I got the chance to visit with the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Soybean Board, Rick Reimer, talking about soybean success throughout Oklahoma.

For years, Reimer said northeast Oklahoma held the greatest soybean producing counties in the state.

“For the last five years, none of those have been the number one county,” Reimer said.

Kay County was the number one in soybeans most recently, with the next three or four top-producing countries being in the surrounding area. Contrary to popular belief, Reimer said dryland soybeans have been successful in northcentral Oklahoma.

“Some of the guys that try it tell me that not only do they yield as a cash crop, but it is almost worth growing alternating soybeans with wheat just to clean up their fields,” Reimer said.

In a year with adequate moisture, Reimer said soybeans can be double-cropped behind wheat, which works extremely well.

“We call it the ‘miracle crop of many uses,’” Reimer said. “If you crush 100 pounds of soybeans, you get 80 pounds of meal and 20 pounds of oil. For a long time, oil was sort of a biproduct, but now, the number of things you can make from the oil are just incredible, so it is almost the primary product of soybean crush.”



The vision of the Oklahoma Beef Council is to be a positive difference for Oklahoma's farming and ranching families and the greater beef community, and its mission is to enhance beef demand by strengthening consumer trust and exceeding consumer expectations. 

To learn more, visit www.oklabeef.org. Also, don't forget to like its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/oklabeef for stories on Oklahoma's ranching families and great beef recipes. 

And Check out this video below that helps you learn more about the Beef Checkoff:

There is an abundance of agritourism opportunities across the state of Oklahoma to take advantage of this Spring and Summer. Associate Farm Editor Reagan Calk caught up with the Agritourism and Farmers Market Coordinator at the Oklahoma Department of Ag, Micaela Halverson, and talked about some fun venues in Oklahoma and what they have to offer.

Oklahoma has a few U-Pick tulip farms, Halverson said, which are listed on the Oklahoma Agritourism website.

“You can go pick your own tulips and create a bouquet to take home,” Halverson said.

There are a few different locations to pick tulips in the state, including Flowers Farms in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Tulips in Harrah, Tea and Country Estate in Enid, and Platter Flats Pumpkin Patch in Calera.

Aside from U-Pick tulip farms, Halverson said there are more U-Pick opportunities in the state ranging from strawberries and blueberries to blackberries and peaches, depending on the season.

“Following us on social media at ‘oklahomaagritourism’ either on Instagram or Facebook is going to be the best way to know when each season is and once those products are ready for the customers to go out and pick,” Halverson said. “We like to go out and share each farm’s individual Facebook post so that people can follow them.”

NCBA’s Advocate of the Year, Tucker Brown, Shares why Advocacy is Critical to the Future of the Beef Industry

In this episode of Beef Buzz, I am visiting with beef advocate and sixth-generation cattle rancher from Throckmorton, Texas, Tucker Brown.

Brown is active in his family’s operation, the R.A. Brown Ranch, and is on the Leadership Development Committee at the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. Because of his great advocacy work throughout 2022, Brown was recognized by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association as Advocate of the Year.

“NCBA has done a really good job of trying to create and build the next group of advocates to get the word out to our consumers to build that trust back that we may have lost over the years,” Brown said.

The Masters of Beef Advocacy program, Brown said, helps train ranchers and farmers how to communicate an effective message to consumers.

“I have had success through social media and through working through Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers, so that is where I spend most of my time and had my most success of sharing that story,” Brown said.

Part of the Masters of Beef Advocacy program that Brown found to be most valuable was learning to put himself in the shoes of the consumer.

“Research that NCBA and others have done tells us that the consumer trusts the rancher,” Brown said.

Along with that trust, Brown said, it is important to know how to communicate with the consumer and be relatable.

We want you to be the first to know about a super fun summer promotion – The Oklahoma Beef Passport. Sign up so you won’t miss it!

With your Oklahoma Beef Passport you can visit Oklahoma restaurants, order beef, earn points and then you’ll be eligible to win prizes! The passport will be active from May 1 to September 30 and it’s all digital so it will be available at the touch of a button.

When you sign up using the link above, you’ll get notified as soon as the pass is ready. You’ll be able to create your pass account and view the great Oklahoma restaurants participating. Then you can plan to enjoy some great beef on your Oklahoma adventures this summer.



If you have questions, please email us. We can’t wait for you to be part of the Oklahoma Beef Passport!

Southern Plains Perspective Blog Talks Impacts of Changing Climate

Hack, cough, and sneeze…allergy season is getting longer (thank you changing climate).

The headline that was in my inbox earlier this week pretty well sums up this entire blog. 

“Allergy season is ‘earlier, longer and worse’ in these US cities, report finds.”

If droughts, floods, cold snaps, and heat stress weren’t enough, now it seems we get to deal with a longer, more intense allergy season.  The good news just keeps on coming, doesn’t it?

The story focuses on a report that analyzed the temperature data for 203 U.S. cities and determined that the freeze-free has season lengthened by more than two weeks (15 days) on average since 1970.  This means that for the millions of Americans that suffer from seasonal allergies to pollen and mold, climate change is bringing an earlier, longer, and overall worse allergy season. This mirrors an earlier report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that said climate change will potentially lead to shifts in precipitation patterns, more frost-free days, warmer seasonal air temperatures, and more carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. These changes can affect when the pollen season starts and ends and how long it lasts each year, how much pollen plants create and how much is in the air, how pollen affects our health (the “allergenicity” of pollen), how much pollen we’re exposed to, and our risk of experiencing allergy symptoms.

New Report Links National Security and Global Hunger

Global hunger and malnutrition pose significant threats to U.S. national security, underscoring the need to invest in international agricultural research and development, according to a new report commissioned by Farm Journal Foundation.

The report, authored by researchers from Texas A&M University, examines how global food insecurity is linked to numerous geopolitical risks, including immigration, radicalization, terrorist threats, environmental degradation, and lost economic opportunity. Increasing investments in agricultural development and innovation would help mitigate these risks by enabling developing countries to improve their crop yields and better feed themselves.

“Agriculture is the main profession practiced by the world’s poorest people, so making investments in improving farm productivity in developing countries would go a long way toward addressing the root causes of many national security risks,” said Dr. Edwin Price, lead author of the report and professor at the Department of Agricultural Economics’ Conflict and Development Program at Texas A&M University. “Alleviating hunger and improving agricultural livelihoods means that people are less likely to immigrate, turn toward criminal activity, or fall prey to radicalized groups.”

Bank Failures and the Rural Economy, with NCGA Lead Economist Krista Swanson

Instability at some high-profile financial institutions is on growers’ minds. Should we be worried?

The Silicon Valley Bank collapse, and the sudden perception that there’s instability in the banking system, has a lot of us thinking back to 2008 and the financial crisis that spurred the Great Recession.

And, whether it’s the war in Ukraine, lingering supply-side issues from COVID-19, or high-interest rates, we are all feeling the effects of the world economy a little more acutely this year.

So are we staring down another financial crisis, or just feeling a little economic speed bump?

For some perspectives on those questions, and what it means for corn growers, we’re joined in this episode by Krista Swanson, the National Corn Growers Association’s lead economist.

She provides some much-needed context, and an informed take on what the farm economy might have in store for us over the next few years.