Oklahoma Wheat Freeze Damage- Waiting to Assess After the Second Shoe Dropped 

Two freeze events in wheat country now, mostly in southwest and west-central Oklahoma in March, and now in northwest Oklahoma in early April have wheat producers concerned with lowered if not non-existent yields. Dr. Jeff Edwards, OSU Extension Wheat Specialist, spoke with me about what can be expected from this year's crop. 

"That first freeze event really hit us hard in southwest Oklahoma. It did anywhere from ten to 80 percent damage depending on the field location, how much moisture was there to kind of insulate the crop and create a microclimate. But the damage was fairly widespread and extensive."

North-central and northwest Oklahoma mostly avoided damage from that first freeze, but, Edwards said, area farmers were probably not so lucky with this latest freeze.

"This one, I think there's no question that we're going to have some damage out there. In north-central Oklahoma, I think we had enough moisture there and it didn't get quite as cold as we were expecting. It stayed in the upper twenties and we'll probably lose some primary tillers, but I don't think we're going to have complete losses in north-central Oklahoma."

Edwards also said that farmers will have to be making some decisions soon about spraying for leaf and rust stripe which is beginning to show up in some fields in southern Oklahoma.

You can listen to our full conversation or read more by clicking here.  

Soybean Producers, Conservationist See Problems with President's Budget 

The administration released a fiscal year 2014 budget proposal that includes a mostly-flat $22.6 billion in discretionary funding to the Agriculture Department.  It would also eliminate direct farm payments while trimming both crop insurance subsidies and conservation programs.

The USDA funding provisions are part of the larger $3.77 trillion budget proposal for the federal government in FY 2014.  Specifically for agriculture, the budget proposal seeks to eliminate direct payments while providing mandatory disaster assistance to producers to protect them from losses. This move would save $29.7 billion over 10 years. The proposal would reduce crop insurance funds by $11.7 billion over 10 years while streamlining efforts for conservation programs would save $1.8 billion over 10 years.

Proposed cuts to crop insurance and a restructuring of the nation's food aid programs drew criticism from the nation's soybean farmers as the American Soybean Association (ASA) weighed in on the proposal.

"As ASA has said many times over, soybean farmers are willing to do our part to address the nation's fiscal challenges, and we have a vested interest in ensuring that the cuts needed are made in a strategic manner, with all potential consequences taken into account. As many farmers still struggle to recover from the worst drought in generations, now is not the time to make such a deep cut to the federal crop insurance program," said Danny Murphy, ASA President and a soybean farmer from Canton, Miss.  (You can read more from the ASA by clicking here.)

The President's budget proposes significant cuts to technical assistance in conservation programs in addition to cuts already being made at the state level. Specifically, the President's budget would cut more than 230 staff years out of TA and include additional costs for producers for conservation planning.
 "A reduction in technical assistance hours would have major impacts on the ability of conservation districts and partners to continue working with local landowners in the implementation of quality conservation on the ground," said NACD President Earl Garber.  (Click here for more comments from the NACD)

A large portion of east central Oklahoma is now drought free, with at least 15 percent of the state considered to be only abnormally dry or with no drought designation. That is the highest percentage of the state considered to be free of drought since July 3, 2012.

Associate State Climatologist Gary McManus says one year ago, 67 percent of the state was drought free, but awaiting the ticking time bomb of the driest May-December on record for Oklahoma.

Much of Leflore County is now drought-free according the the latest Drought Monitor map.  The rains of this week are not a factor in this latest national reading- but will be reflected next week.

Click here to see the latest Drought Monitor and rainfall maps.

Anderson Says Grain Markets Reacting Cautiously to Possibility of Freeze Damage

Freezing temperatures this week across parts of the Southern Plains have farmers worried that significant damage may have been done to this year's wheat crop. In his preview to this week's SUNUP program, OSU Grain Marketing Specialist Kim Anderson says the markets are reacting cautiously.

"I think we did have some freeze damage. Jeff Edwards talked about the damage a couple of weeks ago. And we had some additional damage this last week. But I think this is a case of moisture trumping the freeze. We're going to lose some yields because of the freeze. There was some talk as you get up into Kansas of it not being as mature as it was last year and that's good. But we got moisture in critical areas for hard red winter wheat up through north central Oklahoma, up through central Kansas and I think the market looked at that and said, 'The increased yield because of that moisture is going to be more than the lost yields due to the freeze."

Anderson says the supply and demand numbers released this week had very little effect on the markets.

You can listen to more of Kim Anderson's analysis and see the lineup for this weekend's SUNUP program by clicking here.

