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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Friday July 24, 2009
A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and KIS
Futures!
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-- Big Monetary Lawsuit Is Out the Window for Attorney General Drew
Edmondson
-- OCA Convention Is Underway in Midwest City
-- OSU Gets Money for AgrAbility Program
-- Double Beef Buzzing with Burton Eller of the NCBA Office
-- Kim Anderson Sees Little Hope for Wheat Above $6.00 Anytime
Soon
-- Peterson Urged to Assert Ag Jurisdiction on Food Safety
Legislation
-- Oklahoma Farm Bureau's YF& R Heading to Enid
-- 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 are proud to have KIS Futures as a regular sponsor of our daily email update. KIS Futures provides Oklahoma Farmers & Ranchers with futures & options hedging services in the livestock and grain markets- Click here for the free market quote page they provide us for our website or call them at 1-800-256-2555. We are also excited to have as one of our sponsors for the daily email
Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, with 64 years of progress through
producer ownership. Call Brandon Winters at 405-232-7555 for more
information on the oilseed crops they handle, including sunflowers and
canola- and remember they post closing market prices for canola and
sunflowers on the PCOM
website- go there 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. | |
Big Monetary Lawsuit Is Out the Window for Attorney General Drew Edmondson ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's a ruling
that has been called "devastating" for the chances of success in Attorney
General's Drew Edmondson's efforts to extract a big cash settlement from a
group of northwest Arkansas poultry companies. That description comes from
one of Edmondson's peers, Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel.
In checking with several folks at ground zero in eastern Oklahoma when it comes to this case, Rick Stubblefield, a board member for the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission offers his ideas on the fallout of the ruling that came this week from Federal District Judge Frizzell. "My thought is that while Mr. Edmondson is focusing on "injunctive relief" I am not sure what he is hoping to achieve. The court has already ruled that his expert witnesses were not credible, the evidence he presented to the court to support a temporary ban on poultry litter use was rejected, and there is no reason at this point to think that the court would reverse itself and impose a permanent ban on the use of poultry litter based on the same evidence Edmondson presented the first time around. My best guess is Edmondson will shortly begin blaming the out of state attorneys he hired for screwing up the case and try to separate himself from it - it has run its course in helping his run for governor." We have several things on our website as resources about this case, including a link to an excellent overview of the case in a news story written by an Arkansas journalist, the text of the full court ruling by judge Frizzell- and an Op-Ed piece offered by Rick Stubblefield. Click on the link below to check our story and these additional links out. | |
OCA Convention Is Underway in Midwest City ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The 2009
edition of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association Convention is underway at
the Reed Center in Midwest City. The aisles were crowded at many spots in
the trade Show, which occupies rooms and hallways both upstairs and
downstairs at the Reed Center.
We talked with Ray Heldermon, the outgoing President of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association, about his two years as President of the OCA, and Ray expressed a lot of appreciation for both the volunteer leaders of the organization that served with him, as well as the staff that supports the policy and direction of the group. He told us that he is proud the organization continues to grow, gaining membership over the last two years and has remained in sound financial shape even with the turmoil in the general economy. He says that you always have to be an optimist to stay in the cattle business, and the last two years have been no exception. The opening session this morning will feature Keynote Speaker James Owen, who will advocate that a good dose of Cowboy Ethics could do a world of good if followed by our state and national leaders in this country. Click on the link below to learn more about this year's meeting, as well as to hear our conversation with Ray as we traveled around the Trade Show last night. Click here for more on the 2009 OCA Annual Meeting at the Reed Center in Midwest City. | |
OSU Gets Money for AgrAbility Program ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Agriculture
Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that USDA is awarding $4.1 million
in grants to 22 states to help farmers with disabilities through the
AgrAbility program, which helps thousands of disabled people overcome
barriers to continuing their chosen professions in agriculture. "Given the
right resources, farmers with disabilities can run productive and
profitable farms," Vilsack said. "The AgrAbility program can provide the
resources and tools producers need to enhance their quality of life and be
successful."
