This week on SUNUP - OSU's Dr. Kim Anderson joins host Dave Deeken again, talking this time about the price of both corn and wheat. According to Anderson the price of corn dropped this week in the Chicago market by $0.25 - .35. In addition, the basis for corn, especially old crop corn has declined.


Anderson reports that ethanol plants have recently informed producers and elevators they will no longer be accepting old crop corn, which has added to the pressure on old crop corn's basis. This move likely to divert old crop corn stocks to the export or feed markets.


While this may be good for beef producers, it is sure to hurt wheat farmers.


Wheat prices this week, though, have seen a slight increase, Anderson says. But he hesitates to call it a rally, insisting prices continue to struggle.


Still - he reports that wheat prices achieved the "monumental" task of climbing above the Kansas City December contract price of $4.50, up currently about a nickel or so. Looking at new crop July '18 price - Anderson quotes the price at having crossed $5.00 putting it $0.90 to a $1.00 under basis.


"That's giving us a $4.00 to $4.10 cash price in Oklahoma next June," Anderson said.


Find out what advice Anderson has for wheat producers, to help them stay competitive in 2018, by watching his visit with Deeken tomorrow or Sunday on SUNUP- or you can hear Kim's comments right now and see what else is on the line-up for this week's episode, by clicking or tapping here.

Starting October 16th, the Oklahoma Commissioners of the Land Office will open up the bidding at its first school land auction for this year. Nine different auction locations will be held this year from Oct. 16 to Oct. 31st, covering 540 total tracks of land for all purposes including farming, ranching or recreation, begins on October 16, 2017 and the final one, October 31st. All tracks of land are leased by live public auction in accordance to the State Constitution and for a period of five years.

The CLO's administrator, Secretary Harry Birdwell, stopped by the RON studios recently to visit with us about these upcoming auctions, how they came about and how they benefit Oklahomans.

Birdwell gave us the history of how the school land system came about - revealing that it was actually the brainchild of then President Thomas Jefferson who realized the need for a public education system for our young, expanding country. He offered the land grant concept as a way to help states' fund and support their public education efforts. Some states unfortunately squandered their gifts from the federal government, but Oklahoma is one of those that has continued to grow its original investment.

"As a result, this constitutional trust that was established, owns and manages for the benefit of public education, a million acres of land and a million-two hundred thousand acres of mineral interests across the state," Birdwell said. "And, we have over time accumulated invested trust funds of nearly $2.5 billion. So, all those things are used and the income generated each year is distributed to the K-12 school districts and several of the higher education institutions in the state each year."

Birdwell will join me this weekend for our weekly In the Field segment on KWTV News9 in the Oklahoma City area on Saturday morning at 6:40 a.m. Be sure to tune in. In the meantime, to hear our complete off-camera interview, though, or to get more information and details on the upcoming auctions, click or tap here.

 

The Thursday Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report from USDA shows that there were 73.5 million hogs and pigs on U.S. farms on the first of September- up two percent from September 2016, and up 3 percent from June 1, 2017.

While estimates were higher than expected, the increase "won't alter price expectations much," says Ron Plain, professor emeritus, University of Missouri-Columbia.

Seasonal trends will still still rule the coming year. Plain estimates fourth quarter prices to range from $50-$52 cwt; first quarter 2018, $58-$62; second quarter $68-$72; third quarter $67-$71.

"The market has given producers ample opportunity to lock in profitable margins," says Altin Kalo, senior analyst, Steiner Consulting Group, Merrimack, NH. Lower feed costs have helped create a profitable environment for growth.

While focus is often on production increases, Kalo adds, a lot of the pork supply is getting used up. "It is taking some lower prices to get that done," he says, but it's not hitting back onto the producer. Growth in export demand is a large factor. "Demand for pork continues to be good and it's allowing producers to remain profitable through this expansion."

Plain and Kalo were featured in a media teleconference hosted by the Pork Checkoff.

Iowa continues to be the largest hog inventory state, with 22.9 million hogs as of September first. North Carolina and Minnesota had the second and third largest inventories with 9.20 million and 8.20 million head, respectively, while Illinois has just over five million hogs- North Carolina, Minnesota and Illinois together equal the hog numbers found in Iowa.

