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In Washington Thursday, rumors were flying among ag circles that House Speaker John Boehner is close to naming the House's team of farm bill conferees. According to multiple sources, the GOP contingent will include Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas of Oklahoma and Reps. Mike Rogers of Alabama, Randy Neugebauer and Mike Conaway of Texas, Rick Crawford of Arkansas, Steve King of Iowa, Austin Scott of Georgia, Martha Roby of Alabama, Glenn Thompson of Pennsylvania, Kristi Noem of South Dakota, Rodney Davis of Illinois and Jeff Denham of California.

In addition, Speaker Boehner is expected to name Rep. Steve Southerland (R-Fla.), a non-committee member who led the charge this summer that dramatically increased the level of Nutrition spending cuts from the House Ag Committee version of the bill- resulting in the Nutrition Stand Alone bill that has $39 billion in cuts to nutrition- well above the $20 billion that the Committee proposed.  Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson has stated that the Democrat conferees will all be Agriculture Committee members.


There appears to be disagreement on when the House conferees will be named. In an interview with AgriTalk earlier Thursday, Rep. Noem indicated that conferees would be named Friday. Chairman Lucas, however, suggested in an interview with CQ that conferees would not be officially named until after House leaders finished with negotiations on the debt ceiling, the timetable for which remains unclear.

Our sources include the end of the week newsletters from the Sorghum Growers, the Soybean Association, Tweets from Feedstuff and more- my Magic Eight Ball seems to side with Chairman Lucas- it  has a message that keeps floating to the top- "It remains unclear."  

Whoever is right- the "hope" is that once Conferees are named- a deal can be quickly struck on the differences between the House and the Senate- and a Farm Bill Conference report can either come back as a stand alone measure in both bodies- or as a part of a budget deal where the savings in the final compromise can be used by leadership to help make the budget deal work.
 

Slow Wheat Planting Start May Affect Wheat Pasture Prospects, Jeff Edwards Says 

Dr. Jeff Edwards, Oklahoma State University Extension Wheat Specialist says producers across the state have made use of recent rains to get their crops in the ground. 

Edwards estimates that about 50 percent of the winter wheat crop has now been planted. Farmers got off to a slow start due to rains that slacked off in September and that may affect the amount of wheat pasture this year.

"Our September planting was pretty slow. We didn't really have the moisture we needed as far as the top four to six inches to get that crop out of the ground. We didn't have all that much wheat go in the ground in September so I don't know how much wheat pasture we're going to have this year. It's looking like wheat pasture could be pretty tight if we have anything close to a normal fall or winter where it cools off pretty soon."

You can read more of this story or listen to my interview with Jeff by clicking here.  He will also join me for this week's "In the Field" segment Saturday morning about 6:40 a.m. on News 9.  

Lucas Applauds AFBF's Opposition to Conservation Compliance-Crop Insurance Link

Chairman Frank Lucas of Oklahoma issued the following statement welcoming the news in recent reports that the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) Board voted to oppose conservation compliance linked to crop insurance:

"Conservation compliance measures tied to crop insurance would be a misguided and redundant regulatory burden imposed on farmers and their property rights. I am philosophically opposed to this linkage and applaud AFBF's decision to support this position.

"Conservation compliance is already the law of the land. All farmers who receive assistance through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) commodity, conservation, and credit programs are required to protect our nation's wetlands and environmentally-sensitive croplands. I am a firm believer in these conservation compliance standards, as well as voluntary, incentive-based conservation practices. And, I share the concerns of AFBF regarding the inconsistency with which conservation compliance provisions could be implemented on a state-by-state and county-by-county basis."

You can read read more from Frank Lucas by clicking here. 

Proponents of EPA Rules for Chesapeake Bay Dissappointed with AFBF, NCGA

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation says it is disappointed in a decision by the American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Corn Growers Association to appeal a federal judge's ruling upholding pollution limits for Chesapeake Bay.

"It is disappointing that so much effort has to be spent in the courts, versus on cleaning up the Bay and its rivers and streams," said Chesapeake Bay Foundation President Will Baker. "We are confident that the Bay clean-up plan will be upheld on appeal."

