Bartlesville Rancher John Hughes Receives Governor's Outstanding Achievement Award in Agriculture 

The Governor's Outstanding Achievement Award in Agriculture was presented to John F. Hughes, a rancher from Bartlesville, during a special ceremony on April 4 at the state capitol. Governor Mary Fallin presented the award to Hughes who is the 16th Oklahoman to be inducted into the Agriculture Hall of Fame by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry.

I spoke with Hughes following the ceremony, and he said he was overwhelmed by the award.

"I'm very proud and very humbled and, really, I would like to accept the award on behalf of everybody in particular in animal agriculture. You know today, an awful lot of the news when it concerns our industry is not good... and so it's wonderful to have some good things happen, and they do happen-every day. And Oklahoma agriculture has come so far and done such a great job."

Hughes spoke at length on a number of issues of importance and interest to Oklahoma producers. You can hear our full conversation by clicking here. You can also find a link to numerous photographs of the award ceremony.

Hughes has been recognized as a leader in Oklahoma agriculture over his lifetime, contributing to his community and the agriculture industry in a variety of ways. Hughes is a native of Osage County, Okla. His father founded the family operation there in 1938. John took over the ranch in 1955 and maintained the cow/calf operation while being an exceptional steward of the land, raising a family and participating in a variety of agriculture organizations at both a state and national level.   

OSU's Kim Anderson Says Wheat Prices Will Continue to 'Wallow Around' 

Wheat prices have been volatile this week, dropping on Monday and Tuesday and regaining a little strength as the week goes on. Kim Andersen, Oklahoma State University Grain Marketing Specialist says in his preview of this week's SUNUP program that he expects that volatility in the wheat price to continue into next week.

"I think it's probably going to wallow around and wait for next week's USDA Supply and Demand report that comes out on Thursday. That report could have an impact on the market. The market is anticipating, based on finding more corn, finding more wheat than we had on the report last week. We'll just have to wait and see. I think it's just going to wallow around for a while."

Anderson says that recent projections on wheat production released by Informa are predicting slightly above-average yields.

You can listen to Kim Anderson's full analysis and see the full SUNUP lineup on our website by clicking here.  

Short-Term and Long-Term Prospects for Canola Looking Up, Sholar Says

If you talk to anyone who has even a little experience with canola in Oklahoma, you'll hear the same thing: there's a tremendous amount of potential for continued expansion and growth.

One of the biggest advocates of canola in Oklahoma is Dr. Ron Sholar of the Great Plains Canola Association. The GCPA sponsored the recent Canola College event in Apache which attracted about 300 new and experienced canola growers. Sholar spoke with us about how the crop is shaping up this year.

"What a difference a year makes. This time last year, of course, the crop was blooming and we were feeling just elated about the potential. It's been a tough year. It was a very dry fall for this crop and the winter hasn't been nearly as favorable as we would have liked, but with the recent rains we've had and the rain we're getting right now, we're a lot more excited and the growers are feeling a lot more optimistic than they were even ten days ago."

Sholar says the enthusiasm of potential growers to learn more about the crop has led to a series of canola tour stops that will be made across the state beginning next Monday. There are 13 stops on the tour stretching from Jackson and Kiowa Counties all the way to Ottawa County. A full slate of canola specialists will speak at each stop.

Click here for more of this story and a link to the full agenda of the Canola Crop Tour. 

And you can jump over to our calendar pages for the listing of all thirteen stops that will be happening next week.

Harry Birdwell Credits FFA Members for Serving as Positive Role Models

The theme of the 2013 Oklahoma FFA Convention to be held April 30th through May 1, 2013 is "FFA, Grow Like That!" There are thousands of former FFA members that serve as role models for current and future FFA students- and the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and OklahomaFarmReport.Com are pleased to be working with the Oklahoma FFA Association to spotlight some of the tremendously successful men and women who wore the Blue and Gold Jacket of the FFA during their high school days- and have used that experience as a springboard to success in later life.

The first former FFA member in the spotlight is Harry Birdwell. He is the Secretary of the Commissioners of the Land Office. He has had a successful career in investing, consulting, and real estate, and is a former athletic director of Oklahoma State University. During his FFA years, he rose through the ranks to become national FFA president. He said that there were many factors that drew him to join FFA.

