Fort Cobb's experience will be invaluable going forward as their practices are transferred to other utilities either acquired or operated by Navitas. Navitas Assets, LLC is an energy assets holding company, retaining utility franchises and the rights-to-serve customers of regulated or unregulated infrastructure. Administration services provided include fuel marketing & transportation, human resources, development & engineering, finance & accounting, insurance & bonding, and regulatory...

If a commodity falls apart in price, you can own the future, write a deep in the money call six to nine months in expiration and also buy a put way below the current price to protect the extreme downside. But what is amazing is that with a little prudence in commodities market you can double your retirement fund every year. It is not tax deductible now but when you are ready to use it, it is not only free of tax, you can also assign it to your heirs. The trust will keep approximately $500...

Many farmers decided the $4-a-bushel corn price _ double last year's price, thanks partly to the growing ethanol industry _ was worth rotating away from cotton this year. By the end of this year, another 1.4 billion bushels of corn could be needed for 53 new or expanded ethanol plants, according to the Renewable Fuels Association. North Alabama has the driest conditions in a half-century, but there's a rain deficit statewide, state climatologist Dr. But with an April 1 corn-planting...

Integrating the virus into ant baits could offer a tool to the pest-control industry, agricultural producers and harvesters, consumers and others for whom fire ants are a persistent problem. The virus was found in about 20 percent of fire ant fields, where it appears to cause the slow death of infected colonies. One thing you can thank the dry weather for is it keeps the fire ants down, said Mike Merchant, an extension entomologist in the cooperative s Dallas office. The massive fire ant...

Until recently, those sturdy cloth totes that are common in Europe were mostly confined in this country to farmers markets and health food co-ops (and even there, only in the sternest, oat-iest styles and colors) In a confluence of politics, eco-consciousness, fashion and global commerce, yet another great, green notion appears poised for mainstream consideration: the bring-your-own shopping bag. Now, whether they are chic and pricey or cheap and cheerful, they are vehicles for a range of...

One of the them is a grain bin program that pays for a portion of a grain storage system for producers who market their crops to Christensen Farms for three years. Because of persistent rains, last week the Wohlfords were behind schedule, having planted 700 of the 1,100 acres of corn in the ground that they intended to plant. Those increased costs of production have made marketing even more important than it has been in the past when government payments made up a large percentage of farm...

Observers believe Oklahoma's wheat harvest could top 164 million bushels this year, bringing a potential $2 billion economic impact when multiplier effects are added. Southwestern Oklahoma, in particular, was blasted by last year's drought, which cast a pall on the wheat and cotton harvests. With little or no rain falling from October 2005 through last May, they were forced to plant their crops in dry soil with the drought's worst damage still to come during the summer. If the price could...

But with some beekeepers wondering if a new class of pesticides might be contributing to the syndrome, which has been termed "Colony Collapse Disorder" or CCD, Littlefield has a message for island homeowners: please be careful which pesticides you bring to the island. But with some beekeepers wondering if a new class of pesticides might be contributing to the syndrome, which has been termed "Colony Collapse Disorder" or CCD, Littlefield has a message for island homeowners: please be...

Integrating the virus into ant baits could offer a tool to the pest-control industry, agricultural producers and harvesters, consumers and others for whom fire ants are a persistent problem. The virus was found in about 20 percent of fire ant fields, where it appears to cause the slow death of infected colonies. Fire ants have been detected in 13 states, covering 320 million acres, and are spreading northward. The massive fire ant colonies destroy crops, damage farm and electrical...