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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Monday October 27,
2008! A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Farm Credit Associations of
Oklahoma and Midwest Farm Shows!
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-- A Wrapup on 2008 National FFA Convention- Oklahoma Youth Find Lots
of Success
-- Farm Bureau Prepares for Their Annual Convention as Resolutions
Committee Meets This Past Week
-- AFR Planning Farm Bill Informational Meeting
-- NCBA Spotlighting COOL Compliance in Live TV Show Tonight
-- Checking the Calendar- Water Conference, Auctioneer Competition
Among Top Items for the This Week
-- With Cheaper Corn (and other farmgate prices)- Where's the Cheaper
Food???
-- Ira Hollar posthumously inducted into National 4-H Hall of
Fame
-- 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 salute our longest running email sponsor- Midwest Farm Shows, producer of the annual Tulsa Farm Show scheduled for December 11-13 here in 2008, as well as the springtime Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City. Check out details of both of these exciting shows at the official website of Midwest Farm Shows 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. | |
A Wrapup on 2008 National FFA Convention- Oklahoma Youth Find Lots of Success ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The 2008
National FFA Convention confirmed what all of us in the state of Oklahoma
have known all along- that FFA in the state of Oklahoma is very special!
Oklahoma FFA Students hauled home more hardware than any other state in
the union, as Oklahoma FFA can claim a National Officer, the Star Farmer
of America, Six National Proficiency Awards, a National Agri- Entrepreneur
Winner and several high finishes in the various judging contests.
The 2008 Star Farmer of America calls Garber, Oklahoma home- as Travis Schnaithman heard his name called on stage at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Saturday morning at the 81st National Convention of the FFA Organization. Schnaithman, who attends Oklahoma State University, intends to return to the family farm and be a fifth generation farmer in Garfield County. He was the Oklahoma Star Farmer in 2005, Oklahoma State FFA President in 2007 and caps off his FFA career as Star Farmer of America. For the second time in three years, Oklahoma will have a representative on the National Officer team of the FFA Organization- Laila Hajii of Guthrie FFA will serve as the Central Region Vice President and will travel almost non stop for some 300 days, covering about 100,000 miles in 2009 as a part of the team that will lead the youth organization at the national level over the coming year. We have more on these two young people- as well as details on all the other 2008 National Winners that call Oklahoma home. We have produced an overview story of the high achievers at this years event in Indy- and that is linked below. From there- you can go and see and hear comments from Travis and Laila, as well as comments and photos from many of the other national winners from our state- just click on the story link below. | |
Farm Bureau Prepares for Their Annual Convention as Resolutions Committee Meets This Past Week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As the
Oklahoma Farm Bureau prepares to head to downtown Oklahoma City in
mid-November, another step of their "grass roots" process to develop their
policies for the coming year happened this past week at their state
headquarters. Meeting in Oklahoma City over this past week, the Farm
Bureau Resolutions Committee poured over more than 900 resolutions
proposed by the 77 county Farm Bureaus.
Oklahoma Farm Bureau leaders want to take a second look at the federal renewable fuels standard, (RFS), which calls for the increased use of biofuels. The farm organization has supported the RFS since it was passed as part of the energy bill last year, but livestock producers are concerned it has made livestock feed more expensive. "Increased demand for biofuels has forced livestock producers to compete with the energy sector for grain," said Mike Spradling, OFB president. "Livestock producers are concerned their tax dollars are being used to indirectly increase feed prices." In addition to the RFS, other issues attracting attention included increased funding for rural roads and bridges, elimination of property tax increases, support for stronger right to farm laws in Oklahoma and support for wind energy as a renewable fuel source. | |
AFR Planning Farm Bill Informational Meeting ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ American
Farmers & Ranchers (AFR) will hold a Farm Bill informational meeting
Tuesday, November 11th at their headquarters in Oklahoma City. AFR
President & CEO Ray L. Wulf stated, "We want to invite everyone that
is interested in learning more about the 2008 Farm Bill to our building,
there are several new provisions in the Farm Bill that agriculture
producers and others involved in the agriculture industry need to be aware
of, this meeting will address many of those issues."
The meeting will include information on the new ACRE program, the new permanent disaster program, Country of Origin Labeling and many other provisions included within the 15 titles of the 2008 Farm Bill. The meeting will be held at the American Farmers & Ranchers
Building, 800 North Harvey, in downtown Oklahoma City, November 11th from
10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. The meeting is open to all individuals interested
in the new Farm Bill, to attend participants need to RSVP by November 5th
to Francie Tolle at 405-218-5523. There is no cost to attend and lunch
will be provided. | |
NCBA Spotlighting COOL Compliance in Live TV Show Tonight ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Four
authorities on country-of-origin labeling and premises registration will
answer producer questions during a "Monday Night Live" program on RFD-TV
this evening. The one-hour program will allow call-in questions from
producers via a toll-free line starting at 7 PM Central time.
