From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.ccsend.com] on behalf of Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Friday, August 14, 2009 7:26 AM
To: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
Subject: Oklahoma's Farm News Update
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Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Friday August 14, 2009
A service of Johnston Enterprises, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy and American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance Company!
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-- The Last Word on ACRE Signup
-- Monsanto- Here Comes Smartstax in 2010
-- Wheat Prices Likely to Rise Between Now and December One
-- One Final Word from Tommy Beall from Last Saturday's Southern Plains Beef Symposium
-- From the Calendar- Scenic River Commission Cancels Monthly Meeting
-- Meat Exports Reported
-- Thank You!
-- 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 pleased to have American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance Company as a regular sponsor of our daily update- click here to go to their AFR web site to learn more about their efforts to serve rural America!

It is also great to have as an annual sponsor on our daily email Johnston Enterprises- proud to be serving agriculture across Oklahoma and around the world since 1893. For more on Johnston Enterprises- click here for their website!

And we are proud to have P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy as our newest regular sponsor of our daily email update. P & K is the premiere John Deere dealer in Oklahoma, with nine locations to serve you, and the P & K team are excited about their new Wind Power program, as they offer Endurance Wind Power wind turbines. Click here for more from the P&K 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.


The Last Word on ACRE Signup
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We got an email from Dr. Jody Campiche of the OSU Ag Economics Department on Thursday afternoon to give us one more perspective of ACRE for 2009- in this case for corn acres.

"Mike Dicks and I just ran the numbers for dryland corn based on the actual state yield estimate that NASS published yesterday. The actual OK corn yield estimate for 2009 is 110. However, we still don't know the actual yield estimate for irrigated and non-irrigated corn. So we estimated the state non-irrigated corn yield for 2009 to be around 65.7 bushels. The other part of the calculation that we don't know is the 2009/10 national marketing year average corn price. We used a USDA forecast of $3.50 for this price. Based on these estimates, the ACRE payment would be around $57/acre. Dryland corn producers who anticipate a yield loss for 2009 may want to take a look at ACRE. Additionally we continue to recommend that every producer calculate the potential ACRE payment for each farm that they operate."

Today is it for signup for the ACRE program. You must have your paperwork in place by close of business Friday afternoon with your local Farm Service Agency office. Estimates show that a majority of the wheat base acres in Oklahoma would qualify for a very significant ACRE payment for the 2009 crop year- a payment that would more than offset the drop in Direct Payments you lose for not just this year- but for all four years remaining of this current farm law.

It seems to me that this is a real test in being flexible. When we first saw ACRE in the 2008 farm bill debates- the numbers that were crunched by many folks, including Francie Tolle who at that time was with American Farmers & Ranchers, suggested this program would not be of value to Oklahoma wheat farmers. But things began to line up- the years that the prices are figured on- the prices themselves and a poor wheat crop in 2009- it results in ACRE being VERY lucrative for wheat farmers here in Oklahoma and Texas. We have more certainty of an ACRE payoff around here for wheat than just about any other place in the country. I realize I have been on my soapbox on this situation for the last couple of weeks- please excuse me for that- but wheat farmers owe it to themselves and to their families to run the numbers. If it works for you- sign up and take the money. With the Obama Administration in power and wanting to spend money on so many different programs- who knows if Direct Payments will survive in the out years of this farm law? This is the proverbial bird in the hand, assuming that when you run the calculator, it shows a positive result. Francie Tolle, now the State Director of the Farm Service Agency in Oklahoma, says we won't know until Monday how many folks have signed up this week when USDA releases the latest figures on ACRE participation- we will share those figures with you when we have them early next week.

Click here for the State FSA website for Oklahoma- with several dates to pay attention to this month.


Monsanto- Here Comes Smartstax in 2010
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Hugh Grant, Monsanto's President, Chairman and CEO, has announced that Monsanto-branded Genuity SmartStax will be offered to farmers on 3 to 4 million acres in 2010, the largest corn biotech launch to date. Genuity SmartStax, created through a cross-licensing agreement and research and development collaboration between Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, recently received regulatory registration from the United States, Canada and Japan. Genuity SmartStax is the agriculture industry's most advanced, all-in-one corn trait platform featuring a combination of insect control traits that significantly reduce the risk of resistance for both above- and below-ground pests. This will allow reduction of typically structured farm refuge from 20 percent to 5 percent in the U.S. Corn Belt and Canada and from 50 percent to 20 percent in the U.S. Cotton Belt.

This new technology will come with a hefty price tag. DTN is reporting that a bag of DeKalb branded seed corn with this new technology stack will cost $330 per bag- about $130 per acre and that is some $50 more per bag from previous high tech multi trait hybrid corn seeds. Bloomberg reports that "Pricing for SmartStax is at the high end of expectations, Laurence Alexander, a New York-based analyst at Jefferies & Co., said by telephone. The company is pricing its seeds to share the benefit of increased yields with farmers, said Mark Gulley, a New York- based analyst at Soleil Securities. Prices include seed treatments designed to protect seedlings from pests and disease, Monsanto said. "They are in essence splitting the value of the extra yield 50-50," Gulley said by telephone."

Monsanto also will price their next generation of soybean seed to reflect more yield potential at around $74 per acre, while earlier "original" Roundup Ready soybean seed will come in around $54 an acre. Click on the link below to read more from the Monsanto website about the new technology and what it means to the growth of the company in the days ahead.

Click here for more from Monsanto on their seed technology that will be available in 2010.


Wheat Prices Likely to Rise Between Now and December One
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Dr. Kim Anderson of Oklahoma State University believes that we could see a slight recovery in wheat prices between now and the first of December. His anticipated target by that date is around $4.75 on a cash basis in Central Oklahoma. Dr. Anderson says we are about thirty to forty cents from there right now- and a rally to take us back to that price level again- for at least a short time, is not out of the question.

