~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Friday March 11, 2011
A
service of Johnston Enterprises, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind
Energy and American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance
Company!
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-- House Ag Committee Begins Oversight Hearings on EPA
-- EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson Says Her Agency is Not Out to Get
Farmers and Ranchers
-- Canola TV- Part Three with Tom Peeper Now Up for Your Viewing
Pleasure
-- US Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack Says No Addional Time for Public
Comments Will be Needed for GIPSA Rule
-- Oklahoma Ag Leadership Class Ready to Return to Oklahoma
-- Oklahoma Youth Expo Begins Eleven Day Run
-- 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 a longstanding 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! We invite you to listen to us on great radio stations across the
region on the Radio Oklahoma Network weekdays- if you missed this
morning's Farm News - or you are in an area where you can't hear it- click
here for this morning's Farm news from Ron Hays on RON. | |
House Ag Committee Begins Oversight Hearings on EPA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On Thursday,
the House Agriculture Committee held a public hearing to review the impact
of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations on agriculture.
Members of the committee heard testimony from EPA Administrator Lisa P.
Jackson and questioned her on the aggressive regulatory agenda the agency
is pursuing at the expense of the livelihoods of America's farmers and
ranchers.
"I appreciate the time and participation of Administrator Jackson in today's hearing. The EPA has pursued an agenda that is at odds with Congressional intent, defies common sense, and lacks any kind of understanding or consideration for the economic impact it has on the livelihoods of those who feed us. Today's hearing will be one of many on this issue because farming is hard enough as it is without a government agency piling on additional burdens with irrational, overreaching, and costly regulations," said Chairman Frank Lucas. "More and more we are seeing important policy decisions that impact agriculture arise not from the legislative process, but from a litigation process where court decisions or secret lawsuit settlement negotiations result in poor policy decisions. If we don't work together to find a solution, producers will likely continue being told how to operate by bureaucrats, lawyers and judges who don't understand agriculture. This is not the way to make agriculture policy," said Ranking Member Collin Peterson. | |
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson Says Her Agency is Not Out to Get Farmers and Ranchers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In remarks
prepared for the House Ag Committee on Thursday, EPA Administrator Lisa
Jackson pushed back on the notion that EPA is an agency that has
agriculture under assault. In fact, she pointed out five "myths" that have
circulated about her agency that she says are simply not true.
Here's the list of myths that Ms. Jackson pointed out are not accurate-
Click on the LINK below to read the full text of Lisa Jackson's testimony to the House Agriculture Committee. | |
Canola TV- Part Three with Tom Peeper Now Up for Your Viewing Pleasure ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We continue to
add videos to our Winter Canola TV channel on YouTube. The latest video
posted is part three of a three part series with OSU Extension Weed
Specialist Dr. Tom Peeper, who many consider to be the mastermind behind
establishing winter canola in the Southern Great Plains region.
Today- we hear from Dr. Peeper about what the future holds- and how many acres may be in winter canola in this region in the future. Dr. Peeper says that we are slowly but surely adding canola acres here in the southern great plains- which he thinks is probably the right way to do it. He says that eventually, we will be north of 1.5 million acres in canola as farmers understand the benefits of canola and how it may well be the perfect rotational crop for hard red winter wheat in Oklahoma. Click here for Part Three of our three part series with TOm Peeper on Canola TV | |
US Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack Says No Addional Time for Public Comments Will be Needed for GIPSA Rule ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The freshman
Senator from Kansas, Jerry Moran, sat on Thursday as USDA Secretary Tom
Vilsack laid out the Obama Administration FY2012 proposals for
agricultural spending before the Senate Ag Appropriations Subcommittee-
and when it came time for questions- Senator Moran used some of his time
asking about the so called GIPSA rule which received over 60,000 comments
during the public comment period last year.
After the end of the public comment period- the USDA agreed to do an agency cost benefit analysis. That Analysis is being performed by USDA Chief Economist Joe Glauber. Moran asked Vilsack about allowing for additional public comments once the economic analysis is complete and released. He asked for a "yes" or "no" reply- but got more than that and you can the give and take on this edition of the Beef Buzz. Click on the LINK below to jump to today's Beef Buzz- heard on great radio stations all across the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network. You can also hear previous Beef Buzz shows by going to our website and clicking on the Beef Buzz button on the left hand column of any page. | |
Oklahoma Ag Leadership Class Ready to Return to Oklahoma ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We asked a
couple of class XV members of the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program to
comment on their travels this week to the East Coast. Shari Holloway
offers the following update as they wind down their week.
Shari writes "As you read this, the class members of Class XV of the Oklahoma Agriculture Leadership Program are traveling back to Oklahoma following a week-long trip to Pennsylvania Dutch country and Washington, D.C. The trip began last Saturday as 20 participants along with OALP director Edmond Bonjour embarked on the journey with a tour of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania followed by home stays with Pennsylvania farm families. They toured a working Hershey Chocolate factory, the Milton Hershey School and Hershey Chocolate World as well as a working Amish farm, all at Hershey, Pennsylvania. "They then spent three days in Washington, D.C., visiting the USDA, the Entomology department of The Smithsonian Institute, the National Association of Counties. The group also heard from U.S. Wheat Associates, Animal Agriculture Alliance and Farm Credit. Congressional visits were also made to the offices of Senators Tom Coburn and James Inhofe and Congressmen Frank Lucas and Tom Cole. Tours of several of the memorials as well as the U.S. Capital also took place. The final evening was capped by a dinner hosted by Monsanto." Click here for the official OALP website to learn more about the program and about Class XV. | |
Oklahoma Youth Expo Begins Eleven Day Run ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The world's
largest junior livestock show, the Oklahoma Youth Expo, is getting cranked
up today as livestock starts to pour into State Fair Park. 2011 marks the
97th year of this great event. Since 1915 Oklahoma youth and their
families have been making this event a tradition in their lives; a
pinnacle to a year of hard work and through the years making this event
not only the World's Largest Junior Livestock Show but an event which
highlights the world's best and brightest young people.
This first weekend- the spotlight is on the goat show- with Doe Kids and Market Goats being shown. The Supreme Champion Doe Kid will be selected on Sunday afternoon, while the Grand Champion Market Goat will be picked on Monday evening at 6:30 PM. Click on the LINK below for the full schedule- we will be doing lots of coverage over the next several days at the 2011 Oklahoma Youth Expo- and we hope to see many of you over the course of the show. Click here for the full schedule of the 2011 Oklahoma Youth Expo | |
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 $9.60 per
bushel- as of the close of business yesterday, while the 2011 New Crop
contracts for Canola are now available are $10.45 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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