Judge Sylvia Rambo had ruled last month that pollution limits for the nation's largest estuary created by EPA and regional states in 2010 are legal and based upon the best available science. That decision gave the green light for Bay region states to continue following their plans to meet those pollution limits, also called the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint.

Click here to read more.
 

Producers Turn to Alternative Reports Due to Government Shutdown, Anderson Says

The big news this week in grain markets is the lack of a WASDE report. Oklahoma State University Extension Grain Marketing Specialist Kim Anderson says the report has been indefinitely suspended due to the partial government shutdown.

"You'll recall that the market's been waiting on that report because it is the report that combines both the FSA crop insurance planted and harvested acres with USDA's survey data. So, it's a more accurate estimate of what corn, beans and wheat harvested and planted acres actually were.

"What the market is going to look to is private sources for information. In this case, you've got Bloomberg and Reuters that always release what we call pre-release reports.   And, in this case, on corn production, it's 13.8 billion bushels. On soybean production it's 13.15 billion bushels. With ending stocks for wheat it's 519 million. That's slightly less than USDA's report in September. Corn at 1.92 billion bushels is slightly higher than the September USDA report. And the September ending stocks at 167 million bushels, again, is pretty close to where the USDA September report was."

You can read more of this story or listen to Kim Anderson's analysis by clicking here.  You'll also find the full lineup for this week's SUNUP program.
 

Manure Scoring Determines Supplementation Needs

Robert Wells, a livestock consultant with the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, writes in their latest newsletter:

By October, winter is just a few pages away on the calendar. With the change in season and forages entering dormancy comes the need to pay closer attention to your supplementation strategy to ensure cows do not lose body condition.

The perennial question of "How can you keep a cow from losing condition without overfeeding her?" can be answered fairly accurately by looking at the manure pat. When combined with other estimates such as forage availability and quality, a diet can be quickly changed to meet the cow's nutrient requirements rather than waiting for body condition to fall low enough that the producer will notice a change. Manure scoring can indicate the quality of nutrition a cow has had in the past one to three days, while body condition score will indicate the nutritional history of the past several weeks to months.

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

2013 Crop Means More Than Enough for Renewable Fuel Standard, NCGA Says

When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency releases the 2014 volume requirements for the Renewable Fuel Standard, the statute currently calls for corn starch ethanol to account for 14.4 billion gallons, an amount that corn farmers and the ethanol industry can easily provide, the National Corn Growers Association noted.

"Across the country right now, our nation's corn farmers are harvesting what the USDA and others are estimating to be the largest corn crop ever," said NCGA President Martin Barbre. "We're looking forward to not only meeting all needs for food, feed and fuel, but to ensure ending stocks, or surplus, of nearly 2 billion bushels. Those who want to reduce how much corn ethanol is in the RFS for 2014 need to realize the tremendous productive capacity of the American farmer to meet all needs."

In its most recent estimate of the 2013 corn crop, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated that 13.8 billion bushels of corn will be harvested this fall, for a total available corn supply of 14.5 billion bushels - more than 2.5 billion bushels more than the corn available last year.

Click here for more.

 

Drought Retreats a Bit More- More Rain Coming

"Sunday yet another strong upper level trough will drop across the Rockies causing the surface pressures to fall and our winds to back from the east and southeast.  The front to out south Sunday morning will lift northward Sunday afternoon or evening into northern OK and southern Kansas as a warm front.  This will bring moist and unstable air back across the northern OK region allowing showers and storms to develop by Sunday evening.  An increasing low level jet (winds slightly elevated off the surface) overnight Sunday into Monday morning should aide in the development and strength of the storms.  A few could marginally be severe with some small hail, but moderate to heavy rainfall may be the biggest concern.   

"Monday night into Tuesday, the front finally moves southeast again bringing another round of rain and thunderstorm activity to the area with dry and stable air following Tuesday afternoon and evening.  Much cooler air will also arrive after this frontal passage with mid 60s for highs Tuesday through Thursday of next week.  Morning lows Wednesday through Friday will more than likely drop into the mid-40s. "