~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Wednesday December 17,
2008! A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Farm Credit Associations of
Oklahoma and Johnston Enterprises!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack Will Be President Elect Obama's
Secretary of Agriculture.
-- Caddo Kiowa Technology Center Agriculture Department Receives
Outstanding Program Award
-- Rod Smith of Feedstuffs Calls It Calamitous Times for the
Livestock Industry
-- Oklahoma No-Till Conference Set for February 2009
-- EPA Administrator Johnson Praises the pick by President Elect
Obama to Take His Job
-- Beef Buzz Focus on Beef Cow Herds with Jim Robb
-- Let's Check the Markets!
Howdy Neighbors! Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. It is wonderful to have as a regular sponsor on our daily email Johnston Enterprises- proud to be serving agriculture across Oklahoma and around the world since 1893. For more on Johnston Enterprises- click here for their website! It's also great to have the Farm Credit Associations of Oklahoma
with us regularly as an Email Sponsor- Financing Oklahoma is their
business! Check out their website which shows their locations statewide 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. | |
Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack Will Be President Elect Obama's Secretary of Agriculture. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Keep your
friends close- and your enemies closer- that seems to be one of former
Senator and soon to be President Barack Obama's themes as he forms his
cabinet as he gets ready to assume power January 20, 2009. Three times
already, he has named former Democratic Presidential primary opponents to
his leadership team- and the fourth name that comes from that list is
former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack.
Obama will announce the nomination of Vilsack on Wednesday, according to at least two Democratic officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the selection before the announcement. Obama also plans to announce his nomination of Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar as interior secretary at the same news conference, other Democratic officials said. Agri-Pulse is one of dozens of news outlets in Washington that is reporting that Vilsack is the man that Obama has picked and they write of the popular Iowa Governor "National Farmers Union President Tom Buis, who had been seen as a front-runner for Ag Secretary himself, immediately welcomed the apparent Vilsack choice, saying that at a time of great challenges, "Gov. Vilsack has an understanding of the challenges and opportunities that exist in rural America." Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Tom Harkin (D-IA) also welcomed the possibility that Vilsack will get the job. "He knows production agriculture and he knows the changes we need to ensure its profitability and future, including for young and beginning farmers and ranchers," Harkin said. "Tom Vilsack has the experience, dedication and forward- looking thinking critically needed to build a better future for all Americans in food, agriculture, conservation, and the economic vitality of rural communities." The former Governor is 58 years of age- and according to the account
written by Chuck Abbot of Reuters- "Critics said Vilsack was too much of a
supporter of agricultural biotechnology and not enough of a friend to
organic or sustainable farmers." | |
Caddo Kiowa Technology Center Agriculture Department Receives Outstanding Program Award ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Caddo Kiowa
Technology Center (CKTC) in Fort Cobb, OK, is one of six schools that
received the National Association of Agricultural Educators (NAAE)
Outstanding Postsecondary/Adult Program (OPAP) Award earlier this month at
the NAAE annual conference in Charlotte, NC. The program is advised by
Keith Brownback and Dale Beerwinkle. Brownback has taught agriculture at
CKTC since 2006 and Beerwinkle has taught since 1992.
Brownback and Beerwinkle strive to offer a quality postsecondary/adult program that offers solutions relative to the Oklahoma agriculture industry. The school's agriculture business management program focuses on enabling cooperating farm families to improve their skills in financial and economic planning, marketing, farm finance, and recordkeeping. Additional instructional emphasis is devoted to developing skills for families to add supporting non- farm or non-traditional agriculture enterprises and general rural economic development. The instructors stand by the philosophy that adult education must be personalized. Because of varied educational and life experiences, individual instructor-student sessions are very important to the adult learning experience. This is the second time this decade that the program has won this national honor. We have more on this honor for the Caddo Kiowa Technology Center on our website- click on the link below to read more. CLick here for more on the national award pulled down by Caddo Kiowa Technology Center | |
Rod Smith of Feedstuffs Calls It Calamitous Times for the Livestock Industry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A major piece
of work is online to review the 2009 outlook for all segments of the
livestock business- from the cow-calf beef sector to the feedlots to hog
production and the poultry business, too. The work has been largely
assembled by veteran Feedstuffs Editor Rod Smith, who is one of the two or
three very best livestock journalists that I have known in my professional
career.
