Oklahoma's Winter Canola Crop Looking Really Good, Heath Sanders Says 

This fall's warm weather and moist conditions allowed canola producers to get their crop in the ground in pretty good shape and Heath Sanders of the Great Plains Canola Association says the crop is looking good even though most fields have burned down due to the colder winter temperatures of late.

"This canola is in what I call dormancy or hibernating mode. It has really melted down and is just sitting there, waiting on the warmer temperatures and longer growing days coming in the spring. Cosmetically, it looks pretty rough, but if you go out there and brush away those leaves you'll see those growing points, the crowns, are still alive.

"If you're a farmer concerned or a producer concerned, go out there and check your fields. I'm still seeing a tint of green across the field. In years past where the canola maybe stayed a little greener throughout the winter, this year we're not going to see that. We're going to see a lot of burnt leaves, brown leaves, white leaves, stuff like that throughout the field, but as long as that growing point is still green, it's still alive."

One difference from last year's crop to this, Sanders says, is the health of the stands.

"We've got a lot better stands, especially in northern Oklahoma. I've seen bigger canola plants, more robust canola plants. A lot of this canola was in really good shape, good size before the cold snaps came in. There's a lot of good looking winter canola out here this year. A lot of guys are pretty happy with their stands."

Heath has a lot more to say and you can read more of this story or listen to our conversation by clicking here.  

United States Cattle on Feed Down 5 Percent 

The USDA released its latest Cattle on Feed report Friday and it shows the number of cattle and calves on feed for slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 10.7 million head on December 1, 2013. The inventory was 5 percent below December 1, 2012. This is the second lowest inventory for December 1 since the series began in 1996.

Tom Leffler of Leffler Commodities out of Wichita, Kan., says he doesn't expect the report to have a major impact on cattle markets today.

"Our report did not hold any huge surprises. the only thing that was a little different than what the trade was expecting was looking for--the placements were a little bit lower." 

Placements in feedlots during November totaled 1.88 million, 3 percent below 2012. Net placements were 1.81 million head. During November, placements of cattle and calves weighing less than 600 pounds were 585,000, 600-699 pounds were 510,000, 700-799 pounds were 362,000, and 800 pounds and greater were 425,000.

Click here for more commentary from Tom Leffler and for a link to the full Cattle on Feed report.    

EWG Says Federal Crop Insurance Over-compensates Farmers and Insurance Companies

The Environmental Working Group issued the following news release:

A new report commissioned by the Environmental Working Group finds that the heavily subsidized crop insurance program over-compensated Corn Belt farmers by $7.8 billion during the 2012 drought and lays out ways to cut wasteful spending.

Insurance payouts of $6.2 billion would have been plenty to put a solid floor under corn and soybean farmers' revenue in that drought-plagued year, but actual payouts totaled $14 billion, according to calculations by Iowa State University economist Bruce Babcock.

Extending a series of earlier analyses done for EWG, Babcock concludes in his latest report, Cutting Waste in the Crop Insurance Program, that most, if not all, government support for the crop insurance program is wasteful because "it could be cut out with no harm to the public interest."

You'll find the rest of this story and a link to EWG's study by clicking here.

 

Governor Appoints Dean Graumann to Oklahoma Conservation Commission

Dean Graumann of Graumann Farms in Granite, OK was appointed Area IV Commissioner for the Oklahoma Conservation Commission (OCC) on December 10 by Governor Mary Fallin. He will complete the remainder of resigning Commissioner Dan Lowrance's term, followed by a five year term from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2019.

"Dean has been a friend to the Commission and staunch supporter of conservation in Oklahoma for many years. We commend the Governor for appointing such a dedicated and capable individual to the Commission," said Mike Thralls, OCC Executive Director.

The conservation challenges faced by Area IV are nothing new to Graumann. He has been a District Director on the Greer County Conservation District Board since 1999, a position his uncle, Leonard Graumann, held from 1964 to 1994. He has also served the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts (OACD) as an Area IV board member and OACD Vice President.

