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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Wednesday January 16,
2008! A
service of Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma, KIS Futures &
American Farmers and Ranchers.
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-- Get er Done!!!
-- Spradling Joins the AFBF Board- Bob Stallman Re-elected as AFBF
President.
-- FDA Blesses Cloned Animals to be a part of the food chain.
-- National Western Underway in Denver- and Lots More Happening This
week as well.
-- Wheat Prices Soar After Trade Misses Hard Red Winter Wheat Acreage
by a Mile...
-- Let's Clarify...
-- Milo Makes Good with 2007 a Year for the Record Books.
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 KIS Futures as a regular sponsor of our daily E-Mail. KIS Futures provides Oklahoma Farmers & Ranchers with futures & options hedging services in the livestock and grain markets- Click here for their website or call them at 1-800-256-2555. We are also proud to have American Farmers and Ranchers Mutual
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Get er Done!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That was the
message of the delegate body doing business at the American Farm Bureau
Federation Convention in New Orleans yesterday. By a unanimous voice vote-
the delegates called on Congress to finish and pass a farm bill- do not
extend the old law- and then called on the President to stop trash talking
veto and sign the bill into law.
Specifically, the resolution said "Therefore, be it resolved by the voting delegates representing more than six million members in 50 states and Puerto Rico that, the American Farm Bureau Federation and all state Farm Bureaus (1) urge Congress to swiftly conference and then pass a comprehensive Farm Bill that maintains an adequate safety net for farmers and ranchers; (2) vigorously oppose a one or two year extension of current law and (3) emphatically urge the President to sign this critical piece of legislation." We were told that this was a response to what was told the Farm Bureau by Acting Secretary Chuck Conner on Sunday, as Conner offered what he called a "stern message" about all the things that the President finds objectionable about the Senate and House Ag Bills that are now being molded into a Conference Report. It was fairly easy to tell that the delegates were tired of the arguments- that the 2008 growing season is already well underway and it is time for a new farm bill to become law so that USDA could move to begin to implement the package. | |
Spradling Joins the AFBF Board- Bob Stallman Re-elected as AFBF President. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bob Stallman
was re-elected president of the American Farm Bureau Federation and Barry
Bushue, a nursery and berry producer from Oregon, was elected AFBF vice
president at the 89th American Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting.
Stallman, a cattle and rice producer from Columbus, Texas, was elected to
a fifth two-year term as president. Bushue, from Boring, Oregon., was
elected vice president to succeed Steve Appel, a wheat and barley producer
from the state of Washington, who retired.
Mike Spradling of Tulsa County, the new President of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, was one of two State Presidents that were added to the American Farm Bureau board. Spradling was joined by Doug Mosebar as they were elected to serve on the board. Spradling became OFB President this past November as he won the state election to fill the position vacated by Steve Kouplen who term limited out after serving eight years as state Farm Bureau President. | |
FDA Blesses Cloned Animals to be a part of the food chain. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After years of
detailed study and analysis, the Food and Drug Administration has
concluded that meat and milk from clones of cattle, swine, and goats, and
the offspring of clones from any species traditionally consumed as food,
are as safe to eat as food from conventionally bred animals. There was
insufficient information for the agency to reach a conclusion on the
safety of food from clones of other animal species, such as sheep. FDA
today issued three documents on animal cloning outlining the agency's
regulatory approach - a risk assessment; a risk management plan; and
guidance for industry. The documents were originally released in draft
form in December 2006. Since that time, the risk assessment has been
updated to include new scientific information. That new information
reinforces the food safety conclusions of the drafts.