Among the Land Grant Schools that have received money in this current
release, Oklahoma State University is receiving $199,000 for the
continuation of their AgrAbility program. Since initial funding in 1991, CSREES has awarded grants to more than 30 states resulting in on-farm assistance to more than 12,000 farmers while educating thousands of professionals on how to accommodate those with disabilities in agriculture. The typical award provides up to $180,000 per year for up to four years to qualifying universities. | |
Double Beef Buzzing with Burton Eller of the NCBA Office ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We have had
Burton Eller join us the last two days on the Beef Buzz- and we invite you
to click on and listen to either or both of these segments with the top
hired hand for the beef industry in the NCBA's Washington, DC office.
The whole world has changed- and has changed a lot since last July. But
the economic and political landscape has changed dramatically, and the
head of the Washington office of the National Cattlemen's Beef
Association, Burton Eller, says that has resulted in the cattle group has
switched out gameplans- from an offensive strategy on several fronts to
being almost entirely defensive in its mindset. Eller says that now the
key is to work to prevent things being done that will harm the industry
today and in the years to come. Meanwhile, The Beef Cattle Industry needs sound science on its side- and the head of the Washington, DC office for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, Burton Eller, says that means that the beef cattle business has some catching up to do in dealing with the hostile attitudes we are seeing on a daily basis in our nation's capitol. On today's Beef Buzz, we learn about fresh data the industry needs to help answer critics of raising cattle in the U.S. Click on the link below for today's Beef Buzz. | |
Kim Anderson Sees Little Hope for Wheat Above $6.00 Anytime Soon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Don't expect
wheat prices to have a major rally any time soon, there simply is too big
of a supply of wheat here in the US and globally. OSU Grain Marketing
Economist Dr. Kim Anderson thinks we could move ten to twenty five cents
higher, basis the September 2009 contract, which closed on Thursday at
$5.61 a bushel. he does not see a big rally anytime soon, as the size of
the US Wheat crop will continue to help build stocks, and the crops in
southern Hemisphere are looking good.
Dr. Anderson also discussed corn marketing strategy as that crop approaches harvest in southern parts of our state. Dr. Anderson's comments are a part of the OSU Division of Ag program, SUNUP, and we have the audio conversation that Clinton Griffiths had with Kim at the link you see below. We also have a full rundown of tomorrow's SUNUP TV show, which can be seen on OETA around the state. Jump to our story to see the program lineup that will be on the show this weekend. Click here for Kim Anderson's look at this week's grain market- and SUNUP info to boot. | |
Peterson Urged to Assert Ag Jurisdiction on Food Safety Legislation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's
Frank Lucas - Ranking Member of the House Ag Committee - wants Chairman
Collin Peterson to assert the committee's jurisdiction on the Food Safety
Enhancement Act of 2009. In a letter to Peterson - Lucas notes none of the
producer witnesses at last week's food safety hearing supported the
current legislation. Along with asserting the Ag Committee's jurisdiction
over the bill - Lucas asks Peterson to hold hearings on the impact of the
measure on farmers and ranchers and proposals on ways to improve it - and
hold a mark-up in the Ag Committee.
Lucas says the Ag Committee has the expertise to fairly and thoughtfully consider the benefits and costs of the Food Safety Enhancement Act. He says it's imperative that the committee work in a transparent and bipartisan manner to represent American agriculture's interests. | |
Oklahoma Farm Bureau's YF& R Heading to Enid ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma Farm
Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee will hold its annual Summer
Conference this afternoon through Sunday in Enid at the Days Inn, 2901 S.
Van Buren, Enid, OK 73703. This event is open to any young ag producer
across the state.
Several tours are planned for the group- including stops at Advance Foods, Pollard Farms, Koch Fertilizer and Johnston Enterprises. Seminar sessions are planned as well, including a Legislative roundup on Sunday with State Representative Jeff Hickman as a special guest speaker. Click on our link below for our calendar item on this event that includes the full schedule of the event for the next couple of days. | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, PCOM, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy, Johnston Enterprises, AFR and KIS Futures for their support of our daily Farm News Update. For your convenience, we have our sponsors' websites linked here- just click on their name to jump to their website- check their sites 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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