Oklahoma Ag Groups Write Letter to Congress Supporting Farm Bill 

Fifteen Oklahoma agriculture organizations have signed a litter of support for the House version of the 2013 farm bill. The groups sent the letter to House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas last week.

The letter specifically supports the safety net provisions and the voluntary conservation programs written into the bill, H.R. 1947.

The letter's signers also said the believe passage of the current farm bill would give them some measure of certainty so that they could make long-range business decisions.

The ag groups said the bill goes beyond just assisting farmers and, as a whole, is good for taxpayers.

"We believe there are real reforms in this act while still protecting the United States food supply. FARRM offers reforms that are achievable only if passed and implemented, and the bill will also save taxpayer dollars though its budget savings. We encourage your support of H.R. 1947..."  

Oklahomans Take Top Spots at LMA's 50th Annniversary World Livestock Auctioneer Championship 

Dustin Focht of Stillwater, Okla., proved his world-class talent as a livestock auctioneer at the 50th anniversary of the Livestock Marketing Association's (LMA) World Livestock Auctioneer Championship (WLAC) held in Montgomery, Ala., on Saturday, June 15.

A late comer to the livestock auctioneering profession, Focht, 43, whose grandfather was a livestock auctioneer, didn't begin selling until 13 years ago. He credits fellow Oklahoma auctioneers Ralph Wade and Greg Griffith with helping to form him into the world champion auctioneer he is today.

"I had never sold anything or had a chant before I met Ralph. He took a complete beginner and in two days taught me the basics and put me in the block at Oklahoma National Stockyards," Focht explains. "Greg taught me all the values that exemplify an auctioneer: professionalism, integrity, honesty and value."

Also, making a great showing were the Reserve Champion Brian Little of Wann, Okla., and the 2013 Audrey K. Banks "Rookie of the Year" Award winner, Mike Godberson of Pawnee.

Click here for the full story

Rains across most of Oklahoma late Sunday and early Monday brought wheat harvest to a halt.  Progress before that had been substantial with 30 percent of the wheat crop reported harvested by the end of last week.  That's still 34 points behind the five year average.

Fifty-three percent of the crop was listed in poor or very poor shape, 28 percent was fair, and only 18 percent was listed in the good category.

The canola crop was rated mostly fair to poor.  Ninety-two percent of the crop was reported as mature at the end of last week, with 36 percent harvested.  Canola harvest was ending at this time last year.  (Click here to read more of the Oklahoma Crop Progress and Condition Report.) 

In Kansas, the winter wheat crop was turning color on 74 percent of the acreage, behind 100 percent a year ago and 86 average. Eleven percent of the crop was ripe, compared to 97 last year and 44 percent on average. The condition was rated 24 percent very poor, 21 poor, 27 fair, 24 good, and 4 percent excellent.  (Click here for the full Kansas, report.)

Scattered showers and warmer temperatures prevailed across much of Texas last week, with wheat harvest in full swing across the state.  Harvest was temporarily halted in some areas due to rains.  Fifty percent of the crop in Texas is considered to be in very poor shape, 25 percent is in poor condition, 17 percent is listed in fair condition, seven percent is in good shape and only one percent is listed in the excellent category.  (The Texas report is available by clicking here.)

DamWatch Helps Protect Oklahomans During Flooding

Knowing that flooding always follows drought, especially in Oklahoma, for the past two years the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Oklahoma Conservation Commission and local conservation districts have worked to put in place the nation's most advanced flood warning system -DamWatch. The agencies joined together to initiate the DamWatch system to help manage the 2,107 flood retarding dams in Oklahoma built through the federal Small Watershed Upstream Flood Control Program.

The agencies partnered with USEngineering Solutions, Corp., to implement its DamWatch application that uses web-based software to access real-time data sources and analyze the data related to each of Oklahoma's 2,107 watershed dams. A threshold rainfall amount is computed for each dam based on its capacity to store storm runoff. When the threshold is exceeded for specific dams, DamWatch automatically sends an alert to notify key personnel of a potentially destructive event so they can inspect the dam and, if appropriate, initiate an emergency action plan. DamWatch team members receive an automatically-generated priority list of dams requiring monitoring, inspection and possible operational actions. Those actions might range from monitoring spillway flows and taking protective measures to prevent erosion of the spillway, to notifying law enforcement and local emergency agencies of a possible need for road closure or evacuation.

