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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Tuesday May 6, 2008!
A
service of The Oklahoma Bioenergy Center, Farm Credit of East Central
Oklahoma and American Farmers & Ranchers.
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-- Edging Closer- A Farm Bill Final Conference Report May Surface
This Week.
-- Wheat Updates- Local Tours Today- Wheat Quality Tour Leaves
Manhattan This Morning- and the Latest Crop Weather Update.
-- OSU's Bob Hunger Continues to See Only Light Disease Pressure in
the 2008 Wheat Crop.
-- Hope Arrives In Thailand!
-- The Global Warming Two Step...
-- US Beef Safety Touted by USDA Official in Seoul.
-- Another Wheat Alternative for Oklahoma- Sunflowers!
-- Checking 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 say thanks to Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma for being 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 & 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. | |
Edging Closer- A Farm Bill Final Conference Report May Surface This Week. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There is more
talk as of last night of a Presidential veto- and the indication is that
there are not enough Republicans to override a veto. It is still "iffy" as
to whether there will be a "public" meeting tomorrow- but the inability of
the Democratic leadership to line up a veto proof bill may mean public
meetings where the Republicans get enough "goodies" to get on board and
support the bill- resisting White House pressure.
Meanwhile, House Republicans were supposed to meet last night to discuss a Bush veto and how they would respond to it- if it does occur. There are still a handful of issues that could make or break the farm bill process- including the Payment Limits and AGI Income test for receiving farm program payments. The last word we got last night is that the CBO "scores" on how much the overall bill and these individual components will cost has not yet been released. It was stated by Conference Committee Chair Senator Tom Harkin that
there would not be a "public" meeting of the conferees until at least 1:00
PM Tuesday (today)- as we write this, there is no indication of when or if
there will be a "public" meeting today or not. The Principals (House and
Senate Ag Leadership) were expected to meet this morning. From several
different directions we have heard that if all falls together, Mr. Harkin
and Mr. Peterson want no part of any more "public" meetings- and will opt
instead to walk the Conference Report around to the offices of the
Congressmen involved to get their signatures. As things break- we will update on our webpage for the 2007 Farm Bill on WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com | |
Wheat Updates- Local Tours Today- Wheat Quality Tour Leaves Manhattan This Morning- and the Latest Crop Weather Update. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are
three local wheat plot tours planned for today, the sixth of May. The
first is in the Kingfisher area at 9:30 AM, the second in Sentinel at
10:00 AM and the third and final local plot tour of the week is in Thomas
at 1:30 PM this afternoon. Check with your local Extension office for
details and if you are not in these areas- there are still a bunch of them
planned over the next two weeks- go to our Calendar page- click here- and
check out the complete rundown.
The 2008 Wheat Quality Council Tour of the Hard Red Winter Wheat belt kicks off this morning in Manhattan, Kansas and those on the tour say they expect to find a crop behind normal development- and one that is stressed because of dry weather in the western areas that will be looked at on day two of the tour. Finally,we have the latest Oklahoma Crop Weather Update- which says we are very dry in some critical areas of the wheat belt(especially the Panhandle), while certain portions of the state are assessing damage because of hail storms that rumbled across several counties. The current wheat crop conditions shows we have an 8% excellent rating, 44% in good shape, 30% Fair and 18% poor to very poor. The crop moved quickly forward in maturity with 75% now in the "heading" stage- about 14 percentage points behind the five year average. Click here for all the rest of the details from the latest Crop Weather Update for Oklahoma. | |
OSU's Bob Hunger Continues to See Only Light Disease Pressure in the 2008 Wheat Crop. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here's the
latest Disease Report from Dr. Bob Hunger, Extension Plant Pathologist at
Oklahoma State University based out of Stillwater- he continues to see
only light disease pressure here in Oklahoma on this 2008 winter wheat
crop. "On April 29th I was at field days in northern Oklahoma (Billings
and Alva), and on May 1st I was at field days near El Reno and Apache in
central Oklahoma. Overall, wheat looked good but the need for moisture was
becoming apparent (especially in northern Oklahoma around Cherokee and
Alva). Wheat ranged from the "half-berry stage around Apache to just
starting to flower in the north. Diseases were sparse, with barley yellow
dwarf virus the most common, although this seemed to vary from field to
field depending on planting date. Early planted fields showed the most
symptoms. Pustules of leaf rust were found at all locations, but these
were relatively sparse (especially in northern OK). Powdery mildew was
more commonly observed, and in a few fields (one near Apache and the
variety trial near Cherokee), pustules of powdery mildew were in the
25-40% range on the F-1 and F-2 leaves.
"During last week, O.S.U. wheat breeder Dr. Brett Carver found two
significant "hot spots" of stripe rust. Both of these were in his breeder
lines planted on the Lahoma station and on the Stillwater station. These
infections were as bad as anything we saw in 2001, 2003, and 2005, but
appeared to be limited to a relatively small area of each of these
stations. In the Plant Disease and Insect Diagnostic Lab, Jen also found a
wheat sample from near Alva that she confirmed positive for barley yellow
dwarf virus, wheat streak mosaic virus, and Triticum mosaic virus."
