Bob Stallman Talks to RON About Farm Bill, Death Tax and a Twitter Handle- Our Coverage from AFBF in Nashville!  

The 94th annual convention of the American Farm Bureau is underway- and the news that traditionally comes out of this meeting at the front end is made by the President of the group- which for the last several years has been Bob Stallman, former President of the Texas Farm Bureau.

We have coverage from a couple of angles- we have the audio of the thirty minute speech that President Stallman gave in the opening General session on Sunday morning- click here to take a listen to his review of the year from a Farm Bureau perspective as well as a look ahead as Farm Bureau's efforts to stay relevant and strong and "nimble" as they approach their 100th convention in six years.

Later on Sunday- we had the opporunity to sit down with Mr. Stallman- and we fleshed out a couple of topics that were a part of his speech that morning- as well as things that came from his News Conference at midday.

Among other things- we talked how the farm bill drama played out. Stallman noted that he is grateful for the one year farm bill extension, which offers certainty to farmers for the 2013 crop year as he does not expect Congress to move quickly enough to supplant Direct Program payments as authorized in this measure with any reforms that would include the 2013 crop year.

He adds that his bottom line message to Congress here in 2013 on the five year farm bill- "Let's just get it done and allow farmers and ranchers to have some certainty- and you can move on to other issues."

We also talked about the importance of getting the exemption and other details of the Estate Tax made permanent- he calls that "huge for farmers and ranchers."

AND- we teased Mr. Stallman just a bit- one Tweet that came during the opening General Session on Sunday made mention of the fact that Stallman would have never have mentioned the words "Tweet" and "facebooking" just a few years ago in his annual speech to the members- but he did this year. We asked Bob when his media folks were finally going to talk him into jumping on board and getting a Twitter handle. Stallman chuckled and said that he thought he was probably "past the age to be a real tweeter." Of that, we noted to the AFBF President- "it is never too late."

Click here for our audio "one on one" with President Stallman. AND- we remind you to check our website from time to time today for more stories from the 2013 AFBF convention (Plus we have an Oklahoma view of the meeting further down in this morning's email)

AND- follow our ongoing thoughts from Nashville via our Twitter feed.

USDA's 2012 Crop Numbers Surpass Expectations for Oklahoma and U.S 

The final 2012 crop numbers from the USDA revealed a few surprises mostly toward the positive side both in Oklahoma and nationwide.

The Annual Row Crop Summary shows last year's corn production up by 90 percent over 2011. Canola production for 2012 jumped 89 percent, cotton yields climbed 61 percent, peanuts were up 53 percent, grain sorghum posted a 14.1 percent improvement, and soybeans did 13 percent better than the year before. (Click here for more Oklahoma crop numbers.)

Nationally, the USDA reported a slight increase in corn production of about 55 million bushels. The trade had expected a decline. Grain stock estimates, however, dropped slightly from 8.2 billion bushels to 8.030 billion bushels. (You can find a video analysis and a link to the USDA reports by clicking here.)

Market watcher Todd Davis, an analyst for the American Farm Bureau Federation, said the numbers provide some much-welcomed certainty to traders and producers.

"This is like Super Bowl Sunday for the grain and oil seed markets," Davis said. "This is the last word on 2012 production. It sets the table on the supply-side for the rest of the marketing year, and it gives farmers some insight as they finalize spring cropping plans." (You can read more of the AFBF analysis by clicking here.)

Oklahoma Wheat Commission Bakes Bread and Thousands Enjoy at 2013 AFBF Convention

When you approach the entrance doors of the Trade Show at the 2013 American Farm Bureau Convention- one of the first things you notice is the aroma- freshly baked bread calling to the 6,000 farmers and ranchers and those in agriculture that is being prepared by the Oklahoma Wheat Commission. Executive Director Mike Schulte, along with two of his Board Members, have been baking both cinnamon rolls as well as loaves of fresh bread made with hard red winter wheat- all to provide thousands of samples to those who enter those doors of the Trade Show on Sunday and Monday in Nashville.


Schulte told us that it has proven to be a great attraction for the Oklahoma Farm Bureau sponsored booth- with the farm group paying for all of the expenses related to the booth with the Wheat Commission providing their expertise and oven and equipment as they promote the end product that is made with Oklahoma wheat. Over two thousand Cinnamon Roll servings were provided as the Trade Show opened on Sunday- with dozens and dozens of loaves of bread being sliced up and served after the cinnamon rolls were gone.

The trade show opens this morning and the lines will likely be long again as folks grab another Cinnamon Roll.

Click here for our story found on our website complete with audio from Schulte as well as some pictures of the Oklahoma booth at the 2013 AFBF trade show.
 

