From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.ccsend.com] on behalf of Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2011 6:37 AM
To: Hays, Ron
Subject: Oklahoma's Farm News Update
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Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Friday April 1, 2011
A service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and KIS Futures!
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-- House Passes Measure to Derail Double Permitting Requirements on Pesticide Use
-- Kim Anderson Talking Thursday's Strong Grain Markets
-- Beef Board Executive Committee Backs Away from Email Vote on Structural Changes
-- Five Year Depreciation Schedule Proposed by Senate Ag Committee Chair and Both Kansas Senators
-- Repeal of the Death Tax Dropped into the Congressional Hopper
-- OSU Meat Judging Team Wins National Competition
-- TSCRA Convention Getting Underway in San Antonio- And BIG Doings in Enid!
-- 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- and their IPHONE App, which provides all electronic futures quotes is available at the App Store- click here for the KIS Futures App for your Iphone.

We are 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.

And we salute our longest running email sponsor- Midwest Farm Shows, producer of the recent Tulsa Farm Show.. Click here for the Midwest Farm Show main website to learn more about their lineup of shows around the country, including the Southern Plains Farm Show April 7-9, 2011 in Oklahoma City.

We invite you to listen to us weekdays on the Radio Oklahoma Network for the latest farm news and markets- if you missed today's Morning Farm News (or in an area where you can't hear it) Click here to listen to today's Morning Farm News with Ron on RON.

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House Passes Measure to Derail Double Permitting Requirements on Pesticide Use
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Both the Chairman and the Ranking member of the House Ag Committee cheered passage of H.R. 872, the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2011 in a bipartisan vote, 292-130. Congressman Frank Lucas of Oklahoma released this statement following the vote- "I am proud to be a part of the bipartisan effort that led to the House passage of H.R. 872. The last thing the agricultural community needs is another government mandate. This bill eliminates a costly and duplicative permitting requirement that is the result of a court's fundamental ignorance of Congressional intent. I urge my colleagues in the Senate to join our efforts so that we can get a bill to the President before more valuable resources are wasted." (by the way- we have heard that a key Republican Senator may be dropping a similar bill into the hopper within a matter of days on this issue.)

Ag groups were also pleased with the passage of the bill. The National Association of Wheat Growers quickly released a statement saying we are "extremely pleased to see Thursday's House passage of H.R. 872, a bill to remove duplicative new permitting requirements related to pesticide applications."

"A permanent solution to this extra regulatory burden is needed as soon as possible to give our growers certainty on what rules they must follow this production season," said Wayne Hurst, NAWG president and a wheat producer from the Burley, Idaho, area. "Wheat growers and other agricultural producers are committed to continuing to protect our land, air and water, but we need to know the rules of the road and deserve to have regulation that is understandable and streamlined."

Click on the LINK below for more reaction from Collin Peterson of Minnesota as well as from the National Corn Growers Association.

Click here for more on the passage of H.R. 872 on Thursday in the US House.


Kim Anderson Talking Thursday's Strong Grain Markets
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On Thursday morning, the USDA issued both the regular monthly Supply Demand data on grains and other ag commodities as well as the much anticipated Planting Intentions Report for spring planted crops. Click here for our story from Thursday morning which included a preview of what the market might be thinking with Tom Leffler of Leffler Commodities.

When the markets got their turn to react to the reports at 9:30 AM yesterday- the move was speedy and decisive- a sharply higher market developed, led by corn and the rally included corn, soybeans, wheat and even cotton. Extension Grain Marketing Economist Dr. Kim Anderson discussed his take on the reports- and the market reaction with Lyndall Stout for the SUNUP show that will be seen on Saturday morning on OETA.

Anderson suspects that the wheat market was a follower of corn, but also had some traders buying in because of weather concerns that are mounting for the southern Great Plains and the Hard Red Winter Wheat Belt.
You can see Lyndall and Kim talking wheat and feed grain markets on Saturday morning- or you can HEAR their conversation now by clicking on the LINK below.

We also have in our webstory a complete rundown of this week's SUNUP program- which will include a quick word from the three DASNR Champions that were honored on Wednesday of this week- that of course being Mike Spradling, Terry Detrick and yours truly.

Click here for more on the grain markets with Kim Anderson- and details of the lineup for SUNUP on Saturday.


Beef Board Executive Committee Backs Away from Email Vote on Structural Changes
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In our email on Thursday, we talked about the decision by the Executive Committee of the Cattlemen's Beef Board to propose major structural changes to how a gameplan is developed to determine how the beef checkoff is spent. The Committee apparently wanted to speed this plan through in order to actually use a brand new structure at the summer meeting this coming August in Florida- and as a result, they wanted the full CBB board to approve it by email.

There were lots of questions and lots of objections raised- and with the beef industry trade media starting to notice- the Executive Committee abruptly pulled back on Thursday afternoon from the email voting scheme, telling CBB members in an email that "we have terminated the email voting on the recommendations and we will include a discussion of the recommendations on the agenda of an extended CBB update Session during the summer conference."

Several of the Oklahoma CBB members were front and center with objections to the changes. Brian Healey of Davis offered a very articulate defense of the current structure- saying that pulling away from the current structure would mean duplication of efforts within the industry and most likely more costs to get the same job done, if you could even maintain current levels of effort to promote beef.
We have Healey's comments from a historical viewpoint in our Beef Buzz report linked below, along with some reaction from the Chairman of the Federation of State Beef Councils, David Dick, about the CBB Executive Committee plan that had not been shared with this mandated partner, based on the law that established the checkoff- the Federation of State Beef Councils.