The panel will include Bruce Knight, under secretary for marketing and regulatory programs for the U.S. Department of Agriculture; Colin Woodall, executive director of legislative affairs for NCBA; Steve Owens, partner in Joplin Regional Stockyards in Joplin, Mo.; and Steve Foglesong, an Illinois beef producer and NCBA vice president. "This is a chance for producers to get straight answers to their questions from the people both involved in the implementation of these programs and affected by them," Woodall said. | |
Checking the Calendar- Water Conference, Auctioneer Competition Among Top Items for the This Week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Starting
tomorrow at the Reed Center in Midwest City, it's the 2008 Governor's
Water Conference with the theme is "Water Solutions for Oklahoma." A key
part of this meeting will update participants on the developing Oklahoma
Comprehensive Water Plan. This will be the 29th Annual Governor's Water
Conference and 6th Annual Oklahoma Water Resource Research Institute Water
Research Symposium.
The Quarterfinals of the World Livestock Auctioneer Contest are on the schedule for this Wednesday, October 29, 2008 at the Texhoma Livestock Market in the Oklahoma Panhandle. Click here for a complete look at the competition that is on tap for this Wednesday- there will eight Oklahoma auctioneers vying for a chance to advance to the National Semis and Finals next June in Minnesota. Also happening Tuesday evening is the Northwest Oklahoma Cattlemen's
Association Meeting and Trade Show- that's planned for the afternoon and
evening on Tuesday- and we have details on our calendar page. | |
With Cheaper Corn (and other farmgate prices)- Where's the Cheaper Food??? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The president
of the National Corn Growers Association, Bob Dickey, points out that -
ethanol opponents practically promised that reducing the RFS would
'immediately' bring down food prices - because it was expected to lower
corn prices. But, now that corn prices are only about half of what they
once were, food prices remain high. So, where is the connection? According
to Dickey, a new report by the Renewable Fuels Association proves that two
links cited by ethanol critics - between ethanol demand and corn prices,
and between corn prices and retail food prices - are minimal or
non-existent.
NCGA says this report documents the significant decrease seen in the prices of farm commodities in the face of continually rising ethanol demand and retail food prices. Dickey points out that - ethanol production is expanding and food prices are also on the increase - while we have seen a continual decrease in corn prices since July. He says - that means only one thing - those who have accused corn growers and ethanol producers of taking food from the hungry were completely wrong. Based on Chicago Board of Trade pricing data as of October 10th, RFA reports, since their peaks earlier this year, corn futures have dropped nearly 50 percent, wheat more than 50 percent and soybeans approximately 45 percent. Click here to view the report developed by the Renewable Fuels Association | |
Ira Hollar posthumously inducted into National 4-H Hall of Fame ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you mention
the name Ira Hollar in just about any of Oklahoma's 77 counties, there
will probably be someone, most likely a former 4-H'er or a current or
former Extension educator, who will have a story to tell. Throughout his
nearly 40-year career with the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service,
Hollar played a major role in the state's 4-H program. That dedication and
influence was recognized recently as Hollar was posthumously inducted into
the National 4-H Hall of Fame. Hollar, along with 19 other Hall of Fame
laureates were honored for the extraordinary impact they have made on 4-H
and the lives of 4-H members.
Hollar had a long and storied career in Extension which began in 1926 in Greer County. He later served as a county agent in Muskogee County before heading to Stillwater where he served as state 4-H program leader for 16 years. Hollar had made such an impact in Muskogee County that when he got the job as state 4-H program leader in Stillwater, the residents of Muskogee took up a collection and presented him with a new car. "Mr. Hollar was an individualist and used his position to provide leadership for the development of many new and innovative programs," said Ray Parker, who was one of Hollar's state 4-H office colleagues. Hollar was instrumental in establishing the 4-H Key Club, which later
became a nation-wide recognition program for the top 1 percent of 4-H
members. He also created the Oklahoma 4-H Foundation. Another program was
the Personality Improvement project. Many of the state 4-H officers,
National Congress delegates and Hall of Fame winners also were the winners
of the personality improvement contest. In fact, one of the first winners
of the Personality Improvement contest was Mary Sue Sanders, who
eventually became Oklahoma's first National Hall of Fame inductee. | |
Our thanks to Farm Credit Associations of Oklahoma, Producers Cooperative Oil Mill and Midwest Farm Shows 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! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Woodward
Livestock Market had a more normal 4,358 cattle run this past Friday- with
yearling prices continuing under pressure- $4 to $5 lower than a week
earlier. The calf trade was called steady. Five to six hundred pound steer
calves brought $100 to $115, while seven to eight hundred pound steer
yearlings came in at $92 to $96.35 and the eight weight yearlings were
priced from $88 to $93.35. The full report should be available after 8 AM
this morning from the USDA Market News site-
Click here for the Woodward 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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