Kansas

Food Policy Action, a two-year-old advocacy group, says conservative Rep Steve Southerland, who proposed the largest food stamp cuts in a generation, is its No 1 target for defeat in the November 4 elections.

Iowa, the No 1 corn state, and Kansas, No 1 in wheat, are among five states that will decide which party controls the Senate for the next two years, writes political analyst Stuart Rothenberg in Roll Call. Alaska, North Carolina and Colorado are the other three states on his list. Democrats control the Senate 55-45. Rothenberg says the GOP is likely to gain from 5-8 seats.

Kansas "is potentially a huge problem" for Republicans aiming to take control of the Senate, says Sabato's Crystal Ball, which currently projects the GOP to gain from 5-8 seats in the Nov 4 elections. The Crystal Ball points to polls that suggest a tie or that Independent Greg Orman may be leading incumbent Republican Pat Roberts, a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. "We’re still calling the race Leans Republican but it may drift into Toss-up land soon," says the Crystal Ball.

Independent Greg Orman leads third-term Republican Sen Pat Roberts, 41-34, in Kansas according to a survey by Public Policy Polling that was released to Pollster. The poll said 15 percent were undecided, 6 percent supported Democrat Chad Taylor, who has dropped out of the race, and 4 percent backed libertarian Randall Batson. PPP said Roberts was deeply unpopular; Democrats and independents overwhelmingly back Orman. The margin of error was +/-2.7 points.

Pat Roberts of Kansas is "likely" to become chairman of the Agriculture Committee if Republicans win control of the Senate in the mid-term elections, says Politico, in laying out its list of potential committee leaders. It says Thad Cochran of Mississippi, now the GOP leader on Agriculture, would take the Appropriations chair and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, No 2 in rank on Agriculture, would become majority leader. Of course, Cochran and Roberts have to win re-election on Nov 4.

Under-funded Democrat Chad Taylor withdrew as a candidate for Senate in Kansas, "an 11th hour move that could clear the way for his party to rally behind an independent candidate and potentially change the math in the battle for the Senate majority," said the Washington Post. Independent Greg Orman "has been viewed as a more viable opponent against Sen Pat Roberts (R), who polls show is vulnerable."

Sen Pat Roberts, a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, won the Republican nomination for his fourth term, beating Tea Party challenger Milton Wolf, 48-41.

In Missouri, the top agriculture issue is a constitutional amendment to create a "right to farm." Says the New York Times, "The debate over the proposed amendment has roiled Missouri for more than a year, with supporters saying it would end what they see as meddling by outsiders in its business practices.

Satellite images show California turning brown from its three-year drought, says Weather.com, which posted pictures taken by NASA's Aqua satellite in mid-2011 and this summer. "In the animated image, California's Central Valley appears to have lost much of its plant life, as the green portion in the middle of the image has thinned in the last three years.

The protracted battle over the Republican nomination for the Senate in Mississippi distracted activist conservatives and boosted the chances of third-term Sen Pat Roberts in Kansas, says Roll Call. Roberts, a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, has a Tea Party challenger, Milton Wolf. "Outside spending in Kansas has been on a much smaller scale compared to the Mississippi race.

With the Aug 5 Republican primary on the horizon, Kansas Sen Pat Roberts, a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, "is still the favorite to win renomination," says Sabato's Crystal Ball. " Roberts has been gaffe-happy and vulnerable to the same kind of residency attacks that hampered former Sen. Richard Lugar," it says, but opponent Milton Wolf, a physician, "is decidedly second tier" as a challenger.

A bill proposed by Sens Pat Roberts of Kansas and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota would give futures customers more time to provide the funds to cover their margin requirements following a trade. A CFTC rule says the money must be deposited by the morning following a trade. Roberts and Heitkamp say the deadline should be the close of business on the day after a trade - easier for end users to satisfy.

A lot of wheat in western Kansas has has been "zeroed out for insurance purposes, and a lot more will be," says the chief of the Kansas State University ag experiment station south of Hays in northwest Kansas.

The winter wheat crop, dried by intense drought in the central and southern Plains, deteriorated starkly in the past four weeks, putting the harvest into doubt, USDA data indicate. Some 44 percent of the crop is in poor or very poor condition, according to the weekly Crop Progress report. That's 2 points more than a week ago and 11 points more than April 20. Some 34 percent of the crop rated as good or excellent then. Now, it's 29 percent.

Beneficial rains moistened the western Corn Belt, particularly Nebraska and western Iowa, said the Drought Monitor, which says 38 percent of the contiguous 48 states are in drought vs 40 percent a week ago.

Democrat Mark Pryor, chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture, leads Republican challenger Tom Cotton, 51-40, in an NBC/Marist telephone poll of 1,174 registered voters in Arkansas, with 7 percent undecided and 2 percent backing someone else. Margin of error +/-2.9 percent, says Pollster.

The weather-damaged winter wheat crop will be the smallest in eight years, if a survey of analysts ahead of USDA's crop report proves correct. The report, due for release Friday at noon ET, is the first field-based USDA estimate of the winter wheat crop. An accompanying report will project the fall harvest for corn, soybean, cotton and rice as well as overall U.S. wheat output.