"I think the leadership opportunities, the opportunities to compete. I love the notion of the competitive environment in a lot of the activities in FFA. Public speaking was a particular interest and parliamentary procedure was one of my interests. So, I found them all in FFA and not to mention the fact that I was raised in a rural area and we had livestock from the earliest times that I can remember."

You can hear our long interview with Harry Birdwell and read more of this story by clicking here. 

We do want to give a big shout out and thank you to SandRidge Energy for funding this campaign of reminding Oklahomans the value of FFA membership. 

Higher Beef Prices Create Pressure at Home and Abroad

Selling beef with expensive price tags sets retailers up with a hard task. CattleFax Market Analyst Mike Murphy says U.S. beef sellers find themselves in that spot both domestically and in the export market.

"Today, we're sitting here, basically, at record high prices when you look at it from a live cattle perspective or a cut-out perspective. And as you rank that across the globe, we are the third highest when you look at things. The Japanese Wagyu product is higher. We don't really compare with that because it's a different type of a product. But, yeah, we're third in the globe and that concerns us from an export standpoint as we look at our trade forecast for 2013."

Record-high beef prices come at a time when consumers may have less disposable income, too.

"Well, relative to the economic situation, and as we look at it related to beef demand, we're looking at GDP growth that's going to be one to two percent growth which is not super positive to beef demand as we look at 2013. So, that's something we've got to be conscious of as we look forward here."

You can read more of this story or watch the video version by clicking here. 

Retail Food Prices Show Slight Increase, According to AFBF Market Basket Survey

Shoppers paid slightly more for food at the grocery store at the beginning of 2013. Higher retail prices for meat items such as sliced deli ham, boneless chicken breasts and ground chuck, among other foods, resulted in a slight increase in the American Farm Bureau Federation's first Semi-Annual Market Basket Survey.

The informal survey shows the total cost of 16 food items that can be used to prepare one or more meals was $51.54, up $1 or about 2 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2012. Of the 16 items surveyed, 11 increased and five decreased in average price compared to the prior quarter.

"Overall, food prices have remained remarkably stable over the past two or three quarters, particularly given the run-up in energy prices over this most recent quarter," said John Anderson, AFBF's deputy chief economist.

Click here for more.  

This N That- Clay Pope, Drought Monitor, Jeff Edwards and the RON App!

Yesterday during the Ag Day at the State Capitol festivities- Conservation folks, including Clay Pope, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts, tooted Oklahoma's horn when it came to non point source pollution work that has resulted in Oklahoma leading the nation for the second year in a row in reduction of nutrients that can cause problems in our streams and waterways.  Clay will be our guest on Saturday morning on KWTV News9 during our "In the Field" segment to talk about these efforts that are making Oklahoma water cleaner. 

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Rainfall in eastern Oklahoma has finally allowed a portion of one county to be removed from the drought categories totally. A portion of LeFlore County is now considered to be "abnormally dry" by the drought monitor wizards- the first time we have not had 100% drought across the state since last July. 

We have the latest Drought Monitor up on our website for you to see- plus the outlook from now til June which seems to be improving as well- and we season these graphics with some wisdom from Climatologist Gary McManus from his Mesonet Ticker.  Click here to check out the latest Drought Monitor in detail.

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State Wheat Specialist Dr. Jeff Edwards is out looking for freeze damage- and he is finding some- especially in varieties that are early maturity varieties. One variety that seems to be in trouble in southwestern Oklahoma is Ruby Lee. Edwards reported on Twitter "looked at your field of Ruby Lee at Altus. It ain't good. Would have been 80 bpa plus." On the other hand- he saw a field near Blair that was planted to Duster and grazed and it showed little damage. Click here for Dr. Edwards' twitter feed and the pictures he has posted from a couple of locations and several different varieties.

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I just wanted to say THANK YOU for those that have taken the time to download our APP for your smartphone- about 500 have so far and that number is growing.  We are working on several things that will be exclusive to the APP as far as audio is concerned as well as some of our news features.

Click here for the links for getting to the download- which is free!  We are planning on some sort of drawing at the Southern Plains Farm Show where you can show us that you have downloaded the APP or allow us to help you download the APP while there- that will qualify you for a special giveaway.