Kansas Winter Wheat Tour Pegs 2013 Crop Yield Well Below Average 

The results are in, and the 2013 Winter Wheat Tour participants have pegged the Kansas wheat crop at 313.8 million bushels, well below last year's actual total of 360 million bushels. And the five year average of 341 million bushels.

Mark Hodges of Plains Grains, Incorporated, was on the tour and weighed in on the estimate in an interview with me. He said he thinks the tour members' estimates are accurate for this stage of the game.

"I certainly don't think that 313 is too high, by any means. There are some fairly definitive areas within the state that we looked at over the last three days. Probably, without a doubt, the worst is in the southwest quadrant... The further south and the further west you go, it gets pretty bad, pretty quick."

Seeing diverse conditions throughout the three-day tour, participants also expect abandonment of 18% of the state's planted wheat acres, up from the yearly average of about 9% abandonment. Earlier this spring, USDA estimated that Kansas farmers planted about 9.3 million acres of wheat last fall. Thus, an 18% abandonment would mean only about 7.7 million acres of wheat would be harvested in Kansas.

Hodges said a lot of those abandoned acres will be in the southwest.   "I will almost guarantee those guys in the southwestern part of the state, again, further south and further west, it's over for most of those guys just because of drought had already devastated them and the freeze was just the last nail in the coffin."

Mark Hodges also talks about Oklahoma's crop in our interview that is posted on our website.  Click here to listen or to read more of this story.  

USDA and EPA Release New Report on Honey Bee Health; AFBF and CropLife React 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a comprehensive scientific report on honey bee health. The report states that there are multiple factors playing a role in honey bee colony declines, including parasites and disease, genetics, poor nutrition and pesticide exposure.

"There is an important link between the health of American agriculture and the health of our honeybees for our country's long term agricultural productivity," said Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan. "The forces impacting honeybee health are complex and USDA, our research partners, and key stakeholders will be engaged in addressing this challenge."

In October 2012, a National Stakeholders Conference on Honey Bee Health, led by federal researchers and managers, along with Pennsylvania State University, was convened to synthesize the current state of knowledge regarding the primary factors that scientists believe have the greatest impact on managed bee health.

The report identified four areas for further research: parasites and diseases, the need for genetic diversity, poor nutrition, and pesticide effects.

American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman concurred with the report's findings:  "The Agriculture Department/Environmental Protection Agency report issued today concludes what farmers and scientists have known for some time-that there isn't just one cause to the decline in honey bee numbers. It's a multitude of factors, which makes it even more important that we continue work on a solution through collaborative efforts among farmers, beekeepers, researchers, the federal government and the public."  (Click here for more from Bob Stallman.) 

Dr. Ray McAllister, senior director of regulatory policy for CropLife, said, "The crop protection industry is dedicated to analyzing the impacts of pesticides on honey bee colonies through continued research into field-relevant pesticide exposures, improvement of pollinator habitats, supporting educational outreach programs and applying best management practices." (Click here for more from CropLife.)

You'll find more information on the USDA/EPA report on our website by clicking here.

Livestock and Poultry Groups Provide Comments on Negative Impact of the RFS

Seven livestock and poultry groups submitted comments to the House Energy and Commerce Committee on the negative effects the federal Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) has had on agriculture, including the high cost of feed facing livestock and poultry producers. The comments answer several questions posed by the committee on the impact of the RFS.

"The RFS has been the major driver in increasing corn use for ethanol production, and causing corn stocks to decline to crisis levels," the comments state. "In a market-driven world, ethanol would be priced competitively with gasoline. That has never been true in the entire history of the industry."

Additionally, the groups submitted a study to support their comments titled "The RFS, Fuel and Food Prices, and the Need for Reform" completed by Dr. Tom Elam of FarmEcon. The study examined the extensive impact the RFS has had on food and fuel prices.

You can read more of this story by clicking here.  

Soybean Executive Named CEO of the National Association of Wheat Growers

Longtime soybean industry executive Jim Palmer has been named chief executive officer of the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG).

Palmer was selected by the NAWG Board of Directors after a search process led by the NAWG officers and grower-leaders of the National Wheat Foundation, NAWG's affiliated charitable organization.

"Our farmer-leaders were very impressed with Jim's experience and vision for the wheat industry, and we are excited to have him take the lead on the NAWG staff," said Bing Von Bergen, NAWG's president and a farmer from Moccasin, Mont., who has also served as NAWG's interim CEO since late February.

You can read the full story by clicking here.   

Freeze Damage Causes Significant Yield Loss, But Planted Acres Soften the Blow, Anderson Says

With a record late freeze in much of Oklahoma's wheat country last night, wheat damage is a great concern not only for farmers, but for the grain trade in general. Kim Anderson, Oklahoma State University Grain Marketing Specialist says the damage may not be as great as feared, partly due to increased planted acreage.

"If you look at past production, the five-year average for the United States is 951,000,000 bushels. For Oklahoma, it's 118,000,000 bushels. Last year, the hard red winter wheat crop was just slightly over a billion bushels and Oklahoma was 155,000,000.

"If you look at 2011, the drought-stricken year, it was 780,000,000 bushels of hard red winter wheat in the U.S. and only 70 in Oklahoma." 

And his prediction for this year?

"Getting information from analysts on predictions, especially with the recent freezes and the drought going on is like pulling teeth, but I think for Oklahoma, probably somewhere around 100 million, 105 million bushels; for the United States, probably somewhere around 900,000,000."

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

Ag Organizations Applaud Six Countries for Support of Ag Production Technologies

Key members of the U.S. agricultural value chain have joined together to applaud the work of the United States and like-minded governments to promote the importance of science-based regulations to facilitate trade of agricultural commodities derived from agricultural biotechnology.

In a joint statement, the United States was joined by the governments of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Paraguay to announce their intention to work collaboratively to remove global barriers to the trade of agricultural biotechnology and promote science-based, transparent and predictable regulatory approaches.

The American Seed Trade Association (ASTA), American Soybean Association (ASA), Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), North American Export Grain Association (NAEGA), National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), and National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) said they welcome the leadership of the U.S. government - including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the United States Trade Representative, and U.S. Department of State, as well as their counterparts in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Paraguay - in taking these steps toward greater collaboration to systematically address global barriers to trade of products derived from agricultural biotechnology. 

Click here for more.  

This N That- Hall Coyote Hills Limousin Sale, Great Canola Pics and National Land & Range Judging Contest Pics 

Starting at 1 PM Saturday, it's the Hall-Coyote Hills Ranch Limousin and Lim-Flex Production Sale at the ranch in Chattanooga, Oklahoma.

These folks have some of the leading genetics in the Limousin breed- and they have a great offering of bulls as well as females for your consideration.

Click here for more details about the sale- and links on over to their online catalog for tomorrow's event.

**********

Three percent of the canola in Oklahoma is rated in "excellent" condition- and I am thinking that the canola that Brent Rindel is raising in Ottawa County in far northeastern Oklahoma fits into that category without a problem.

Brent's talking forty to sixty bushels per acre potential- and we have the pictures to show why- click here and take a look!!!

**********

We enjoyed the opportunity to see a lot of great folks at the 2013 edition of the National Land and Range Judging contest awards banquet last night. Congratulations to Kent Boggs, the 2013 Contest honoree- and we will provide some results on the contest later today or first of the week at the latest- we did have FFA members from Roland and the Fox FFA chapters that placed in the Rangeland judging side of the contest.  We have posted our pictures from Thursday evening on our Flickr page-click here to jump over and take a look at our set of photos from last night.