At the Chickasha Wheat Field Day, I caught up with Oklahoma State University’s Brett Carver from the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences about his work with different wheat varieties to produce better quality and yielding wheat.

“It’s kind of like watching kids grow up,” Carver said.

As Carver watches thousands of experimentals grow, he said that after a time, certain varieties tend to stick out for their unique traits.

“When you get to the level of around 100, then you start to really focus,” Carver said. “It takes multiple looks, and it takes multiple years to figure out how these ‘kids’ are going to work and where they are going to work best.”

One of the most important traits a variety must have in Oklahoma, Carver said, is the ability to handle all kinds of stress- especially drought stress.

“Drought stress and disease stress and grazing stress; just anything we can throw at it,” Carver said. “That is why it takes us a little bit more time, I think, than most programs to arrive at a final product.”



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In this episode of Beef Buzz, I am featuring part two of comments from the Vice President of Government Affairs at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Ethan Lane. While in Washington, D.C., Farm Director KC Sheperd had the chance to visit with Lane about NCBA’s experience working with the Biden Administration.

“It is a good dialogue,” Lane said. “We don’t always agree with them, but they have been very open to talking. When we call, they pick up the phone, and they reach out proactively. They deserve a lot of credit for that. That is a big change from the Obama Administration, and that is to their credit.”

On the other side of the card, Lane said the Biden Administration is working to keep both sides of the table happy- including those who do not see the importance of food security.

“All we can do is keep telling them what we need on behalf of cattle producers, and hope they hear that, and hope they give us an honest shake and look for the common ground, and take them at their word,” Lane said.

Lane added that the Biden Administration is all-in when it comes to that regulatory agenda, which is disheartening.

“It is time to look for votes again, and the base of the Democratic party definitely feels like the Biden Administration has been too agreeable,” Lane said.

“They definitely feel like they have not been hard enough on agriculture, and a lot of the way they can show their worth to the base of the Democratic party is through massive regulation.

Introducing Luke Gallagher of the Altus FFA Chapter, Your 2023 Southwest Area Star in Agricultural Production

During the month of April, the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and Oklahoma Farm Report are spotlighting the 17 Area Stars of Oklahoma FFA that are among the highest achievers in the organization.

The stars come from the five areas in four categories- Star in Ag Placement, Star in Agriscience, Star in Agribusiness, and Star in Agricultural Production.

One Star Finalist featured in the coming days from each of the categories will be named the State Star Award Winner during the 97th Oklahoma State FFA Convention coming up on May 2nd and 3rd in Tulsa, Okla.

On Friday, our coverage of the 2023 Oklahoma FFA Star Award Finalists concluded with Agricultural Production competitor Luke Gallagher of the Altus FFA chapter representing the Southwest Area.

“My project is a stocker steer operation,” Gallagher said. “I run stocker steers on wheat pasture as well as I have a small cow/calf herd that I run typically just on grass pasture. I run about 400 head of wheat pasture calves right now.”

Growing up, Gallagher said his grandfather and his dad have always run steers on wheat, and on grass pasture in the summertime.

“That is how I grew up,” Gallagher said. “Taking care of cattle, feeding cattle, gathering cattle. Doing all those things growing up, and helping my dad and grandpa. I just knew that is where I belonged, and that was my place.”

Gallagher said he is grateful for the help from his ag teachers and his family during his project.

“I plan to go to Stillwater and go to OSU,” Gallagher said. “I was actually accepted last spring, and I plan on either studying animal science or agribusiness.”

At the State Capitol- Ag Groups Look for Final House Passage on HB2053 as the Impasse Continues on Education Funding

Vice President for Public Policy with Oklahoma Farm Bureau, Steve Thompson, says the final days of April saw the impasse between the Senate, the House and Governor over an Education Funding deal continue with no immediate resolution in sight.

Thompson tells Oklahoma Farm Report's Ron Hays that much of the work that otherwise would be moving forward has been pulled into that battle. “so many issues get drawn into that orbit- this past week the Governor took to vetoing a large group of Senate passed bills and the Senate then retaliated by voting down a couple of the Governor’s Cabinet Secretary’s confirmations- there are still a few rank and file bills moving- mainly House bills at this time but the pressure on the budget overall led by the education funding has drawn the attention of everybody and that’s all anyone is talking about.”

One measure that seems close to a final vote in the House is a priority of the Ag Groups- House Bill 2053. Thompson says 2053 has passed the House and Senate and has been largely finished in the Senate and has come back to the House for final approval of the language. He says that this measure, authored by David Hardin in the House and Brent Howard in the Senate, is all about water and water rights- and basically protects a farmer, rancher or landowner’s rights when they apply for a water permit for a legitimate purpose. It would stop opponents of production agriculture to simply protest because they don’t like agriculture- they can only protest if they have evidence that the permit would result in pollution or degradation of the water supply that overlies the property linked to the permit.

