Southern Farm Groups Say Timely Completion of Long Term, Comprehensive Farm Bill Critical 

The National Cotton Council was joined by the Southern Peanut Farmers Federation and USA Rice Federation in expressing appreciation of the continued efforts of the leaders and members of the House and Senate Farm Bill Conference Committee to complete work on a new comprehensive, multi-year farm bill - but the groups reiterated their opposition to extending current farm law.

The groups stated they know the process of compromise is challenging and many of the differences in policy are deeply held but it is imperative for the Committee to make the tough decisions and complete work on legislation as soon as possible. It is necessary to our nation's farmers and rural communities so they both have the certainty necessary to make long term investments to remain competitive. New farm legislation also is needed to resolve a longstanding trade dispute with Brazil to end the trade retaliation threat that would adversely affect U.S. exports.

They said that although the differences are deep and difficult to resolve, the option to abandon the process and extend current law, albeit with modifications, is not an acceptable alternative. That option would: 1) leave farmers without predictable policy, 2) affect the budget baseline and the ability to ever write new legislation and 3) likely provoke trade retaliation. Certainly every organization has the right to advocate for its position but establishing intractable demands is a recipe for failure and a tactic that many believe has led to gridlock on key legislation including the budget, appropriations and immigration.

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Certified Angus Beef to Be Featured on Travel Channel Tonight

World-traveling food connoisseur Andrew Zimmern visited Wooster, Ohio, this past summer filming an episode of his hit show Bizarre Foods America. Spotlighting the cuisine and agriculture of Cleveland and surrounding Northeast Ohio, the episode debut will be Monday, Dec. 2 at 8 p.m. CST.

Zimmern, also a chef and award-winning food journalist, visited the Certified Angus Beef ® brand's Education & Culinary Center to get the dish on beef from meat scientist Dr. Phil Bass. Zimmern witnessed the dry-aging process, discovered lesser known beef cuts and tested some essential meat science tools.

Among the other Northeast Ohio locations visited by Bizarre Foods America were Cleveland's Greenhouse Tavern, a Certified Angus Beef ® brand partner, and the Atterholt family's Angus farm in Jeromesville, Ohio.

Zimmern's premium beef experiences - from gate to plate - will run during tonight's show. 

You can read more of this story by clicking here.

Checkoff Study: Animal Ag Demand for U.S. Soybean Meal Grows

U.S. animal agriculture's consumption of U.S. soybean meal increased by 1 million tons, or the meal from 42 million bushels of soybeans, in the 2011/12 marketing year, according to a soy-checkoff-funded report. This is good news for soybean farmers since domestic animal agriculture uses about 97 percent of the U.S. soybean meal consumed in the United States.

Despite this welcomed increase, the report concluded that U.S. soybean farmers shouldn't let their support for the animal ag industry weaken. Animal ag farmers face pressures like rising feed costs and dwindling U.S.- consumer demand. Because animal ag continues to be U.S. soybean farmers' No. 1 customer, these pressures also threaten the profitability of all soybean farmers, the report said.

"The success of the U.S. soybean industry relies on the strength of the U.S. animal agriculture industry," says Mike Beard, a checkoff farmer-leader who grows soybeans and raises hogs on his farm in Frankfort, Ind. "The best way we can support our customers and ensure they remain competitive is with better-quality soybeans." 

Click here to read more. 

Animal Agriculture Alliance Exposes 'Meatless Monday' Propaganda

There are several groups that are good advocates for animal agriculture. One of them is the Animal Agriculture Alliance. Emily Meredith, the communications director of the Alliance, says there are several issues they have been addressing in 2013 including a program called "Meatless Monday." Supporters of the campaign want the public to think it is a big deal and that participation is widespread, but Meredith says that claim isn't borne out by the facts.

"I think they would like people to think it's getting a lot of traction and I know a lot of folks may be surprised that Meatless Monday has actually been around for ten years. And, so, we at the Alliance decided, 'Let's get some insights into why these restaurants and schools are participating.'"

Meredith says they called every single organization, school or restaurant listed on the Meatless Monday website as being participants in the program. She said they were surprised at what they found

"We had quite a few organizations wonder what Meatless Monday even was and how they ended up on the website. We were shocked. We had probably erroneously taken them at their word when they put out these press releases and made a big splash about 'So and so joined on.' We said, 'Well, they must know what they are talking about.'"

Emily joins me for the latest Beef Buzz.  Click here to listen to our conversation or to read more of this story.  

Dave Sparks Outlines Beef Quality Assurance for Cow Operators 

Dave Sparks, DVM, Oklahoma State University Area Extension Veterinarian writes in the latest Cow-Calf Newsletter:

Much has been said about Beef Quality Assurance in recent years, but how many of us really know what it is and why it is important to all beef producers? Simply put, BQA is the effort to instruct beef producers, and their workers, as to ways that they can produce a high quality and wholesome product that keeps the consumer coming back for more.              

