~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Tuesday November 23,
2010 A
service of Johnston Enterprises, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind
Energy and American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance
Company!
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-- Fall Harvest (and weekly Crop Reports) Wind Down for 2010
-- Sorghum Referendum Soon to Come
-- China to Buy $3 Billion Worth of US Soybeans
-- 44,456- and RISING- GIPSA Rule Comment Period Closes
-- Oklahoma Pork Council Offers Their Thoughts on GIPSA in the Final
Hours of Public Comment Period
-- President Obama Proclaims Farm City Week
-- Corrected Story on Farm Bureau's Farm Family of the Year- AND
Other Tuesday Tidbits
-- 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 pleased to have American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance Company as a regular sponsor of our daily update- click here to go to their AFR web site to learn more about their efforts to serve rural America! It is also great to have as an annual sponsor on our daily email
Johnston Enterprises- proud to be serving agriculture across
Oklahoma and around the world since 1893. One of the great success stories
of the Johnston brand is Wrangler Bermudagrass- the most widely planted
true cold-tolerant seeded forage bermudagrass in the United States. For
more on Johnston Enterprises- click
here for their brand new website! 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. | |
Fall Harvest (and weekly Crop Reports) Wind Down for 2010 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ According to
the next to last weekly crop weather update of the season- "Temperatures
varied widely last week, as is typical of fall in Oklahoma, with average
temperatures in the 40's and 50's. Cold and windy weather Wednesday and
Thursday was followed by a warm and windy weekend with highs into the
80's. Light rain fell across most of the state, with an average of 0.22 of
an inch. Parts of the state, particularly the Southeast district, are
still significantly below normal rainfall for the season, and both crop
conditions and pond levels are being impacted. Topsoil and subsoil
moisture conditions continued to improve slightly. Topsoil moisture
condition was rated mostly in the adequate range and subsoil moisture
condition was rated mostly in the adequate to short range."
"Conditions for wheat and rye continued to improve from the moisture
received the past two weeks and grazing prospects are improving. Wheat
emerged reached 94 percent complete by Sunday, four points ahead of
normal." Our neighbor to the north- Kansas- has improved some from a week
ago, but still has a lot of wheat ground rated poor to very poor. Twenty
six percent of their crop are in those two lowest ratings, while 38% is in
fair shape and 32% in good condition. Four percent is called excellent.
For our spring planted crops, "Harvest is winding down ahead of normal for all row crops. Sorghum harvest reached 94 percent complete by Sunday, 15 points ahead of normal. The soybean harvest was 94 percent complete, eight points ahead of the five-year average. The cotton harvest was 73 percent complete by Sunday, 11 points ahead of normal." Click on the LINK below for the complete rundown of crop, pasture and weather conditions summarized for Oklahoma over this past week. Click here for our November 22nd Oklahoma Crop Weather Update | |
Sorghum Referendum Soon to Come ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sorghum
Checkoff Chairman Bill Greving is pleased to announce the U.S. Department
of Agriculture has finalized procedures for the upcoming referendum on the
continuation of the Sorghum Checkoff Program. For the program to continue, the Sorghum Promotion, Research, and Information Order requires that a referendum be conducted no later than 3 years after the start of assessments, which began on July 1, 2008. USDA will conduct the referendum Feb. 1-28, 2011, at local Farm Service
Agency (FSA) offices for producers and the Agricultural Marketing Service
office for importers. Ballots may be obtained in person, by mail or
facsimile at county FSA offices, or via the Internet. The Sorghum Checkoff Program, and its 13-member board, is authorized by
the Commodity Promotion, Research, and Information Act of 1996. The
mandatory program is funded at the rate of 0.6 percent of the net market
value on grain sorghum and 0.35 percent of the net market value of sorghum
forage. | |
China to Buy $3 Billion Worth of US Soybeans ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Agriculture
Secretary Tom Vilsack issued the following statement on China's signing of
agreements with industry to purchase more than 5.5 million metric tons of
U.S. soybeans: "Today's signing of contracts committing China to purchase more than 5.5 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans is a strong sign that China continues to look to the United States as a reliable supplier of high-quality products. These sales, worth nearly $3 billion at today's price, are great news not just for American soybean producers but for the U.S. economy overall. "The U.S.-China trade relationship continues to flourish, thanks in large part to agriculture. U.S. farm exports to China have grown nearly tenfold over the past decade, from $1.5 billion in fiscal year 2000 to $15 billion in 2010. With each $1 billion in exports supporting 8,000 jobs, that $15 billion supports nearly 120,000 U.S. jobs. "Last year, China became the second largest export market for U.S.
