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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Wednesday October 29,
2008! A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Farm Credit Associations of
Oklahoma and Midwest Farm Shows!
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-- Water Conference Underway and Drawing Lots of Interest
-- USDA makes Unprecedented Move to Make Major Corrections in October
Crop Report
-- Frank Lucas Says USDA Apparently Sitting on ACRE Decision Until
After Elections
-- Congrats to Mason Mungle- Water Pioneer of 2008
-- WTO Director-General Critical of US in California Speech
-- Who Owns the Water?
-- What Are You Doing the Night of November 7th?
-- 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. | |
Water Conference Underway and Drawing Lots of Interest ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The 29th
Annual Governor's Water Conference is underway at the Reed Center in
Midwest City- and the feature component of this gathering in 2008 is the
process known as the Oklahoma Comprehensive Water Plan. This is a process
that has been unfolding for a couple of years- and won't be complete until
2011.
Chairing the Tuesday sessions was Mark Nichols, the Chairman of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board. Nichols is a cotton farmer and a member of the Lugert-Altus Irrigation District. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Oklahoma Boll Weevil Eradication Org., Producers Oil Mill, and Southwest Technology Center. At the morning break, we spent a few minutes with Mark as we talked about the conference as well as the water plan process. Nichols says that the development of a water plan is huge for Oklahoma
agriculture- and it is imperative that agricultural interests remain fully
engaged in the Planning process right to the end. Click here for more on the Governor's Water Conference in Midwest City | |
USDA makes Unprecedented Move to Make Major Corrections in October Crop Report ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A discrepancy
in the Farm Service Agency database of crop acreage was just cause for the
National Agricultural Statistics Service to revise its official October
acreage and production forecast. The new numbers put corn production at
12.033 billion bushels, down 1.4 percent from the department's October
10th estimate. USDA estimated harvested corn acreage at 78.177 million
acres, down 1.3 percent from the previous forecast. Feed and residual use
of corn is projected to be 50 million bushels lower at 5.30 billion
bushels. Tighter supplies pushed the corn exports forecast down 50 million
bushels to 1.95 billion bushels.
The soybean crop will be 2.938 billion bushels, a 1.5 percent drop. Total soybean acreage is set at 74.374 million, down 1.5 percent. Use and ending stocks for both conr and soybeans were lowered. As a result, price forecasts were raised slightly for both commodities. USDA also issued new sorghum production numbers. The new figure is up 8
million bushels from the October 10th forecast to 472 million bushels.
Sorghum feed and residual use is raised 10 million bushels with increased
supplies. Ken Hobbie, U.S. Grains Council president and CEO, said he
anticipates sorghum exports to increase. | |
Frank Lucas Says USDA Apparently Sitting on ACRE Decision Until After Elections ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's man
on the House Ag Committee- Third District Congressman Frank Lucas- told us
in a multi-subject interview on Tuesday that he believes that USDA has
likely made their decision regarding which years they will use as the
basis for figuring the ACRE farm safety net program- but that they seem to
be willing to sit on that decision until sometime after November 4. He
thinks that Congresssional intent would be to use the most recent years
available, which should mean 2007-2008 stats. However, USDA has stated
that using 2006-2007 stats would save taxpayers money- as it would throw a
lower safety net under crop prices in the revenue based program.
We don't get that deeply into politics with the Roger Mills County rancher- but we do spend time talking farm bill implementation beyond just ACRE, budget reconciliation and the expectation that the part of the 2008 Farm Law that will have a huge bright red target on it will likely be the Commodity Title- no matter who wins the White House. We also talk about food prices versus farmgate prices with Congressman Lucas. Our full conversation with Congressman Lucas, who could be the ranking minority member of the House Ag Committee if he is returned to Washington by Third District voters, is a Podcast on our website. We have the link below. Click here for our visit with Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas. | |
Congrats to Mason Mungle- Water Pioneer of 2008 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The 29th
Annual Governor's Conference on Water honored three outstanding Oklahomans
for their service in protecting and improving the water infrastructure of
our state over decades of service. The three 2008 Water Pioneers that were
honored on Monday were Garner Garrison, Robbie Robbins and Mason Mungle.