The measure is ready for final House consideration- “we are talking to House members about that everyday now- feeling really good about the feedback we are receiving on that- however we are not sure if that is going to make it on the agenda or not so that’s why we are putting it on everybody’s radar to let them know it’s important to all of agriculture and we want to make sure everyone realizes that so it can get a full floor hearing as a final vehicle in the House of Representatives.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it will use existing authority to prevent drivers from losing access to lower-cost and lower-emission E15, a higher ethanol blend often marketed as Unleaded 88.

The National Corn Growers Association and state corn grower organizations, which have advocated for the move, praised the decision.

“We appreciate Administrator Regan’s timely action to prevent a disruption in E15 availability,” said National Corn Growers Association President Tom Haag. “EPA’s action will help address fuel supply constraints and ensure drivers continue to have access to a lower-cost fuel choice that cuts emissions.”

The fuel market conditions that warranted EPA taking the same successful step last year continue today, Haag noted, and he said corn growers are proud to contribute to an energy and environmental solution that saves consumers money at the pump.

Continued access to E15 during the summer months will help relieve ongoing energy supply pressures. When EPA took similar action last year, drivers saved nearly a dollar per gallon in some locations and an average of 23 cents per gallon during the summer months, according to data from the Minnesota Department of Commerce. E15 continues to save consumers significantly at the pump.

Moreover, allowing uninterrupted E15 sales keeps a lower-emission fuel in the marketplace. In addition to being lower in carbon emissions, E15 has lower volatility than regular fuel, which is a 10% ethanol blend, and using E15 results in lower evaporative and exhaust emissions, important during the summer driving season.

Congresswomen Kat Cammack Emphazises Growing Significance of Natural Gas

In Washington, D.C., the National Association of Farm Broadcasters visited with Congresswoman Kathrine Cammack about what she would like to see in the 2023 Farm Bill. Because of her great passion for agriculture, the Florida Republican was recently named “Outstanding New Member of Congress” by the American Farm Bureau.

“Turning into this year with the farm bill, I think there is a lot of optimism,” Cammack said. “The thing we don’t want to see is a rubber stamp of previous farm bill years, which a lot of people have assumed given the gridlock in Washington, that would be the case.”

Cammack said she is impressed with the great bipartisan work being done to complete this next farm bill.

“Understanding that we are all in this together and elevating the conversation to a place of ‘food security is national security,’” Cammack said. “So, I think with that lens, people are starting to understand that a nation that cannot feed itself is not secure.”

Thousands of FFA members in their Blue and Gold will be descending on downtown Tulsa this week for the 97th Convention of the Oklahoma FFA.

Ahead of that- the past few days have been filled with competitions in a variety of skill sets for FFA members.

One of the contests held was the 2023 FFA Agriscience Fair- and Stillwater built on the success of last fall when they had a dominant performance at the National level-According to the Stillwater FFA Facebook page- "the State Agriscience Fair Contest involved a record 15 State Champion Projects (22 students), 6 State Runner Up Projects (9 students), and the Champion Oil and Gas Project. Overall, All 39 Stillwater FFA Members placed in the Top 5 of their divisions!

"For the amazing accomplishments of all 39 of these outstanding leaders, we were named the State Champion Agriscience Fair Sweepstakes for only the second time in program history." (Stillwater Agriscience participants are pictured above)

Meanwhile in two of the more competitive judging team contests- the Tuttle FFA Chapter won the Livestock Judging state championship on Saturday- Guthrie was runner up and Hartshorne placed third at the state level.

In the Meats Judging Contest- The State champions for 2023 is the Porter FFA Chapter- State Runner ups were the Dover FFA Chapter and third was Ok Union.

OSU Rural Scholars plan summer research on community revitalization

The Oklahoma State University Rural Renewal Initiative has selected the 2023 participants of its Rural Scholars research and service experience. The Rural Renewal Initiative works closely with OSU Extension educators to identify community needs.

The summer internship gives OSU students the chance to study the leading issues facing rural areas in Oklahoma and the world. OSU students spend 10 weeks in the summer living in a rural community to conduct research, assist with service projects and support solutions for community obstacles.

Students prepare for the summer experience by training for community-based research approaches and rural community development as well as gathering background information on their assigned town.

Rural Scholars will join their communities beginning the week of May 22 in Harmon, Tillman, Greer and Jackson counties. The program’s interdisciplinary approach to community development and overcoming challenges aims to revitalize rural towns through research and service.