From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 07:04
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 Wednesday October 31, 2007!
A service of Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma, American Farmers and Ranchers & Midwest Farm Shows
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-- Corn Growers Are Outraged Over Accusation They Are Involved in Crimes Against Humanity!
-- Oklahoma Farm Bureau Gets Ready for Convention Next Week in OKC
-- Jonathan Edelson Moves from Entomology to Number Two Spot in the OSU Ag Experiment Station Administration.
-- Pesticide Disposal Days Planned in November in Clinton and Hooker.
-- Four Oklahoma Auctioneers Qualify for World Championships Next June.
-- Will the Blue States Prevail in 2008?
-- Belated Congrats to Oklahoma Youth Grabbing the Big Three Grands at the American Royal!

Howdy Neighbors!

Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. We are proud to welcome Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma as a regular sponsor of our daily email update. Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma has ten branch offices to serve your farm financing needs and is dedicated to being your first choice for farm credit. Check out their website for more information by clicking here!

We also welcome American Farmers and Ranchers Mutual Insurance Company as a regular sponsor of our daily update- click here to go to their NEW AFR web site to learn more about their efforts to serve rural America!
And our email this morning is also a service of Midwest Farm Shows, producer of the Tulsa Farm Show coming up December 6-8, 2007, as well as the Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City next spring. 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.


Corn Growers Are Outraged Over Accusation They Are Involved in Crimes Against Humanity!
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Recent statements by the United Nations independent expert on the right to food Jean Ziegler has the National Corn Growers Association outraged and pretty well coming unglued! NCGA says - among the egregious statements Ziegler made is the claim that food crops for biofuels are a "crime against humanity." NCGA CEO Rick Tolman was quick to point out that - genocide is a crime against humanity. War crimes are a crime against humanity. Any act of persecution to a large scale of people is a crime against humanity. Finding solutions to a global energy problem while continuing to provide food to the world is not a crime against humanity.

Ziegler is calling for a five-year moratorium on biofuels production. Tolman says if Ziegler were citing facts on biofuels and corn he would know the United States is harvesting 13.3 billion bushels of corn - more than enough to help meet the needs of global hunger, offset petroleum use, provide a nutritious feed for livestock and have more than an adequate corn supply on hand.

Tolman added - it is a travesty when an official makes public statements that are so irresponsible, so inaccurate and so inappropriately damning. Tolman continued - the statements 'crime against humanity' and 'catastrophe of the massacre (by) hunger in the world' are not to be used lightly or in such an irresponsible manner. If this is an example of how Mr. Ziegler carries out his responsibilities, Tolman said, he should resign his post immediately. Tolman concluded - hunger is not something to trifle with and those in positions of responsibility need to be accountable in their statements.

Here's a link to the article that has the Corn Growers and others involved in Biofuels all worked up.


Oklahoma Farm Bureau Gets Ready for Convention Next Week in OKC
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The countdown to the state's largest annual farm convention continues as Farm Bureau's Resolutions Committee whittled down the long list of issues proposed for discussion during the committee's meeting in Oklahoma City at the end of last week. Over 500 issues or resolutions were submitted by the state's 77 county Farm Bureaus. Among the 95 issues making the final cut are proposals to eliminate estate taxes, enhance protection for private property rights and continue income protection under the new federal farm law.

Several of the proposed resolutions address the increased oil and gas exploration. "Our members are concerned about the damage caused by seismic survey crews and the possible fire dangers associated with oil wells," according to Steve Kouplen, President of OFB. The need to improve the state's rural infrastructure also was voiced by the farm leaders. "We need to be able to efficiently transport our product from farms to markets," Kouplen said. The Beggs rancher expressed concern about the "information highway" bypassing rural Oklahoma. "To be competitive, our rural areas, especially schools and businesses, must have access to high speed Internet connections."

Steve Kouplen will be stepping down as President of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau during this year's meeting as he has hit a term limits trigger set by the farm group. The election to replace Kouplen will happen on the Saturday afternoon of the convention, with announced candidates Bob Drake and Mike Spradling vying for the post.
The convention begins next Friday, November 9 and runs through Sunday November 11.

For more of an overview on the Convention, click here for a news release from OFB on their 66th annual meeting


Jonathan Edelson Moves from Entomology to Number Two Spot in the OSU Ag Experiment Station Administration.
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Oklahoma State University's Jonathan Edelson has been named assistant director of the statewide Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station system. OAES accounts for approximately 40 percent of the university's research and is one of two statewide agencies that are part of OSU's Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, along with the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service. "We're mandated by state and federal law to target issues and concerns of importance to Oklahoma," said Clarence Watson, OAES associate director. "Jonathan is assuming a very key leadership role, not only for the organization but for Oklahomans in general."

As assistant director, Edelson will work closely with Watson and division administration to plan and develop statewide research programs, develop and manage state and federal grants and contracts, and work with state commodity groups, legislators, government agencies, community leaders and university officials to ensure OAES research thrusts are addressing issues of importance to Oklahoma.

