~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest
farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron
Hays of RON for Friday July 8, 2011 A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and KIS
Futures!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- The Drought of 2010-2011- NO End in Sight
-- Grazing Johnsongrass More of a Possibility with Severe Drought
Conditions
-- Farm Policy Audits Continue with Hearing on Conservation
Programs
-- Subcommittee Hearing Examines GIPSA Rule's Affect on Small
Businesses
-- Mock Markups Disagree on TAA- White House Likely to Choose Senate
Version
-- Many Agricultural Groups Voice Opinions on Agreement to End
Ethanol Tax Incentive
-- Drought Monitor- and Drought Pictures as Well
-- 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 also 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. 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. | |
The Drought of 2010-2011- NO End in Sight ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Drought is the
driving force for many decisions being made by Oklahoma farmers and
ranchers this summer. That was one of the reasons we took the time and
spent the money to travel to the South Central US Drought Impacts and
Assessment Workshop in Austin, Texas on Thursday. The conditions farmers and ranchers now face in Oklahoma, Rexas and New Mexico really started last summer and fall, as the rains in most of this country (except for portions of Eastern Oklahoma) shut down in the fall and have not returned in any quantity. Forecasters with the National Weather Service documented at the conference that this is the driest nine months on record in the state of Texas and Louisiana- and the third driest in Western Oklahoma. Our top Ag Story on our website this morning is about our reporting via
Twitter from the conference- we went back and picked up many of our Tweets
during the day on Thursday from the speakers- here are some of the key
take home messages we heard: The drought we now find ourselves in clearly
is linked to La Nina of this past fall and winter. The severe to exceptional drought we find much of Oklahoma and Texas in
has only a five percent chance of being totally broken between now and the
end of summer. Click on the LINK below to read more about the conference and what we have taken away from it- plus listen to our conversation with one of the more interesting speakers of the day- Klaus Wolter out of Boulder, Colorado. Click here for more from the Drought Workshop held in Austin, Texas | |
Grazing Johnsongrass More of a Possibility with Severe Drought Conditions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Currently,
pasture conditions in the Southern Great Plains, including Oklahoma, are
continuing to decline due to extremely dry growing conditions. This has
resulted in most pastures starting to have a late-summer appearance. One
"forage" that seems to be surviving the drought and doing quite well, in
many areas, is johnsongrass. With the lack of adequate grazeable forage,
what is the possibility of grazing johnsongrass? Johnsongrass is very competitive with other forages if left unchecked. It is also drought-tolerant and is often one of the last plants to stop growing during a drought. Johnsongrass yields can approach 3 to 5 tons/acre under good growing conditions. Nutritive value estimates of 10% crude protein and near 60% TDN are common. In addition to nitrate toxicity potential, another potential negative
to utilizing johnsongrass is that it has a high potential to produce
hydrogen cyanide (HCN). This is more commonly known as prussic acid. The
forages used in Oklahoma that are most likely to produce toxic levels of
HCN are the grain sorghums, johnsongrass, sorghum-sudangrass hybrids, and
sudangrass. Click here for more safety measures for grazing johnsongrass | |
Farm Policy Audits Continue with Hearing on Conservation Programs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rep. Glenn
'GT' Thompson, Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee's Subcommittee
on Conservation, Energy, and Forestry, continued the audit hearings on
farm policy, which is the first step in the farm bill process. Each
chairman of the six subcommittees will hold hearings to examine programs
in their respective jurisdictions to determine spending trends and confirm
how programs work together. Conservation programs protect soil, water, wildlife, and other natural resources on agricultural land. Currently, there are more than 20 conservation programs and subprograms that are administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Farm Service Agency (FSA). Some of the larger programs include: Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), and the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP). Subcommittee Members questioned USDA administrators on how these
programs can be streamlined to be more effective and efficient. Although
the past two farm bills saw dramatic increases in conservation spending,
several of the programs do not have a budget baseline beyond the
expiration of the 2008 Farm Bill. Click here for more from this hearing, including Chairman Frank Lucas's opening comments | |
Subcommittee Hearing Examines GIPSA Rule's Affect on Small Businesses ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On Thursday,
July 7, 2011 at 10:00 am, the House Small Business Committee Subcommittee
on Agriculture, Energy and Trade held a hearing entitled Regulatory
Injury: How USDA's Proposed GIPSA Rule Hurts America's Small Businesses.
The Committee examined the Grain Inspection, Packer and Stockyards
Administration (GIPSA) Proposed Rule on livestock marketing practices.
