markets. another cut to the soybean exports. what's it mean for markets. we'll talk about it in profit briefing. and these texas farmers are trying their hand at growing a tiny seed with big potential. agdaybrought to you by the dependable, long lasting chevy silverado. and by the enlist weed control system from dow agrosciences. good morning i'm clinton griffiths. the government updates its winter outlook, powered by el nino. and it could bring additional moisture to the southern tier. but relief to drought-plagued west coast may be limited. forecasters at noaa's climate prediction center issued the u-s winter outlook. this year's el ni-o -which forecasters describe as one of the strongest on record -is expected to influence weather and climate patterns this winter by shifting the position of the pacific jet stream. and while el nino can exert a lot of influence over winter weather.

cold-air outbreaks can be difficult to predict. agday meteorologist mike hoffman is tracking this closely for us. mike. clinton. the climate prediction center breaks-out the forecast into three categories -precipitation, temperature and drought outlook. for precipation; noaa expects wetter-than-average conditions most likely in the southern tier of the united states, from central and southern california, across texas, to florida, and up the east coast to southern new england. and drier-than-average conditions most likely for hawaii, central and western alaska, parts of the pacific northwest and northern rockies, and for areas near the great lakes and ohio valley. as far as temperature -above-average temperatures are favored across much of the west and the northern half of the contiguous united states. below-average temperatures are most likely in the southern plains and southeast. the drought outlook shows some improvement is likely in central and southern california by the end of

likely across large parts of the southwest, while improvement or removal is also likely in the southern plains. however, drought is likely to persist in the pacific northwest and northern rockies, parts of the northern plains and in the northern great lakes region. now i believe there is one other factor that may play a role in coming winter and that is warm waters in northern pacific this forecast generally is going along with a sting el nino which isn't going to be an effect but that other factor could bring some cold blast to many parts of the rockeis so thats something were going to have to watch in the mean time you can see the drought monitor continues to get worse and southern plains get worse out west clinton thanks mike. as mike reported -it appears el nino will bring cooler and wetter conditions this winter to the southern plains and southwest. according to the national weather service office in lubbock, texas, some of the snowiest winters have

received 41 inches of snow and 25 inches fell in january alone. in eastern new mexico, ranchers have benefitted from this years abundant rainfall. and they are hopeful for more. we're excited because they're talking the el nino may go through the winter and into next year. if that happens we're going to be lot better farmers. while southern states may be wetter this winter. southern and central california may only get limited relief. but certainly not a drought-buster. the rural farm economy continues to feel the pressure of lower commodities. that's findings from the october rural mainstreet index released by ernie goss as creighton university. for the second stragit month, the index fell below growth neutral. and this month, not one of the ten states surveyed were on the growth side of the index--with a score above 50. bankers also reporting that nearly a third of all corn sales were being made below break-even. cash rents have fallen 15 percent year over year

designed to protect communities and divert water. as we've seen, levee systems can fail when they are inundated by flood water. the engineering of levees helps make them strong, but agriculture plays a role in keeping them strong. tobie blanchard shows us how in this report provided by the lsu agcenter. hundreds of miles of levees snake around waterways in louisiana protecting homes, businesses and agricultural crops from floods. the greater new orleans area alone has more than 100 miles of levee systems. lsu agcenter agronomist jeff beasley is looking at the role vegetation plays in strengthening a levee. most people when they think about levees they think about the engineering involved in levees, they don't think about agriculture. the primary grasses found on levees in louisiana are bermuda and bahia grasses. if properly maintained and cared for grasses can play an integral role in keeping a levee stable and strong. what we found with the support of agencies and other scientist is rooting is a primary component in strengthening the levee system.

beasley is working on a project on the outskirts of new orleans which involved establishing grass through sodding the levees. levees are made of compacted clay. when planting sod for a lawn, it is important to aerate the ground. well that is not something you want to do a lot with levees which makes it a challenge establishing vegetation like grasses, but also a challenge maintaining. maintenance includes keeping the grass mowed, fertilized and repaired if damage occurs. beasley says pests in many forms can injure the grass and the levee. we're not only talking insects or weeds, but we're also talking about feral hogs. believe it or not people can sometimes be destructive to levees whether they know it or not riding atvs and things like that. beasley also works on turf grass maintenance with golf courses and athletic fields. he says this is a unique project and one that could help keep communities safe. with the lsu agcenter, this is tobie

visit from the team at pro farmer. today they're looking at the rest of the 2015 for signals traders will be watching to close out the year. and see how a tiny seed is helping create a big opportunity for farmers in the lone-star state. receive a free trial of the daily market letter and gain knowledge about current market conditions from the professionals at bower trading. view the markets like never before. go to bower

