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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Monday April 4, 2011
A
service of Johnston Enterprises, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind
Energy and American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance
Company!
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-- Lack of Rainfall Devastating to the 2011 Southern Plains Wheat
Crop
-- Talking Agriculture with Congressman Frank Lucas
-- Oklahoma CBB Member Bob Drake Concerned About Proposed Structural
Changes in Cattlemen's Beef Board
-- July 1 Target for Colombia-Canada FTA to Cost U.S. Farmers
Billions
-- OACD and Chesapeake Partner for Upcoming Stewardship Week
Celebration
-- Inhofe Hopeful to Shut Down Obama's EPA on Cap and Trade
Regulations
-- 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 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. | |
Lack of Rainfall Devastating to the 2011 Southern Plains Wheat Crop ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The 2011
Oklahoma Winter Wheat Crop continues to go downhill as warm windy
conditions are sucking the last of the moisture from fields statewide.
Southwest Oklahoma wheat farmers are now faced with fields that will
likely zero out as crop insurance adjusters take a look at them. If they
get rain in the near future, that will set them up for planting a summer
crop in the weeks ahead.
Dr. Edwards holds out hope for north central Oklahoma. He tells us in both a video update as well as a longer audio version that the north central wheat fields are holding on pretty well- and that if we can get some timely rains, "we can still produce a very nice wheat crop in north central Oklahoma." We have both a video and a longer audio conversation that you can check out at the LINK below- with no measurable rain on the horizon before this coming weekend- wheat crop conditions are very worrisome. Click here for Dr. Jeff Edwards and his take on the 2011 Oklahoma Wheat Crop. | |
Talking Agriculture with Congressman Frank Lucas ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Chairman
of the House Ag Committee, Congressman Frank Lucas of the Third District
of Oklahoma, talked with us on Friday morning about a variety of subjects,
starting with H.R. 872, which passed the full House last Thursday. He
calls this a bill that must get through the Congress as this will stop a
Court ordered duplication of regulation that EPA has no desire to deal
with and does not have the resources to execute direction provided from
the Judge. He says he understands it won't be easy to get it through the
Senate, but that he is talking to several lawmakers on that side of the
Capitol about taking this issue up and taking it through the process.
We also talked about a conversation that he had with US Secretary Tom Vilsack yesterday, as he traveled down the mall to USDA to see the Secretary. He tells us that he and Secretary Vilsack agreed early in 2011 that they would get together regularly to about some of the ag issues of the day- to develop a relationship that will help when they get to the heavy lifting of writing the next farm bill. Speaking of the Farm Bill- Congressman Lucas continues to want to wait on writing the farm bill in 2012 until the Congress gets new budget numbers in the spring of 2012. Lucas tells us that he is okay with the Senate Ag Committee going first in writing new farm policy late this year with his Committee following suit- with the final decisions to be made after those budget numbers are released next year. | |
Oklahoma CBB Member Bob Drake Concerned About Proposed Structural Changes in Cattlemen's Beef Board ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As we arrived
at the San Antonio Convention Center to report on the 2011 Texas and
Southwestern Cattle Raisers Convention and Trade Show- one of the first
familiar faces we spotted was Oklahoma cattleman Bob Drake of Davis. Drake
is a member of the Cattlemen's Beef Board and we talked with him about the
controversy that became public this last week as the Executive Committee
of the CBB proposed sweeping changes to the structure of the Cattlemen's
Beef Board.
Drake is very concerned about these changes- and he and other CBB Board
Members objected and asked that a full discussion take place on these
concepts at the next scheduled meeting of the CBB board, which is in
August in Florida. Click on the LINK below to hear our full conversation with Drake about
the CBB Executive Committee's efforts to change the structure of the
Board- and it's working relationship with both the Federation of State
Beef Councils and the primary contractor- the National Cattlemen's Beef
Association. | |
July 1 Target for Colombia-Canada FTA to Cost U.S. Farmers Billions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Colombian
government said this week that a free trade agreement between the Latin
American country and Canada could be in effect as soon as July 1, an
outcome that would be devastating to U.S. wheat producers' market share
there. Colombia said last week that the Canadian agreement had gotten approval from Canada's Constitutional Court, the last major step toward implementation. The Colombia-Canada agreement has moved with lighting speed compared to
a similar measure negotiated between Colombia and the U.S. that has yet to
be sent to Congress for approval. The U.S. signed its agreement in
November 2006, while the Canadians finished their agreement two years
later, in November of 2008. In fact, while Colombian flour millers tell U.S. Wheat Associates they want to be able to keep buying U.S. wheat, the tariff disadvantage the U.S. product will face will force them to buy from Canada, costing U.S. wheat producers nearly $100 million per year. The U.S. wheat industry has strongly advocated for passage of the pending FTA with Colombia and two other languishing agreements with Panama and South Korea. The National Association of Wheat Growers and U.S. Wheat Associates will continue to work through multiple channels to push for the agreements' immediate passage. | |
OACD and Chesapeake Partner for Upcoming Stewardship Week Celebration ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As part of
their continued commitment to Oklahoma and the health of its environment,
Chesapeake Energy Corporation and the Oklahoma Association of Conservation
Districts (OACD) announced today they will partner in celebrating
Stewardship Week in Oklahoma, April 24 through May 1, 2011."We are honored that Chesapeake Energy is partnering with us to recognize the hard work of agriculture producers and other landowners in conserving our soil, water, air, wildlife habitats and other natural resources," Joe Parker, president of OACD said. "We are deeply appreciative of Chesapeake's continued support of our state's farmers, ranchers and other landowners and all they do to protect the environment. It's also important that we educate all Oklahomans on the importance of the stewardship ethic and the need to care for our environment. We are glad to have Chesapeake working with us to do this." Stewardship Week is one of the world's largest conservation-related observances. Since 1955, the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) and OACD have sponsored the national Stewardship Week program. During the week, local conservation districts work with media outlets, communities, faith-based groups and local schools to promote the concept of stewardship. The concept involves personal and social responsibility, including a duty to learn about and improve natural resources so we use them wisely and leave a rich legacy for future generations. "This is a great partnership, Chesapeake Energy and OACD," Clay Pope,
executive director of OACD said. "By working together we can help ensure
that all Oklahomans, both rural and urban, know the importance of
protecting and conserving our natural resources." Click here for details about the partnership that continues betweeen Chesapeake and OACD | |
Inhofe Hopeful to Shut Down Obama's EPA on Cap and Trade Regulations ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma
Senator Jim Inhofe continues to drive stakes into the heart of Cap &
Trade Regulatory efforts- as two weeks ago, Senator McConnell, the
Minority Leader in the Senate and Inhofe introduced a bill Senator Inhofe
has developed as an amendment to stop EPA's cap-and-trade regulations.
While Senate leader Harry Reid promised a vote- he soon backed away from that pledge as many Democrats have begged him not to make them go on the record. Senator Inhofe, meanwhile, says that several Democratic lawmakers have tried to offer amendments that would decry EPA regulation while doing nothing to actually slow it down or stop it. Click on the LINK below to see the You Tube supplied by the Senator where he outlines these charges and his hopes in getting his amendment actually passed. | |
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. | |
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 $10.10
per bushel- as of the close of business yesterday, 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: | |
God Bless! You can reach us at the following: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
phone: 405-473-6144
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