From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2007 06:20
To: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
Subject: Oklahoma's Farm News Update
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Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Tuesday February 13, 2007!
A service of Midwest Farm Shows
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-- Oklahoma Pork Industry on a PR Roll!
-- Peanut and Cotton Producers Receive Second 2006-Crop, Final 2005-Crop Counter-Cyclical Payments- Other Producers Don't!
-- Try a Little Tenderness- Beef Industry Checking it Out!
-- National Peanut Board Member needed for Oklahoma.
-- Texoma Farm Show and more on the Calendar this week!
-- Tomorrow is Valentine's Day- have you taken care of your Sweetie????
-- Speaking of Valentine's- February 14 will show us the Long Term Ag Outlook that Keith Collins sees!

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.


Oklahoma Pork Industry on a PR Roll!
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The Oklahoma Pork Industry continues to tell their story of going above and beyond when it comes to being good environmental stewards- that's the contention of Roy Lee Lindsey, Jr., Executive Director of the Oklahoma Pork Council. And the effort to tell the general public as well as specific groups like state lawmakers is paying off. Roy Lee tells us that the latest polling shows that nine out of ten Oklahomans have a favorable view of the Oklahoma pork industry when it comes to being good environmental neighbors.

Lindsey says Pork producers are hoping to cash in on this goodwill here in 2007 at the State Legislature as they push a couple of key bills that would help equalize the hog industry with all other segments of animal agriculture production here in the state. After the toughest hog industry regulations were passed by lawmakers in the 1996 era, it's been a slow climb back from the hole that was dug for the relatively young Oklahoma hog industry. Oklahoma is consistently ranked eighth in the country in the total number of hogs, rising to that level after Seaboard built their state of the art pork processing facility in Guymon.

The one measure they are working very hard on in the 2007 Legislature is a bill that would line up hog farm setbacks with the standards for other livestock operations. They would also like to move the process of regulating those setbacks and other environmental regs totally over to the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture. We have linked our conversation from the end of this past week with Roy Lee Lindsey about a lot of these issues as well as details about some of the folks they honored at the 2007 Oklahoma Pork Congress- that link is right below.

Click here to listen to Ron and Roy Lee Lindsey of the Oklahoma Pork Council.


Peanut and Cotton Producers Receive Second 2006-Crop, Final 2005-Crop Counter-Cyclical Payments- Other Producers Don't!
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USDA has announced it will soon start issuing 555- million dollars in second partial 2006-crop year counter-cyclical payments and 55-million in final payments for those producers enrolled in the Department's Direct and Counter-Cyclical Program. But as a result of solid market prices - most eligible producers won't be receiving the payments.

Producers with 2006-crop peanut and upland cotton base acres will receive their benefits soon - as will producers with 2005-crop rice base. But according to USDA - payments are not available for producers with barley, corn, grain sorghum, oats, rice, soybeans other oilseeds or wheat base acreage. That's because the effective prices for those crops are equal to - or above - their respective target prices.

USDA used the supply and demand estimates released by USDA's World Agricultural Outlook Board on Friday to project counter-cyclical payment rates. According to USDA - the report offers the most current supply and demand forecasts available.


Try a Little Tenderness- Beef Industry Checking it Out!
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The 2005 Beef Tenderness Study was released during the recent Cattle Industry Convention in Nashville- and we had the chance to visit with Dr. Jeff Savell of Texas A&M who helped coordinate the study with several other Land Grant Universities- including Oklahoma State.

Dr. Savell is our guest for a few days this week on the Beef Buzz- a regular feature on the Radio Oklahoma Network- and he reports that the study tell us that we have made improvements on virtually all of our beef cuts compared to the last study in the late 1990s. That determination was made both by panels of consumers, as well as the objective tests that are known as the Shear Force assessments.

We are getting better because of the attention to proper handling of cattle as they work their way through the pipeline, because of the quality programs that the industry has developed and how some of these cuts are handled during processing. It all adds up to getting closer to the hope that the consumer will have a great eating experience every time.

