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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Monday July 2, 2007!
A
service of Midwest Farm Shows
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-- Put Up the Combine and Start Selling Sprouts!
-- USDA unexpectedly raises corn acres- cuts Oklahoma harvested wheat
acres- just not enough.
-- House Ag Committee Chairman plans two farm bills to run alongside
one another.
-- Rain is the Thing for Cotton Producers in Oklahoma.
-- Is the Cattle Cycle Dead?
-- High Tech Field Day Planned for early next month in
Chickasha.
-- Oklahoma's man on the House Ag Committee On the Road Today and
Tomorrow with Town Hall Meetings
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 recently concluded Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City, 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. | |
Put Up the Combine and Start Selling Sprouts! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We have a
picture supplied by a farm couple from north central Oklahoma who have
been unable to get back into their wheat fields for an extended period
because of the rains that were non stop for a lot of June and now are
extending into July. This picture is on our website and available for you
to check out in the link supplied below. By the way- be sure to continue
to let us know as you are able to get moving again on harvest- the weed
situation and whatever else you might be observing.
More than an inch of rain fell last Friday in many locales- Saturday and Sunday were lighter days for precipitation across much of the state- chances of rain are somewhat lower this week although the forecasters are leaving a chance of precipitation in the forecast for much of the week. The Low Pressure System is not willing to give up quite yet. Remarkable numbers can be seen in the seven day rain totals on the Mesonet this Monday morning. You can measure the amount of precipitation in the hundredths in places like Hooker and Beaver- but then you have two spots in the state that have more than eight inches of rain they have recorded in the past seven days- Breckinridge and Medford. Medford claims the dubious honor of Rain Forest Capital of the State this past week with 8.62 inches of rain. | |
USDA unexpectedly raises corn acres- cuts Oklahoma harvested wheat acres- just not enough. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ USDA gives us
some updated acres planted and expected to be harvested figures for 2007-
and nationally they show a two million acre jump in corn to 92.9 million
planted acres this year- that's 19 percent higher than last year while
soybean acreage is down 15% and cotton acreage is off 28%, and that is the
lowest number of acres going into cotton since 1989. Fewer and fewer
farmers are finding it worthwhile to plant peanuts- as nationally we have
the fewest acres into goobers since 1915! The planted acre number for
Oklahoma is the smallest since 1926 at 15,000 acres now planted to
peanuts.
Beyond peanuts here in the state, wheat harvested acres were pulled down from 4.6 million acres estimated at the end of March to 4.3 million acres- but that does not reflect the unusual rainy conditions of much of June that will push thousands of additional acres into the category of acres abandoned. The commodity markets in Chicago, Kansas City and New York responded to the estimates- with corn and wheat losing ground on Friday while soybeans and cotton were sharply higher, soybeans up some forty cents per bushel on the day while cotton picked up a cent and a half per pound. To help you review the USDA numbers. we have a link to the summary of the Oklahoma and US acreage numbers below. Click here for a summary of the Oklahoma and US acreage numbers | |
House Ag Committee Chairman plans two farm bills to run alongside one another. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Colin Peterson
talked for more than an hour on Friday afternoon with reporters via a
teleconference hookup, as he indicated that this committee will be back to
work on the 2007 farm bill July 17-19 with a full committee mark up.
Peterson plans to run two bills side by side.
The first measure is a Paygo bill which will be a base model- using funding from the Budget baseline only. This is the measure that Peterson expects to bring out of committee and take to the floor. The second measure will be filled with all the "good ideas" of the Committee that will need more money to become a reality. You might call this the "Reserve" bill in that it will be passed, then tabled so that the Chairman will have the option to always move it forward as budget offsets are found.To fully fund what the Chairman thinks they will need, it will take 17.5 billion dollars over the five years of the farm bill to cover these additional "wants." Some of the extra "wants" include money for fruits and vegetables, conservation money, bioenergy research as well as a priority of Peterson's, a permanent disaster program. A Disaster program would cost $5 billion according to the math being advanced by Peterson. Peterson is talking about reforms within the Committee's Farm Bill and also was critical of those outside the committee who want to dump existing programs and start over using the pot of money from especially the Commodity Title for their own priorities. We have two audio pieces that you can check out by going to our Featured Audio page. The first is an overview that we have put together on the plans of the Chairman- and the second is a hunk of the audio from Friday and that teleconference from Colin Peterson as he describes some of the possible reforms that will come from within the Committee. Go to the link below for those audio pieces. Click here for the audio from Colin Peterson this past Friday. | |
Rain is the Thing for Cotton Producers in Oklahoma. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Rain is still
the story in most of the cotton producing areas," so says Dr. J.C. Banks,
Oklahoma State University Extension state cotton specialist. "Excessive
rainfall and cooler temperatures have decreased heat unit accumulation and
cotton development is slightly behind where it should be this year. When
the clouds go away and temperatures turn hot, the plants will really try
to go through a growth spurt."
