National FFA Officer Candidate from Oilton Passionate About Making a Difference 

The National FFA Convention and Expo kicks of October 30 in Louisville, Kentucky, and among the attendees will be Brandon Baumgarten of the Oilton FFA Chapter. Baumgarten has his sights set on being elected a national officer. He has been a state officer and is the past president of the Oklahoma FFA Association. He is currently a student at Oklahoma State University. He spoke with me recently and he will appear on this weekend's "In the Field" segment on News 9 about 6:40 a.m. Saturday. 

Baumgarten says he has a dream he wants to fulfill in Louisville.

"I truly want to make a difference in the lives of students, not only on the state but on the national level. I believe there is a difference to be made if we are willing to make it. And serving as a national officer was something that I dreamed about when I was a freshman and first thought 'Wow! How cool would it be to be a national officer some day?'"

Baumgarten is unusual in that when he joined FFA, there was nobody in his family that was remotely connected to agriculture. He got involved in public speaking, farm business management, livestock judging, and the state FFA chorus. He said he was thankful for those experiences and that further fueled his desire to be a national officer.

He said his first experiences as an attendee at the national conventions impressed upon him the power that that FFA members acting collectively possess.

"My mind was blown because you have 55,000 students that are assembled together all believing in the same thing, believing in the same purpose, believing in the same goals. And together you ignite that passion. You come together and realize the difference that can be made. And that's so encouraging. My parents are encouraged when they see it. I'm encouraged when I see it. It's motivating because you realize that there is hope for our generation."

You can listen to my interview with Brandon or read more of this story by clicking here.  

GMOs and Pesticides Under Attack by Activists on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai  

When you mention Hawaii, you think of many things- paradise, surfing, pineapples, Pearl Harbor, volcanoes, hula girls and the list can go on and on.  But, few people consider Hawaii as an agricultural battleground state.  But, over the last couple of years, Hawaii has become just that as those who fear modern production agriculture have focused their wrath on the seed production industry that is the largest agricultural enterprise in the Hawaiian islands. GMO Seed Corn production is the largest part of that industry- and is found on Kauai, Oahu, Molokai and Maui.  Kirby Kester, Applied Genetics Manager with BASF in Koloa on Kauai tells us that the US corn farmer on the mainland has a lot at stake since "over 90 percent of those traits or the hybrids they are buying are coming through Hawaii" at some point in the development of those traits.


BASF, DuPont Pioneer, Syngenta and Dow Chemical are among the agricultural companies on the west side of Kauai that have taken over a significant part of an old sugarcane plantation- keeping in operation a hundred year old irrigation system that brings water from one of the wettest places on earth- Mount Waialeale- down to the arid west side of the island.  Kester is the farm manager for the BASF operations that raises several crops under stringent controls that regulate any drift of pollen, drift of chemicals as well as any plant materials contaminating any other farm operations.  Corn, soybeans, canola, sunflowers and rice are among the crops that BASF grows in cooperation with partners from not just the US but from several other countries as well.

The battleground status has come into play as the local county governments of Kauai and Hawaii (the big island) have been considering local regulations that could cause a lot of heartburn for the modern agricultural practices these companies utilize. The focus on the Big Island of Hawaii has been on GMO papayas since no major seed company has a presence on that island while the focus on Kauai has been to tighten regulations and make it hard for the companies to continue to operate- zeroing in on GMOs and pesticide use. A county of Kauai proposal, Bill 2491, has become the focal point of the opposition to agricultural production on the island- and passed in a modified version this past Friday at the Committee level. The full Board of County Commissioners will consider the measure, but no date has been set on that consideration.

We have more on this story on our website- an audio interview with Kirby Kester of BASF, links to the pro and anti Bill 2491 forces and even some pictures we took while touring the BASF Hawaii facility.  Click here for our story and these links.

Ag Panel Explores Ways to Improve Customer Protections, Avoid Another MF Global

Yesterday, Congressman Mike Conaway, Chairman of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management, held a fourth hearing on the future of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in advance of writing legislation to reauthorize the agency. The purpose of this hearing was to explore ways to improve customer protections and understand how best to avoid or prevent the collapse of another futures commission merchant (FCM) that disproportionately impacts farmers and ranchers in light of the failures at MF Global and PFG Best.

"We must ensure that whatever regulatory regime the CFTC moves to put into place to protect our farmers, ranchers and co-ops in the future works well for all involved in the market by reducing risk and protecting customer funds without significantly raising the price of doing business. But, as we continue to place burdens upon the CFTC to do more and to do better, we must also ensure they have adequate fiscal support to do the tasks they're charged with," said Ranking Member David Scott (D-GA).

This is expected to be the final hearing in the series on the future of the CFTC. The first one was a full committee hearing to gain perspectives from the market. The last two were subcommittee proceedings to hear from the CFTC Commissioners and end-users directly. 