Click here to listen to today's Beef Buzz with Dr. Jeff Savell on the Tenderness Study of the Beef Industry.


National Peanut Board Member needed for Oklahoma.
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The Oklahoma Peanut Commission (OPC) is seeking eligible peanut producers to come forward who are interested in serving on the National Peanut Board (NPB).

OPC will hold a nominations election to select a member and alternate to the NPB during a meeting on February 15 on the OSU Campus in Stillwater. The NPB program and nominations will be held at 3pm. All eligible producers are encouraged to participate. John Clay of Carnegie is the current Oklahoma NPB member and Gilbert Harris of Prague serves as the alternate. The term for the current Oklahoma board member and alternate expires December 31, 2007.

USDA requires two nominees from each state for each position of member and alternate. The National Peanut Board will submit Oklahoma’s slate of nominees to the US Secretary of Agriculture, who makes the appointments. If you have questions about the nomination process or the meeting planned for this Thursday- contact the Oklahoma Peanut Commission at 405-275-5994.


Texoma Farm Show and more on the Calendar this week!
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Here are some of the events going on this week and next in and around Oklahoma agriculture:
February 13 (this evening) Winter 2007 Peanut Production Meeting- "Better Outlook for Peanut Producers in 2007?" Quartz Mountain Lodge, Lone Wolf, Oklahoma. Contact David Nowlin in Caddo County for info: 405-247-3376.

February 14 & 15: Texoma Farm Show, Multi Event Convention Center, Wichita Falls, Texas.
February 15: Joint Meetings of the Oklahoma Peanut Commission and the Oklahoma Wheat Commission, Oklahoma State University Campus, Stillwater.
February 16: Oklahoma Grain and Stockers Producers annual meeting- Autry Technology Center, Enid- contact Candace Krebs for last minute information on their meeting at 580-242-1910.

Next week, we have a market holiday for our ag futures markets on Monday as we celebrate President's Day, as well as a makegood for a cancelled western Oklahoma Vegetable meeting that was planned back in January in Hydro. The rescheduled meeting is set for Tuesday, February 20, beginning at 9:30 am. Among the topics to be discussed is the Oklahoma Farm to School Program, updates on onion, watermelon and cantaloupe production here in the state as well as a food safety presentation by Lynn Brandenberg of the OSU Horticulture Department, "Why all the fuss about recalling bagged spinach?" There's no registration fee for the Hydro meeting and Caddo County's David Nowlin is the contact for this meeting as well- that number is 405-247-3376.


Tomorrow is Valentine's Day- have you taken care of your Sweetie????
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A word to the wise- do your Valentine Day's shopping today if you have not already gotten that done. Remember- Chocolate has been found to be heart healthy- for more reasons than just the nutrients it contains!


Speaking of Valentine's- February 14 will show us the Long Term Ag Outlook that Keith Collins sees!
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February 14th isn’t just about Valentine’s Day this year - it also marks the day USDA will release new 10-year agricultural projections. The announcement came from the office of USDA Chief Economist Keith Collins Monday.

These long-term projections are developed by interagency committees in USDA. The Economic Research Service takes the lead role. The projections will cover crop and livestock commodities - as well as trade and aggregate indicators like farm income and food prices. But USDA says the projections do not represent a USDA forecast. Instead - they should be considered a conditional, long-run scenario based on specific assumptions about farm policy, the weather, the economy and international developments.

Each February - USDA publishes the projections. The electronic version of the projections through 2016 will be available on the Office of the Chief Economist website (we have linked below) Wednesday. The printed version of the report will be available at the USDA Ag Outlook Forum on March 1st- that event to be held in Arlington, Va.

Click here for the website of the USDA's Chief Economist.


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.

Click here to check out WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com



God Bless! You can reach us at the following:
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phone: 405-473-6144
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