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

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will accept 1.7 million acres offered under the 45th Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general sign-up. The Department received nearly 28,000 offers on more than 1.9 million acres of land, demonstrating CRP's continuing appeal as one of our nation's most successful voluntary programs for soil, water, and wildlife conservation. Under Vilsack's leadership, USDA has enrolled nearly 12 million acres in new CRP contracts since 2009. Currently, there are more than 26.9 million acres enrolled on 700,000 contracts.

Francie Tolle, executive director for the Oklahoma Farm Service Agency (FSA), said 55,867 of those acres were accepted in Oklahoma. Oklahoma FSA received 567 offers on more than 59,000 acres of land, demonstrating CRP's continuing appeal as one of the nation's most successful voluntary programs for soil, water, and wildlife conservation. Since 2009, USDA has enrolled nearly 12 million acres in new CRP. Currently, there are more than 26.9 million acres enrolled on 700,000 contracts nationwide.

"For 27 years, lands in CRP have helped to conserve our nation's resources by protecting water quality, reducing erosion and creating habitat for a diverse mix of wildlife," said Tolle. "Oklahoma farmers and ranchers continue to recognize the importance of protecting our most environmentally sensitive land by enrolling in CRP. This program is critically important to preserving the land in rural Oklahoma for future generations."

CRP is a voluntary program that allows eligible landowners to receive annual rental payments and cost-share assistance to establish long-term, resource-conserving covers on eligible farmland throughout the duration of their 10 to 15 year contracts.

You can read more of this story as well as find a link to the state-by-state CRP acreage breakdown by clicking here.  

The USDA's latest Crop Progress and Condition report shows this year's corn crop is lagging behind last year with 43 percent in the silk stage versus 84 percent last year.  The USDA says 63 percent of the crop is in good to excellent condition while only 11 percent is rated as poor to very poor.

In Oklahoma, recent rains have benefited the row crops, but they are still behind the five-year averages.  Conditions for corn were rated mostly good and the condition of sorghum, soybeans and peanuts were rated mostly good to fair. Cotton conditions were rated mostly fair, but had improved from the previous week.  (You can find the full Oklahoma crop weather report by clicking here.)

In Kansas, spotty showers were welcomed across much of the State, but they were too little to improve the drought conditions, as dryland row crops and pastures continue to suffer. Failed dryland corn and sorghum crops are being reported in areas eluded by rains, and where hail or wind damage has occurred.  Corn silking was 56 percent, behind 81 last year and a 74-percent average. (Click here to read the Kansas report.)

Corn and sorghum harvest activities in East Texas, South Central, South Texas, and the Upper Coast slowed due to rainfall. Irrigated cotton in the High Plains benefitted from significant rains, and some producers were able to limit irrigation for a few days. Row crops were progressing very near their five-year averages. (Click here for the full Texas report.)

Demographic Changes Impact Cattle on Feed Report Interpretation

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

The stocks and flows of feedlot cattle that make up the cattle on feed report have a relatively straightforward interpretation when the underlying mix of cattle (sex, weight and age distribution) is relatively constant, at least on a seasonal basis. For several months, changes in these animal demographics have made it much harder to interpret the cattle on feed report and anticipate the implications for future feedlot marketings and cattle slaughter.

The most recent USDA Cattle on Feed report indicated that the feedlot inventory was 10.37 million head, down 3.2 percent from one year ago. This makes eleven consecutive months of year over year decreases in feedlot inventory. Feedlot inventories have been augmented by drought enhanced cattle movement since 2011 and the current inventory is the smallest for July since 2010. The current inventory is down less on a year over year basis than it was earlier (the March 1 inventory was down 7 percent year over year) because of relatively large placements in the spring. March and April placements were up compared to the prior year and May was down only slightly.  

Click here to read the full analysis from Derrell Peel.

NWS Calls for Redeveloping Drought Across Oklahoma

The latest Southern Plains Drought Outlook Summary from the National Weather Service forecasts drought conditions will persist and redevelop across Oklahoma through October. The forecast also calls for improving conditions across New Mexico and far west Texas.

The National Weather Service is calling for equal chances of above normal, normal, or below normal precipitation across all three states.

The temperature outlook through October indicates above-normal temperatures throughout the Southern Plains. This will lead to increased evaporation of any rain that does fall, further exacerbating surface reservoir water levels.

Click here to see the Drought Outlook Summary map.

Economics of Canola Mean Bigger Slices of a Bigger Pie for Everybody, Jones Says

The economics of winter canola production are looking really good across the Southern Plains, according to Dr. Rodney Jones. He was recently named the Oklahoma Farm Credit Endowed Professor of Agrifinance at Oklahoma State University.   I spoke with him at the recent winter canola workshop in Enid.

He said that producers have learned a lot over the last eight to ten years as they have worked to get canola introduced in the state.

"We have learned over the last eight years that the economics of this crop in a rotation, in a wheat-canola rotation or even a more intensive crop rotation, canola in our crop rotation in this part of Oklahoma works very well from an economic standpoint. We've seen time after time after where folks have been able to harvest yields that are comparable on a bushel-per-acre basis to wheat. Just take 2013 for example, we're selling canola for $12 a bushel and some of them are selling wheat for $7 a bushel."

Jones said although the operating costs may be from $40 to $60 per acre higher than wheat, the rewards in terms of higher per-bushel prices and the value of the rotation impact make the economic returns very attractive.

You can read more by clicking here. 

Basic Prescribed Fire Training Now Offered Online

Learning how to safely conduct a prescribed burn can now be done from the comfy confines of one's living room.

Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension recently made available a free-to-the-public online course. Basic Prescribed Fire Training is the first of its kind for landowners and agency personnel to learn the fundamentals of prescribed burning online.

"The course is set up to walk people through the process of conducting a prescribed burn, as well as the effects of fire on various plant communities," said John Weir, research associate in OSU's Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management.

The course is designed for both the novice as well as people who have had years of experience conducting burns, and is not strictly for Oklahomans, rather it is applicable regionally and nationally.

"Everyone can learn something from participating in the course," Weir said.

For more information, click here. 

Smithfield Sale Continues to Generate Angst

The pending sale of Smithfield to Shaunghui has caused a lot of heartburn among lawmakers, some consumer groups and some agricultural groups- one of those groups is the National Farmers Union.

Their President, Roger Johnson, has stated his organization's opposition to the proposed acquisition of Smithfield Foods by Shuanghui International in a letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. Lew is Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. Johnson says the proposed buyout is extremely alarming to NFU members across the country. He is urging the committee to set a bold precedent - that the administration values our farms, our food and our rural economies so much that the federal government will stand up to a takeover of a large swath of our agriculture industry.  

According to NFU - if the sale is permitted to move forward - Shuanghui would take control of a very large portion of the U.S. pork industry. Johnson says the costs of the acquisition far outweigh the benefits to Americans. He adds that the security of the domestic food system is threatened by foreign control.