Farm Groups Form Coalition to Address Farm Labor Access

The American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives are among two of the organizations that have banded together to ensure that farmers, ranchers and growers have access to a skilled and stable work force.

The coalition has drafted a framework proposal that includes both an earned adjustment in status for current experienced farm workers and a program to ensure that farmers, ranchers and growers continue to have access to a workforce as current agricultural employees move on to other jobs, according to AFBF Labor Specialist Kristi Boswell.

"The framework recognizes the unworkable nature of existing agricultural labor programs and previous proposals, such as AgJOBS," Boswell said. "A key to the coalition's proposed framework will be ensuring that the needs of all of agriculture-both those employers with seasonal labor needs and those who provide year-round employment opportunities-are met." (You can read more from AFBF by clicking here.)

Chuck Conner of the NCFC echoed Boswell's concerns and said, "As I travel around the country talking to co-op farmer-members, the most consistent area of concern is the difficulty many producers have had in the past few years finding enough workers to pick their crops, milk their cows, or take care of their animals. That is why it is so important that a broad cross section of agriculture come together in the AWC to work on a proposal that will ensure that both ag employers and their employees have access to a dependable and flexible program." (Click here for more from the NCFC.)

U.S. Beef, Pork Exports Dip Slightly; Lamb Rebounds

U.S. pork exports for the first 11 months of 2012 continued to exceed the record-setting pace of 2011, the value of beef exports remained slightly above 2011's record levels despite continued lower volumes and the value of lamb exports in November bounced back from an otherwise slow year, according to statistics released by USDA and compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF).

With only one month yet to be recorded for 2012, pork exports continue to top 2011 levels by 2 percent in volume (2,075,974 mt) and 5 percent in value ($5.8 billion), while totals for November declined 7.7 percent in volume and 5.4 percent in value versus last year. It is important to note, however, that November 2011 ranks as the second-best month in history (behind October 2012) for U.S. pork exports.

Mexico continues to perform as the United States' top pork volume destination, with November's totals up 7.2 percent in volume and 4.6 percent in value, pushing the 11-month totals to 550,408 mt (up 15 percent) valued at just over $1 billion (up 11 percent).

Click here for more of USMEF's export report.

Neuens, Sanders Say Some Canola in Good Shape, Some in Need of More Moisture

Gene Neuens and Heath Sanders of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill have worked hand in hand with canola producers as the crop has picked up steam across Oklahoma, northern Texas, and southern Kansas. Neuens is PCOM's field services director and Sanders is PCOM's agronomist. They've taken a look at the progress of this year's crop and filed this report:

"Last fall was an exceptionally challenging time for farmers planting winter wheat and canola," Sanders said.

"Our preferred time for planting winter canola from September 10 to October 10 came at a time of severe drought in the Southern Plains. On top of that, an early frost in late October further stressed the new crop. Winter canola has a large tap root enabling the plant to search for any available soil moisture. It does a good job of this, but the dry soil and sudden sharp frost hurt a lot of the crop before it got a good start."

"We have records of winter canola being planted and growing in all sorts of places this season," Neuens said. "We know there are fields of the crop as far southwest as San Angelo, Texas, and as far north in that state as the northern part of the Texas Panhandle. What we had rather not know about are the extremely dry conditions farmers had to plant in and the continuing lack of rain throughout the area."

Recently back from trips to Kansas and Texas as well as all across Oklahoma to visit with farmers interested in producing winter canola, Neuens and Sanders say there can be extreme differences in the amount of soil moisture and crop condition in only a few miles.

Click here to read more about what they found.

Mushroom Modules on Display During Feb. 9 Edmond Field Day

Oklahoma Mushrooms will host a field day in southeast Edmond on Saturday, Feb. 9 to show off its semi-trailer mushroom farm. Tours will be available at no charge beginning at 2 and 4 p.m. with attendance limited to the first 20 people to register for each tour.

The "mushroom module" was designed by Jaclyn Saorsail of Om Gardens Mushroom Farm in Norman during a three-year research grant project. The research was conducted under a USDA Specialty Crop Research Grant administered by the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture, Food and Forestry. Two experimental mushroom grow rooms were created from a used refrigerated semi-trailer and a large shipping container. The semi-trailer proved to be easier to complete and operate.

The mushroom farm is now owned by Heather Parrott of Oklahoma Mushrooms in southeast Edmond. Saorsail, Parrott and grow room manager Robert Wehrle will lead tours of the farm and answer questions about getting into mushroom farming.

Saorsail sees mushroom farming as a viable alternative for people who already own farms and are looking for a way to diversify their income.

For more information and a link to the field day registration form, please click here.