USDA Continues to Call For a Record Corn Crop- Reduces Soybean Crop Size in September Reports 

Apparently a big corn crop may be getting a little bit bigger- this according to the latest reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture as the agency increased its projection for this year's corn harvest, already expected to be the largest ever, but cut its forecast for the soybean crop. 

The USDA's September corn production forecast was increased to 13.843 billion bushels from an August reading of 13.763 billion. The latest projection is above the forecast of analysts who expected the agency to cut the level to 13.646 billion. The September forecast would surpass the record of 13.1 billion bushels set in 2009.

Meanwhile, the monthly report projected soybean production of 3.149 billion bushels for the 2013-14 marketing year, which began Sept. 1. The September projection is down 3% from the August forecast but matched analysts' expectations. The downward revision in the size of this fall's soybean harvest is not a surprise, given weather during the critical pod filling time for much of the US Soybean crop.

Ending stocks for soybeans for the 2013-14 marketing year are now seen at 150 million bushels, compared from the USDA's August reading of 220 million. Analysts expected a September ending stocks reading of 161 million bushels.

The reduced projection would mean little improvement for soybean inventories. Ending stocks for 2012-2013 were just 125 million bushels because the crop suffered during last year's drought.    

The projections were cut due to "lower yield prospects, especially in the western Corn Belt," the agency said. The USDA on Thursday projected a soybean yield of 41.2 bushels per acre, compared with the August estimate of 42.6. 

Click here for more of this story and an audio overview of the latest USDA report.  

Supply and Demand Reports Negative for Corn and Wheat, Anderson Says 

The latest WASDE report is out and Oklahoma State University Extension Grain Marketing Specialist Kim Anderson provides a breakdown of the report for this week's SUNUP.

He says there isn't much change from last month in terms of production of wheat in the U.S., but the world production was increased to just above 27 billion bushels and that will have a negative impact on prices.

Even though ending stocks will be slightly less than what the industry had predicted and less than last year, Anderson says, "The market impact? Zilch-essentially no impact at all. The market was trading about $6.96 and it stayed in that area. And it's staying in that sideways pattern between $6.88 and about $7.24."

Anderson said the corn numbers didn't come in as expected

"If you look at production, the trade was expecting it to come in at 13.65 billion bushels and the USDA brought it in at 13.84. That's above the August estimate. That was a surprise." Upward revisions in worldwide production were also reported, putting more negative pressure on corn prices, Anderson says.

We have more from Kim Anderson and the full lineup for this weekend's SUNUP show on our webpage.  Click here to go there.

 

Oklahoma's Gone Yeller, Says Climatologist

Oklahoma's gone yeller. Normally those would be fighting words, says Associate State Climatologist Gary McManus, but in this case, he's talking the yellow designation for abnormally dry conditions on the latest U.S. Drought map. 

Gary spoke with me about the current conditions and you can listen to our conversation and see the drought maps by clicking here to go to our website.

Oklahoma has gone from 73.8 percent of the state under at least abnormally dry to 100 percent in one week. This is the epitome of a flash drought, McManus says. Even though abnormally dry isn't considered drought itself, it is a precursor.

The amount of the state in actual drought only rose from 44.6 percent to 50.5 percent last week. Exceptional drought did expand farther into Jackson County, where horrible conditions still exist, including a water supply emergency with Lake Altus down to 12 percent of capacity and Lake Tom Steed at 24 percent.

 

Research Paper Charts Beef Industry's Path

Prosperity for any industry depends on consumer demand, a Western Kentucky University animal scientist points out. Of course, that includes the beef industry or cattle community.

Nevil Speer, in a new white paper, "Consumers, Business and Breeding Systems: Charting the Beef Industry's Path," says the implications are clear.

"All business decisions on the ranch, as everywhere along the beef supply chain, should be made with an eye on consumer demand for beef," he says.

Following a 2011 work that explored why crossbreeding is not more widely used, the latest paper details shifting market signals and a sometimes-volatile relationship between consumer demand and industry output since 1960. It suggests what emerging dynamics mean for an integrated business environment and outlook for the beef industry's value chain.