We caught up with one of the honorees, Mason Mungle, at the conference. He is now the Executive Director of Farmers Royalty Company, and has previously served as the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Conservation Commission, as well as lead lobbyist for multiple years for the Oklahoma Farmers Union. We talked with Mungle about his years of involvement in efforts that
had direct impact on the water resources of our state- and you can listen
in to that conversation by clicking on the link provided below. Click here to read more and hear comments with Mason Mungle as found on our website | |
WTO Director-General Critical of US in California Speech ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Still fuming
over the breakdown of Doha Round Talks earlier this year, World Trade
Organization Director-General Pascal Lamy, in a speech at Stanford
University, said the multilateral trading system has not only opened world
commerce - but just as important it has brought transparency and
predictability to international trade. Lamy added- the debate is no longer
about the merits of global regulation, it is about putting in place the
right sort of global regulation for the problems of today.
Lamy chided the United States, saying - I am fully aware this may be an unpopular thing to say in the United States but opening trade is a healthy thing to do. He added, - the fact that the country, and the world, face an unsettling period of financial market upheaval and pending economic downturn will make it even more difficult to convince some people that this is true. But the Director-General admitted that - trade opening is not good for everybody in every country, every time under every circumstance, but the evidence is persuasive that trade openness delivers efficiencies and generates wealth. Lamy said, - if trade opening takes place in the right conditions, all countries can benefit from international exchange. And here, we must make an important distinction: trade opening is not synonymous with deregulation. | |
Who Owns the Water? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The question
of private property rights as it relates to water is top of mind for the
President of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, Mike Spradling. He says that he is
pleased that so many Farm Bureau members are participating at the regional
level in the water planning process- and that agriculture is in the mix at
the Governor's Water Conference underway this week in Midwest City.
Spradling talked with us at the Conference- and he also expressed concern about the battle that seems to be developing between Indian tribes and landowners over water rights- that's another variation of the private property rights issue that will have to be solved as we move forward to develop a Comprehensive Water Plan for the state of Oklahoma. Click below for more of Farm Bureau's thoughts on water issues here in the state of Oklahoma. Click here for a discussion of the question- who owns the water? | |
What Are You Doing the Night of November 7th? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You might want
to consider spending the evening at the National Cowboy and Western
Heritage Museum and the 2008 edition of the Diamond Hats Ball. The Diamond
Hats are a group of influential Oklahoma women dedicated to advancing
today's youth in agriculture. The Diamond Hats Ball, A Diamond Harvest, is
being held to raise funds for scholarships and to support programs
designed to prepare youth in agriculture for the future workforce of
Oklahoma.
Dinner, along with opportunities to participate in lively silent and live auctions, promises an evening of enjoyable philanthropy. The 2008 Diamond Hats Ball will feature items such as OU football tickets, OSU Basketball Tickets in the President's Box, ICIS Memorabilia, just to name a few. In 2006, The Diamond Hats established a tradition of naming the Diamond
Debs and Beaus, further recognizing Oklahoma Youth Expo Academic All State
Winners. This year's winners are Jamie Andrews, Rafe Coker, Stasha Harp,
Chloe Huitt, Molly Johnson, Tara Maye, Allison Meeks, Michael Mitchell,
Riley Pagett, Amy Peel, Sarah Reasnor, Carly Schnaithman, Katie Smith,
Tyler Thomas, Brett Tilley and Kellie Whipple. In addition, the Diamond
Hats and Oklahoma Youth Expo will recognize the Agriculture Woman of the
Year. Click here for more information on the Diamond Hats and the Diamond Hats Ball | |
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! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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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