in agribusiness strong consumer price data raising odds the fed could raise interest rates. that sent the dollar index higher thursday. lets see how major commodities reacted from the floor of the cme. some red across the board corn soybeans wheat all seeing a little bit of profit taking but there is this silver lining in this market today. it means the selling has subsided a little bit. we're at

so its nice to see the selling pressure stall out here. 3.75 and a half is going to be pivotal on a closing basis for today's session and to finish out the week. as far as the wheat market is concerned we're well off the highs that we've seen over the past couple of weeks coming right near that 5 dollar mark again. kind of the same set up as corn and soybeans coming up against key technical support. it looks a little gloomy for any bulls out there still alive in this cattle market. looking at the live cattle and the feeder cattle both trading lower today. likely long liquidation from people that caught that move higher over the last couple of weeks. i do think there is a little bit more upside potential but ultimately i think you want to be a bear in this market but order in to be a bear you need to have a steel stomach. you start legging into a position but you have to be prepared to add all the way up to 141 and half in that december contract. this has been oliver sloup ii trader from the floor of the

report is on the shelf. so where are markets putting their attention from now through the new year? the team over at pro farmer answer that in today's profit briefing well in addition to the crop production report on october 9, we also have a supply and demand report, brian. when you take a look at what's going on for soybeans and wheat it's really pretty disappointing on the export side of things.> yeah, you know steve it's pretty much down to bare bones on both the projections for 15, 16, exports on soybeans and wheat and its global competition, when we talk about the bean side of things it's argentina and more specifically brazil coming out of south america. on the wheat side of things it's everybody except the u.s. and the problem there is the u.s. is still priced above the world market, so any v vue buyer is going to go to the black sea region or other sources which are cheaper, whereas the u.s. has to rely just on traditional buyers.>

exports, the cut to the wheat exports, i think the market just kind of accepted that and decided that hey that's something that needed to happen, based on the pace of export sales. there were a lot of people that wanted to see a similar cut made to corn. why didn't that happen?> well, to be honest with you i don't know. i think they could have been justified in doing it. they're probably giving it a little more time. there isn't as much completion around the world. there is from competing feed grains, but not from the corn side of things and that's probably the reason to see how some of that feed wheat plays out in the global feed grain market.> yeah, i think it's important for people to understand that this is not a lack of global demand. it's a competition issue. > right, plentiful supplies i think is probably the biggest issue right now and you are right. it doesn't come down to the fact that we just need to find our

pullback in the value of the u.s. dollar could we slide a few more exports out there? i think sothat's been one of the keys--we have seen the dollar rallying and it's taken away some of our competitiveness on the global market place at a time when we needed it to be more competitive, so the dollar rally really hurt us in its timing. > yeah, but the bottom line is disappointing export pace on corn, on soybeans, on wheat for the 2015, 16 marketing year is putting a cap on prices. for brian grady and all the editors at profarmer in cedar falls, iowa, i'm chip flory. . agday -brought

welcome back to agday meteorologist mike hoffman. mike i think what i heard you say at the top of the show was i don't need to get the snow blower ready. i don't need to put up snow fence. its going to be just a beautiful winter. no. i wouldn't go that far. you wouldn't go that far..okay. no as a matter of fact some southern areas may...in that area where its colder and normal down south and wetter than normal they could have a pretty bad one in parts of northern dixie. those types of areas. but here's what the weather map looks like today. and as we look at it big dome of high pressure moving into the northern plains and that is going to continue to spread some pretty cold air for this time of the year toward the south and east over the next couple of days. so many areas from the northern and central plains across the ohio across the great lakes into the northeast going to see a frost or even light freeze over the next couple of mornings. so that's something you should be watching. so there's the map in motion. you can see this cold front will continue to push toward the northern portions of the gulf of mexico as we head into this afternoon. there will be some scattered mainly lake effect showers although there is

a little disturbance kind of diving northeast of the great lakes there as well. mainly rain showers but i have a feeling northern michigan will probably see some snow flakes mixed in there especially during the morning hours there. as you can see our future model is actually showing that. scattered showers into the southwest as well. and a system finally coming into the west coast spreading some rain especially into the day tomorrow into washington and oregon other parts of california it will increase during the afternoon hours. most areas east of the rockies are going to be dry but once again its going to be some scattered mainly scattered showers northeast of the great lakes. taking a look at precipitation estimates over the past 24 hours we've seen some light amounts hit and miss here. a couple spots in the central plains states. most of it the great lakes and northeast. a little bit in the southwest. southern florida over the next 36 hours is probably going to get a scattered showers and thunderstorms which could put down a fair amount but everybody else is pretty much on the light side although some parts of the southwest even california you

