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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Thursday April 12,
2007! A
service of Midwest Farm Shows
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Five County FSA Offices Are Targeted for Closure- Public Meetings
Planned to Discuss.
-- A Sad Day for Oklahoma Agriculture with the passing of Paul
Jackson.
-- Ag Policy Thinktank Says USDA Farm Bill Proposals Don't Offer
Decent Safety Net for Farmers.
-- Later this month- the Rules and Regs for Farm Trucks to be
explained in Enid.
-- The 2007 Corn Crop will help Determine the Price of Stocker and
Feeder Cattle.
-- Did I Mention a FREE Breakfast????
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. | |
Five County FSA Offices Are Targeted for Closure- Public Meetings Planned to Discuss. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma FSA
Director Jim Reese has released the list of Farm Service Agency offices
that could be terminated if the plan developed by Oklahoma FSA stands the
scrutiny of public meetings in those counties and then is acted upon by
the Secretrary of Agriculture.
The five counties that may lose an in county office include Cleveland (Farmers to be served by the McClain County office in Purcell), Delaware (Farmers to be served by the office in Miami, Ottawa County), Haskell (farmers will go to Poteau in Leflore County), Pushmataha County (farmers will go to Hugo in Choctaw County) and Seminole County (Farmers will be served by the Holdenville office in Hiughes County). There will be meetings in each of these counties where service is being consolidated- and in the case of three of these counties- it means an end to limited service of one to three days per week with no full time employees. The counties that currently have no full time service include Cleveland, Haskell and Delaware Counties. We have linked below the news release on the upcoming meetings that begin April 24 in Wewoka and continue into early May. FSA’s meetings are free and open to the public. For more information, contact State FSA Director Jim Reese at (405) 742-1131. Click here for the News Release on the Oklahoma FSA office closings | |
A Sad Day for Oklahoma Agriculture with the passing of Paul Jackson. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Agriculture
Youth have lost a major supporter- and I confess that I have lost one of
my mentors from our common service together on the Advisory Council for
the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program. Paul Jackson of Apache was called home
early Wednesday morning after an extended battle with illness.
Paul was well known for his involvement on the Oklahoma Wheat Commission, serving as both a member and officer during his multiple terms on the board. He also a leader in the Oklahoma Crop Improvement Association as his seed business was well regarded across the entire region. He and Dosia, his bride who he married in 1951, were also major supporters of all kinds of youth related programs. They had a special place in their heart for the Ag in the Classroom Program, and they also spent almost thirty years working on the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program. Paul was a part of the Advisory Council from Day One of the OALP- and was convinced that helping young men and women be stretched was invaluable in their development as leaders for ag and rural organizations. Paul and I spent more than one evening on the telephone discussing the pros and cons of this or that international destination for this young adult leadership development program. Funeral Services for Paul are planned for Saturday morning at 10 am at the First Baptist Church in Anadarko. The Crews Funeral Home in Apache are handling the arrangements for the family. Officials there tell us that visitation for Paul will be available today (Thursday) from about 11 am until 8 pm this evening and most of the day on Friday- 9 am till 8 pm. | |
Ag Policy Thinktank Says USDA Farm Bill Proposals Don't Offer Decent Safety Net for Farmers. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ USDA's 2007
Farm Bill proposal fails to improve protection for farmers against natural
disasters, according to an analysis by the Institute for Agriculture and
Trade Policy. This thinktank is aligned with many of the "green" groups
including the Sierra Club. the environmental Working Group and the Western
Organization of Resource Councils- groups that have called for major
reform of current farm policy.
IATP Senior Policy Analyst Dr. Steve Suppan says that USDA's proposal for revenue-based countercyclical payments will not adequately provide disaster relief or a safety net for farmers. "Unless there is a natural disaster covering a wide part of the country, the RCCP formula won’t result in payments adequate to compensate farmers for their losses," Suppan says, referring to the proposed revenue-based payment trigger based on the national revenue per acre for a program commodity rather than local targets. Suppan also disagrees with the National Corn Growers Association's proposal of a revenue insurance program that compensates for the crop years in which losses actually occurred, saying it would violate World Trade Organization rules. "Congress should not pretend that a permanent natural disaster relief fund is a basis for fair prices or market-based income. The 2007 Farm Bill should restore policy tools to ensure that farmer’s income is derived from fair prices paid by agribusiness and does not depend on taxpayer funds to compensate for low prices," Suppan says. We have linked the IATP web site below- and there you will see a link to their Bush Administration farm bill analysis. | |
Later this month- the Rules and Regs for Farm Trucks to be explained in Enid. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Garfield
County Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers are sponsoring a Farm Truck
Regulations Seminar, April 24, 6:30 p.m. at the Autry Vo-Tech in Enid. The
seminar will cover farm truck regulations and upcoming legislative
information concerning farm transportation. As we approach the wheat
harvest season- this will a timely seminar for wheat farmers and others
who .
Helping explain the rules and regulations that impact operating a farm truck will be staff with Oklahoma Farm Bureau, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation and the Oklahoma State Highway Patrol. For more information and to let them know you are coming, contact the Garfield County Farm Bureau office in Enid at 580-237-1181- you don't have to be a Farm Bureau member to participate. | |
The 2007 Corn Crop will help Determine the Price of Stocker and Feeder Cattle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So says Dr.
Jim Mintert, who we have featured the last several days on our daily Beef
Buzz from the Radio Oklahoma Network. We wrap up our conversation with Dr.
Mintert today as we talk about the relationship between stocker cattle
prices and corn prices- and that the uncertainty of how many bushels we
may be able to produce in 2007 will put a floor under corn prices- and
help keep pressure on stocker and feeder cattle prices.
There is a lot of uncertainty about how many acres we will be successful in actually planting to corn in the US this spring- especially with cool, damp conditions slowing planting in several key corn belt states. The questions marks that result from that uncertainty will keep corn prices volatile- and keep us guessing on cattle price outlook as well. Beef Buzz is heard on many of our radio stations on the Radio Oklahoma Network- and we have some of the most interesting Beef Buzz reports archived up on our website, WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com. Go to that site- click on the Beef Buzz button on the left hand side of the page and take a look and listen. And, for today's Beef Buzz with Jim Mintert- go to the link provided below for a non stop cyberspace flight to hear his comments! Click here to listen to Ron and Jim Mintert on today's Beef Buzz. | |
Did I Mention a FREE Breakfast???? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Come join us a
week from today for the opening day of the Southern Plains Farm Show as
the Radio Oklahoma Network and Midwest Farm Shows invite one and all to
the Farmer Appreciation Breakfast that will help kick off the three day
show.
Our breakfast will be at the brand spanking NEW Cafe at the front of Barn Three on Gordon Cooper Blvd in the State Fair Park. We have been working with the folks who are in the process of opening up this brand new venue at the Fairgrounds and it is nothing short of fabulous. They have just opened this week in time for the Centennial Horse Show- and you will be impressed! We will be serving breakfast from 8 am till 10 am on Thursday morning- so come in, enjoy a great breakfast and then begin walking through all the buildings and outdoor exhibits that will make up the 2007 Southern Plains Farm Show. Helping us make this breakfast possible are several sponsors, including the Oklahoma Beef Council, the High Plains Journal, Wilson Equipment, Sooner Distributors, American Farmers and Ranchers Insurance and Oklahoma Farmers Union. Come say Howdy next Thursday morning!!! Click here for more information on the 2007 Southern Plains Farm Show! | |
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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