While great strides have been made with fed cattle, cow operators have a ways to go. In feedlots a few people are handling large numbers of cattle, and feedback from the processor is fairly simple. In cow country, many more people are handling smaller numbers of cattle, and the feedback, while real, is not so obvious. Injection site lesions in the sirloin are one measure of the care with which cattle are processed and medicated. From 1995 to 1999 the feedlot industry reduced these lesions from 12% of fed carcasses to less than 2%. At the end of this time period, however, over 40% of all cow and bull carcasses had lesions in the sirloin. Too often cow operators see the cow as a calf production unit rather than a part of the food chain. The fact is, about ¼ of the beef consumed in our country comes from cull cows and bulls and it is not all hamburger. Today, the better cuts such as the round, sirloin, loin, and rib-eye allow the packers to pay better cow prices than we have seen in years past. Cull cows represent about ¼ of the gross income for most cow operators. If we, as an industry, could reduce the annual carcass losses due to bruising, injection lesions, excess fat trim, and condemnation due to drug residues, what would be your part of the extra ½ billion dollars on the table? Cow buyers are aware of what this waste costs, and they know which herds, areas, and sales most of the problems come from. When your culls come through the ring you need as many hands in the air as possible.

Click here for more from Dave Sparks. 

AGCO Announces New AgCommand Integration with Raven Slingshot

AGCO announced today a new AgCommand integration with the Raven Industries' Slingshot system connected to its Fuse Technologies initiative. The ability to integrate AgCommand and Slingshot will provide growers with a more seamless experience by enabling their fleet and data management tools to sync together via the AgCommand website.

AgCommand is AGCO's telematics and asset management tool that offers complete fleet management with machine performance reports, wireless communication, theft recovery and a Web-based application for easy access to data. Slingshot combines mobile wireless connectivity with online tools and precision ag hardware. The benefits of the AgCommand and Slingshot software now communicating through a unique API, or application programming interface, will ensure rate and location information will be visible to the grower in the AgCommand user interface.

"The ability to integrate AgCommand with Raven Slingshot is the result of Fuse Technologies, AGCO's global initiative to provide farmers with seamless integration and connectivity across their operations," says Matt Rushing, Vice President, Product Management, Global ATS and EFG. "Fuse enables farmers to integrate their AGCO equipment and precision agriculture technology with offerings from service providers including Raven, also a key provider of Viper Pro™ application control systems."

You can read more of this story by clicking here. 

Looking Back at November Weather and Ahead to the December Calendar 

According to Gary McManus with the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, "November is considered a fall month climatologically, but it certainly did its  best to look like a winter month during 2013. Emphatically cooler than normal,  thanks mostly to a frigid outburst by Mother Nature during its final 10 days,  November was punctuated by an early cool-season snowstorm that dumped more than a  foot of snow across southwestern Oklahoma.  

"According to data from the Oklahoma  Mesonet, the statewide average temperature for the month ended 1.8 degrees below normal at 46.5 degrees, the 33rd coolest November since records began in 1895."

Click here to read Gary's full overview of November from a weather point of view.

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Looking ahead into December- there are several big agricultural events between now and mid month- and then as always, the farm and ranch scene turns very quiet as attention is turned to celebrating Christmas and the New Year's holidays.

Tomorrow, the 29th Amarillo Farm Show kicks off at the Civic Center in downtown Amarillo- this is the first year of the show under new ownership- the American Farm Bureau.   

Tomorrow is also the start of the 2013 Oklahoma Ag Expo, hosted by the Oklahoma Ag Retailers, offering CEUs to those involved in serving the Oklahoma farm and ranch community.  

Sessions cover new technology, weed management, and best management practices for agriculture in the state.  The Expo has a new venue for 2013- the Reed Center in Midwest City. Their theme for 2013- "I'm Sexy and I Grow It." 

At the end of the week on Friday the 6th- the joint meeting of the  Oklahoma Sorghum Association and the Oklahoma Wheat Growers Association is being held at the Moore-Norman Tech  Center on South Penn in Oklahoma City.  

Sorghum and Wheat producers from across the state will be talking about  farm policy, regulations, marketing outlook and a lot more.  

Next week- it's the 20th Tulsa Farm Show- December 12-14 at the River Spirit Expo Center- and it will be another year of getting a getting bigger and better as the premiere farm show in the state of Oklahoma.   

We are working on having a special guest at our booth on Thursday for you to stop by and say hello to- details on that coming soon.

More details on these events and more can be seen on our Calendar page on OklahomaFarmReport.Com- click here to jump there and learn more.