agriculture overall and remained the largest market for U.S. soybeans,
with 2010 sales of $9 billion. | |
44,456- and RISING- GIPSA Rule Comment Period Closes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The public
comment period for the so called GIPSA Rule regarding the marketing of
livestock in the United States closed at 12 midnight, but the question now
becomes- will USDA bother to really respond to questions raised in the
comments, and will USDA change anything about the rule based on the
comments received. According to the website, regulations.gov, 44,456 public comments are now posted on the proposed rule, making this one of the commented on rules this year. Many of the early comments called on USDA to extend the public comment period 120 days, and USDA did respond to that pressure by adding an extra 90 days to the process. One such request came from Scott Dewald of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association. Back on July 9, 2010, Dewald wrote on behalf of the OSA, stating that "any change of this magnitude deserves thorough review and careful analysis." The most recent comments on this website were posted November 17-
suggesting that thousands of additional comments pro and con are still to
be added to the more than 44,000 comments that came in on the GIPSA rule.
One comment that we came across that supported the GIPSA Rule was from
Jon Kirkpatrick of Colorado who stated "for years the meat packing
industry has used their market power to bully livestock producers and
feeders to accept unfair and deceptive contracts. I am pleased that USDA
is finally stepping up to protect the independent livestock producer,
feeder and contract grower." | |
Oklahoma Pork Council Offers Their Thoughts on GIPSA in the Final Hours of Public Comment Period ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's
pork industry would be devastated by the "one-size-fits-all" rule recently
proposed by the Grain Inspection Packers and Stockyards Administration
(GIPSA) of the United States Department of Agriculture, said the Oklahoma
Pork Council (OPC) in comments submitted to USDA.
"As proposed, the GIPSA rule is bad for farmers and ranchers, retailers and consumers," said Roy Lee Lindsey, OPC executive director. "We'd like the agency to issue separate, appropriate, clear and legally supportable rules consistent with Congressional grants of authority, for each of the poultry, swine and beef industries, recognizing that each segments of the meat industry is unique." In its comments, OPC said the "one-size-fits-all" approach to rule making would have a devastating impact on the structure of Oklahoma's pork industry. For example, the prohibition on packers, or entities owned by packers, from selling hogs to another packer would increase operating costs for producers because they would have to incorporate a middleman. | |
President Obama Proclaims Farm City Week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ President
Barack Obama has officially proclaimed the weekend ending this Thursday,
Thanksgiving Day, as National Farm-City Week. This year's theme is,
"Agriculture: A Growing Story". In the proclamation the President said -
the connection between rural industries and urban markets is stronger than
ever, and Americans across the country are finding ways to participate in
and celebrate the importance of agriculture and related industries.
American children are learning about the origins of our food and healthy food options by visiting farms, learning from hard-working farmers and ranchers, and trying their hand at agriculture through networks of school gardens and farm-to-school programs. Thanks to farmer's constant enterprise and innovation, rural communities are building new domestic and international markets for their high-quality food, fuel, and fiber products. Mr. Obama concluded, - while we gather with family and friends during this time of Thanksgiving, let us celebrate farms of every size that produce the abundance that graces our tables. During National Farm-City Week, as the bounty of agriculture moves from America's farms to our tables, we honor all who foster our healthier future. | |
Corrected Story on Farm Bureau's Farm Family of the Year- AND Other Tuesday Tidbits ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We have
updated a couple of the points within our story found on our website about
the Beach Family of Jackson County being named the 2010 Farm Family of the
Year. Click
here for the revised story.
A quick reminder that with Thursday being Thanksgiving, ag markets will
be closed and we will have no email for you that day. We will have a
limited email available on Friday after the holiday- and the ag futures
market will operate a half trading day. We have added several items to the end of the calendar yesterday- and more to come today- so click here and check our calendar pages of our website, WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com. In particular, check out the loaded program that the Oklahoma Wheat Growers have for their annual meeting on December 11. | |
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 $8.35 per
bushel, while the 2011 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available are
$9.15 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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