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.

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Dr. Damicone is out scouting for Soybean Rust this week in southern and central counties of our state- and he thinks he will find more evidence of it in the days ahead. It appears that the prolonged low pressure that rotated counter clockwise over Texas and Oklahoma in June probably swept the spores northward into our state.

Three Texas counties in north Texas have confirmed cases in commercial soybean fields by USDA- Dallas, Collin and Hunt counties, while Little River County in Arkansas- adjacent to McCurtain County in our state, just got conformed with a case of Asian Soybean Rust as of yesterday on the USDA web site. We have a link below from Dr. Damicone on his current take on the soybean rust situation here in the state- more will likely be out later in the week as our weather is favorable for further development of this disease on our soybean plants in the near future.

Click here for John Damicone's Soybean Rust Alert- as of this past Sunday)

Wick tells us that he talked with the House Ag Committee Chairman late yesterday- and that he believes that despite lots of criticism from many directions- Speaker Nancy Pelosi remains committed to supporting the House Ag Committee Farm Bill that will be challenged on the floor of the House later this week.

Chairman Peterson tells Wick that he believes we will have floor debate on the Farm Bill on Thursday- and he thinks it will all be done by 7 pm that evening. Today, it will be dueling Farm Bill news conferences, as the House Ag Committee leadership and several farm groups will be in the House Ag Committee Hearing Room for a big media event in favor of the House Ag Committee measure that passed out by a unanimous voice vote last Thursday night- while Congressman Ron Kind and his supporters of radical overhaul of farm policy- most notably ending Direct Farm Program Payments and taking those billions of dollars freed up for other programs they prefer spending the money on.

We have the audio response of Chairman Colin Peterson as he was asked about Speaker Nancy Pelosi- will she hang with the House Ag Committee on their Farm Bill? Click here to listen!

A lot of late season soybeans were planted this past week, as we jumped from just 63% planted to 80% planted as we begin this week- we also added another five percentage points to the number of acres planted to milo- now standing at 98% planted for 2007. And, we did see more acres of wheat harvested as we moved seven percentage points from last week's 76% to 83% harvested this week.

We continue to have a tremendous soil moisture profile- especially compared to last summer. At this point in 2006, we had 6% of the topsoil rated in adequate shape- none in surplus, while this year as get into the second half of July- we remain at 87% in adequate to surplus moisture ratings. The subsoil story is just as dramatic, with 91% of our subsoil is rated in adequate to surplus condition- last year at this point we were facing just five percent in adequate shape- nothing in the surplus category!

Click here for the latest Oklahoma Crop Weather Update

"Horseweed (often referred to as mare's tail) has quickly become one of the biggest weed problems across much of the cotton belt. For the past several years, glyphosate-resistant populations of this weed have grabbed headlines at one time or another in agricultural publications. Even the plants that do not have true resistance to glyphosate (currently the case for most of Oklahoma) can still be very difficult to control. "Cotton Inc., through the OSU State Support Committee, funded a project held by OSU's Extension Cotton Program this past spring. Two trial locations were chosen, one in Tillman County at the Roger Fischer farm and one at the Doc and Danny Davis farm in Washita County. Both locations were no-till dryland cotton production systems with heavy populations of horseweed.

"Data from other regions suggested that pre-season control was essential to get a clean start and most programs included either 2,4-D or Banvel. In these tests, four treatments were applied approximately 45 days prior to planting At the Tillman County location, Banvel plus glyphosate plus Valor provided excellent control of horseweed. At the Washita County location,since a cover crop was still growing at application time, glyphosate was dropped out of the mix. However, Banvel plus Valor was again very effective in horseweed control. The key to controlling this particular weed is in application timing. Typically, very effective control can be achieved when horseweed is the rosette stage or just beginning to bolt upward. Most successful applications are made on small horseweed less than six inches tall. When there is drought stress, control improves as plant size decreases." Detailed information on chemical application rates, along with all the treatments evaluated, can be obtained by calling the OSU Southwest Research and Extension Center south of Altus at 1-580-482-2120.

Greg writes "In Grand Rapids, Michigan, at their 92nd annual meeting this past Tuesday, Phil Pratt was elected by the voting delegates of the National Association of County Agriculture Agents to serve as the 2007-2008 Vice President. The Oklahoma delegation in Michigan and all the OAEAA membership are tremendously excited about the outcome of the election and look forward to Phil's term. Phil is highly respected by NACAA leadership and has many friends and supporters. Phil is the first Vice President from Oklahoma in the 92 year history of NACAA. This election puts Phil in in the rotation to be NACAA President in 2010, the year that Oklahoma host the National Meeting in Tulsa."

Greg also tells us that area specialist Mark Gregory won a Distinguished Service Award, while Danny Cook won an Achievement Award during the meeting this past week in Michigan. in adddition, Dirk Webb was installed for a 2 year term as a Director from the Southern Region on the NACAA Board of Directors.

Murden writes "The National Sorghum Producers commends you for your leadership in passing a balanced farm bill out of committee last week. We look forward to working with Committee Members as the bill moves to the House floor."

He adds "The bill provides a strong safety net for sorghum producers by maintaining direct payments and equalizing sorghum county loan rates with corn. Though high grain prices are a reality today, agriculture is cyclical and economic conditions a year from now may be quite different. By expanding cellulose ethanol research in the bill, we will know the potential of forage and sweet sorghums to contribute in new generation ethanol production. Sorghum producers are making an impact in lessening our nation's dependence of foreign oil and providing an affordable source of feed for livestock producers." We have added the reaction of the NSP to our website and have a listing of several farm groups and others who have weighed in on the passage of the 2007 Farm Bill by the House Ag Committee. We have a link to our front page below- scroll down in the Today's Agricultural News" section and you will see a list of groups- click on each name to see their comments.

Click here to go our website, WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com for reaction to the House Ag Committee's Farm Bill.

Locate In 48 refers to a premises registration program that will allow Oklahoma animal health officials to quickly notify livestock owners in the event of an animal disease outbreak or animal health emergency within 48 hours. This program will help protect livestock, increase consumer confidence in the state's food supply, better connect farmers and ranchers to the global marketplace and protect Oklahoma's way of life.

Groups that represent animal agriculture in the state will be on hand for this media event that will be a part of the opening general session of the 55th Annual Convention of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association. State Commissioner of Agriculture Terry Peach and State Vet Dr. Becky Brewer will also take part in the unveiling of this emphasis.

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