~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Tuesday December 19,
2006 A
service of Midwest Farm Shows
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-- Winter Storm Warning for the Panhandles- otherwise just welcome
rain this week.
-- NCBA piles on EPA with other ag groups over "Fugitive" Dust
Rules.
-- Oklahoma Wheat Commissioner Paul Jackson update.
-- Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission meets today- Oklahoma Wheat
Commission tomorrow.
-- South Korea continues to insist their bone chip ban is all about
"Public Health"
-- Looking back over 2006 and ahead into 2007- Steve Murphy of the
National Pork Board
-- Countdown to Christmas- 6 Days!
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 Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City April 19-21, 2007, as well as the Tulsa Farm Show held each December. 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. | |
Winter Storm Warning for the Panhandles- otherwise just welcome rain this week. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There may be
some freezing rain in some of the northwest and west central Oklahoma
counties today and tomorrow- but it looks like we are setting up for some
much needed rain from the current storm system that has prompted a Winter
Storm Warning for both the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles. That Warning is
set right now through noon on Wednesday.
As we take a look at the current forecasts around our state and just west of our Panhandle, it looks like Boise City may get four or five inches of snow from this storm- and over in northeastern New Mexico, places like Raton are looking at seven to ten inches of the white stuff. Here in the state, we have already seen three to six tenths of an inch of rain fall in west central counties (Beckham, Roger Mills, Custer and Washita) with more in the forecast. The hope is that as the system tracks further east- it will bring rain to the dry north central counties in our state. The National Weather Service tells us that the warmer air should keep freezing precipitation away from most folks this go round. | |
NCBA piles on EPA with other ag groups over "Fugitive" Dust Rules. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We mentioned
yesterday that both the American Farm Bureau and the National Pork
Producers Council have elected to take the EPA to court over "dust rules"
and how they might apply to agriculture. Add to that list of groups the
National Cattlemen's Beef Association, who issued a news release on Monday
stating their intention to sue the EPA over those same rules.
The NCBA's release says "after reviewing hundreds of pages outlining the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final rule on fugitive dust, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) has decided to challenge the rule in court. NCBA filed a petition today in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit seeking review of EPA’s air quality standards that regulate agricultural dust." “On livestock operations, dust is produced by tilling soil, planting and harvesting crops, driving on dirt roads, spreading nutrients on fields, mixing feed, and by cattle simply moving around in feedlots. These are examples of the dust that that would be regulated under a coarse PM NAAQS,” says Tamara Thies, NCBA’s director of environmental issues. “Many farms and ranches are simply unable to control dust to the level EPA requires, even when using best management practices. The EPA has put agriculture in an impossible situation, with no scientific justification.” | |
Oklahoma Wheat Commissioner Paul Jackson update. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Executive
Director of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission, Mark Hodges, offered us a quick
update Monday on the health of our friend Paul Jackson of Apache, a
multi-term member of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission.
The good news is that Mark believes that Paul appears to be better than what he has seen him over the last couple of months. He continues to battle a blood based infection as well as diabetes, and has a long road of recovery still ahead of him. No visitors is still the rule for him, but if you would like to drop
Paul a card of encouragement- you can add to his wall of cards that are
already there right in front of his bed- you might send those cards to
Paul in care of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission- that address: | |
Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission meets today- Oklahoma Wheat Commission tomorrow. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In a couple of
board meetings that will help wrap up the old year- the Oklahoma Scenic
Rivers Commission meets this afternoon at their headquarters just outside
Tahlequah, beginning at 5:30 pm. They will be considering purchase of some
land on the Illinois River as one of their items of business this evening-
to be paid for by a "private donation." They have considered other
purchases at recent meetings- with the monies coming from dollars donated
by the Poultry companies that are being sued by Oklahoma State Attorney
General Drew Edmondson.
The regular monthly board meeting of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission is planned for Wednesday morning at the OWC offices in Oklahoma City. The OWC continues to operate with their belt very tight after half a normal wheat crop was harvested this past summer. | |
South Korea continues to insist their bone chip ban is all about "Public Health" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In a report
from Meatingplace.com, South Korea claims they are upset with the United
States for insisting on tying the boneless beef craziness in with the Free
Trade Negotiations between the two countries.
U.S. officials point out that Congress will have nothing to do with a FTA with South Korea until they see the U.S. Beef Industry satisfied with a resolution over the Korean ban on U.S. beef. Korean inspectors seem to be willing to decimate any beef shipment that arrives in their country until they discover any miniscule beef fragment, which then disqualifies the entire shipment. There were apparently some additional FTA talks that were supposed to happen this week. When Seoul refused to have the beef issue added to the agenda for this week's talks, Washington canceled the scheduled meetings, Korean officials told an Asian wire service. Korea refuses to tie the beef dispute into trade talks, arguing that the dispute is a public health issue, not a trade issue. A representative with the U.S. Trade Ambassador's office reports that while beef may not technically be on the FTA agenda, it is highly unlikely that Congress will accept any deal unless the beef issue is resolved first. There are many other thorny issues, ranging from rice to automobiles, but beef has become a touchstone for many in the Senate. | |
Looking back over 2006 and ahead into 2007- Steve Murphy of the National Pork Board ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Chief
Executive Officer of the National Pork Board, Steve Murphy says that we
are in the longest sustained period of profitability for the pork business
since the early 1970s. Exports growing steadily is a real key to that
story.
Murphy adds that the real bottom line for exports is that fifteen years ago- we were the world's largest net importer of pork in the world- the U.S. today is the second largest pork exporter globally. There are challenges- but Steve Murphy says they are working on meeting them head on- and you can hear his comments about the state of the pork industry in a conversation that we had with Steve in recent days by clicking on the link below. Click here for Ron's conversation with Steve Murphy of the National Pork Board. | |
Countdown to Christmas- 6 Days! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We are seeing
the various livestock auction barns announce their end of the year
schedules- with the reporter at the Oklahoma National Stockyards noting in
their Monday feeder cattle report that yesterday and today ends the
Oklahoma National Stockyards sales for 2006- their next auctions are
planned January 8, 2007.
Check with the auction market you do business with as they all are likely very close to being done for 2006- if you need to move some cattle for tax reasons- that will likely need to be done this week. We will have daily E- mails for you the balance of his week- and will take Christmas Day off- then four final reports for the old year next Tuesday through Friday. In the meantime- our wish for you and yours is a happy and holy holiday season!!! | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows for their support of our daily Farm News Update. Go to their website at the link at the top of today's email for more information on either the Tulsa Farm Show or the Southern Plains Farm Show. 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. | |
God Bless! You can reach us at the following: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
phone: 405-473-6144
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