|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Thursday January 3,
2008! A
service of Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma, American Farmers and
Ranchers & Midwest Farm Shows
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Iowa Caucuses Happen Tonight- We Hear from the Center of the
Universe!
-- Monsanto, Canola and Wheat in the News....
-- Pork Research Concludes that PETA, other activist groups impacting
kids.
-- FFA Night Organized by AFR Coming January 18!
-- Policy, Promotion and Production Issues Come Together for Cotton
Producers at the 2008 Beltwide Conference Next Week in Nashville.
-- Farm Bureau's Legal Foundation Successful in 2007 Property Rights
Defense!
-- Come and Listen to My Story About Black & Gus- the Escaping
Cows!
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 are also proud to have 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! 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 Caucuses Happen Tonight- We Hear from the Center of the Universe! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Folks in rural
Iowa believe they are representing America's heartland in this first test
of 2008 of the US Presidential candidates. The Iowa Caucuses are on for
tonight in cold and snowy Iowa- and we talked with Ken Root, originally
from Oklahoma and now sitting in the prestigious studios of WHO Radio in
Des Moines, Iowa as their lead Farm Broadcaster.
Ken tells us that Iowa farmers have heard from the candidates their almost universal love for biofuels and especially ethanol- have heard most of the candidates espouse the concept of strong rural development as a cornerstone for farm policy and praise the rural population for their value system. Who will be most strongly supported by rural voters in return for these
words of adoration? Ken offered no predictions- but said that it's
fascinating to go through this sorting process of the Presidential
candidates- and that while Iowa is now the Epicenter of the political
world- it will quickly be left behind in the snow in a matter of hours.
Click here to listen to Ron and Ken talk Iowa Politics on this day of the Iowa Caucuses! | |
Monsanto, Canola and Wheat in the News.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Monsanto will
be releasing their latest report on earnings this morning. Andrew White
with TheStreet.Com writes "Monsanto is scheduled to report first-quarter
2008 earnings (ending November) in a conference call at 9:30 a.m. EST on
Thursday, Jan. 3. The current consensus estimate for fully diluted
quarterly EPS is 35 cents (up 119% vs. earnings for the same quarter last
year) on revenue of $1.87 billion (up 22% vs. same quarter last year).
While Monsanto's long-term record of positive surprises has been
decelerating over the last year, current earnings estimates have rapidly
increased over the last three months. The company will likely once again
deliver the goods."
Meanwhile, one of the crops that has received a lot of attention from Monsanto here in Oklahoma is winter canola- and Plains Oilseed Products Coop- otherwise known as POP says we have yet another increase in the contract price being offered to canola producers for this coming summer's harvest. The price is now 20 and a half cents per pound- or $10.25 per bushel. We hear from Tim Bartram of the Oklahoma Wheat Growers Association that the National Association of Wheat Growers has called a national strategic meeting for this weekend in Dallas to review policy issues as Congress begins to hammer out a deal between the House and Senate that will become the 2008 farm bill. Several from Oklahoma will be in attendance- and we will have an update for you first of the week. | |
Pork Research Concludes that PETA, other activist groups impacting kids. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Activist
groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals are affecting
children's meat- eating habits, according to research by the Pork
Checkoff. The Checkoff conducted four focus groups of 10 children ages 9
to 14 around the United States. It also completed an online survey of 350
children in that age bracket. The kids were asked about their familiarity
with Web sites such as petakids.com as well as their views on
vegetarianism and animal care.
Although PETA has a low awareness among the kids, the research found, it has a high impact on their meat- eating habits. Only one-third of all youth surveyed indicated they have heard of or visited the PETA Web site, but among those aware of PETA, one-third reported having seen a video concerning animal care or meat consumption. Fifty three percent indicated the Web site and or the videos had impacted their meat- eating habits. At this point, pork industry leaders say they are watching closely for any new initiatives that PETA or other groups might be considering. And, they say if it appears that impacting decisions being made by kids is a major objective of PETA with any additiional programs- they say will quickly respond. | |
FFA Night Organized by AFR Coming January 18! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ American
Farmers and Ranchers Mutual Insurance announces their sponsorship of FFA
Night at the Blazers Hockey game Friday night, January 18th at the Ford
Center in downtown Oklahoma City. The event will enable the statewide
youth organization, FFA, to raise funds for the Oklahoma FFA Foundation,
which will keep five dollars of every $10 ticket sold by members. In
addition, all FFA members attending the game will have an opportunity to
win one of four animals to be given away at the end of the evening's game:
an Express Ranch heifer, valued at $2,500, a lamb, a goat and a pig.
