News Update
Feb. 24, 2009

Agriculture Futures Trade Mixed

Agriculture futures were mixed midday Tuesday on the Chicago Board of Trade, according to The Associated Press (AP).

Wheat for March delivery lost 2.5¢ to $5.08 per bushel; March corn fell 3.25¢ to $3.485 per bushel; March oats were flat at $1.77 per bushel; and March soybeans inched up 0.25¢ to $8.73 per bushel.

Beef futures were higher and pork futures traded mixed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
April live cattle gained 0.38¢ to 84.3¢ per pound (lb.); March feeder cattle rose 0.1¢ to 88.85¢ per lb.; April lean hogs lost 0.6¢ to 57.62¢ per lb.; and March pork bellies advanced 1¢ to 73.25¢ per lb.

MU Economists to Report on Economic Impact of Ag, Biofuels March 11

Economists will report on the impact of agriculture and biofuel markets on the state economy at a Missouri Agricultural Outlook Conference, March 11, in Jefferson City.

Economists from the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) will deliver reports for state legislators, policymakers, farm leaders and producers.

The FAPRI economists will be returning from Washington, D.C., where they deliver an annual report to Congress, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and national commodity groups.

“We’re bringing the reports home to Missouri leaders just after delivering them nationally,” said Brent Carpenter, University of Missouri (MU) economist with FAPRI. “The reports have major implications for Missouri farms and the rural economy in both short and long terms.”

Agenda items include an overview of the outlook for both U.S. and Missouri agriculture; perspective on the economic outlook; outlook for crops; and outlook for livestock.

In addition to 10-year baseline reports, FAPRI economists will bring the latest information from Washington on implementation of the 2008 Farm Bill. Under that bill, crop producers have to decide whether to enroll in a new program called Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) or continue with the existing price-based program. Peter Zimmer, director of MU FAPRI’s Representative Farms Project, will demonstrate FAPRI’s ACRE Decision Tool, a software application designed to help farmers decide between the two programs.

Producers can enroll in the new program at USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) county offices or online at www.fsa.usda.gov/dcp.

The conference, at the Capitol Plaza Hotel, will begin at 9 a.m. and adjourn by 2:30 p.m. Advance registration to assure space at the conference is requested by March 4. A $25 fee covers a copy of the reports and lunch.

Copies of the agenda and registration form are at www.fapri.missouri.edu. For more information on the program, contact 573-882-6121. For questions about registration, contact Jennifer Hartwick of the MU Conference Office at 573-882-4349.

MU FAPRI is funded by Congress and the MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. FAPRI maintains a model of the U.S. agriculture economy and cooperates with a similar unit at Iowa State University that models international agriculture.

— Release provided by MU FAPRI.

Environmental Stewardship Award Nominations Due Feb. 25

The nomination deadline for this year’s National Cattlemen’s Foundation (NCF) Environmental Stewardship Award is Feb. 25. Nominations can be submitted by any individual, organization or group on behalf of a U.S. cattle producer. The annual award recognizes seven regional cattle operations for their excellent stewardship practices and commitment to conservation on the ground. Administered by NCF, the program is sponsored by Dow AgroSciences LLC, the Natural Resources Conservation Service of USDA and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. For more information visit www.environmentalstewardship.org or call Jonathan Beitia at 303-850-3392.

Southeastern Beef Cattle Marketing School

Southeastern Beef Cattle Marketing Schools will take place in three locations across Florida in April.

These schools were designed to help cattle producers better understand cattle markets, factors that influence prices, and ultimately improve the value of the calves they sell at their local livestock markets. Topics for the school will include:

• market outlook for 2009 and beyond;
  
• the best and worst best times of the year to sell;
• techniques to estimate cattle prices in advance;
  
• factors that affect prices for individual calves and cows;
  
• things to consider to avoid price discounts;
  
• methods to increase the total value of cattle sold; and
• marketing opportunities available through your local livestock market.
  

The Marketing Schools are single-day, educational seminars to take place April 14 in Arcadia, April 15 in Ocala, and April 16 in Marianna.

These schools are a cooperative effort of specialists and county agents in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina. The schedule for the marketing schools begins with registration at 8:30 a.m., local time, and will end around 3:30 p.m.

Registration for the schools is only $10 per person, payable at the door, and includes lunch. In order to ensure adequate food and materials, please RSVP with the site coordinator for the location you wish to attend no later than Friday, April 10. For more information contact the site coordinators at each location, or to download the complete agenda go to http://jackson.ifas.ufl.edu.

