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The Chairman of the US House Agriculture Committee, Frank Lucas, received American Farm Bureau's Golden Plow Award on Monday evening, during Oklahoma Farm Bureau's annual leadership conference at the Skirvin Hotel, Oklahoma City.

The Golden Plow award is presented annually to one member of the U.S. Senate and one member of the U.S. House of Representatives who have demonstrated strong support for Farm Bureau and agricultural issues. 

The President of the American Farm Bureau, Bob Stallman, came  

to OKC to hand out the honors to Lucas, who is serving his third  

year here in 2013 as Chairman of the House Ag Committee.  Click here for our story on our website which features the   

comments  of the Chairman that he offered to the OFB Leadership Conference banquet after being presented with the award. (and we have also posted the comments on our APP- available to be downloaded onto your smartphone!)

Before the evening got underway- we spent a few minutes talking farm policy with the Chairman.  is not too worried about the Senate Democratic proposal that would eliminate direct farm program payments for the next decade in order to help pay for one year of Sequestration. Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas points out in an exclusive interview with us that the plan advanced by Nevada Senator Harry Reid includes billions of dollars in tax hikes- and that the Republicans in the House have already rejected any sequestration alternative that includes raising more revenue- reminding us that the GOP stance is that Washington has a spending problem- not a revenue problem. 

We also talked about the farm bill extension and signup starting TODAY for the DCP and ACRE programs- and we talked about prospects for getting a new five year farm bill in place yet this year. Click here to read more and to listen to our exclusive conversation with the third district Congressman from the state of Oklahoma.

USDA Announces 45th General Sign-Up for the Conservation Reserve Program 

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced at the National Pheasant Fest and Quail Classic that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will conduct a four-week general sign-up for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), beginning May 20 and ending on June 14.

"Since the 1980s, the CRP program has established itself as a benchmark in voluntary conservation efforts, providing American producers with assets to address our most critical resource issues," said Vilsack. "Last year, during one of the worst droughts in generations, the CRP proved vital in protecting our most environmentally sensitive lands from erosion. Emergency haying and grazing on CRP lands also supplied critical feed and forage for livestock producers due to the drought. And the program continues to bring substantial returns to rural areas, attracting recreation and tourism dollars into local economies while sustaining natural and wildlife habitat for future generations."

Additional sign-ups for continuous CRP programs-such as Highly Erodible Land Initiative and Initiative to Restore Grasslands, Wetlands and Wildlife-will be announced in spring 2013.

Click here for more.  

Lack of Certainty for FMD and MAP Programs Unnerving to Producers, International Trading Partners, Seng Says

The one-year extension of the 2008 farm law that was approved by Congress on New Year's Day includes funds this fiscal year for the FMD and MAP programs. After that, all bets are off. That concerns Phil Seng, the president and CEO of the U.S. Meat Export Federation because, among other things, those funds help promote U.S. beef and pork overseas.

"From the meat industry's standpoint, we've always received about ten percent of those funds which is a large sum, actually. Not enough, but it's a large sum. And this has been couple with checkoff dollars. This has really been instrumental in how we've been successful in a lot of these markets.

"When you take a look at Korea, when you see, for example, six, seven years ago there was less than single-digit acceptance of our product and today it's over 50 percent. This is where those dollars and all that work over the years has really made a difference... These dollars are the bedrock of what we do.

You can read more of this story by clicking here.

 

Consumers Likely to Adjust Quantity and Frequency of Beef Consumption as Prices Rise, Peel Says

Derrell Peel writes in the latest OSU Extension Cow-Calf Newsletter:

There is understandably a lot of concern in the beef industry about beef demand in the coming months. The expected decrease in beef production in 2013 will likely represent a 3.3 percent decrease in domestic per capita supplies. The decrease could be even sharper in 2014 with consumers potentially facing another 5 percent decrease in domestic per capita beef supplies. The pressure for higher wholesale and retail beef prices will continue to grow at through 2014. The question often posed to me is "will beef be priced so high that consumers will quit buying beef?

I don't believe there is much danger that consumer will entirely quit eating beef. Beef includes many different specific products and the question is more one of how consumers will adjust the mix of products and total expenditure on beef. One of the ongoing concerns is the slow recovery of beef demand from the 2009-2010 recession. Middle meat demand was weakened the most as consumers switched from steaks to hamburger and other value cuts. In that process, a higher percent of total carcass value was borne by the end meats, i.e. Chuck and Round portions of the carcass. In 2011 and 2012, middle meat values advanced along with end meat values, thus maintaining the relatively large contribution of end meats to total value. Though it has been very slow, beef demand has recovered from the recession. The All Fresh beef demand index provided by the Livestock Marketing Information Center (LMIC) shows significant recovery in the index from the 2010 lows. The 2012 annual beef demand index level is near levels not seen since 2008. The beef demand index for the fourth quarter of 2012 posted a sharp jump to the highest levels since the fourth quarter of 2007.  

Click here for more from Derrell Peel. 

 

Irrigated Cropland Values Surge with Drought According to KC Fed Ag Credit Survey

Persistent drought sparked a rush in irrigated farmland sales during the fourth quarter of 2012, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's quarterly Survey of Agricultural Credit Conditions.

Stronger sales vaulted irrigated cropland values in the seven-state Tenth District 30 percent above year-ago levels, with a 13 percent jump in the fourth quarter alone. Farmers were the predominant buyers of farm real estate and placed a premium on irrigated land due to water scarcity stemming from drought. Non-irrigated cropland and ranchland also posted strong annual gains between 20 and 25 percent.

Farmland values rose with stronger-than-expected farm incomes. High pre-harvest crop prices lifted incomes, especially for farmers on irrigated land, while crop insurance payments compensated for yield losses on non-irrigated land. A post-harvest decline in crop prices and strengthening cattle and hog prices improved livestock profitability as losses narrowed. 

Click here for more and a link to KC Fed survey.  

 

Farmers in a Changing World- Smartphone Apps Help Us Deliver You the Latest Information

The Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and OklahomaFarmReport are pleased to introduce our Smartphone Apps that are now available for both the Iphone platform as well as for Android.

The App has six sections available to deliver farmers, ranchers and those involved in agribusiness up to date farm news, markets, audio and video reports. Several of the top stories posted on the main website for the Network will be also be available on the App.


A variety of Audio will be available, including a daily report of the top farm and ranch news, along with the latest markets. These updates will be a single comprehensive farm news/markets update that will run about eight minutes in length- and this daily audio farm broadcast update will be available to those who download the App on an exclusive basis.  

Click here to learn more- and for the links to both Apple and Android to download your free copy of the APP.

2013 National FFA Week in Full Swing with Events and Activities Nationwide

National FFA Week began Saturday throughout the U.S. and includes activities and events at the national, state and local level in all 50 U.S. states throughout this week.

Each year, National FFA Week gives the nearly 560,000 FFA members throughout the country, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands a chance to raise public awareness about FFA and agricultural education and share the importance of American agriculture in general.

Among the events from across the country, Tractor Supply Co. is conducting a Can-Do! Canned food drive contest. FFA members are asked to collect canned food and build a creative design with them, then post an image on the National FFA Organization's Twitter or Facebook accounts by 1 p.m. Thursday for judging before donating their items to a local food pantry.

You can read more of this story by clicking here.