"Our farm organization has been sponsoring youth activities since before statehood, and we're especially proud to sponsor this event for our Oklahoma FFA chapters," said Ray L. Wulf, President and CEO of American Farmers and Ranchers Mutual Insurance Company, Oklahoma City. "These youngsters will also get a chance to win some pretty good animals at the end of the game, so it should be a lot of fun. Head Coach of the Blazers, Doug Sauter tells us "Come out and enjoy a hockey game as the Blazers face off with the Laredo Bucks for the first and only time this season, and support our FFA members statewide." The game starts at 7:35 PM January 18, 2008, at the Ford Center in downtown Oklahoma City. Tickets can be purchased from any Oklahoma FFA member or by calling Kent Boggs, State FFA Executive Secretary at 405-743-5461. | |
Policy, Promotion and Production Issues Come Together for Cotton Producers at the 2008 Beltwide Conference Next Week in Nashville. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The theme for
the 2008 Beltwide Cotton Conference is "Orchestrate Your Opportunities"
and thousands from all segments of the cotton industry will be in
Nashville for the annual event.
Next Wednesday and Thursday, Jan. 9-10, will feature the annual Beltwide Cotton Production Conference. The general session will open with a welcome from Tennessee Department of Agriculture Commissioner Ken Givens and feature updates from the NCC and Cotton Incorporated on the farm bill, cotton research and promotion, variety improvement and other important issues. The general session also will include a focus on herbicide resistance management; new harvesting technology, including onboard moduling systems; the new extension web site; current/future challenges and opportunities for cotton producers; and lessons learned from the 2007 growing season. The cotton industry faces lots of challenges in 2008- especially with the latest word from WTO claiming that the US has not done enough to end the alleged harm that the US cotton program has caused developing countries. This is a continuation of the assault on US farm policy by Brazil that has seen ruling after ruling in this case go against the United States. Add to that the challenge of cotton competing for acres against crops that will end up going for biofuels- high input costs and the writing of new farm policy- and there's lots to talk about at the 2008 Beltwide. We have details of the conference on the Calendar page of our website- and we have that page linked below for you to check out. Click here for the Calendar page of our website- WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com. | |
Farm Bureau's Legal Foundation Successful in 2007 Property Rights Defense! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The year 2007
proved to be a good one for the Oklahoma Farm Bureau's Legal Foundation,
as three times the Foundation's efforts to protect private property rights
were successful.
The City of Durant was forced by the Foundation's efforts to reverse
annexation of land that isolated property owners without providing
services. Durant "strip annexed" which meant they annexed narrow strips 20
feet wide and several miles long, creating a boundary and preventing a
nearby town from expanding toward Durant. Finally, the Oklahoma based Foundation joined with the American Farm Bureau in calling on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reconsider whether to list the Black-tailed Prairie Dog under the Endangered Species Act. Farm Bureau's efforts focused on the legal issue of whether the USFWS must consider the health of a species in its current range, or whether it must examine the broader historical range. The prairie dog is traditionally found in pasture land throughout the High Plains. Ranchers and other landowners believe the prairie dog destroys grasslands. | |
Come and Listen to My Story About Black & Gus- the Escaping Cows! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's still a
holiday week- and we were sent a really funny cow video that I will only
say pretty well lands where most Americans in this country live when it
comes to things rural.
Click below and get the news update on this Bovine escapade! | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows, American Farmers and Ranchers Mutual Insurance and Farm Credit Services 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! 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. | |
God Bless! You can reach us at the following: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
phone: 405-473-6144
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