The purpose of the hearing was to highlight the effects of the Proposed Rule on small businesses within the beef, pork and poultry industries and discuss the inadequacies in GIPSA's Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis. Subcommittee Chairman Scott Tipton (R-CO) led the proceeding and said
in his opening statements, "Saddling small farms and small businesses with
more government regulations will only prolong our economic downturn and
crush more jobs. In fact, if the GIPSA proposed rule is adopted, it has
the potential to reduce gross domestic product by over $1.5 billion and
cost the U.S. economy nearly 23,00 jobs." | |
Mock Markups Disagree on TAA- White House Likely to Choose Senate Version ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Senate
Finance and the House Ways and Means Committees met separately on Thursday
to discuss the free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South
Korea. Expansion of the Trade Adjustment Assistance program was also on
the Senate Finance agenda. Both committees approved the three trade deals
- clearing the way for the President to submit the deals to the Hill for
votes. Senate Finance Chair Max Baucus called passage of the bills a major
victory for American ranchers, farmers, workers and businesses who have
waited far too long for action.
It wasn't smooth sailing though. Ways and Means Democrats objected to
the lack of TAA - while Senate Finance Republicans objected to the
inclusion of TAA in the Korea bill. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley said the
TAA program needs to be voted on separately from the trade deals - and
said it was a violation of the process to put the TAA program in an
implementing bill. The committees considered the draft implementing bills during a mock markup because Congress can't offer amendments to the final implementing bills submitted by the Administration under fast track procedures. Baucus says the agreement on trade adjustment assistance along with the free trade agreements will open lucrative new markets to American goods. | |
Many Agricultural Groups Voice Opinions on Agreement to End Ethanol Tax Incentive ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In a recent
agreement on legislation between Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), John Thune
(R-SD) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), it was decided to end the current
ethanol tax incentive, known as the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax. The
VEET would be ended on July 31, while other ethanol-related tax credits
would be extended for a limited time. At the end of VEET, over $1 billion
would be immediately invested in deficit reduction, while the rest will be
used for infrastructure investment and cellulosic ethanol
investment.Many organizations have released statements concerning this recent agreement on the VEET legislation. Below you will find comments from the Renewable Fuels Association, Advanced Ethanol Industry, American Coalition for Ethanol, National Corn Growers Association and Growth Energy. Renewable Fuels Association The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) offered the following reaction: "This bipartisan effort to find common ground is the kind of sensible policy making American voters desperately want from their elected leaders. We greatly appreciate the leadership of Senators Klobuchar and Thune in doggedly pursuing a solution to this impasse. Walking away from investments made in America's ethanol industry cold turkey would jeopardize the future of biofuel production in America, including stifling the progress of advanced and cellulosic ethanol technologies." Advanced Ethanol Industry Reacting to the statements released by Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), John Thune (R-SD), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) announcing an agreement on a proposed ethanol tax reform package, Brooke Coleman, Executive Director of the Advanced Ethanol Council (AEC) offered the following statement: "We appreciate the willingness of Senators Klobuchar, Thune and Feinstein to put advanced biofuels at the forefront of ongoing negotiations about how to innovate and reduce the cost of U.S. ethanol policy. This agreement has enough of the right ingredients to move the conversation forward. At the same time, there is a fundamental problem with how the advanced biofuels piece is crafted that will need to be addressed to be meaningful to the industry. While we appreciate the ambition to lengthen the duration of the tax credits, the last minute switch from a yearly credit to a gallon-based, capped credit adds artificial and unnecessary layers of uncertainty and risk for the financing community." American Coalition for Ethanol Click here to read more from each of the organizations listed above. | |
Drought Monitor- and Drought Pictures as Well ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Drought
conditions continue to punish the Southern Plains and Oklahoma. Given the
season, prospects for widespread relief are less than promising. The
latest U.S. Drought Monitor report released Thursday morning now has
moderate drought covering most of eastern Oklahoma. Severe-to-extreme
drought continues spreading east as well with most of western Oklahoma
within the exceptional drought category.
We have the Drought Monitor Graphic for you to see- AND- we have several pictures emailed to us showing drought from several perspectives. We have a creek that locals find themselves up without a paddle- or water. We also have some corn that battled the heat and lost- and a ten story high whirlwind from the Altus area. Click here to jump over to our website and see all of these pictures and the Drought Monitor. From the auction calendar- we remind you that July 16- Griswold Cattle plans a Grass to Grid Customer Appreciation sale at the Red River Livestock Market just south of Ardmore. Selling will be 800 Commercial Bred Cows, Bred Heifers and Open Heifers. Featuring 150 Clubby Bred Females The entire offering carries the service of GCC Genetics or Grass to Grid Bulls. Call Jeff Bourquin at 806-886-3145 or jump over to their website by clicking here for more details. | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, PCOM, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy, Johnston Enterprises, American Farmers & Ranchers, KIS Futures and Oklahoma Mineral Buyers 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 $13.05
per bushel, while the 2012 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available
are $12.75 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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