Click here to read more.  

 

Biosecurity Guidelines for Manure Handling and Hauling Designed to Curb PEDV Transmission Risk

Since it was first identified in the United States last May, Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDV) has created significant losses to some pork producers in many parts of the country. Manure is a primary way the virus spreads from pig to pig and from farm to farm. On some sow farms, the virus has caused mortality rates in young pigs of up to 100 percent.

To help reduce the risk posed by PEDV-infected manure, veterinarians and university experts working with the Pork Checkoff, the National Pork Producers Council and the American Association of Swine Veterinarians have created a set of guidelines for producers and commercial manure haulers.

"We know this virus is easily spread to uninfected pigs and clean farms by infected manure," said Dr. Paul Sundberg, vice president of science and technology for the Pork Checkoff. "As we enter the fall manure-application season, it's a particularly critical time to follow a strict set of steps to help prevent the spread of this costly virus."

You can read the full story and find a link to the safety guidelines by clicking here.

 

Plaintiffs Appeal Court Ruling in COOL Lawsuit; Groups Defend District Court's Decision

Plaintiffs in the country of origin labeling (COOL) lawsuit filed a notice of appeal on September 12 of the September 11 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson denying plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit are the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, National Pork Producers Council, American Meat Institute, American Association of Meat Processors, Canadian Cattlemen's Association, Canadian Pork Council, North American Meat Association, Southwest Meat Association and Mexico's National Confederation of Livestock Organizations.   


On August 19, the court granted a motion by the United States Cattlemen's Association (USCA), National Farmers Union (NFU), the American Sheep Industry Association (ASI) and the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) to become defendant-intervenors in the lawsuit. 

As you might expect- the defendants are delighted with the District Court decision- US Cattlemen's Association President Jon Wooster saying that he believes the judge issued a "well reasoned opinion." Click here for our story that features Wooster's complete statement. 

Then you have the plantiffs- including the National Cattlemen's Beef Association- as we mentioned they have elected to appeal this decision. Scott George- President of the NCBA- calls COOL a costly mandatory program has failed- and with the revised rule- has gotten worst. He writes in a weekly NCBA newsletter "COOL has been a colossal failure and has cost our industry too much without providing a tangible benefit or an ounce of goodwill."

Click here to read his full statement on COOL   

This N That- Detrick Joins Us In the Field, State Fair Bound and Is Your FFA Jacket Sexy? 

The President of the American Farmers & ranchers, Terry Detrick, is just back from Washington, and we have invited him to join us for this weekend's In the Field TV segment that we have on KWTV News9 Saturday mornings- to be seen around 6:40 AM.

Check us out Saturday morning- and if you can't- be sure to check back on our website later in the weekend and we will have the video of our conversation on OklahomaFarmReport.Com.

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We invite you to come by and say hello in the Hobby, Arts and Crafts building at the State Fair on Sunday afternoon- we will be hooking up with our friends from DairyMax as a judge for the annual State Fair of Oklahoma's Ice Cream Contest- the fun starts at 2 PM- and for a couple of bucks, you can go through the line and sample all of the entries and vote for your favorite, even as the  contest judges try to sort out the various entries again here in 2013.   

In addition- there's lots of activity this weekend in the livestock barns- including the 4-H and FFA Livestock Judging contest going on this morning.

Click here for more on the Livestock Show Schedule at this year's State Fair of Oklahoma. 

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Finally- some farm broadcast friends of ours from Ohio have obviously not had enough to do in recent weeks- so they have put together a rather interesting look at their FFA jackets that they once wore as teenagers- and have fast forwarded to 2013 and have attempted to put those jackets back on- all the while singing "I Still Think My Jacket is Sexy."

The resulting video is...well, let's just say the title they have chosen does not do justice to the content.  Click here and judge for yourself- just don't ask me to model my FFA jacket from a few years back- I think the fifth amendment can be adopted for this situation!