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Here is your daily Oklahoma farm and ranch news update. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Featured Story:

Oklahoma Wheat Commission Reports Limited Cutting to Date as Rains Frustrate Farmers

 

Rain storms halting wheat harvest in many of the areas where it has happened in a limited way as the 2016 harvest season attempts to take off. 

 

The Oklahoma Wheat Commission issued their first official wheat harvest report of the season- and it speaks of the potential and the fears of2016.

 

As for the potential- we have a really pretty good crop out in the fields- ""Test weights on the wheat being harvested in all locations reported from Southwest to Central Oklahoma are ranging anywhere from 61 to 65lbs./bu, (78.5kg/hl-83.6kg/hl). With many reports coming in above the 63 lbs./bu, (81.0kg/hl). Yields on wheat harvested coming into locations in Southwest Oklahoma yesterday were reported 35-50 bushels per acre with some yield reports coming in as high as 60 bushels per acre. Yields on wheat in central Oklahoma around the Kingfisher and Okarche area also coming in with favorable reports making anywhere from the mid 30's to the mid 50's with reports favoring the higher yields of the mid 40's to the mid 50's."

 

US Corn Crop Ratings Comparable to Year Ago While Texas Wheat Harvest Now 11% Done

 

The latest U.S. Department of Agriculture crop progress report has corn planting 94 percent complete nationally. That's up 8 percent over last week and still right on par with the five-year average. USDA reported 78 percent of the crop has emerged in the top 18 states that plant 93 percent of the nation's corn acres. Emergence made an 18 point leap this week and is currently just 3 points lower than last year. 

 

USDA Unveils New Improvement to Streamline Crop Reporting

 

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced Tuesday that farmers and ranchers filing crop acreage reports with the Farm Service Agency (FSA) and participating insurance providers approved by the Risk Management Agency (RMA) now can provide the common information from their acreage reports at one office and the information will be electronically shared with the other location.


This new process is part of the USDA Acreage Crop Reporting Streamlining Initiative (ACRSI). This interagency collaboration also includes participating private crop insurance agents and insurance companies, all working to streamline the information collected from farmers and ranchers who participate in USDA programs.


"If you file your report at one location, the data that's important to both FSA and RMA will be securely and electronically shared with the other location," said FSA Administrator Val Dolcini. "This will avoid redundant and duplicative reporting, and we expect this to save farmers and ranchers time."


"Accuracy in crop reporting is a key component for crop insurance, because an error in this information can affect premiums or claims. This is going to greatly improve efficiencies and reduce mistakes," said RMA Administrator Brandon Willis.


Since 2009, USDA has been working to streamline the crop reporting process for agricultural producers, who have expressed concerns with providing the same basic common information for multiple locations. In 2013, USDA consolidated the deadlines to 15 dates for submitting these reports, down from the previous 54 dates at RMA and 17 dates for FSA. USDA representatives believe farmers and ranchers will experience a notable improvement in the coming weeks as they approach the peak season for crop reporting later this summer.

 

Click here for more information on the new and improved process. 

Supreme Court Upholds Landowners Rights Challenging WOTUS Jurisdiction

 

The Supreme Court in United States Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co., Inc., set a precedent Tuesday that landowners may challenge the Corps' jurisdictional determination specifying that a piece of property contains a "water of the United States." The National Cattlemen's Beef Association filed an amicus brief in support of Hawkes. NCBA President Tracy Brunner, said this is a major victory for landowners across the country.


"This case highlights the issues landowners and land-use stakeholders have with the Clean Water Act," said Brunner. "Neither of the options provided to landowners are realistic under the current regulatory environment. Applying for a 404 permit is expensive, exhaustive and time consuming. Gambling on EPA enforcement and risking civil and criminal penalties is foolish. This case strikes a balance that at least gives us some measure of regulatory certainty in the notoriously unclear Clean Water Act."


The Hawkes case involved three companies engaged in mining peat in Minnesota. Due to the difficulty inherent in determining the need for a 404 Dredge and Fill Permit, the Army Corps allows property owners to obtain a standalone jurisdictional determination if a particular piece of property contains a WOTUS and therefore requires a 404 permit before using the land. Upon receiving an approved jurisdictional determination that their land did contain a WOTUS, the companies exhausted the administrative remedies available and then filed suit in Federal District Court challenging the Corps' jurisdictional determination. The government argued that such a jurisdictional determination was not final agency action and that landowners would have to either discharge without a permit and then challenge EPA enforcement or apply for a permit and challenge the outcome.