"I am honored to be appointed to the OCC by Governor Fallin," said Graumann. "I have always felt it to be a great privilege and a great responsibility to care for God's creation. I look forward to working with the people of Oklahoma in accomplishing this task."

Click here for the rest of this story.  

Discover the Cover: Farmers Realize Benefits, Challenges of Soil-Improving Cover Crops

A growing number of farmers throughout the nation have "discovered the cover" - and for some very good reasons.

They're recognizing that by using cover crops and diverse rotations, it's possible to actually improve the health and function of their soil, said David Lamm, a soil health expert with USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Farmers are also reaping the benefits healthy soils bring to their operations in the form of better nutrient cycling, improved water infiltration and more consistent yields over time.

"The principles of building healthy soils are the same everywhere - you have to stop tilling the soil and switch from a monoculture crop rotation to one with a diversity of crops that should include cover crops," Lamm said. "But the path to soil health is different on each farm."

You can read the rest of this story by clicking here.

 

Agricultural Education Travels Oklahoma Roads

Agricultural education has never been more important. And now, thanks to a trio of Oklahoma institutions, it has never been more mobile either.

This winter, The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation's youth education and outreach program - Noble Academy, Oklahoma Farm Bureau, and the Oklahoma Farming and Ranching Foundation launched a new mobile agricultural education trailer called the Grown For You mobile classroom to provide students a fun, fast and factual look at Oklahoma agriculture.

Grown For You provides an interactive look into agriculture and highlights the commodity crops grown in Oklahoma.

"This trailer was designed to illustrate the importance of agriculture to society and our state's economy," said Frank Hardin, Noble Academy education outreach manager. "Our goal is to share the importance of agriculture and show the connection between agriculture and our food supply. It is important that our audiences understand that Oklahoma farmers and ranchers work to feed us all. The product of their labor is grown for all of us." 

Please click here to read the rest of this story on our website.  

 

Today is the Tenth Anniversary of the Cow that Stole Christmas- We Remember.

Today's date is one that changed the beef cattle business in the United States forever- as the USDA introduced the "Cow that Stole Christmas" to the world. December 23, 2003 was the day that we heard from then Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman, who announced a "presumptive positive" for BSE regarding a dairy cow in the state of Washington.  


While there were fears that there would be major fall with consumers in this country- the long lasting impact turned out to be in the international marketplace.  This event closed nearly all international markets for U.S. beef and had a profound impact on the U.S. industry. Although U.S. beef exports are expected set a new record this year (approaching $6 billion), the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) estimates the cumulative, 10-year loss in U.S. beef trade due to BSE to be at least $16 billion.

 

USMEF President and CEO Philip Seng says it has been a decade long effort that has been required to restore access to most major markets and laments the fact that several destinations that are still closed to U.S. beef. Squarely at the top of this list is China, the fastest-growing beef market in the world. Other markets that never reopened to U.S. beef include Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Israel, Morocco, South Africa and Uruguay.

Domestically, the beef industry was ready for the announcement made on that afternoon of December 23, 2003.  Kendall Frazier was a senior staffer already at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (and remains so here in 2013) and says that years of planning was quickly set in motion.


Kendal recalls that NCBA received a phone call from USDA at 1:30 pm on December 23, 2003. "We immediately started to implement a crisis management plan that we had worked on for nearly 10 years in anticipation of that moment," he said.


Frazier contends that by taking action to get accurate information out to the public, the beef industry was able to calm American consumers' fears about so-called mad cow disease,

We look back with an audio overview of that day- our memories of it and comments from Seng and Frazier- and a bonus link back to 2006 as the US battled with South Korea to stick with sound science as they reopened their market to US Beef after BSE.  Click here for our audio report and more on this tenth anniversary of the Cow That Stole Christmas.