 

Senate Sends Bill to Aid County Roads to Governor

Legislation approved by the Oklahoma Senate would redirect ten percent of the motor vehicle collection tax to pay for "major collector" roads.

House Bill 1080, by state Rep. Mike Sanders, deals with county roads that connect communities, highways and industries. These so-called "major collector" roads make up a total of 15,000 miles of county roadways, according to Sanders. 

The bill now awaits the signature of Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin.

"While lawmakers have made great strides in updating state road and bridge infrastructure, county roads and bridges continue to be both a public safety and economic development concern, especially where they have been compromised due to natural disasters," said Sanders, R-Kingfisher. "My bill helps fund them to ensure driver safety and economic prosperity. County road and bridge work is one of the top concerns of the residents of Western Oklahoma." 

You can read more about this bill by clicking here.

 

 Gary O'Neill Named State Conservationist for USDA- NRCS in Oklahoma

Gary O'Neill, Ponca City native, has been named Oklahoma State Conservationist for the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Jason Weller, acting NRCS Chief in Washington, D.C, made the announcement today. He said that, "Gary O'Neill is a long time NRCS employee with a distinguished career. He has served this agency well in various positions in four states over the past 30 years. Most notably, in addition to being Assistant State Conservationist in Oklahoma, he is also serving at the national level as the agency representative for the USDA Field to Market, Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture." He added that, "O'Neill also served at the headquarters level as Acting National RC&D (Resource Conservation & Development) Program Manager in 2009 and 2010. He also served as Acting State Conservationist in Michigan in late 2011 and early 2012."

O'Neill was raised on a dairy and small grains farm in Osage County. He graduated from Oklahoma State University with a degree Agricultural Economics. He began his career with NRCS in 1983 in Oklahoma as a watershed planner. Seven years later, he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he served as State Economist on the Ecological Sciences staff. He was promoted to Management Analyst on the Strategic Planning and Oversight and Evaluation Staff in the NRCS Midwest Regional Office in Madison, Wisconsin. After eight years in that position he returned to Oklahoma and has served as RC&D Program Manager, State Administrative Officer, and currently Assistant State Conservationist for Operations.

O'Neill said, "I look forward to helping Oklahoma NRCS continue to be viewed as conservation leaders and working closely with the partnerships that make this happen. NRCS has a critical mission in delivering conservation to Oklahoma farmers and ranchers. Oklahoma has a rich conservation legacy that is the result of the efforts of dedicated employees, strong partnerships, and innovative leadership." He also said, "Having been raised on a farm in Oklahoma, I have a great deal of passion for assisting agricultural producers address their conservation and natural resource issues in a way that can be economically viable. The Farm Bill programs that NRCS administers have proven to be a great vehicle for making this happen."

The announcement brought praise and support from members of the Oklahoma Conservation Partnership and former NRCS leaders. "The Oklahoma Conservation Commission enjoys an excellent working relationship with Gary," said Mike Thralls, OCC Executive Director. "We look forward to working with him as State Conservationist," Thralls said. Clay Pope, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts said, "We are excited to see Gary named our State Conservationist. He has always been an outstanding partner and we look forward to working with him in this new capacity." Ron Hilliard, who retired as State Conservationist in January said that "Gary O'Neill is uniquely qualified to serve as State Conservationist. He has great leadership ability and understands the importance of the Oklahoma Conservation Partnership working together to put conservation on the land."

Setting the Record Straight

As I was wrapping up & pulling together the Thursday morning email- I made a last minute swap of one story for another- we start the process of assembling the email you receive each day the day before- and then I look at what the latest agricultural news is from late the day before and even early that morning. Yesterday was a very full day- as we dealt with freeze concerns, a significant USDA grains report, the latest RFS battle and the Obama budget.  I decided at the last minute to include a story that was based on a news release that came from a group that was sympathetic to the causes related to HSUS- it was the story about the Obama budget dropping funding for inspection of plants that would slaughter horses.

It spoke about the "grisly" nature of the process and used several other terms that showed they are clearly against horse slaughter.

I will sometimes pick up materials from this and other groups- but I am normally careful to cite that source and put quotes around the verbiage- a sign that it is their words- not mine.

I failed to get that done- and a few of you questioned why I was against horse slaughter.

The fact is- I used the story to illustrate that the Obama Administration is lined with HSUS on this issue- plain and simple.

I have no problem with horse slaughter- I think the Oklahoma legislature did the right thing in rolling HB 1999 through quickly and I applaud the Governor for signing it.

If I raised your blood pressure yesterday as you saw that story and you started fuming about that darned Hays character and his secret support for the anti animal ag crowd- I apologize. Some days my old brain works better than others. We'll apply a liberal coat of "quotation marks" the next time.