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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Thursday August 7,
2008! A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Farm Credit Associations of
Oklahoma and Midwest Farm Shows!
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-- There are 12 Billion Reasons Why Corn Prices Have Tumbled.
-- Emergency Haying on CRP ground Okayed for 68 Counties in
Oklahoma
-- Congressman Lucas Pleased with Latest USDA Offer Sheet on CRP
Emergency Haying- but Still Wants Better Deal.
-- The Less is More Strategy for USMEF in Japan is Working!
-- Monsanto Prepares to Sell Controversial Dairy Milk Production
Stimulant.
-- HIGH NOON- RFS Waiver Announcement Comes TODAY from EPA.
-- Southern Plains Beef Symposium This Saturday in Ardmore!
-- 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. We are excited to have as one of our new sponsors for the daily email Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, with 64 years of progress through producer ownership. Call Brandon Winters at 405-232-7555 for more information on growing Nu-Sun Sunflowers this year- and check out the full story on PCOM on their website by clicking here. 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. | |
There are 12 Billion Reasons Why Corn Prices Have Tumbled. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wednesday was
the third straight day that we saw soybean and corn prices tumbling under
the weight of ideas that this corn crop may be the second largest ever-
even after the late start that it got. We now have several analysts
predicting that next Tuesday's August crop report will show that we will
harvest a 12 billion bushel corn crop, the second largest on record after
last year's 13.1 billion bushel crop. The general consensus seems to be
that we could beat the previous second largest corn crop number of 11.8
billion bushels produced in 2004.
The soybean futures felt similar pressure that favorable weather has greeted the pod filling phase of the soybean crop cycle in the midwest- and under huge volume, soybean prices dropped more than forty cents per bushel, although early this morning, we have had some recovery in the electronic overnight trade of about 17 cents per bushel, basis the November new crop contract. There was also talk on Thursday of a Commodity Fund that was forced to liquidate a long position as the talk suggested that this position was being called a speculative position instead of a hedge position. That caused some early pressure on the grains market. Corn prices have dropped since late June when prices stood at $7.65 per bushel- losing about one third of their value and now at $5.08 per bushel for the September delivery. Soybeans have shed about 25% of their value from the top of $16.63 seen on July 3. Wheat has shared in this falloff- losing 44% of its price in Chicago trading from a $13.34 price seen in late February. We have linked the Corn and Soybean recap from Country Hedging- which is a similar sheet to what we link daily at the bottom of this email for the wheat marketplace. It's a quick recap of some of these current factors that continue the pressure on our grain and oilseed markets. Click here for the Country Hedging One Pager on Yesterday's Corn and Soybean Markets. | |
Emergency Haying on CRP ground Okayed for 68 Counties in Oklahoma ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rod Wanger of
the Oklahoma FSA office in Stillwater gave us the "heads up" on this
latest offer of forage help on CRP ground here in 2008. Rod tells us that
USDA is offering CRP emergency haying today for counties that were
previously approved for just emergency grazing. The authority is for 68 of
the 77 counties here in Oklahoma.
If a CRP participant elects to emergency hay or graze CRP they need to contact the local FSA office before starting any activity. The annual rental rate will be reduced by 25% for each acre hayed or grazed. Haying will need to be done between now and the end of September, with the hay not to be sold- but just for that landowner's use for his or hers livestock. We have other details of this story up on our website, including the list of the 68 counties that are eligible for this program- and a link to our listing of FSA offices across the state. Click here for more on this Emergency Haying Offer from USDA. | |
Congressman Lucas Pleased with Latest USDA Offer Sheet on CRP Emergency Haying- but Still Wants Better Deal. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After the word
came out on Wednesday of this latest decision by USDA to allow emergency
haying on CRP land in a great number of the counties in the state where
there are CRP contracts- Third District Congressman Frank Lucas offered
the following statement:
"I applaud Secretary Schafer's decision to allow both haying and grazing in all but three Oklahoma counties. I have been working closely with USDA to ensure that farmers and ranchers in Oklahoma receive as much support from the federal government as is available to help them through one of the worst droughts since the Dust Bowl. However, I am very disappointed that all counties who have been granted emergency haying and grazing have not also had the usage fee reduced to 10%. I will continue to work with USDA on this issue." | |
The Less is More Strategy for USMEF in Japan is Working! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our top story
this morning on our website is about the efforts of the US Meat Export
Federation in trying to do the most with the limited resources available
to them in Japan, the number one export customer for US beef producers
before December 2003 when the "cow that stole Christmas" was discovered
and Japan totally stopped all beef shipments from the US because of fears
of BSE.