Kim's comments are with Clinton Griffiths, the host of the weekly OSU Ag Communications TV show, SUNUP. Dr. Anderson is seen regularly on SUNUP and you can hear his comments from this coming weekend's show by clicking on the link below.

At that location on our website- we also have the full rundown of this weekend's SUNUP program- they are back on the main OETA channel this week, after being off for a couple of weeks.

Click here to listen to Kim Anderson on the grain market and his current wheat price expectations.


One Final Word from Tommy Beall from Last Saturday's Southern Plains Beef Symposium
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It's an exciting time to be involved in the Cow Calf end of the Beef Cattle Business- mainly because of the many marketing options that producers can choose from. That's the opinion of Tommy Beall of Beall Consulting as we wrap up our conversation with him from the Southern Plains Beef Symposium in Ardmore that was held this past weekend.

Beall says that producers who do not pursue a value added marketing strategy in today's environment are leaving dollars on the table- dollars that could determine the difference between profit and loss.In addition, considering retained ownership is another way to add dollars to your bottom line.

Click on the link below to check out our Friday Beef Buzz with Tommy Beall- and remember, we have previous Beef Buzz shows that you can browse through and listen to on your schedule on our website, www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com.

Click here for our Friday Beef Buzz with Tommy Beall


From the Calendar- Scenic River Commission Cancels Monthly Meeting
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The Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission Regular Business Meeting scheduled for Tuesday, August 18, has been canceled. OSRC plans to hold a Special Business Meeting some time in September with the primary focus on the Illinois River Management Plan.

There are a lot of things happening on the farm front this coming week- and you can check them all out by clicking on our calendar link below.

Remember- if you have an event that we need to add- drop us a note and we will get it included in what we believe is one of the most comprehensive calendar listings of rural and ag events going on that are important to Oklahomans.

Click here for the latest calendar listings on www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com


Meat Exports Reported
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The U.S. Meat Export Federation reports the lingering global economic slump and low prices for domestic beef and pork products in key export markets contributed to declines in both U.S. beef and pork exports in June, while lamb exports continue to enjoy a strong year.

Through the first six months of the year, pork exports remain 9 percent behind 2008 in terms of volume and 7 percent in value. More than 2-billion pounds of pork and pork variety meat valued at nearly 2.2-billion dollars have been exported. However, pork variety meat exports are up 27 percent in volume and their value is up 29 percent. But, in June, combined pork and pork variety meat exports were down 31 percent in June.

The federation reports U.S. beef exports are down only two percent in volume and six percent in value for the first half of 2009, reaching nearly one billion pounds with a value of almost 1.5-billion dollars. For the month, beef export volumes slipped 13 percent and the value fell 16 percent. Beef muscle cuts increased 2.5 percent in volume while the value slipped just over 4 percent. This was the largest monthly beef muscle cut export volume since last October. U.S. beef variety meat exports are down 12 percent in volume to almost 333-million pounds for the first six months while their value slipped 26 percent to almost 276-million dollars. During June, exports of beef variety meat were down 40 percent from last June.

The U.S. Meat Export Federation reports the export market for U.S. lamb and lamb variety meat continues to shine. For the first six months of 2009, export volumes are up 58 percent and valued at 13.9-million dollars. That's a 22 percent jump over 2008. For the month of June, export volumes are up 119 percent and the value is up 106 percent.
Click on the link below for the full story from the USMEF website.

Click here for more on the latest Meat Export Story for the US


Thank You!
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We'll share more on Monday- but we have just received our every other year ratings of radio listenership by farmers and ranchers here in the state of Oklahoma- and the Radio Oklahoma Network is a convincing and solid number one in our state!!! Compared to the other radio network that is based here in Oklahoma- RON wins on total cumulative farmer/rancher listeners by six points and on what is called an Average Quarter Hour snapshot, we win by more than 12 points! Two years ago, the two networks were essentially tied in these same rankings.

Four years ago, I was still employed by the other folks- and the other network had much stronger numbers than the RON stations of that era. Since I arrived here three years ago (today is my three year anniversary with RON), we have been able to add great radio stations to our lineup and have built a great combination of radio, TV, website and this email to inform you about the business of agriculture.

I have been blessed in so many ways by God during this journey. It would have been impossible to do this without the support of so many of you- and I am grateful for your interest. When you have ideas on how we can do things better- let me know. And when you can- support our advertisers, both on this email as well as on the website and on our radio network- they provide the dollars we need to keep this flow of information headed your way.
Finally, a special thanks to David Griffin- who wants Griffin Communications to be the center of the media universe here in Oklahoma and believes agricultural information should be a part of that mix- and thanks to our General Manager Tim West, who has put up with me for more years than you can imagine.


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.

Click here to check out WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com


Let's Check the Markets!
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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:
Our Daily Market Wrapup from the Radio Oklahoma Network with Ed Richards and Tom Leffler- analyzing the Futures Markets from the previous Day-
Ron on RON Markets as heard on K101 mornings with cash and futures reviewed- includes where the Cash Cattle market stands, the latest Feeder Cattle Markets Etc.
Previous Day's Wheat Market Recap- Two Pager From The Kansas City Board of Trade looks at all three US Wheat Futures Exchanges with extra info on Hard Red Winter Wheat and the why of that day's market.
Daily Oklahoma Cash Grain Prices- As Reported by the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture. <
The National Daily Feeder & Stocker Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
The National Daily Slaughter Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
Finally, Here is the Daily Volume and Price Summary from the Texas Cattle Feeders Association.



God Bless! You can reach us at the following:
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phone: 405-473-6144
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