~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Wednesday September 1,
2010 A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and KIS
Futures!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Net Farm Income and Export Numbers Look Great
-- As People Read the Rule, Opposing Views of What It Says
Emerge
-- NCBA Raises Question of Why the Strange Bedfellows Regarding
GIPSA.
-- Significant Work Still Needed to Really Crack Wheat's Genetic
Code
-- Trichomoniasis Testing of Breeding Bulls is the Law in
Oklahoma
-- Coalition of groups gathers 180,000 letters on antibiotics
issue
-- Let's Check the Markets!
Howdy Neighbors! Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. We are proud to have KIS Futures as a regular sponsor of our daily email update. KIS Futures provides Oklahoma Farmers & Ranchers with futures & options hedging services in the livestock and grain markets- Click here for the free market quote page they provide us for our website or call them at 1-800-256-2555. When you call them- ask them about their brand new Iphone App which provides futures quotes for your Iphone. We are also excited to have as one of our sponsors for the daily email
Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, with 64 years of progress through
producer ownership. Call Brandon Winters at 405-232-7555 for more
information on the oilseed crops they handle, including sunflowers and
canola- and remember they post closing market prices for canola and
sunflowers on the PCOM
website- go there by clicking here. If you have received this by someone forwarding it to you, you are welcome to subscribe and get this weekday update sent to you directly by clicking here. | |
Net Farm Income and Export Numbers Look Great ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ According to
the Economic Research Service of USDA, net farm income is forecast to be
up 24 percent this year to 77.1 billion dollars. That number is
12.3-billion above the average of 64.8-billion dollars in net farm income
earned annually in the previous 10 years and is the fourth largest amount
of income earned in U.S. farming. Cash receipts are expected to increase
6.5 percent, due mainly to higher livestock receipts. Farm business equity, assets minus debt, is expected to rise by 3.5 percent, largely due to an expected 2.9-percent increase in the value of farm business real estate and a 4.2-percent decline in farm business debt. The farm business sector's debt-to-asset ratio is expected to decline to 11.2 percent and debt-to-equity is expected to decline to 12.6 percent in 2010, indicating an improvement in the farm sector's solvency. US Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack is pleased with the net income numbers- saying that indicators point to a sustainable recovery sector-wide. While an increase in the value of livestock production accounted for much of the upward movement, the value of dairy production rose by 26.2 percent; the value of meat animal production is up 14.6 percent, and the value of poultry and egg production rose 8.4 percent. And commercial farms and intermediate farms are all expected to have higher average net cash income in 2010 than they did in either 2009 or 2008. The Secretary was also upbeat about the export numbers coming from the
agency. "Another factor driving this recovery is an increase in income
from exports. Today, USDA is excited to announce that we are raising our
forecast for agricultural exports for Fiscal Year 2010 to $107.5 billion -
the second highest year on record. This a $3 billion increase from the May
forecast, and an $11 billion increase over last year. And Agriculture is
one of the only major sectors of the American economy with a trade surplus
- expected to be $30.5 billion this year. Click on the link below to read more about these reports- and we have links on our webstory for the full reports if you want that much detail. Click here for the story on Net Farm Income Rising here in 2010. | |
As People Read the Rule, Opposing Views of What It Says Emerge ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As people read
the proposed GIPSA Rule, they come up with different views of how this
will impact the beef cattle business. On one side, you have people like
Jerry Bohn of Pratt Feeders, who sees the fear of litigation driving beef
processors into not offering more than one price daily- then sorting for
quality in their facility and capturing any added value for themselves.
Allen Sents, who along with his wife owns a cattle feedlot near Marquette, Kansas strongly disagrees. He says "I can think of nothing more unreasonable" than to expect packers to stop buying cattle based on the value they have in their carcass. He dismisses the requirement of the rule that packers will have to have documentation of why they pay more for one set of cattle versus another as something they already have and will be able to produce without fear of litigation. In this Beef Buzz, as heard on great radio stations around the state of Oklahoma via the Radio Oklahoma Network- you can hear both viewpoints, which provides some insight into how divisive this proposal is. Click on the LINK below for this audio look at a couple of feedlot operators and their views on the GIPSA Rule. Click here for today's Beef Buzz with Jerry Bohn and Allen Sents | |
NCBA Raises Question of Why the Strange Bedfellows Regarding GIPSA. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The
Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund and Food and Water Watch are joining
forces to support the Department of Agriculture's Grain Inspection,
Packers and Stockyard Administration's proposed rule on livestock
marketing. Representatives of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association
are questioning the partnership between the animal rights and
environmental activist groups.