For the past couple of years, we have been able to ship beef into Japan, but just from carcasses of animals that were 20 months of age or younger at the time of slaughter. So the supply of age verified beef has been only a fraction of what had been available to go into that market previously. With that in mind, USMEF developed 17 new beef cuts that would suit Japanese tastes and eating patterns and have attempted to use as much of the beef from those eligible carcasses. The new cut strategy is fully in place here in 2008- and sales of beef into Japan are up- we have the full story and an audio overview with Phil Seng on our website- it's linked below. Take a good look- it shows that if we approach each situation with innovative thinking- we have an opportunity to make progress even when we have one or both hands tied behind our backs. Click here for our USMEF story found on WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com | |
Monsanto Prepares to Sell Controversial Dairy Milk Production Stimulant. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wednesday
morning Monsanto announced they were positioning to sell their ownership
of POSILAC bovine somatotropin during the next few months. A Monsanto
release says "since first used in 1994, POSILAC has become the country's
leading dairy supplement. It increases dairy cow's production safely,
helping increase efficiency and sustainability of dairy operations. A
recent study by Cornell University also showed that its use can help lower
the impact dairy operations have on the environment."
"While POSILAC is a strong product for the business, we believe
repositioning the business with a strategic owner will allow Monsanto to
focus on the growth of its core seeds and traits business while ensuring
that loyal dairy farmers continue to receive the value of POSILAC in their
operations," said Carl Casale, Monsanto's Executive Vice-President of
Strategy and Operations. Rod Smith with Feedstuffs writes on their website "The treatment has
come under considerable pressure in recent years by activist groups
opposed to rbST who have campaigned to convince supermarkets to sell and
consumers to buy milk only from non-treated cows. An increasing number of
milk processors and supermarkets have moved toward rbST-free milk." | |
HIGH NOON- RFS Waiver Announcement Comes TODAY from EPA. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Renewable
Fuels Association spokesperson Matt Hartwig says there is not enough time
for Congress to make changes to the Renewable Fuels Standard. But, the
Environmental Protection Agency can and will - if it agrees with Texas
Governor Rick Perry who has requested a 50 percent RFS waiver. EPA's
decision will be announced today at high noon, central time, in
Washington.
EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson and Robert Meyers, Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Air and Radiation at EPA will make the announcement. In just the last couple of weeks, three of Oklahoma's livestock groups
had asked Governor Henry to join with Texas Governor Perry in requesting
the waiver be agreed to- however, no word from our Governor's office- and
it appears his decision will be a moot point after today- whichever
direction the EPA decides to go. | |
Southern Plains Beef Symposium This Saturday in Ardmore! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Samuel
Roberts Noble Foundation's Agricultural Division and Oklahoma Cooperative
Extension Service will host the 18th Annual Southern Plains Beef Symposium
from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 9, at the Ardmore Convention Center
in Ardmore, Okla. Entitled Coping with the Times, Higher Cost and Tighter
Margins, this year's symposium brings together four speakers from Oklahoma
and Missouri, who will discuss how they and other farmers and ranchers are
coping with the challenges of increased input costs related to the higher
cost of energy.
"The Southern Plains Beef Symposium is an excellent one day event for beef producers to gain insight and information into current issue and production situations," said Shan Ingram, the Noble Foundation's Education and Special Projects Manager. "We are fortunate to have good sponsors and partners who help with the symposium, which allow us to bring a quality, national-level program to our agricultural producers." As always, their program is top notch, plus they will have a great trade show and excellent lunch for 2008 participants. We have more details of the Southern Plains Beef Symposium linked below- we'll be emceeing the Morning Session once again here in 2008 and we look forward to seeing you in Ardmore on Saturday! | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows, Farm Credit Associations of Oklahoma and Producers Cooperative Oil Mill 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! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ No Cash Cattle
trade has happened as of Wednesday afternoon this week- some observers
expect feedlot operators will bargain hard for another advance in cash
cattle prices after we saw mostly $98 for fed cattle in the Texas. New
Mexico and Oklahoma feedlot area served by TCFA.OKC West in El Reno reported 4453 cattle yesterday, with feeder cattle prices mixed- yearling steers over 800 pounds were steady to a dollar cheaper while under 800 pounders brought steady to a dollar higher than last week. Click here to read the full OKC West report. 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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