Crop Insurance is a "Critical Issue for Us," Tom Zacharias Tells Ag Summit 

A lot of people are taking pot shots at the crop insurance industry and those characterizations may not be fair says Tom Zacharias of National Crop Insurance Services. He spoke to attendees at the Ag Issues Summit in Oklahoma City. I talked with Zacharias about the current critics of the crop insurance programs and what can be expected in the future. 

"The critics of the program look at this in a short-term perspective. They don't look long term when they think about it...Agriculture is important. It's fundamental to the economy. It's fundamental to the regions that are agriculturally based. So to have a safety net that supports that and promotes financial stability for our farmers, this is a critical issue for us."

Some critics of crop insurance, both and out of Congress have talked about limitations on the payment premium.

"Anything that is put in place that limits participation or discourages farmers from participating is going to have a long-term negative impact on the program. The program is insurance based, so we need low-risk producers in the program and we need large-scale participation. So, when you put constraints on that or impediments to that, you're going to degrade the actuarial performance and participation. Then we're going to end up with a situation where farmers don't have coverage and we walk into the demand or need for disaster legislation which will be an impossible battle in today's environment."

Click here to listen to the interview or to read more of this story. 

Congressional Action On Farm Issues Needed, Vilsack Says 

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says Congress needs to pay more attention to problems facing America's farmers.

Vilsack told a farm group at USDA headquarters in Washington, D.C., that action on a farm bill should be a top priority.

" You do have to begin questioning whether or not this is really a priority and it ought to be a priority, because it's not just important to rural America, it's important to all America."

Vilsack added that a farm bill extension does not provide the needed solutions.

" It doesn't provide the certainty that producers need to be able to make decisions and plans about expansion, about continued operation, about transfers and transitions to the next generation. You can't do any of that unless you know what the programs are going to be."

You can read more or see a video version of this story by clicking here. 

City Dwellers Cashing in on Farm Payments, Says EWG's Scott Faber

The following article was published online by Scott Faber, vice president of government affairs, for the Environmental Working Group.

Residents of America's 54 largest cities collected more than $24 million in Direct Payment farm subsidies in 2012, according to new research by the Environmental Working Group.

A total of 18,276 city dwellers cashed in on the US Department of Agriculture's Direct Payment program, which was created in 1996 to wean farmers off subsidies but instead was continued in the 2002 and 2008 farm bills, EWG's study shows.

Congress must decide this month whether to extend the Direct Payment program, which cost taxpayers nearly $5 billion a year. Both the House and Senate versions of the proposed new farm bill would end these payments, but it looks more likely that Congress will vote to extend the current farm bill once again.

Click here to read more of this story by Scott Faber.

Exports Strong Despite Tight Beef Supplies, Says LMIC's Jim Robb

Even with tight beef supplies, beef exports have been strong. Jim Robb of the Livestock Market Information Center says it has been a remarkable summer as far as beef sales go in the international market.

"We have a couple of months delay until we get the official USDA trade numbers on imports and exports. Imports for the month of July were about as anticipated, but our exports were well above anticipated levels for the month of July. It tends to be one of our peak months on beef tonnage exports. And those were the largest since July 2011. That's up strongly compared to a year ago."

He says that for the last three months of data, the U.S. exported more beef on a tonnage basis than it imported, which was a trend that industry watchers didn't really expect this year and has been supportive of the markets.

Jim is my guest on the latest Beef Buzz.  Click here to read more or to listen to our interview.

Soybean Rivals Team Up on Common Issues

Farmers who grow 90 percent of the world's soybeans and normally battle for global market share met recently to discuss how they can work together on issues that affect all farmers. Among other topics, they discussed what they could do to speed up getting new, biotechnology-enhanced soybean varieties approved in more markets around the world.

This type of gathering isn't new to these farmers, who are members of the International Soy Growers Alliance (ISGA), a group formed in 2005 to bring together Argentine, Brazilian, Paraguayan, Uruguayan and U.S. soybean farmers around issues that affect them all.

"It's important for us to come together and discuss issues we all have in common: trade relations, biotechnology, weather, to name a few," says Jim Stillman, soybean farmer and United Soybean Board (USB) chairman from Emmetsburg, Iowa. "When we are able to provide a united front on these issues that impact the global soybean industry, it makes a much stronger impression."

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

Hot and Dry Conditions Continue; Rain Chances Increasing

It's been more than three weeks since most of Oklahoma has seen measurable rain. The Panhandle was a good rain August 17th, but there has been precious little since then.

Things have gotten so bad Oklahoma City's total for the year thus far of 45.18 inches has been passed by 2007, which had 49.21 inches for the same period.

That's really not much to complain about, however, especially if you're living in Altus (11.5 inches) or in the western Panhandle (9.4 inches-10.5 inches).

The statewide average since August 18 remains 0.07 inches, 2.44 inches below normal (or about 3% of normal). That's the driest such period since 1921 statewide, and all areas of the state have suffered their 1st or 2nd driest August 18-September 10 since 1921.

There will be some chance for rain across the state over the next couple of days with the approach of two cold fronts. The western Panhandle appears to have the greatest opportunity for significant rainfall over the next seven days.

Click here to read more.
 

This N That- Superior Labor Day Sale Kicks Off, Big Iron Rolls and Congrats to Morrison FFAers! 

It's the Labor Day XXIV Sale that begins today for the folks at Superior Video Livestock Auction- with sale time this morning set for 9:00 AM central time- the sale originating from Denver, Colorado.  

As always- the sale can be watched on RFD TV on both DISH and DirecTV- and seen online by clicking here.

This is a THREE DAY sale- so they are running today, tomorrow and Friday mornings- you can call Superior at 1-800-422-2117 for more information- or check out the details on their website- SuperiorLivestock.Com.

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 It's also closing day for the weekly auction that you can monitor anytime, anywhere by going to the Big Iron website.  Their weekly no reserve auction of top notch farm equipment and more has on offer today 420 items total- click here to jump over to the Big Iron Website to search for the farm equipment items that you need for the fall harvest or planting season.

And- you can call Mike Wolfe at 580-320-2718- Mike is District Manager for Big Iron and he'll be glad to help you learn more about how to buy or sell on Big Iron.

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Finally- we salute several seniors from the Morrison FFA Chapter who traveled to Minnesota this week to represent the state of Oklahoma(and done good!).  

Our thanks to Eric Devuyst who emails us "Morrison FFA represented Oklahoma in the judging competition  at the National Barrow Show this week in Austin, MN. The team members, Abby Chrz, Amber Cox, Megan DeVuyst, and Logan Johns (all seniors at Morrison High School), took third in FFA/4-H Division. The team is coached by Morrison ag teacher and FFA advisor Brent Haken."