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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Wednesday July 2, 2008!
A
service of American Farmers & Ranchers, KIS Futures & Johnston
Enterprises!
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-- American Farm Bureau Calls on USDA for Help!!!
-- Is it Canola- or rapeseed???
-- National Sorghum Checkoff Now Underway.
-- Cash Cattle Prices Rising Just Like the Summertime
Temperatures.
-- Bowman Promoted to COO at the American Angus Association
-- Kudos to Sam Knipp- Best in the Land for Farm Bureau Media
Efforts
-- Looking at our Agricultural Markets...
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 have 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 recent TV Commercial or call them at 1-800-256-2555. We welcome as our newest regular sponsor on our daily email Johnston
Enterprises- proud to have served agriculture across Oklahoma and
around the world since 1893. Johnston Grain wishes our wheat producers a
safe and prosperous harvest this season- for more on Johnston Enterprises-
click
here for their website! 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. | |
American Farm Bureau Calls on USDA for Help!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The American
Farm Bureau Federation has asked Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer to
allow producers to harvest a prevented planting crop beginning September
first, with the strict caveat that the grain can only be chopped and used
as livestock feed. Farm Bureau also asked for an immediate, one-time
release of CRP acres for haying and grazing in disaster counties and
contiguous counties. And, Farm Bureau repeated an earlier request that
farmers and ranchers be provided with estimate or partial disaster
payments as quickly as possible.
Last week, Secretary Ed Schafer pointed out it would probably be at least October of 2009 before damages are known And that information is necessary before even a partial payment can be made. Anticipating that argument- AFBF tells Schafer in their letter "Current indications from the department are that payments could not be made under this program until October 2009 when final season average prices are released for the 2008 crop. However, the department has a long history, starting during the 1980s farm crisis, of making advanced disaster payments. The department is also able to make advanced payments for counter-cyclical payments based on price forecasts for the season." | |
Is it Canola- or rapeseed??? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We had a story
yesterday about a series of meetings- mostly happening next week for
producers about a high erucic acid canola that is being touted by a
company that wants to contract with producers to have them group this crop
for them this coming growing season- planted in the fall and harvested in
2009.
We got a note from Dr. Tom Peeper of OSU- who questions whether this crop should really be called canola- based on it being a high erucic acid crop. In fact, he says that it is definitely NOT canola. "My concern was that, by legal definition, canola can not be high in erucic acid. Since I was not positive about that, I contacted the U.S. Canola Association for clarification. Their response clarifies that high erucic canola is incorrect nomenclature. Since canola oil is very heart healthy, and high erucic acid oil is heart poisonous, we need to make sure that our farmers don't confuse the two and that we don't erroneously and apparently illegally refer to high erucic acid varieties as canola. It may be a rapeseed, but, as explained in the FDA information below, it is not canola." The Food and Drug Administration says that the name "canola oil is an
alternate common or usual name for low erucic acid rapeseed oil (LEAR
oil), as it is identified in the United States." | |
National Sorghum Checkoff Now Underway. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The morning of
July first saw the beginning of the Sorghum Promotion, Research and
Information order. Supporters of the program say it will ultimately
contribute to the improved development of the sorghum industry. NSP
President Dale Murden of Texas said the first delivered load - represents
a milestone for the sorghum industry. The new national program replaces
several previously-existing state checkoff programs.
The checkoff rate for grain sorghum is 0.6 percent of value and is collected at the first point of sale. The checkoff rate for forage sorghum is 0.35 percent of value. In many states, a previously-existing state checkoff programs were suspended upon commencement of national checkoff assessments. That was the case here in Oklahoma. Called the "water-sipping crop" - sorghum is especially adaptable in semi-arid climates and uses one-third less water than some of its counterpart grains. It is used for animal feeding, for high-output ethanol production, as a gluten-free alternative food, and has many niche markets such as birdseed and wallboard. Much of the U.S. sorghum crop is exported to Mexico and Europe for animal feeding and ethanol production. | |
Cash Cattle Prices Rising Just Like the Summertime Temperatures. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our Beef Buzz
for Tuesday July second features a look at the cash cattle market- and
underlying it- the wholesale boxed beef trade. We have had a substantial
runup in both of those sets of prices- and now we approach a dollar a
pound for cash cattle in the southern plains. That's enough for some of
our cattle feedlot closeouts to be in the black- after months of red ink
for feedlot operators.
It's about time- given the fact that the packers have been making a lot of money on the cattle they process for much of 2008. Right now, Hedgersedge.com reports that the average beef plant margin is just a bit over $92 per head- up from just a week ago when it was running $68 a head, which is an outstanding return as well. Kansas State University Extension Livestock Market Economist Dr. Jim Mintert is our guest today- as we talk about the factors behind this current strength in cattle prices which are turning out to be a pleasant surprise as we approach the dog days of summer. The Beef Buzz is heard daily on great radio stations across the state of Oklahoma on the Radio Oklahoma Network. We also have many of our shows archived on our website- and we have today's show for you to listen to below. Click here to listen to Ron and Dr. Mintert on today's Beef Buzz. | |
Bowman Promoted to COO at the American Angus Association ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bill Bowman
has been named the American Angus Association Chief Operating Officer
(COO), effective immediately. Bowman has been with the Association for 16
years and also serves in other leadership roles such as vice president of
information and data programs, director of performance programs and
president of Angus Genetics Inc. (AGI), a subsidiary of the Association.
He began his tenure at the Association as a regional manager, traveling
Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma, and later became the first director of
commercial programs.
As COO, Bowman will oversee the daily operations of the Association. He will work closely with Bryce Schumann, the Association Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and all departments. "Bill understands the needs of the membership and the importance of customer service, as well as all departments within the Association," Schumann says. "He'll be instrumental in ensuring that the Association continues to provide programs and services to our membership and the commercial cattle producer now and in the future." | |
Kudos to Sam Knipp- Best in the Land for Farm Bureau Media Efforts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The annual
gathering of the American Farm Bureau's information people was held this
year in Alabama- and Oklahoma Farm Bureau's Sam Knipp grabbed one of the
biggest awards at this year's gathering.
Oklahoma earned the Dave Lane Award for Media Relations Excellence for states with 70,000 or more members. In the under 70,000 category, New Mexico won the award, which recognizes the state public relations staff that does the best job of building and maintaining working relationships with the members of the news media. The award is in memory of former AFBF director of media relations Dave Lane. Knipp and his team also were honored for a couple of their broadcast features at the meeting. Congrats to Sam- as well as his associates Dustin Mielke, Mike Nichols, Traci Morgan and Kelli Beall. | |
Our thanks to Johnston Enterprises, KIS Futures and American Farmers & Ranchersfor 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. | |
Looking at our Agricultural Markets... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We are waiting
for cash cattle trade- and it very possibly be at or above a hundred a
pound in the southern plains when it occurs this week. Cash cattle trade
jumped to $98 to $99.50 this past week, with the higher end of those
prices seen in the Texas/Oklahoma region. Those higher prices have got a
lot of the pens of cattle now at a point where they should close out in
the black.
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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