The international study experience of Class XX of the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program continued over the weekend with a dive into historical fabric of Israel as well as a chance to see the most productive Ag Kibbutz yet.

As you may be aware- Saturday is a day of rest for those of the Jewish faith- and that meant few options when it came to interacting with Ag related stops- so Saturday became a deal of scaling the heights of Masada- the home of the Palaces of King Herod as found on the western shore of the Dead Sea.

We also spent time exploring the area of Qumran- where the caves that yielded the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the late 1940s. And the day wrapped up with a bunch of the class floating in the Dead Sea.

I had the chance to visit with Tour Guide that has led the group in the cultural/religious activities, Mark Kedem. You can hear our conversation with Mark about the "complicated" nation of Israel by clicking on the blue button below.

Sunday- we got back to Ag related visits and we have those stops summarized by clicking here. One of the stops showcased Date Palms and Olive Trees- host Beni Gavrieli explains Olive production for oil use in the pic below- we will share our conversation with Beni later this week.



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AFR Cooperative wrapped up its 118th Convention with “Honor Tradition, Embrace Change” as the Theme. The event was held at the Embassy Suites & Conference Center. It featured several guest speakers, including National Farmers Union President Rob Larew, Speaker of the House Charles McCall, Megan Williams with the Federal Reserve bank in Kansas City, and more.

AFR President Scott Blubaugh said it’s been a great convention.

"We’ve had a lot of activity, a lot of participation, and our policy committee did a great job vetting the policy," Blubaugh said.

School Vouchers, Blubaugh said, have been the talk among several Ag Groups recently, and it was brought up at the AFR convention as well.

“It’s a complicated issue," Blubaugh said. "There are a lot of details in it. Speaker of the house, Charles McCall, will be here, and he’s introduced a new bill (HB 2775), and it’s passed out of committee to have some tax credits as opposed to vouchers.”

Blubagh says the Committee spent about three hours discussing the bill since it’s very different from what Governor Stitt has proposed.

“They did due diligence, asking lots of questions to the experts that we had available, and I’ve got my marching orders now, and I’ll carry them out," Blubaugh said.

Beef Checkoff Research Finds Beef as the Number One Protein Choice of Today’s Consumer

In this episode of Beef Buzz, I am back visiting with the senior vice president of global marketing and research at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Jennifer Nealson, about the latest Beef Checkoff research.

The 2023 Cattle Industry Convention coverage is being powered by Performance Ranch, a part of Zoetis, and by Farm Data Services located in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

One of the things Jennifer Nealson oversees for the Dollar a head Beef Checkoff efforts that are contracted by the checkoff to the NCBA are research projects.

At the recent 2023 Cattle Industry Convention in New Orleans, Nealson said the checkoff released a new piece of research all about today’s consumer.

“In that report, it is about a 12-page report that talks all about today’s beef consumer,” Nealson said. “In that report, there are many measures that we are winning against chicken, and I am excited to share that over the many years and all of the efforts we have been doing on the promotion side, we are starting and continuing to see that we are making very good progress.”

The report, Nealson said, found that beef is the number one protein choice. Additionally, she added, people trust beef producers over chicken producers.

“Beef is great-tasting and is winning over chicken,” Nealson said.

Nealson said beef is also perceived by consumers as more nutritional than chicken.

At the American Farmers and Ranchers 118th State Convention in Norman, Oklahoma, Associate Farm Editor, Reagan Calk, had the chance to visit with Brady Sidwell of Sidwell Strategies and Distribution about how Sidwell Strategies can assist in marketing a producer’s product.

Sidwell is the president of Sidwell Strategies, a full-service commodity brokerage firm specializing in agricultural risk management and marketing strategies. Located in Enid, Oklahoma, Sidwell Strategies works directly with producers to help them achieve success from early production to the retail stages of a commodity or meat product.

“We are here partnering with AFR on the Oklahoma Certified Beef Association, OCBA, and essentially we are able to offer logistics, distribution, and warehousing for beef producers,” Sidwell said.

As cattle producers have a full plate with feeding and caring for their cattle on the production side, Sidwell said, the company Sidwell Strategies was born to fill that gap between production and getting that beef out into the market. The facility recently acquired by Sidwell Strategies in Enid, Sidwell said, will be used for the storage of a variety of products.

“We are going to make that facility for local products, specifically Oklahoma Beef, OCBA beef, but also other Made in Oklahoma products,” Sidwell said. “We are hoping to be able to connect high-quality local products to consumers across the state.”

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that agricultural producers and private landowners can begin applying for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) General signup starting February 27 through April 7, 2023. CRP is a cornerstone voluntary conservation program offered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and a key tool in the Biden-Harris administration’s effort to address climate change and help agricultural communities invest in the long-term well-being of their land and natural resources. 

“The Conservation Reserve Program is one of the largest private lands conservation programs in the United States, offering a range of conservation options to farmers, ranchers and landowners,” said Steve Kouplen, FSA State Executive Director in Oklahoma. “CRP has and continues to be a great fit for farmers with less productive or marginal cropland, helping them re-establish valuable land cover to help improve water quality, prevent soil erosion, and support wildlife habitat. Under this administration, we have made several updates to the program to increase producer interest and enrollment, strengthen the climate benefits of the program and help ensure underserved producers can find a pathway to entry into CRP.” 

Producers and landowners enrolled more than 5 million acres into CRP through signups in 2022, building on the acceptance of more than 3.1 million acres in the largest Grassland CRP signup in history. There are currently 23 million acres enrolled in CRP, with 1.9 million set to expire this year. USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) is aiming to reach the 27-million-acre cap statutorily set for fiscal year 2023. 

The Beef. It's What's for Dinner 300 Race Showcased Beef and Beef Producers

The third Beef. It's What's for Dinner 300 Race helped kick off the opening weekend at Daytona Speedway ahead of the most famour NASCAR Race- the Daytona 500 on Sunday.

Beef Producers met and interacted with thousands of race fans- and a family of Oklahomans were among those who worked hard to tell the beef story.

Monte Tucker of Sweetwater is Chairman of the Oklahoma Beef Council- and he and his sons Reed and Mason kept very busy handing out Beef Yard signs in the RV camp of the Speedway as well as seasoning packets.

I asked Monte his thoughts on the value of the sponsorship and he gave me this statement:

I don’t know the total price tag, but we personally interacted with 10s of thousands potential and current beef customers. After personally being at my first NASCAR event ever, Beef, it’s what’s for dinner should be part of this experience! These fans are our customers, they love cattlemen and cattlewomen and Beef needs a presence here. The number crunchers tell me we get BILLIONS of “impressions” from this and I pretty sure that means lots of beef lovers and others see it."

With the promotion at the race track- advertisements during the race and the social media buzz- 6.2 billion impressions were generated last year and a similar number is anticipated here in 2023.