 

Read more about the Supreme Court's decision here.

 

 

K-State's Ted Schroeder Says Sustainability Doesn't Have To Break the Bank

 

The term "sustainability" will often get mixed reactions among cattle producers. While some may look at it as added costs to make modifications to an operation, Dr. Ted Schroeder, agricultural economics professor at Kansas State University, says it's more about individual producers just using their specific resources wisely.


"The key thing is for them to go in and say are we doing thing here in a way that's the most efficient, the most effective for our operation?" he says. "These are just good management practices in a lot of ways."


At the same time, Schroeder says it's important to consider the long-term impact producers are having on their operations.


"Asking some questions in addition to just what's the efficiency of the operation day-to-day and per pound of calf or per pound of animal fed and finished," he says. "What are some other impacts that I may be having long run that I may not always recognize myself short run?"


Schroeder recently spoke at the Beef Sustainability Knowledge Summit in Manhattan, Kan. He says beef producers need to understand that sustainability will have an impact on beef demand - either positive or negative. 


"The modern, young consumer - who is the consumer for our future in this industry - they have very specific expectations about food - beef in particular, but food in general," he says. "Some of those have dimensions of sustainability that are consistent with some of the things we're hearing in the sustainability arena, and some of them aren't always the same. In other words, sustainability could compliment or not compliment those attributes.


"Sustainability could actually adversely affect competitive pricing - components of it could - if you added a bunch of costs and you weren't just simply being more efficient."


Listen to Schroeder talk more about sustainability in the beef industry during the latest Beef Buzz.

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Bayer and Planetary Resources Intend to Collaborate to Improve Agriculture With Space Data

 

Bayer and the aerospace technology company Planetary Resources, based in Redmond, Washington, USA, have signed a memorandum of understanding about the development of applications and products based on satellite images. Bayer intends to purchase these data from Planetary Resources to create new agricultural products and improve existing ones. The collaboration will be part of the Digital Farming Initiative at Bayer. Financial details were not disclosed.


Using the combined technologies from the two companies, farmers can time their irrigation systems much better to save water, receive planting date recommendations and re-planting advice, and assess their soil's water-holding capacity. Another project is a canopy temperature scout that provides weekly practical insights and scouting support from emergence to harvest by identifying problem areas in the field.


"The sensors from Planetary Resources can become a powerful tool that can provide a new level of information on crops anywhere in the world," says Liam Condon, member of the Board of Management of Bayer AG and head of the Crop Science Division. "The combination of Bayer's scientific and agronomy expertise and Planetary Resources' unique sensor capability will greatly improve our ability to deliver truly practical intelligence to growers anywhere on the planet."


Chris Lewicki, CEO of Planetary Resources, added: "We have identified Bayer as a prime partner in the agriculture industry based on their expertise in several fields and anticipate that this collaboration will accelerate technology deployment, product development, and market acceptance. We are currently conducting airborne Research and Development (R&D) campaigns over a variety of agricultural targets. Bayer is interested in supporting these activities with scientific and agronomic expertise in order to accelerate R&D, product validation and creation."

 

 

Click here for a link to learn more about digital farming.

Welcome to June- Lots of Deadlines Today If You Are a Cowboy 

 

Several of our agricultural groups in the state have followed in our footsteps in using email as a delivery of information to their members- and one of those emails that we get regularly is from the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association- it struck me as I read their latest update that June First is a very busy day if you are associated with the Cattlemen in our state- I count at least three call to actions that need to happen by close of business today-

 

First- they are looking for OCA members that want to be a part  of their Class 24 Cattlemen's Leadership Academy- details are available here.

 

Secondly- the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Foundation has 15 scholarships worth more than $10,000 that they want to hand out- deadline to apply is TODAY- June 1- click here to learn more if you have a student that needs some bucks for college.

 

Finally- OCA has decided to make the move from Midwest City to Norman for their 2016 annual convention in July- and today is the deadline for those that might want to be a part of their trade show- they have room to expand with the move from the Reed Center. Again- details are available by clicking here.

 

 

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