Oklahoma remains a significant sow state, with the fifth largest sow herd in the country. The Oklahoma sow herd was the same size September first of this year versus last year with 455,000 sows counted by USDA. The total hog inventory in the state of 2.23 million head is the ninth largest hog count by state in the US. In recent years, Oklahoma has been trending toward more baby pig production, shipping those baby pigs to the midwest where feed grains are in greater abundance.

To read more from the Thursday report- click or tap here.

Earlier this year at the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association annual convention, Dr. Gary Sides of Zoetis, presented some practical ideas to help producers defend their businesses and the production practices they use from the various critics that attack the industry. I was there and spoke with Dr. Sides about the advice he offers cattlemen.


"A goal of my talk was to give our producers tools to defend what they do for a living," he said. "What I find is, I'm really not speaking to the choir when I talk to these producers, because many of them when they get asked these questions about 'what do you use to raise beef' and 'does it destroy the planet?' They can't answer."


Sides says he tries to equip producers he speaks to, with information they can take with them to scientifically justify and convince skeptics that what they do is good for the environment, good for human health and good for the industry. One of the major concerns held by the public about beef, is the question of hormone treated beef's impact on human health and development. Sides shuts that argument down offering a few comparisons of products we use every day, which from that perspective shows the insignificance in which hormone treatments have in the big scheme of things. He says the use of this kind of technology and others is critically important to the clean and efficient production of beef.


"The technology we use to raise livestock, not only improves performance, but it decreases the amount of land, feed and water that's required to raise beef as well as significantly the amount of CO2 produced," Sides contended. "So, if I believe there's a CO2 problem on the planet and I remove technology from all of agriculture - just the opposite happens - I increase CO2 levels. Technology in agriculture is great for the environment."


Listen to Dr. Gary Sides of Zoetis argue the positive impact technology and modern production practices have had in production agriculture with me, on yesterday's Beef Buzz - click here.

Yesterday, alternative beef industry group, R-CALF USA, filed a comprehensive administrative complaint against the U.S. Department of Agriculture's  Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service after the unveiling of its new strategy to expand its mandatory animal identification program.

R-CALF is accusing APHIS of falsifying public comments

directed to the agency and the outcomes of meetings held earlier this year at the Strategy Forum on Livestock Traceability in Denver, Colorado to address the issue of animal ID. 

The issue at hand involves specifically, the ADT rule that essentially requires cattle over the age of 18 months to be identified with some type of official ear tag if the animal enters interstate commerce. Earlier this year, APHIS conducted meetings to draw a consensus on the industry's thoughts regarding this measure. R-CALF claims the consensus APHIS arrived at, was not truly the feeling brought forth that day.

According to a release issued by R-CALF, "APHIS claimed there was a consensus reached among industry commenters that both younger cattle and the requirement to use electronic identification devices could be included under the ADT as soon as the program was fully functional for older cattle. This report was then used as a basis for APHIS' future animal identification strategy discussed at the strategy forum."

R-CALF's complaint claims that APHIS' alleged actions constitute government-promoted propaganda tilted to favor ear tag companies, that stand to profit by the expansion of the current animal identification program by APHIS.


The complaint asks that APHIS' report, along with any subsequent reports based on the initial report, be withdrawn pending the initiation of a new analysis.

Click here to continue reading about R-CALF's claims alleging APHIS's intentions to surreptitiously expand its existing livestock traceability program.

Operational since 2006, OK-FIRE is a weather-based decision-support system and an extremely helpful tool for wildland fire managers throughout Oklahoma.

Just this week, though, the OK-FIRE program manager, J.D. Carlson, fire meteorologist in Oklahoma State University's Department of Biosytems and Agricultural Engineering, has announced the program's new website, designed to be more user-friendly and offers a broader scope of content.

Because of the new design and different methodologies for accessing products, both new and old users are encouraged to attend a training workshop to learn about the new intricacies of the new site.

Seven locations and dates have been scheduled for workshops: Bartlesville, Oct. 12; Antlers, Oct. 26; Woodward, Nov. 2; Altus, Nov. 16; Ardmore, Nov. 30; El Reno, Dec. 13; and Stillwater, Dec. 18.

"Attendees will learn about fire weather, fire danger and smoke dispersion products available on OK-FIRE, how to use them and how to access their past, current and forecast values via maps, charts and tables," Carlson said. "Wildfire, prescribed fire and smoke applications will be covered."

Space is limited and those interested in attending one of the workshops offered are encouraged to quickly register. For more information on how to register and for schedule details, or to take a look at the new website, click here.