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 website that features their grain, ports and seed business!

And we are proud to have P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy as one of our regular sponsors of our daily email update. P & K is the premiere John Deere dealer in Oklahoma, with ten locations to serve you, and the P & K team are excited about their new Wind Power program, as they offer Endurance Wind Power wind turbines. Click here for more from the P&K 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.

Livestock markets continue to be shut down- yesterday, McAlester Union Stockyards was closed for their regular Tuesday sale, while the OKC West Market in El Reno is closed today as the storm blows through. The Oklahoma National Stockyards had 237 head of cows and bulls in a limited test yesterday- higher money for the animals being sold. By the way, click here for details of the special cow and bull sale for the McAlester Stockyards that they are still planning to have this Saturday, February 12.

Click here for the closings that we had received as of yesterday afternoon- the Conservation Tillage Meeting in Enid has been moved back a week- it was scheduled to be held tomorrow.

One meeting that is planning to move forward this week is the 2011 Oklahoma Crop Improvement Association annual meeting- they are on the calendar for this Friday and Saturday and it should be a go. Click here for the calendar listing we have of this event- which has the link to the details of their agenda on Friday and Saturday.

Historically, because wheat research focuses on locally-adapted varieties for the nation's six classes of wheat, the work is spread among many different USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) locations and state land grant universities, which have specialized expertise and staff. Agriculture research funding has been essentially flat for 20 years while expenses for salaries and new technology have continued to climb.
Unlike crops including corn and soybeans, wheat is disproportionally dependent on public research. Wheat is also uniquely complicated, with regional-specific varieties of six unique types, called classes, grown across 42 U.S. states. Wheat's genome is larger than the human genome.

"We feel like it's important to come to D.C. every year to remind our national leadership just how important it is for wheat research to continue to receive this funding," said Dr. Brett Carver, wheat breeder at Oklahoma State University and holder of the Oklahoma Wheat Research Genetics Foundation chair.

"Producing a new variety takes more than a decade, and continuing to produce innovative varieties is vital for our local farmers' ability to fight pests and diseases and deliver their grain to domestic mills and export customers so consumers will have plenty of nutritious breads, pastas and cereals."

Click here for more on this effort to carry the wheat research story to Washington this week

"Rural Oklahomans have different priorities and we are here to listen to those priorities and protect the interests of our rural constituents," said Senator Ron Justice, R-Chickasha, Chairman of the Rural Caucus.

Nine issues are listed in the news release about the Rural Caucus- and at the top of the list- the protection of the Ag Sales Tax Exemption. Click on the LINK below for the full list of key issues as well as full list of the Senators that are a part of the Caucus along with Senator Justice.

Click here for more details about the priorities established for the Rural Caucus in the Oklahoma State Senate for 2011.

In a letter to members of Congress, Bob Bergland, John Block, Mike Espy, Dan Glickman, Mike Johanns, John Knebel, Ed Schafer and Clayton Yeutter urged lawmakers to vote to approve the trade pact's enabling legislation, saying, "it is imperative that the KORUS FTA be implemented as soon as possible.
"The KORUS FTA will offer enormous new opportunities for our products in a market that is large and growing," added the secretaries, who pointed out that the deal will boost U.S. agricultural goods entering South Korea duty-free to $3 billion from about $14 million now.

The Korean market is now the fifth largest for U.S. agricultural exports, valued at $3.9 billion in 2009. According to an economic analysis conducted by the American Farm Bureau Federation, the KORUS FTA would expand those exports in a wide range of commodities, resulting in $1.8 billion in additional sales - a 46 percent increase - and 14,000 jobs. The former Agriculture secretaries said American farmers can compete with anyone in the world if given a "level playing field." But they won't have one in South Korea without the KORUS FTA, they wrote, pointing out that many other countries have completed or are negotiating trade deals of their own with the Asian nation.

Click here for more on the former Secretaries pushing the Korean FTA- and we have a link in our story for the full letter.

Duane Lenz of Cattlefax says the market is trying to convince folks that want to stay in the cattle business to hold more heifers for their beef cow herd- we talk about that on today's Beef Buzz.

Kevin Good, one of Duane's colleagues at CattleFax, said 2011 will be another year of tighter supplies and a "very mild" cow herd reduction. He added that stabilization is also in sight, projecting the early half of the year will bring continued reduction but suggested the decline will simmer in the latter half of 2011. The smaller herd is a "double edged sword," according to Good.

Click here to read more about the market attempts to get beef cattle producers to expand their beef cow herds- with Duane Lenz on today's beef Buzz

According to Mr. Grassley, the EPA has released several policy assessments that would lower the particulate matter standards for dust to levels which would be extremely burdensome for farmers and livestock producers. "Whether its livestock kicking up dust, soybeans being combined on a dry day in the fall, or driving a car down the gravel road, dust happens, producers could potentially be fined for not meeting the particulate matter standards while still practicing good management practices on their soils."

The Senator says, the EPA's attempt to regulate dust is just another example of how out of touch the agency is with the grassroots. He says the continued disregard for agriculture hurts the economic viability of rural America and hinders job creation. Grassley said he wants Issa to be aware of yet another regulation he says would slow economic development and cause significant costs on the nation's family farmers.

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.

Click here to check out WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com

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:
Our Daily Market Wrapup from the Radio Oklahoma Network with Ed Richards and Tom Leffler- analyzing the Futures Markets from the previous Day-
Ron on RON Markets as heard on K101 mornings with cash and futures reviewed- includes where the Cash Cattle market stands, the latest Feeder Cattle Markets Etc.
Previous Day's Wheat Market Recap- Two Pager From The Kansas City Board of Trade looks at all three US Wheat Futures Exchanges with extra info on Hard Red Winter Wheat and the why of that day's market.
Daily Oklahoma Cash Grain Prices- As Reported by the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture. <
The National Daily Feeder & Stocker Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
The National Daily Slaughter Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
Finally, Here is the Daily Volume and Price Summary from the Texas Cattle Feeders Association.