Click here for our Beef Buzz on the CBB discussion about changing the structure of the Beef Board and how the Beef Checkoff Dollar is handling at the national level.


Five Year Depreciation Schedule Proposed by Senate Ag Committee Chair and Both Kansas Senators
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U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Jerry Moran (R-KS), and Pat Roberts (R-KS) introduced bipartisan legislation on Thursday that would amend the U.S. tax code to permanently set a five-year depreciation schedule for agricultural equipment.

The current tax code sets a seven-year depreciation schedule for agricultural equipment, while the depreciation schedule for construction equipment - which is similar in use and life span to farming equipment - is five years. Changing the depreciation schedule for agricultural equipment to five years would make the tax code more consistent and aid rural development by aligning depreciation and debt service, increasing farm income by over $850 million a year, and helping farmers and ranchers finance new equipment and replace worn-out machinery.

Senator Pat Roberts, the ranking member of the Senate Ag Committee, says "Providing certainty in the tax code by making agriculture equipment eligible for a five-year depreciation schedule makes sense and will go a long way in helping America's farmers and ranchers invest in their businesses and communities."

Click on the LINK below for more details about this measure dropped into the hopper by these key Senators from farm country.

Click here for more on the Five Year Depreciation Proposal introduced yesterday in the Senate.


Repeal of the Death Tax Dropped into the Congressional Hopper
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Help could be coming for farm and ranch families who own 98 percent of our nation's 2-million agricultural operations. The American Farm Bureau Federation supports new estate tax legislation offered by Republican Kevin Brady of Texas and Blue Dog Democrats Dan Boren of Oklahoma and Mike Ross of Arkansas. According to Farm Bureau, the bill, H.R. 1259, would relieve farmers and ranchers from the financial drain of estate tax planning and prevent the damage caused to farms and ranches when a family member dies.

Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman says estate taxes continue to be a problem for farm and ranch families whose family-owned businesses generate the vast majority of the food for our country. "When estate taxes on an agricultural business exceed the operations' cash and liquid assets, the tax can cripple a family-owned farm or ranch and hurt the rural communities and businesses that agriculture supports."

Currently, there is a two year plan that calls for a five million dollar exemption with a top tax rate of 35% on everything above that level- this was approved by Congress back in December and lasts through the end of 2012.

Some of the lawmakers that were introducing this measure in the House had a brief teleconference on Thursday afternoon- and colleague Stewart Doan of Agri-Pulse offers a special audio report from that event. Click on the LINK below to hear Stewart's report.

Click here for more on the move in the House to get the Death Tax Repealed.


OSU Meat Judging Team Wins National Competition
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Oklahoma State University's Meat Animal Evaluation Team won the 48th National Collegiate Meat Animal Evaluation Contest that took place at OSU's Stillwater campus on March 25-26.

While earning its first national championship, the OSU squad set the competition's all-time record overall team score with 9,100 points. The team also set the all-time record score in the Market Animal Evaluation division.

"Collegiate judging contests are highly competitive and require tremendous dedication and desire from participants," said Gretchen Hilton, OSU assistant professor of meat science, who with Blake Bloomberg coaches the Cowboy squad.
Hilton said the team had a truly outstanding day, not only setting the two all-time records but also taking first-place honors in the Cattle and Swine divisions, and placing second in the Breeding division, third in the Communications division and fifth in the Meats and Sheep divisions.

Kaylee Krebs, an OSU animal science senior from Saratoga, Wyo., earned high individual honors. Along the way she set the all-time record overall score for individual competitors and the record score in the Market Animal division. She placed second in Swine, third in Cattle and sixth in the Breeding division amongst individual competitors.

Click on the LINK below for the complete rundown of how the members of the team did in this victory on the national stage.

Click here for more details about the OSU Meat Evaluation Team winning the 48th National Collegiate Contest


TSCRA Convention Getting Underway in San Antonio- And BIG Doings in Enid!
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Starting today- and running into the weekend is the annual convention and trade show for the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association- this year meeting in San Antonio. We will be heading for the Riverwalk and covering portions of this excellent cattle industry gathering later today and tomorrow. Click here for our calendar listing on the TSCRA which includes a link to their agenda.

Enid is busting their buttons with the opening of the Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center later today- a friend of ours who now works for Monsanto, Janice Pearson, has a blog entry about the Cherokee Strip Center and the largest land run in American history that will be spotlighted by the Center- the land run opened six million acres in Oklahoma to settlers and changed a large hunk of our state forever. Click here to jump to Janice's blog which has the details of the opening at 11 AM this morning.

We have a couple of cattle auctions we have been telling you about- the Ratcliff Ranch Spring Bull Sale in Vinita and the Oklahoma Shorthorn Association Sale being held at the County Fairgrounds in Duncan. Click here for our auction page which has the listings for both of these sales.

We also understand that the Purple Pedigree all breeds sale will be happening on Sunday at 12 noon at Brooks Cattle Company in Marietta Ok.


Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, PCOM, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy, Johnston Enterprises, American Farmers & Ranchers and KIS Futures 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.

Click here to check out WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com


Let's Check the Markets!
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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 $10.20 per bushel, while the 2011 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available are $11.15 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:
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.



God Bless! You can reach us at the following:
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phone: 405-473-6144
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