temperatures you can see pretty cool for this time of the year highs in the 40's and 50's great lakes into the northeast. northeastern plains. still 70's and 80's in most of dixie and you can see as we head through tonight low temperatures going to drop near or even a little below the freezing mark. across many parts of the area east of the mississippi valley and north of the ohio valley into the northeast. high temperatures tomorrow afternoon going to try and warm up a little bit in the western portions of the that cold air mass but its going to stay cold great lakes and into the northeast. but that's all because of that trough. the trough will hold on as we head through the weekend but then a quick little ridge builds in for early next week but another trough builds into the rockies and eventually moves into the great lakes and northeast by the end of next week. so kind of a progressive pattern next week. that's a look across the country now lets take a look at some local forecasts. for riverton wyoming today lots of sunshine comfortable high around 70 degrees this afternoon. rock

island illinois good deal of sunshine and chilly with a high of 53. and concord new hampshire mostly cloudy a shower in some areas a high around 60 degrees. a major egg producer says they're going cage free. we'll have details coming up after the break. plus the next time you enjoy a hamburger, take a look at the tiny seeds on top of the bun. and then think about the crop potential for sesame on your farm! this is machinery pete inviting you to check out my new website machinery pete.com -offering farmers tens of thousands of used equipment listings to search. let machinery pete help you find and

rembrandt foods, the nation's third-largest egg producer, says it's moving to

outline how long it would take to make the change, but said cage-free egg production quote "will become the company's standard." the president says, "the cage-free future is the new model for producing premier quality products in the egg industry." current stats show fewer than 10 percent of the nation's egglaying hens are cage-free. the u.s. department of justice announcing a lawsuit this week against nebraska beef. the suit says the company failed to comply with a previously announced settlement that includes a $200-thousand dollar fine. nebraska beef was fined after an investigation found the company required non-u.s. citizen employees present proof of immigration status when hiring on but didn't require the same of "u.s. citizens." nebraska beef says it told the department of justice it will not comply with most of the terms of the agreement because it disagrees with the wording of the department's press release announcing the agreement. a grand jury in south texas has indicted six men accused of stealing $15 million from farmers by brokering the sale of crops then pocketing the cash. the men indicted on charges of engaging in organized criminal activity. it happened in jackson county. the sheriff there says the case mainly involved corn.

the indictment lists nearly 80 farmers. up next see why these texas farmers are turning from traditional crops searching for resiliency in both price and production. agday-brought to you by yamaha, makers of viking side by sides. yamaha-real world by yamaha, makers of viking side by sides. yamaha-real world

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quality skid steer and we delivered. visit your local kubota dealer to test drive one today. commodity price and the unpredictable texas weather have some farmers to look outside what they traditionally have grown. for some sesame is a perfect fit. jessica domel with the texas farm bureau has more. the hamburger bun made the sesame seed a household name. but they get their start in fields like this one. chad busse and his family have grown sesame for the last 3 years in the rio grande valley. they're still learning the ropes, but so far it's been a good crop. it's very easy to plant. it's very easy to grow. we haven't seen a whole lot of problems with pests, so there's not a lot of money that goes into it. all in all it's a very easy, very quick drought tolerant crop for the rio grande valley. chad farms near lyford with his dad, uncle and cousin. they also grow grain sorghum and a little cotton. cotton tends to be expensive to grow which makes sesame appealing. and as dryland farmers, the drought tolerance of the crop doesn't hurt. everybody says that your planting process if your most

important process. if you can get a good stand, which i would say this here is a fairly good stand, you're 90 percent of the way to growing a good crop. sesame grows to a tall, green plant with multiple stems. each stem produces several pods with hundreds of seeds. about 14 days before harvest, the crop is sprayed to dry out the plant. the pods hardened, allowing the combine to crack the pods releasing the tiny seeds. combining sesame is like combining water. it will come out of any crack of any combine. there are special procedures that we do with our combines in order to get them tightened up which includes a lot of silicone and a lot of gray tape. chad's sesame is grown through a contract with sesaco. their sesame varieties allow farmers to mechanically harvest the seeds. the majority of the world sesame is still handpicked. the yields are pretty good. i think this crop will go anywhere from

bumper crop for rio grande valley dryland sesame. a pound of sesame is about 160,000 seeds. these seeds may not end up on your favorite burger, but they are for human consumption. they're used as an ingredient in various aspects of baking and used to produce sesame oil. they'll also be made into tahini, which is a sesame seed paste popular in middle eastern, greek and other cuisines. the crop isn't without its challenges. but chad and his family favor of the tiny seeds. they plan to grow them for years to come. with the texas farm bureau, jessica domel, lyford. that's all the time we have this morning. we're glad you tuned in. for mike hoffman, and all of us at agday. i'm clinton griffiths. have a great day in farm country. high strength steel for high strength dependability, the chevy silverado is the official news

good morning. thanks for joining us on this friday october 16th. some of the stories you'll see in this half hour of news 4 today... a special exhibit is in siouxland this weekend.

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