Prior to accepting his new responsibilities, Edelson had been serving as head of the OSU department of entomology and plant pathology since October 2005. He also served as interim head of the department from October 2004 to September 2005, and as interim head of the department of biochemistry and molecular biology from February 2007 to July 2007.
Edelson served as director of the division's Wes Watkins Agricultural Research and Extension Center at Lane from 1989 to 1996 before transferring to Stillwater to concentrate on integrated pest management of horticultural crops.


Pesticide Disposal Days Planned in November in Clinton and Hooker.
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The next Unwanted Pesticide Disposals are scheduled for November 13, 2007 8:00 am to 1:00 pm at Estes Inc in Clinton on Highway 183 South ( 3 miles south of I-40 and 1/4 west) and November 15, 2007 8:00 am to 1:00 pm Hooker Equity COOP, Hooker OK 200 E Highway 54 Hooker, Oklahoma.

This is for people in production agriculture (farmers, ranchers, greenhouses, and nurseries), certified applicators, and pesticide dealers. Please no homeowners at this time.
No questions asked all farmers/ranchers and other participants will remain anonymous.
This collection will take only pesticides no other hazardous waste will be accepted such as oil, paint, antifreeze etc.
All pesticides will be taken no matter the size.

For more information please click on the link below for the time and locations, maps, transportation tips, and dealer registration form. There is also a Frequently Asked Question section. You can also call Charles Luper OSU Pesticide Safety Education Program at 405-744-5808 or Sandy Wells Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry at 405-522- 5993.
This program is a joint effort of Oklahoma State Extension, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture and the Oklahoma Agribusiness Retailers Association.

Click here for the website of the Unwanted Pesticide Program here in Oklahoma


Four Oklahoma Auctioneers Qualify for World Championships Next June.
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Four auctioneers from Oklahoma locked up their place at the World Livestock Auctioneer Championships next June that were originally scheduled to be held in Durant, Oklahoma- but that have now been switched to Sioux Falls, SD.

The four from Oklahoma that have qualified all did so this past Thursday in Dalhart, Texas at the Southwest Regional Championships put on by the Livestock Marketing Association. The four from Oklahoma include Lance Cochran of Medford, who finished second overall in the Regional; Brian Little of Wann, who finished third overall; Bailey Ballou of Lawson and Tracey Sullivan of Prague.

We visited with John McBride of the Livestock Marketing Association about the Dalhart contest on today's end of the month Beef Buzz- and you can hear our daily Beef Buzz on great radio stations around the state on the Radio Oklahoma Network, as well as catching it on our website on our Beef Buzz page. AND, we have it linked for you below as well.

Click here to listen to Ron and John on today's Beef Buzz from the Radio Oklahoma Network.


Will the Blue States Prevail in 2008?
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If the White House turns Blue in 2008, it would likely be one of three candidates that would lead the Democrats to reoccupying the White House in early 2009- former Senator John Edwards or current Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. All three of them participated in a National Summit on Agriculture and Rural Life sponsored by the League for Rural Voters in Iowa this past weekend.

All three seem to be trying to outdo one another in touting populist views. All three Democratic candidates favor putting more federal money into the rural economy and education, and plugged their universal health care plans as beneficial for small towns as well as the rest of the country. When it comes to commodity programs - the three Democrats favor capping payments at 250-thousand dollars per farm. They also support country-of-origin labeling and a ban on packer ownership of livestock.

Obama said, -when I'm President, I'll have a department of agriculture, not simply a department of agribusiness. Edwards said - I think we need a national moratorium on CAFOs. Obama and Clinton want better environmental regulation of CAFOs and Obama wants to lower the 450-thousand dollar limit on conservation program funds now used by CAFOs to manage livestock manure.
Of course, all of these issues will have been decided well before any of these candidates would be able to influence policy from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Two of them can vote for these issues this coming week when the Senate takes up the Senate Ag Committee version of the Farm Bill, which does not include many of these ideas embraced by these Democratic frontrunners.


Belated Congrats to Oklahoma Youth Grabbing the Big Three Grands at the American Royal!
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I meant to make mention of this last week early but failed to do so as we covered first the Texas Cattle Feeders and then the National FFA convention- but Oklahoma youth grabbed the Grand Champion honors in three of the four market animal categories at the American Royal in Kansas City this month.

The Grand Champion Barrow was a crossbred shown by Jodi Brooks of Guthrie. Heather Glass of Elgin had the champion Suffolk that also claimed the prize as the Grand Champion Market Lamb, while the Grand Champion Steer was shown by Tiffani Pruitt of Tuttle, Oklahoma.

Huge numbers of Oklahoma youth travel each year to the American Royal, who, by the way, is betting on the National FFA returning to Kansas City in a few years. Starting next year, they have announced that they will be moving the Livestock Show under the American Royal banner to the very end of October to coincide with that national gathering of the Blue and Gold. The National FFA organization is considering bids from Kansas City, as well as Indianapolis, Louisville, Nashville and Minneapolis for the national convention beginning in the year 2013. FFA plans to make their decision sometime in the first half of 2008.


Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows, American Farmers and Ranchers Mutual Insurance and Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma for their support of our daily Farm News Update. For your convenience, we have our sponsors' websites linked at the top of the email- check them out and let these folks know you appreciate the support of this daily email, as their sponsorship helps us keep this arriving in your inbox on a regular basis!

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