WheatWatch 2013: Oklahoma Remains on Track for Half a Crop--Compared to 2012 Harvest 

Mike Schulte, executive director of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission has been traveling through the Panhandle wrapping up the 2013 wheat plot tour. He spent the last few days near Balko and Hooker and said during an interview with me that , surprisingly, the test plots looked better than he thought they would. 

"We are seeing more tillering take place and, therefore, it does look like there's going to be something to harvest at those variety trials. It's probably not going to be our best harvest out here and we are going to need to have a little more moisture from here on out between today and when harvest actually takes place."

Unfortunately, Schulte said, what he saw in the test plots does not generally hold true throughout the rest of Beaver and Texas counties.

"As I drove through the Panhandle today, I didn't see any wheat that looked like it was going to be harvested. If it is going to be harvested, it's in very sporadic places. In many places it looks like it froze out completely; it's already white in the field and laying over. I haven't been out to Cimarron County but I've heard they've seen much the same thing out there.

"Generally the Panhandle region brings in about 15 to 16 million bushels of wheat. I'd be really surprised if we bring in one million to two million bushels of wheat." 

Statewide, Schulte said, he expects to see less than 50 percent of a normal crop.  

Oklahoma Pork Council Provides Meals, Assistance in Tornado-Ravaged Areas 

Normally, Memorial Day weekend is a time for rest and relaxation and is often spent on the patio with the barbecue grill. While a lot of people did that this weekend, there are an awful lot of families in central Oklahoma who were still be picking up the pieces of their shatter lives after last weekend's tornadoes.

Roy Lee Lindsey, executive director of the Oklahoma Pork Council tells me that his organization has mobilized to help feed victims, first responders, and clean-up crews in Moore and other devastated areas.

"We've been able to work with the folks at Operation Barbecue, which is a group of barbecue competition teams that got together and now travel across the country to these natural disaster sites. They started after the Joplin tornado. They went to Hurricane Sandy up in the Northeast. Now they're here in Moore."

He said the Oklahoma Pork Council has donated 2,000 pounds of pork butts to the effort. Seaboard Farms has sent them 2,300 pounds of pork butts. Tyson has also joined in the mass feeding efforts with their Meals that Matter truck.

Lindsey said that Moore is getting a lot of the publicity due to the scale of the devastation there, but we need to remember there are people in other areas such as Newcastle, Shawnee, Little Axe, and Carney who have suffered devastation as well. He said his organization is in contact with the State Emergency Management Office and is willing to do more and to help in these less publicized areas.

You can hear my interview with Roy Lee Lindsey or read more about what the Oklahoma Pork Council is doing including new marketing projects this summer by clicking here.

Department of Agriculture Addresses Needs in Wake of Tornado

As recovery efforts for the Moore tornado begin to unfold, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry is working collaboratively with USDA-APHIS Veterinary Services to continue to provide support for pet and livestock owners affected by the storm.

Hours after the storm on May 20, ODAFF established a pet triage center at the Home Depot in Moore. The center is being operated by ODAFF veterinarians and staff as well as volunteer veterinarians. Animals found in the affected area are brought into the triage center where they are documented, given an identifying number, examined by a veterinarian, photographed and then transported to one of four cooperating local shelters. If an animal needs medical attention, it is transported to one of four designated clinics. The photographs of the incoming animals are posted on Facebook to the McClain County Animal Response Team page and to www.okclostpets.com. Owners are encouraged to visit the triage center to report their missing pets and to visit the online pages to determine if their pet has been located.

County Animal Response Teams were initiated by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, the Oklahoma State Department of Health and Oklahoma Medical Reserve Corps. ODAFF works with CARTs across the state to be prepared to care, rescue, shelter and reunify pets and livestock in times of disaster. 

Click here to read more. 

Over the weekend- there are have been multiple pictures and videos posted by the ODAFF on their Facebook page- click here to jump to that page- you will need to be a member of Facebook to fully be able to explore all of the stuff posted there.

USDA to Gather Data on 2013 Crop Acreage and Stocks

How many acres of corn did farmers plant this growing season? What percentage of those acres were planted to biotech varieties? Will actual planted acreage be above or below farmers' reported planting intentions? These are a few of the critical questions the Oklahoma Field Office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will soon ask of Oklahoma producers as part of the June Agricultural Survey.

"The June Agricultural Survey, also known as the Crops/Stocks Survey, is the most important survey conducted each spring by NASS," explained Wilbert Hundl, Director of the NASS Oklahoma Field Office. "This survey will provide the first clear indication of the potential production and supply of major commodities in the United States for the 2013 crop year."

