This week on SUNUP - OSU's Dr. Kim Anderson updates viewers on the latest grain market developments.

Across Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas, Anderson says wheat conditions have improved slightly, but not much compared to the week prior. Meanwhile, both Russia and Ukraine's projected crop for 2018 is anticipated to be down about two percent. Internationally, wheat crops are looking fairly good especially in Australia with dramatic improvement from last year's disastrous crop. All except France, which has the worst conditions currently it has had in the last four years.


Managed fund positions in the futures markets have also been interesting to watch this week, particularly in regard to corn and soybeans. Corn picked up about 38 to 40 cents this week as contracts have ran about 100,000 long, while soybeans advanced 40 to 45 cents, currently about 200,000 contracts long.


At the elevator, harvest delivered wheat is being offered a forward contract price of roughly $5.00, currently. Corn, about $3.55 and near the same for sorghum. Soybeans, injecting a bit of optimism in the marketplace with a forward contract price of $9.50.


You can watch their visit tomorrow or Sunday on SUNUP- but you can hear Kim's comments right now and see what else is on the lineup for this week's episode, by  clicking here..

 

Oklahomans in the northwest part of the state got their first taste of "Exceptional Drought," this week, according to the latest Drought Monitor.

Parts of Oklahoma, including the Panhandle and western half of the state have gone as long as 159 days now without any significant rainfall.

Not since May of 2015 has our state seen such dry conditions. Currently, only five percent of the state's total land mass is under that designation. However, the overall area of drought in the state has dropped dramatically down to 47 percent. But, those areas in drought are extremely dry, with only six percent in moderate drought conditions.


You can view the latest Drought Monitor or read this week's Mesonet Ticker report from State Climatologist Gary McManus, by clicking here.        

 

Already a few weeks into settling into his new position as chief executive officer of the Cattlemen's Beef Board - the organization that oversees the dollar per head Beef Checkoff and its programs - Scott Stuart spared a moment to sit down with me recently to talk about his background in the cattle business and understanding of the beef industry.


Stuart described his lifelong involvement in the business, being born into a ranching family from north central Colorado. Stuart would go on to continue ranching in Montana and stayed very involved on an industry wide level with his work at the previous organization he led, the National Livestock Producers Association where he spent 30 years of his career serving cattlemen. With the NLPA as a contractor for the CBB, Stuart has stepped into this new position with an intimate experience and knowledge of the CBB's operations, but also brings with him a unique perspective - having seen how Checkoff programs work for and benefit producers from the other side. He says having that perspective will aid him as he works to promote the success of the CBB and its programs.


"It's incredibly important," he said, describing a project he participated in where he travelled the country speaking with producers about the Checkoff and how they perceived it. He continued, awing over the impressive current approval rate of the Checkoff by producers, now measured at 74 percent. "That's a great number. You think about how complex the Checkoff may be to producers, but to understand and support it at that level is great."

Hear Scott Stuart and I speak about how he is settling into his new role as CEO of the Beef Checkoff - click or tap here.