The checkoff's "Beef. It's What's For Dinner." brand will launch the second annual 30 Day Protein Challenge campaign this month. Americans currently consume two-thirds of their total daily protein intake at dinner, which doesn't leave much room for protein at other meals or snacks. The 30 Day Protein Challenge provides a step-by-step plan to get an optimal amount of protein throughout the day.


The first launch of the Protein Challenge in 2015 was extremely successful, exceeding benchmark metrics set for the campaign, including more than 14,000 email campaign subscriptions, 81,000+ email opens and click-thrus, and more than 164,000 visits to the Protein Challenge landing page on BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com during the campaign period.

To continue the success in 2016, several upgrades have been made to the campaign to increase engagement with, and visibility of the program. Click here to read more about the upgrades and for a link to sign up for the 30 Day Protein Challenge. 

 

USDA Awards $16 Million for Research into Sustainable Crop and Livestock Production Methods

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) awarded $16.5 million in grants Tuesday to support research into methods for boosting agriculture productivity and ensuring food security in the face of pests, diseases and a changing climate. In addition, USDA announced that it is seeking applications for the next round of projects, which will focus on pollinator health and plant and animal phenomics. The grants are made available through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), administered by USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).


Established by the 2008 Farm Bill and re-authorized in the 2014 Farm Bill, AFRI is the nation's premier, peer-reviewed competitive grants program for fundamental and applied agricultural sciences. In the seven years since AFRI was established, the program has led to true innovations and ground-breaking discoveries in agriculture to combat childhood obesity, improve and sustain rural economic growth, address water availability issues, increase food production, find new sources of energy, mitigate the impacts of climate variability and enhance resiliency of our food systems, and ensure food safety.


"In the face of diminishing land and water resources and increasingly variable climatic conditions, food production must increase to meet the demands of a world population projected to pass 9 billion by 2050," said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. "Funding in research to respond to these challenges should be considered as an investment in our nation's future, an investment which will pay big dividends in the years to come."

 

 

Find a list of grant recipients and more information about the next round of projects here.

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Video: K-State's Ted Schroeder Talk About the Beef Value System

 

Fed cattle premiums don't just drop out of thin air. They are earned at every point in beef production, says Ted Schroeder, Kansas State University agricultural economist. And while selling beef by quality grades and brands allows consumers to choose and value them individually, it also creates more work and cost to get the beef to them.


"In producing, processing, marketing, positioning and putting that product in the consumers' hands, all of those activities take investment, take scrutiny to make sure that there is integrity throughout that value chain," Schroeder says. "Everyone involved in that has an additional cost incurred. If you are the retailer, you have different shelf space that you have to allocate to this product. If you are the processer, you have a sorting mechanism that you have to incur in order to ensure that you have product flowing into that right retail channel."


Schroeder says the added expense at each level means wholesale premiums for higher quality will not match the Choice-Select spread. 


"So you will never have the consumers' premium equal to the producers' premium, but you would sure expect a percentage of that consumer premium to be reflected down at the producer level and that is indeed what we see," he says. "As the consumer premium increases, so does the producer premium and again those aren't going to be 100 percent transmissions, but they are going to be a very high correlation and causation with each other."

 

Click here to watch a video of Schroeder talking more about how premiums filter back from beef consumer to beef producer.

This N That- Superior Sale Friday, Griswold Female Sale as Well and Joe Neal Talks State Budget Deal 

 

Friday morning, the next Superior Video Livestock Auction kicks off promptly at 8:00 AM central time on DISH Network Channel 232 as well as on this SuperiorClickToBid.Com website.

The Superior folks tell us they will be offering 34,700 head tomorrow- all the details of the sale can be seen on the Superior website by clicking here- or, as always, you can call Superior at 1-800-422-2117 for more information.


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Over 500 head will be sold on Friday late afternoon at the Griswold Commercial Female Sale- they are starting at 5:00 PM central time May 6th at the Perkins Sale Barn, Perkins, Oklahoma.

Among the sale offering-

• 103 Open yearling heifers 
• 20 Bulls 
• 50 Bred Heifers 
• 96 Springer Cows 
• 174 Commercial Cows bred to Mr Hoc Broker 
• 100 pairs 
• Females will sell in groups

Click here for more information- or call John Griswold at 405-780-3300 for details.

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Finally, I thought the comments made on Wednesday by the President of the Oklahoma Grain and Feed Association, Joe Neal Hampton, were rather interesting as it relates to the final days of the Oklahoma Legislature for 2016. 

As most watchers of the 2016 session well know- it's all about the budget shortfall and how the lawmakers are going to solve the $1.3 billion dollar shortfall for the coming fiscal year.

Joe Neal told his members at their annual meeting that he and RJ Gray with the Coop Council have both been assured that the Ag Sales Tax Exemption will not be touched by lawmakers.  That continues to be a worry and will be until details of the budget deal are made public.

As for a budget deal- Joe Neal expects that the lawmakers- once they get a deal will do the following-

Quickly Unveil the Deal.
Quickly Vote on the Deal.
Adjourn and Head Out of Town.

As for the timing- that remains one of the unknowns- some have said it could come early- others say it will be on the final day the lawmakers can legally meet in regular session- which is the Friday before Memorial Day.

Joe Neal (and many others we have talked to) agree that there will be things in the budget deal that various groups will not like- and that the best hope of getting a deal is to make the deal, vote and leave.

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