You can read more of this story by clicking here. 

U.S.-Mexican Cattle and Beef Trade Continues to Evolve

Derrell S. Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, writes in the latest Cow-Calf Newsletter:

Mexico has long been a major beef industry trading partner with the U.S. in roles that have continually evolved into deeper and more integrated relationships. For many years, Mexico has been the major source of imported feeder cattle. U.S. beef exports to Mexico developed in the late 1990s and Mexico has been one of the top beef export destinations since then. Most recently Mexico has emerged as a top source of beef imports into the U.S. All of these markets have been rather dynamic in recent years and raise the question of what the nature of U.S. and Mexican cattle and beef trade will be in the future.

Since 2009, U.S. imports of Mexican beef increased by 268 percent to make Mexico the fourth largest source of U.S. beef imports. Mexico exports beef to a number of countries including Japan, Russia and South Korea and Mexican beef exports have more than doubled since 2009. Beef exports to the U.S. represented just over 40 percent of total Mexican beef exports in 2012. U.S. imports of Mexican beef are up again so far in 2013 and are on pace to increase another 30 percent by the end of the year. Most of the beef imported from Mexico is middle meats from fed cattle. The dramatic increase in Mexican beef exports is the result of a rapid conversion of the Mexican beef industry from a carcass to a boxed beef marketing system. This has opened new market opportunities in both domestic and international beef markets. It is not clear how potentially large the market for Mexican beef in the U.S. is, but there appears to be room for additional growth. 

Click here to read more.  
 

AFBF President 'Cautiously Hopeful' about Trade Negotiations with Europe Union

The following statement was issued by Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation:

"The beginning of comprehensive trade negotiations, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), between the United States and the European Union holds the promise of expanded market access and an improved, science-based regulatory approach for agriculture and food. A constant commitment to removing barriers to agricultural trade is necessary in order to achieve a worthwhile agreement for U.S. agriculture.

"The misuse of sanitary and phytosanitary standards, including the EU's restrictions on genetically engineered crops, has long been a tactic to impede trade. We will look closely to these negotiations to move past this trade distorting tactic and fully embrace a rules-based trading system with standards based upon scientific assessment.

You can read more of Bob Stallman's statement by clicking here.

Farm Bill This N That- Obama Hates House Ag Committee Farm Bill, SNAP Reform Graphic and Rules Committee Links to Every Amendment and More

Simply put- President Obama and his key White House Cronies hate the 2013 House Ag Committee Farm Bill- primarily because it makes modest cuts in the nutrition title of the bill- cuts that could stop rewarding some of their supporters in back door ways.  In a statement released on Monday evening, the Obama White House condemned the bill- threatening a veto if that measure should come to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.   

Click here to read the statement to get a feel for what the Administration is thinking is "good" farm policy.

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Meanwhile, the House Ag Committee has released an graphic that offers some of the ways that SNAP is reformed under HR 1947- you can take a look at it by clicking here.

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It is our understanding that the Rules Committee has a 1 pm Central time meeting to pull together the amendments and decide which ones will get a floor vote or not- there are 227 amendments listed on the Rules Committee website- about thirty are listed as being late (which you would think might knock them out of consideration)- click here for that full list.  

If you care to read the full House Ag Committee Farm Bill- that's also available on the House Rules Committee website- click here for the PDF version- all 1200 pages of it.

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The word we received this morning from the House Ag Committee is that they are expecting the opening of debate sometime this afternoon or early evening- Wednesday is expected to be an all day and maybe all night marathon on the bill- with final votes for the week expected to be before 3 pm Thursday afternoon. A full vote on the final bill could come in the wee hours of Thursday morning- or perhaps a little later in the day on Thursday.   

It speaks volumes that Eric Cantor and John Boehner are willing to bring the bill to the floor- that seems to say that they believer there are enough votes to get it passed this week.  Stay tuned- we will be tweeting and offering periodic updates on our App and on our website.