In neighboring states, the one report that seems to point to a small amount of leaf rust comes from south central Kansas. Dr. Erick DeWolf, Wheat Extension Specialist, Kansas State University reports that Leaf rust was observed in additional counties in South Central and Central Kansas this week. Harvey County (North of Wichita) Wheat in this area ranges from jointing to early head emergence. Joe Martin KSU wheat breeder in Hayes Kansas (North central Kansas) also reported finding leaf rust this week. Martin says "Jagger and Jagalene appear to have the most rust at this point, but I have found trace levels in Overley also." For more from Dr. Hunger, here's link within the OSU Division of Ag System... | |
Hope Arrives In Thailand! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I have not
mentioned the travels of Hope Pjesky for some time now- and she has made
her way through Japan and Malaysia to the third and final country that she
is spending time in- studying their agriculture and learning more about
food security in these three nations- that third country is Thailand.
In reviewing Hope's numerous posts in the first two countries that she has traveled through- it is amazing how many different aspects of agriculture she has experienced- from the production of Kobe beef to yummy papayas to tea and rubber production- very impressive. Hope is traveling as an Eisenhower Fellow in Asia in hopes of learning about the food security issues in this region- she was also a part of the time spent in China and South Korea by the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program. You can read about the varied experiences that this farm lady from Goltry, Oklahoma has been living by going to her blog that we have linked below- check it out! Click here for the Blog being written in Asia by Oklahoma Farmer Hope Pjesky. | |
The Global Warming Two Step... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An article
that we spotted as we cruised through the Real Clear Politics website here
at the beginning of the week is a fascinating review of the latest
contradictions over whether or not global warming is real or the product
of someone consuming too much Koolaid. The writer of this British article
says "A notable story of recent months should have been the evidence
pouring in from all sides to cast doubts on the idea that the world is
inexorably heating up. The proponents of man-made global warming have
become so rattled by how the forecasts of their computer models are being
contradicted by the data that some are rushing to modify the thesis."
He cites some of the latest "evidence" that both sides are claiming from this year in order to make their case. In almost every instance where Global Warming is claimed by this group or that organization- there seems to be evidence they fail to include that blows their ideas into very small pieces of garbage. Agriculture has a stake in the Global Warming Debate- as farmers and
land owners could be the beneficiaries of Carbon Credit payments in the
years ahead- in face, some producers have already signed up for very small
payments at this point. However, many of the rules and regs that could
come in the name of combating Global Warming may be detrimental to farmers
and ranchers down the road as well-raising costs of production and putting
more levels of regulation on agriculture in one form or another. Click here for more on the Global Warming Debate as written by Christopher Booker. | |
US Beef Safety Touted by USDA Official in Seoul. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As the public
and political backlash to Seoul's decision to fully reopen its market to
U.S. beef gains momentum in South Korea, Washington officials are stepping
in to try to quell lingering concerns about the safety of U.S. beef.
Richard Raymond, under secretary for USDA's Food Safety and Inspection
Service, used the occasion of a news conference on Sunday "to assure all
consumers - both domestic and abroad - that the U.S. beef supply is among
the safest in the world." He also outlined the layers of safeguards, most
important being the removal of specified risk materials, that ensure it is
such.
Raymond entered the fray following a groundswell of bad publicity emanating late last week from a popular Korean TV news program that claimed, among other falsehoods, that Americans themselves do not eat U.S. beef for fear of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and that Koreans are more vulnerable to BSE than Americans and Europeans. Meatingplace.com notes that "The under secretary's assurances also come as Korean legislators who oppose the new beef protocol between the two countries promised to write up a bill that would call for renegotiation of the deal." They add that "Seoul's ruling party noted that U.S. beef has been deemed safe by international standards. Redrafting the agreement, Grand National Party policymaker Lee Han-ku told reporters would "be against international negotiating practices and protocol." | |
Another Wheat Alternative for Oklahoma- Sunflowers! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There is a
meeting scheduled on May 13th at 9:00 AM for anyone interested in
producing high oleic sunflowers. Producers will have the opportunity to
contract acres at a very attractive price with a very flexible acreage
contract.
The meeting will cover the details of the contract and Oklahoma State University oil seed specialist Chad Godsey will address the agronomic details of raising sunflowers in Oklahoma. Production of Sunflowers offers the potential of breaking the cycle of weeds and diseases in continuous wheat production even as you capture the opportunity of a very profitable oilseed crop. This meeting on May 13 is being sponsored by Technology Crops Incorporated and Johnston Enterprises. It will be held at the Hoover Building on the Garfield County Fairgrounds- beginning at 9:00 AM. Contact Johnston Enterprises in Enid for more information at 580-233-5800. | |
Our thanks to American Farmers & Ranchers, Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Bioenergy Center 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. | |
Checking the Markets... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A total of
9,800 cattle were on hand for the Monday run at the Oklahoma National
Stockyards in OKC- with yearling steers called steady and not much of a
test on the calf trade. Seven weight steers brought from $106 to $110,
while eight weights ranged from $96 to $106.75.
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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