You can read more of this story and find links to all the witnesses' testimony by clicking here.  

Stocker Production Opportunities Increasing with Feeder Prices, Peel Says

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

The ingredients for the best winter wheat grazing opportunity in several years seem to be coming together this fall. Most all of Oklahoma has received significant rain in the past two weeks. The rain is sufficient, in most cases, to get wheat planted and up. However, according to the Oklahoma Mesonet, the rainfall total for the last 30 days is below average so additional timely moisture will be needed to maintain the crop.   

The latest Cattle on Feed report jump-started both cash and cattle futures markets as markets anticipate sharply lower fed cattle and beef production beginning in the fourth quarter. Feeder cattle prices have continued to move higher, with heavy feeders advancing to record levels the past week. Higher Live Cattle futures and lower corn costs as corn harvest progresses continue to support feeder prices. There has been relatively less strength on light weight feeders (steers below 600 pounds). In fact, for the past two weeks, Oklahoma combined auction data has steers between 550 and 600 pounds at a lower price than 650 pound steers. While feedlot demand for feeders is strong, it does not extend to steers less than 650 pounds. At the same time, these 550-600 steers are bigger than traditionally demanded by stockers resulting in the weak demand for these steers that are too big for stocker demand and too small for feedlot demand. There is opportunity in this for stocker producers as these bigger stockers offer the highest value of gain for stocker production.

Click here for more from Derrell Peel.  

Congressional Report Touts Importance of Agriculture Exports

A report released this week by the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress cites the importance of agriculture - and agricultural exports in particular - to the American economy.

The report, titled "The Economic Contribution of America's Farmers and the Importance of Agricultural Exports," notes that the United States is the world's leading exporter of agricultural products, with a record $141.3 billion exported in 2012 and a $38.5 billion trade surplus for the year for the agriculture sector.

While those totals are impressive, the report also notes that although agriculture has accounted for less than 5 percent of the United States' gross domestic product (GDP) from 2007 through 2011, agricultural products as a share of total exports hovered around 10 percent.

There is more of this story and a link to the full report on our website.  Please click here to go there. 

Colin Woodall of NCBA Talks Government Shutdown Impacts on Beef Cattle Industry

As we hit day three in the federal government shutdown, there are services that are important to the beef cattle industry that continue to operate- and others that are now on hold. On the latest Beef Buzz, Colin Woodall, Vice President of Government Affairs, talks about the government shut down and the effect that will have on the priorities for cattle producers across the US that he represents in Washington.

Woodall also says that running along side the federal government shutdown is the rise of Permanent Farm Law being in effect again- and that raises the stakes on the need to get a 2013 Five Year Farm Bill complete.

Join us for the Beef Buzz by clicking here.  

This N That- Tulsa State Fair, Canola Crop Insurance Mess and All Ag All Day

Lots of you are already at the Tulsa State Fair- and we plan on joining you a little later on today- as the Junior Livestock Market Show continues- and will culminate with the Night of Champions event this evening at 7:00 PM.   

With the Champions all being named this afternoon and evening- the sale of the top animals at this year's Tulsa State Fair takes place at 11:00 AM tomorrow morning.

We'll be hanging around the barns today and tomorrow offering coverage via Twitter, our App, our Website, our Radio reports and even on News on 6 in Tulsa.

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There are still just 11 counties that the Risk Management Agency of the USDA has approved for winter canola crop insurance- any producer wanting crop insurance for their canola outside of those counties has to submit a written request with lots of documentation attached- those written apps went in back in August- really should have been approved by early September- but there are still many canola farmers across the southern plains that are waiting for RMA's blessing.  Of course, now that blessing is being delayed by the Federal government shutdown/slowdown.  And the window to plant winter canola and comply with the RMA planting rules is will soon close- the planting window set by RMA is September 10 through Pctober 10.

One producer that is frustrated with the mess is Jimmy Kinder of Walters- he tweeted early this morning "Canola Crop Insurance Deadline for planting is the 10th. Still don't know if I have crop insurance coverage. Planting anyway!"

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For those of you that live in central/northcentral Oklahoma, you may at one point or another- may have listened to us on the All Ag All Day station that was primarily programmed by our friend and colleague Tony St James of Floydada, Texas.  We had about a dozen reports on there daily and had started an hour long show at 12:05 pm weekdays back at the start of summer.   

Well, the station(KOAG) all of this was on is at 1640 on the AM dial- and their owners have decided to flip the format from the all agricultural information format to Oldies music.  We are told that our reports will continue- and that they will pick up the hour long show again in a week or two- so we shall see.  There were technical and content issues with the programming coming from Texas- but we hate to see that attempt fail after only being on the air for nine months.  

We'll let you know how that goes- in the meantime- we believe that the midday hour long radio/audio format is worthy of our time and effort- and will be looking for ways to develop that in the days ahead- your input will be appreciated.