NASS will mail the survey questionnaire in late May, asking producers to provide information about the types of crops they planted in 2013, how many acres they intend to harvest and the amounts of grain and oilseed they store on their farms. NASS encourages producers to respond via the Internet but also welcomes mail or fax responses and offers non-responding producers the opportunity for a telephone or personal interview. 

You can read more by clicking here.

OQBN Releases PRECON Program to Add Another Tool for Oklahoma Producers to Utilize

Gant Mourer, Oklahoma State University Beef Value Enhancement Specialist, writes in the latest Cow-Calf Newsletter:

In 2001 Oklahoma State University and the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association came together and formed a marketing and value added beef network for Oklahoma producers called The Oklahoma Quality Beef Network (OQBN). The Oklahoma Quality Beef Network, at its base, is a communication and educational tool to increase opportunities and provide quality cattle to all segments of Oklahoma's beef industry.

Using OQBN as that communication tool, feedback from feedlots, packers and extension personnel was positive and they communicated that they needed cattle that could be managed in a way to increase feeding performance and more importantly health in the feedlot.

The OQBN VAC-45 program was then developed. Cow/Calf producers had the opportunity to enroll in the VAC-45 program or another "branded" value added program if their calves were weaned for 45 days and met a handful of other management requirements. These calves were then offered for sale and received a premium for producers, who many already were doing these management practices. OQBN VAC-45 is still strong and sold over 3500 head with a 9.23$/cwt overall premium in 2012.

You can read more of this story on our website by clicking here.

Frank Lucas Says House Farm Bill is a Bipartisan, Cost-Saving Success Story

This week during The Ag Minute, Chairman Frank Lucas discusses H.R. 1947, the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management (FARRM) Act of 2013, which is a bipartisan, cost-saving bill the House Agriculture Committee approved last week. Chairman Lucas highlights how the bill is good for taxpayers and agricultural producers because it reduces deficit spending and repeals outdated government programs while reforming others. The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to consider the bill in June.

"With the help of my friend and colleague, Ranking Member Collin Peterson, the House Agriculture Committee approved H.R. 1947, the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act, in a huge, bipartisan vote of 36 to 10. We achieve close to $40 billion in savings and reforms to food and farm policy.

"This effort is what Americans want to see from Washington. They want to see their representatives working hard to reduce the cost, size, and scope of the federal government. They want to see their representatives working together to find a solution to the problem of government spending. 

Click here to read more or to listen to Congressman Lucas's remarks. 

 From Over the Holiday Weekend- Activists March Over the Evils of GMOs

Over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, consumers and other agenda driven activists paraded their hatred for modern science that has been personified in the form of GMOs.

A Washington Times article on Saturday painted the picture of the housewife against the big evil corporation- making the oft repeated claims against GMOs that has been raised since the 1990s- "But some say genetically modified organisms can lead to serious health conditions and harm the environment." To the writers credit- she did offer a rebuttal from the Monsanto PR folks- Monsanto saying of their GMO based business that they "respect people's rights to express their opinion on the topic, but maintains that its seeds improve agriculture by helping farmers produce more from their land while conserving resources such as water and energy."  Click here to read the full article on the protests from this past weekend.

Down through the years- GMOs crops have caused all kinds of problems- IF you believe the group that wants us to return to open pollinated crops using a mule and only organic fertilizer- in other words- manure.  And forget about ag chemicals- they are evil, too.

Back to the list of GMO evils- they include:

GMOs make people sick and can kill.

GMOs are destroying the environment.

GMOs are killing bees.

GMOs cause global warming- I am sure that Al Gore is thinking about how to make this claim- altho at this point- it is forthcoming.

The truth is- the people who make these claims are often the most affluent people in our society- and frankly, they are looking for ways to spend more of their income on food- and stores and companies who want to make claims about how much better this product is for the planet or how much better this food is for the health of your kids and they believe spending extra for food that is "all natural" or is "organic" or is "gluten free" or is "GMO free" or "BST free" makes it better and safer.

Specifically about the claims of all the evil stuff GMOs represent- the REAL truth is that billions of meals have been eaten that have had GMO food ingredients included- and there has yet to be one documented case of a person poisoned or that has died because of the GMO in the food.  USDA recently released a study on the downturn in the population of beesu want  in the US- and they mentioned several diseases and insects that seem to have caused problems with bees- GMOs were not mentioned as a culprit.  As Monsanto mentioned in their quote earlier- GMOs actually allow farmers to use fewer chemicals and that lessens ag chemical impacts on the environment- and that should make GMOs better for the environment- right? 

You can google the protests against Monsanto from this past weekend- and there are dozens of articles to be read- and it shows that the passion is huge when it comes to this technology that has aided in plant breeding tremendously- and to help you with at least one viewpoint of why GMOs need to be left alone- click here for an interesting read.