"For this reason, we will be recommending a growth regulator when the warm weather arrives. Usually, in Oklahoma we use PGR's primarily on irrigated areas, but this year, we have had enough water in dryland areas that the cotton will likely benefit from PGR applications. Well-drained areas that are not as waterlogged will initiate growth quickly so the growth regulator should be in the plant more quickly than plants that have been stressed by too much water. "Generally, we recommend four to six ounces of the Pix-based chemicals or two ounces of Stance prior to bloom on non-stressed cotton. At bloom, we recommend eight ounces of Pix or three ounces of Stance. These treatments should be evaluated again at 10 to 14 days following the first treatment. If growth continues to be rapid, another treatment of slightly higher rates may be required. "Late squaring and early bloom is the correct time to apply growth regulators. As the plant gets larger, these treatments will have a decreasing effect. In mid to late August, growth should already have been controlled. If the cotton is to growthy at this time, it is difficult to control it with growth regulators." Our thanks to Vic Schoonover and the NTOK folks for this update from Dr. Banks on current cotton crop conditions. | |
Is the Cattle Cycle Dead? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Today's Beef
Buzz raises that question with Chief Economist Gregg Doud of the National
Cattlemen's Beef Association- and we ask Gregg about that as well as where
we are right now with consumers as they respond to beef at the retail and
food service level.
The Beef Buzz is a daily feature of the Radio Oklahoma Network- and we have a great archive of some our more interesting topics on our website, waiting for you to take a listen. And, we have a direct link for today's show below. Click here for the today's Beef Buzz with Ron and Gregg on the Cattle Cycle! | |
High Tech Field Day Planned for early next month in Chickasha. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Producers can
get a firsthand look at the latest precision agriculture technologies and
speak with experts at the 2007 Oklahoma Ag Technology Field Day August 9
in Chickasha. The 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. field day will take place at the Grady
County Fairgrounds and Events Center, located west of the H.E. Bailey
Turnpike (Interstate 44) along Highway 62. Registration will begin at 8:30
a.m., with refreshments. Lunch will be provided on-site.
"Educational programs and demonstrations will be scheduled throughout the day," said Randy Taylor, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension agricultural engineer. "You can't miss this unique field day that not only shows the technologies but provides an opportunity to speak with the experts who have developed, evaluated and used them." Precision agriculture technologies highlighted will include sensor-based nitrogen management, strategies to reduce sprayer drift, economics of sprayer control systems, selection of a Global Positioning System (GPS) and using technology for on-farm comparisons. Anyone seeking additional information about the August 9 field day should contact Taylor by e-mail at randy.taylor@okstate.edu or by phone at 405-744- 5277. | |
Oklahoma's man on the House Ag Committee On the Road Today and Tomorrow with Town Hall Meetings ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Town Hall
meetings are planned for today and tomorrow for Oklahoma Third District
Congressman Frank Lucas. Stops today include Cordell, Hinton, Anadarko and
Hobart. Tuesday will see the Congressman in Mangum, Altus and Hollis.
In checking with the other offices of the rest of the Oklahoma delegation, there don't appear to be any other town hall meetings going on beyond these planned by Congressman Lucas. We have a link to the Congressman's website and details of the meetings planned for the next couple of days. If you have concerns about the direction of the farm bill- this is a great opportunity to raise your issues with this senior member of the US House Agriculture Committee. Click here for details about the Town Hall meetings today and tomorrow planned by Congressman Lucas. | |
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 and make plans to be an exhibitor at either the Tulsa Farm Show this December or the Southern Plains Farm Show next spring! 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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