As far as reaction to the announcement goes- it's a mixed bag. American Farm Bureau president Bob Stallman says - Farm Bureau applauds FDA's final risk assessment that meat and milk from cloned animals and their offspring are safe to eat. Stallman pointed out that - no special labeling or other measures are needed, because food derived from these animals is no different from food from conventionally bred animals. We support that determination. Stallman added - cloning technology will give farmers and ranchers an additional production option. But NFU President Tom Buis says - in the face of ever-increasing food safety concerns, it is troubling to see FDA approve of products from cloned animals to be sold to the public, when questions surrounding the health risks, legal implications and ethical concerns remain unanswered. Buis believes - economic implications of introducing products from cloned animals into the marketplace could be potentially devastating for family farmers and consumers. NFU is pushing for labeling of products from cloned livestock. | |
National Western Underway in Denver- and Lots More Happening This week as well. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's non stop
livestock show activity at the 2008 National Western Stock Show from now
through next weekend on January 27 when the annual event winds down.
Between now and next weekend, you have major breed shows and sales, livestock judging by youth and collegians and the annual youth livestock show that culminates in their Sale of Champions Friday evening January 25. In years past, Oklahoma youth have been well represented at that event- and we will be reporting how things go in 2008 this coming week. Besides the National Western- other events happening include the Texas County Ag Appreciation celebration going on today in Guymon, the KOMA Cattle Conference in Bartlesville- also today, while tomorrow brings the Crop Sensor Conference in Stillwater and a No-till event in Hollis. Click to be taken to the Calendar page of our website, WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com | |
Wheat Prices Soar After Trade Misses Hard Red Winter Wheat Acreage by a Mile... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tuesday was
another limit up move for new crop Kansas City wheat futures, as the
market played catch up for one more day after last Friday's Wheat Seedings
Report showed that we actually have fewer acres of Hard Red Winter Wheat
sowed this year than last. Traders were expecting up to two million acres
more in wheat seedings than were found by USDA.
Oklahoma and Kansas were three percent down in acres, while the Texas crop was off five percent. With this strong move since the report came out last Friday morning, new crop Kansas City July wheat contracts have moved north of nine dollars per bushel. They settled yesterday at $9.08 1/2 and are another five cents up in overnight electronic trading early this morning as I write this story. Being only a nickel up suggests we will finally really trade through the day in this contract- and we might have the acreage fiugures now priced into the market. Old crop contracts have also pushed higher, and have taken cash wheat prices to the mid eight dollar to low nine dollar range across the state. I have linked below the latest cash wheat price summary for the state- it's further evidence that the market is not thinking about a return to three dollar cash prices anytime soon. | |
Let's Clarify... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We got it
right yesterday when we said that trying to combine a topdress of
fertilizer with a fungicide application is a recipe for failure. But, we
turned around the reason for that fact.
So let's try it again- Dr. Jeff Edwards offers this explanation why that's a thought that should not be given even slight consideration. "Nitrogen needs to be applied from now through February. The earliest a fungicide application should be made is growth stage 6 in mid March. So, if growers apply a fungicide during a normal topdress nitrogen application, the fungicide will go out too early. Likewise, if you wait until optimal timing for the fungicide, it is too late to topdress. For this reason, fungicide and topdress nitrogen should be made at different times of the year, in two separate passes." | |
Milo Makes Good with 2007 a Year for the Record Books. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sorghum
farmers harvested record grain sorghum crops last year, breaking all
previous bushel per acre records. "Sorghum yields shattered all records
this year," said Dale Murden, President of the National Sorghum Producers
Board of Directors. "I have never seen yields this good." According to
USDA's 2007 Crop Production Summary, sorghum yielded an average of 74.2
bushels per acre this season, breaking the all-time yield record of 72.7
bushels per acre, set in 1994. Last year's average yield was 56.2 bushels
per acre.
In addition to record yields, sorghum acreage also increased dramatically. Sorghum producers planted 7.7 million acres of sorghum this year compared to 6.5 million acres last year. Sorghum's excellent yields this year have benefited more than just U.S. sorghum growers. Export markets overseas have flocked to import more U.S. sorghum than in recent memory because grain crops elsewhere in the world suffered last year. Additionally, new ethanol markets have demanded more and more sorghum, as ethanol plants are built to accommodate both sorghum and corn in their fuel production operations. | |
Our thanks to American Farmers & Ranchers, KIS Futures and Farm Credit of East Central Oklahomafor 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
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