Smith writes on the lead page on the Feedstuffs website "The dynamics of U.S. animal agriculture are changing dramatically. Today's livestock and poultry producers face record high feed costs and are being forced to cut back production in order to survive near-term. All this comes despite strong domestic and export demand for animal products and relatively low or restrained expansion of animal production." In his presentation he tells us "It's not too little demand. -It's not
too much production. Click here for the Outlook 2009 webpage found on the Feedstuffs website | |
Oklahoma No-Till Conference Set for February 2009 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Farmers and
ranchers wanting to use the latest developments in no-till cropping
systems should register now to attend the No-Till Oklahoma Conference Feb.
9-10 in Oklahoma City. The conference will take place at Oklahoma City's
Sheraton Hotel, located downtown at 1 N. Broadway. Conference sessions
will begin at 10 a.m. on Feb. 9 and will finish at approximately 4:30 p.m.
on Feb. 10. Conference check-in will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 9.
"The Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service is teaming with the Natural Resources Conservation Service and Oklahoma Conservation Commission to bring a dynamic no-till program to a projected 250 to 350 farmers and ranchers from Oklahoma and surrounding states," said Chad Godsey, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension cropping systems specialist. Godsey said the conference is geared toward both beginning producers and experienced producers who are considering switching to no-till cropping systems. "A key advantage of attending the conference will be the opportunity to
interact with both technical specialists and experienced no-till farmers,"
he said. "The conference is a great way for producers to get answers to
any number of questions they may have about specifics regarding no-till
systems." Sessions will focus on soil fertility, key considerations for
crop rotation in eastern and western Oklahoma, the importance of storing
carbon in crop production, equipment essentials, grazing systems, soil
microbial changes in no-till, use of cover crops, strip-till methods and
the economics of converting to a no-till system. Click here for our calendar listing and links for the Oklahoma No-Till Conference 2009 | |
EPA Administrator Johnson Praises the pick by President Elect Obama to Take His Job ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson had positive
things to say about the nomination of Lisa Jackson by President-elect
Barack Obama to be the next Administrator of the EPA. The Administrator
said of Jackson, - As a former EPA executive, she is uniquely qualified to
recognize the challenges facing the agency and lead from day one.
In a statement, Johnson pointed to the many successes the EPA has had. He said, - EPA has not only helped change the way our environment looks, it has helped change the way each of us looks at our individual duty to protect the environment. Johnson credited the - hard-working professionals at EPA - who he said lead the way in environmental protection. Environmental responsibility is everyone's responsibility. The Administrator said, - Our air is cleaner, our water is purer, and our land is better protected than just a generation ago. He said, - This is an exciting time at EPA, and Lisa will direct an agency that is poised to build on the many environmental successes accomplished since 2001. | |
Beef Buzz Focus on Beef Cow Herds with Jim Robb ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The midweek
focus on the daily Beef Buzz is on the economic health of our cow calf
operators- as seen by Jim Robb of the Livestock Market Information Center
in Denver.
Jim Robb says for the first time in a decade, we will see many cow-calf operators lose money this year, But he says that current market conditions may open up the chance to work retained ownership strategies- and a chance to profit on those animals the first half of 2009. And, he says that this is an excellent opportunity to improve the genetics of your Mama Cow herd. Robb believes that we will see calf prices stronger at this point in
2009 than right now- and sees profitability in 2010 back into this segment
of the beef pipeline. | |
Our thanks to Farm Credit Associations of Oklahoma, Producers Cooperative Oil Mill and Johnston Enterprises 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! 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. | |
Let's Check the Markets! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here are some links we will leave in place on an ongoing basis- Click
on the name of the report to go to that link: | |
God Bless! You can reach us at the following: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
phone: 405-473-6144
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