Howdy Neighbors!

Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. Our email this morning is a service of Midwest Farm Shows, featuring the Tulsa Farm Show December 7-9, 2006 and the Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City April 19-21, 2007. Check out details of both of these exciting shows at the official website of Midwest Farm Shows by clicking here.

If you have received this by someone forwarding it to you, you are welcome to subscribe and get this weekday update sent to you directly by clicking here.

The 2007 Hard Red Winter Wheat Crop is in fair to good condition- with ratings at 11% excellent, 32% good, 31% fair and 26% poor to very poor. Of course, at this point a year ago- the crop was actually looking pretty good at 50% good to excellent- and we know how the 2006 crop turned out.

Pasture conditions remain horrible- 61% poor to very poor which is about as bad as it gets in the United States for a statewide figure. For all the other details- here is your direct link to the weekly update from our State Stats folks.

Click here for the latest Crop Weather Update for the state of Oklahoma

We talked with the Republican from the southwestern part of our state at the annual Oklahoma Farm Bureau convention over this past weekend- and talked with him about the thrill of voting for the demise of the State Estate Tax- as well as some of the priorities for him in the upcoming session of the Legislature.

You can hear our full conversation with Mike Schulz by clicking on the link below.

Click here to listen to Ron visit with State Senator Mike Schulz!

There is a total of $6.5 million dollars available to be divided among Oklahoma livestock operators that apply and whose applications are accepted. As of yesterday afternoon- there are now a total of 897,518 animal units that have been registered within the program from a total of 7,294 applications. That would keep the average number of animal units per application at right at 123 animal units. If we double the number of animal units in the last four weekdays before the close of the program next Monday at 5 pm- an average size check may be in the neighborhood of $442 That, of course, will all depend on how many applications come in and how many animal units are claimed and accepted.

The Ag Department does urge everyone that is eligible to apply for the program, as State Secretary Terry Peach has reminded us in recent days that the more folks that apply- the better case we can make to the USDA and the Bush Administration that help is needed out across our state- above and beyond this relatively small package of drought help. Peach also reminds everyone that you need to make sure you include your Tax ID number or no check can be written to your operation- and to make sure you get the notary signature needed for the application as well. Go to our home page and right below “Howdy Neighbors” you will see the link to download the form to file. Hurry, deadline is close of business this coming Monday, November 20, 2006!

Click here and then right under where you see "Howdy Neighbors" click again for the form for the Livestock Disaster Program signup

On Friday morning, our group will hear from both the Administrator of the EPA, Steven Johnson as well as the new Chairman-to-be of the House Ag Committee, Rep. Colin Peterson of Minnesota. We have also been asked to be on a panel of Innovators within our farm broadcast business as we explain to them how we do this daily E-mail. If any of you want to offer me a quick word of testimony about this daily update, drop me an E-mail of your own- I would love to share a few of them with my fellow broadcasters.

The President of the Wheat Growers, Jeff Krehbiel of Hydro, tells us he is wrapping up his tenure as President of the group- but promises he will stay active in the days ahead. Jeff will be offering a special look that Saturday of the National Association of Wheat Growers proposal to “improve” current farm policy for U.S. wheat producers. Krehbiel says the Wheat Growers are not looking for wholesale changes- they like the overall structure and the flexibility of the measure- but they are wanting a higher target price and a bigger direct payment so that wheat farmers will receive more of a safety net during years of drought like we have experienced several times in recent years here in the Southern Great Plains.

You can hear our full conversation with Jeff about the preview for this annual meeting by clicking below. Jeff reminds us that the Oklahoma Wheat Commission is a major part of this annual meeting, as you will hear about some of the latest research efforts from OSU funded by wheat checkoff dollars, as well as the latest efforts to market our wheat through both Plains Grains as well as through U.S. Wheat Associates efforts.

Click here for the preview with Jeff Krehbiel about the OWGA Annual Meeting December 9.

Congressman Peterson says he thinks the 2007 farm bill "will look very much like the current farm bill" but will have a few fresh wrinkles that will address some of the concerns of various commodity groups. He thinks Congress will put into place a permanent weather related disaster program and a bigger energy title.

Both men are hopeful that the CBO will score current farm policy as a lot cheaper to Uncle Sam than was the case in 2002, with commodity prices currently a lot higher and perhaps with the help of ethanol demand, ready to stay higher for awhile. If that happens, there will be some extra dollars for disaster aid within a new farm law, as well money to pay for conservation and other priorities that have surfaced.

Asia Pulse reported that South Korea is considering inspecting every beef shipment in its entirety, a process that has been demanded by consumer groups and beef ranchers. The Koreans had planned to inspect only 5 percent of shipments at random, and would have to hire more inspectors and buy more equipment to perform so many inspections, said Lee Yang-ho, director general of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Such universal inspection for safety may give the United States more ammunition in its request to allow bone-in beef into the market, or at least the beef short ribs that made up two-thirds of sales before the market closed in late 2003.

We also invite you to check out our website at the link below to check out an archive of these daily emails, audio reports and top farm news story links from around the globe.

Click here to check out WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com