Ag News and Views: March 2007

The Noble Research Institute's Agricultural Division recently conducted its annual Prescribed Burning Workshop, and turnout was excellent. Some of us have been discussing the "how to's" and touting the benefits of prescribed burning for so long, we sometimes forget this land management tool is a new concept to some people.

Native pecan production in Oklahoma and north Texas is often considered a "Christmas bonus." If folks are fortunate enough to make a crop, it's great, but not something they have much control over.

If you are a beef producer or have ties to the beef industry, I bet you can remember where you were when bovine spongiform encephalopathy officially was discovered in the United States. The exact date was Dec. 23, 2003.

We lived through a significant drought in 2006. Some much-needed winter precipitation has lessened our fears, but some forecasts still call for drier than "normal" weather starting in May. Normal? Who knows what "normal" is?

Thanks to the folks at AgWeather, decision making has become much easier in the last few years. AgWeather is a cooperative project between Oklahoma State University, the University of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Climatological Survey.

Why don't more people use prescribed burning in Oklahoma and Texas? One reason that comes to mind is the fact that most of the Noble Research Institute's service area was under a burn ban this time last year, which happens to be the peak time for conducting prescribed burns.

The use of a price slide reduces risk in forward contracting and creates the framework for a competitive market price.