Jim Selph — Arcadia: Tuesday, April 14, DeSoto County Extension — 863-993-4846

Mark Shuffit — Ocala: Wednesday, April 15, Marion County Extension — 352-671-8400

Doug Mayo — Marianna: Thursday, April 16, Jackson County Extension — 850-482-9620

— Release provided by University of Florida.

OK-FIRE Offers Multi-Use Web Site for Wildland Fire Managers

The Oklahoma State University (OSU) web site OK-FIRE has caught on and is spreading rapidly throughout Oklahoma, providing much-needed information on a variety of fire-related topics.

OK-FIRE began in 2005 with a three-year $321,000 grant from the Joint Fire Science Program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), to be used in conjunction with the Oklahoma Mesonet, the state’s 120 automated-weather-station network.

Due to the early success of OK-FIRE, the grant was extended and will expire later this year. OK-FIRE will remain, however, a continuing program of the Oklahoma Mesonet given sufficient state support.

Originally password-protected since its debut in October 2006 and limited to select user groups, the OK-FIRE web site http://okfire.mesonet.org was opened to the public last summer in hopes of reaching increased numbers of wildland fire managers — and it has worked.

There were approximately 840,000 hits on the OK-FIRE web site in all of 2007, compared to more than a million hits per month during the past few months.

With an average of 2.5 million acres of wildlands burned through either prescribed burns or wildfire, the OK-FIRE program is critical to Oklahoma, said J.D. Carlson, principal investigator on the OK-FIRE grant and fire meteorologist with OSU’s Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.

“We’ve been wanting to have this program for a long time,” Carlson said. “OK-FIRE provides a multitude of decision-support tools for wildland fire managers throughout the state.”

The program has a threefold emphasis: a comprehensive suite of recent, current and forecast products for fire weather, fire danger and smoke dispersion; a dedicated web site to act as the delivery mechanism; and regional training and customer support for users.

The web site features major sections devoted to weather, fire, smoke, satellite, radar, air quality and burn site imagery. OK-FIRE products come in a variety of venues: site-specific data boxes, maps, charts and tables. However, OK-FIRE users will need to download and install WeatherScope off the homepage for maps and charts to be seen.

Carlson said one of the most popular tools on the web site is the Fire Prescription Planner. This tool uses 84-hour forecast output from the North American Model and indicates future hours where user-defined criteria are met.

“The planner can be used in two ways,” Carlson said. “Typically, people who prescribe burn have certain ranges for air temperature, wind and relative humidity that they are looking for.”

The criteria can be loaded into the planner, which will use these criteria to show windows of opportunity for a prescribed burn on an hourly basis over the next 84 hours. The Fire Prescription Planner can also be used to anticipate periods of high fire danger.

“You can put in criteria for high fire danger conditions like high winds and low relative humidity,” Carlson said. “The resulting forecast table will show green cells that represent periods of high fire danger. A fire department could thus look over the next few days to see if they need to have personnel on duty.”

Fire departments throughout the state were offered half-day training opportunities in 2008 to learn how to use the web site. Two of the departments that participated were the Tulsa Fire Department and Stillwater Fire Department.

The fire section of the site informs fire managers of the intensity and difficulty of controlling a fire, if one were to start. Also, the smoke section gives information on how well the atmosphere is able to disperse smoke at a given time.

“If you have a sensitive area downwind, like a hospital or public gathering, you can see what the advantage would be of having this information,” Carlson said.

There are many unique tools on the web site, but by consulting documents in the “Product Information” section, a novice can learn to navigate and find much to use from the site. Also, technical support is available seven days a week via the phone number listed in the “Contacts” section.

Carlson has taught training sessions during the past three falls, and is planning on another series this fall. He also helps to develop some online training tools.

— Adapted from a release provided by OSU.

Western Range Summit Feb. 26-27

The Public Lands Council (PLC) is holding a Western Range Summit Feb. 26-27 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The summit will consist of four sessions — public relations, administrative action, legislative action, and litigation — with the goal of strengthening the business climate for ranching in the West.

All interested environmental, conservation and industry groups are urged to attend. For more information, contact Dustin Van Liew at dvanliew@beef.org or 202-347-0228.

— compiled by Crystal Albers, associate editor, Angus Productions Inc.