NCBA President Steve Foglesong says well-funded activist groups, like Food and Water Watch, are working to obstruct the success of U.S. agriculture and its efforts to feed a growing global population. He said Food and Water Watch, a lobbyist group, - has a longstanding history of lobbying for stringed agricultural regulations that are devoid of science. Foglesong says - as a cattle producer, it is concerning that an organization in my industry is admittedly partnering with a group that spreads fiction as fact to 98 percent of the population removed from production agriculture. Foglesong said the lack of science-based information is a red flag on the credibility of this activist group. He said, according to USDA, 98 percent of all U.S. farms are family farms. USDA reports 91 percent of farms in the United States are considered "small family farms," which is contrary to Food and Water Watch reporting that "the work of producing our food has been replaced by large corporate enterprises." Foglesong said innovation, profitability and a commitment to consumers have driven expansion of family owned operations throughout the United States, not agribusiness. Click here to read more about the NCBA concerns about this group that R-Calf is hanging with. | |
Significant Work Still Needed to Really Crack Wheat's Genetic Code ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You might call
this the "rest of the story." We reported a couple of days ago about the
breakthrough on partially mapping the genome of wheat. Now, a US based
group says to those who read the story from England- hold the phone. The
International Wheat Genome Sequence Consortium, an international
consortium of wheat growers, public and private breeders and scientists,
strongly disagrees with implications that the sequence reads made
available by a UK team, led by Professor Neil Hall, represent in any way
the sequence of the wheat genome or that this work is comparable to genome
sequences for rice, maize, or soybean. An Associated Press (AP) story
published on 27 August 2010, in London, entitled "Scientists: We've
cracked wheat's genetic code", reports that Neil Hall's team has "decoded
the genetic sequence of wheat" and implies that this information is
equivalent to the genome sequences available for the rice, maize, soybean,
and the human genomes.
The AP story and the claims in that story by Neil Hall are in direct conflict with the BBSRC announcement released the same day and are a complete misrepresentation of the value of the work to breeders and scientists. Regrettably, the AP story and its headline that the wheat genome has been sequenced has been repeated in stories by all major media outlets around the world. The truth is that according to this consortium- "this is an important
step but significant work remains to be done to achieve a complete genome
sequence" and the "full sequenced genome requires further read-throughs,
assembly of the data into chromosomes and significant work to fully
annotate the sequence data". Click here to read up on the Consortium Working on the Wheat Geni | |
Trichomoniasis Testing of Breeding Bulls is the Law in Oklahoma ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr. Gene
Parker, Area Extension Food Animal Quality and Health Specialist for OSU
writes about this cattle disease that we are all still learning more
about. Dr. Parker tells us that most states in the western part of the
United States have developed "Trich" regulations to help control the
disease. Many other states are recognizing the seriousness of the disease
and are currently developing or implementing regulatory programs. Oklahoma
Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry worked with the Oklahoma
Cattlemen's Association, Livestock Marketing Association, veterinarians,
producer groups, and lab personnel to develop Oklahoma Trich regulations.
The new rules took effect on July 1, 2010. Enforcement of the new
regulations will not begin until Jan 1, 2011 to allow sale barns and
producers time to become familiar with the new rules. Although the primary
impact of Trichomoniasis is on female cattle, these cows can spread Trich
infection to bulls. Oklahoma Trich regulations focus on breeding bulls,
the reservoir or carrier of the disease.
Effective January 1, 2011, any bull changing ownership within the state
of Oklahoma by private sale, public sale, lease, trade, or barter must
have a negative test for Trichomoniasis within 30 days of change of
ownership. Exceptions are: Bovine Trichomoniasis (Trich) is a venereal disease of cattle caused by
the protozoan Tritrichomonas foetus, which is about the size of a sperm
cell. Infected bulls carry the protozoan on their penis and prepuce. As a
bull ages the conditions on the surface of the organs become more
favorable allowing the organism to survive and multiply.
Click here for more on this disease from a blog entry of a few days ago at the ODAFF website. | |
Coalition of groups gathers 180,000 letters on antibiotics issue ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A group of
organizations delivered more than 180,000 letters to the Food and Drug
Administration Thursday in response to the agency's request for comments
on proposed changes to agricultural antibiotics usage. The groups in the
coalition that collected the letters include The Humane Society of the
United States, Center for Food Safety, Center for Science in the Public
Interest, CREDO Action, FamilyFarmed.org, Farm Aid, Food & Water
Watch, Food Democracy Now!, Organic Consumers Association and Union of
Concerned Scientists.
In a joint statement, the groups called on the FDA to "heed the overwhelming scientific evidence and outpouring of citizen concern by (1) strengthening the agency's [Veterinary Feed Directive] guidelines and (2) making mandatory, rather than voluntary, its June guidance to ensure that antibiotics only be used under veterinary supervision to treat sick animals, thus protecting human health." You might notice that one of the groups that is listed above is the Food and Water Watch- the group that has joined up with R-Calf in their support of the GIPSA Rule. Click on the LINK below and you can go to their website as they have a news release on these letters that have been sent to the FDA in support of much stronger oversight of antibiotics in animal agriculture. Click here for one of the news releases on these letters going to the FDA. | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, PCOM, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy, Johnston Enterprises, American Farmers & Ranchers, KIS Futures and Big Iron Online Auctions for their support of our daily Farm News Update. For your convenience, we have our sponsors' websites linked here- just click on their name to jump to their website- check their sites out and let these folks know you appreciate the support of this daily email, as their sponsorship helps us keep this arriving in your inbox on a regular basis- FREE! We also invite you to check out our website at the link below to check out an archive of these daily emails, audio reports and top farm news story links from around the globe. | |
Let's Check the Markets! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We've had
requests to include Canola prices for your convenience here- and we will
be doing so on a regular basis. Current cash price for Canola is $7.65 per
bushel, while the 2011 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available are
$8.05 per bushel- delivered to local participating elevators that are
working with PCOM.
Here are some links we will leave in place on an ongoing basis- Click
on the name of the report to go to that link: | |
God Bless! You can reach us at the following: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
phone: 405-473-6144
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