According to the latest Oklahoma Drought Map, Exceptional drought has improved from last week, moving from 5.68 percent to this week’s 2.7 percent.

Extreme drought or worse has improved slightly, moving from last week’s 25.09 to 24.99 percent.

Severe drought or worse is unchanged from last week’s 43.18.

Severe drought or worse is unchanged from last week’s 43.18.

Moderate drought or worse conditions are also unchanged from last week’s 50.44 percent.

Abnormally dry or worse conditions have worsened from last week, moving from last week’s 60.14 percent to this week’s 62.87 percent.

According to the 6-10-day precipitation outlook map, the majority of central and eastern Oklahoma is leaning above a 33 to 40 percent chance of precipitation through June 10. The panhandle and southwestern Oklahoma are leaning above a 40 to 50 percent chance of precipitation. The far northeast corner stands at a near-normal chance of precipitation.



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Farm Director, KC Sheperd caught up with State Climatologist Gary McManus and talked about conditions in the state of Oklahoma as the state says, “goodbye” to La Niña.

Areas north and west of the I-44 corridor that have missed some good rains, McManus said, are finally seeing some moisture.

“We’ve had these long-term deficits and horrific drought conditions across that part of the state, and they are getting rainfall,” McManus said. “Now, it’s not always the greatest amount of rainfall in all areas due to the convective nature of the thunderstorms that we get. They don’t rain, you know, over a large uniform area. But there are a lot of places across northern and western Oklahoma getting, you know, four or five, six inches of rainfall just through May alone.”

McManus also talked about how those moisture deficits are impacting farmers and ranchers. Long-term impacts, McManus said, include ponds and stock tanks still needing more water to fill.

“By and large, the soil moisture has at least recovered to some degree, enough for planting and enough to get those plants to green up and to get the wheat crop back in shape,” McManus said. “But for those farm ponds and reservoirs, in a lot of cases, are still lacking that good rainfall.”

Seeds For a Greater Future Planted at Cattlemen’s Conference

At the recently completed Blueprint for The Future Cattlemen’s Conference, many key players in the seed stock and commercial cattle industry spoke about building success in the cattle industry.

In this episode of Beef Buzz, I am featuring comments from Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Intern, Maci Carter’s interview with Executive Vice President of the American Hereford Association, Jack Ward, about the two-day program.

Ward said he was impressed with the way the conference was put together.

“We have done a good job in U.S. beef production,” Ward said. “We produce more pounds of beef with fewer cows.”

The needle continues to move in terms of quality, Ward said, and in producing the kind of product that a consumer is willing to pay more for.

“I was very impressed with the very beginning of the conference when we had the folks from the Noble Foundation come and talk to us about the value of soil health, regenerative grazing, and the importance of that. I think that was brought to full fold over the last two or three years in terms of some of the areas that dealt with drought.”

This Week on SUNUP is Oklahoma State University Extension grain market economist Kim Anderson. During this week’s edition, Anderson talks about Oklahoma’s wheat harvest.

As the 2023 wheat harvest is underway, Anderson said the wheat is coming in looking relatively good.

“There are three problems with this harvest,” Anderson said. “One- production is well below average. Two- wheat prices have fallen off about $1.25 cents over the last week. Three- the farmers are selling this limited amount of wheat into a volatile market.”

Within 12 trading days, Anderson said $1.10 was lost, and it took 37 trading days to get that $1.10 back.

“In 11 trading days, we took $1.35 off of it,” Anderson said. “In 10 trading days, we added $1.60 back to that price, and then in ten trading days, we got back down to $7.25 where we are right now.”

Anderson said the best way to sell wheat in this volatile market is to stagger it into the market and sell it over time.

“Pick a day where you want to have all your wheat sold and set specific days you want to sell a certain percentage of it in that time,” Anderson said.

Secure Beef Supply-Is Your Operation Ready?

On today’s cow-calf corner, Rosslyn Biggs, DVM, OSU Extension State Beef Cattle Veterinarian, is talking about the value of a secure beef supply and biosecurity.

One of the greatest threats to United States’ agriculture is the potential introduction of foot and mouth disease (FMD). FMD is a highly contagious viral disease found in multiple countries around the world. Symptoms of FMD include a fever and blister like lesions on the mouth, udder and feet of cloven hooved animals. FMD occurs in both domestic livestock and wildlife.

Managed movement of livestock through permitting during an FMD outbreak would be essential in maintaining commerce activities and preserving animal welfare. The Secure Beef Supply Plan, a project funded by the USDA, focuses on these types of movement by encouraging individual producers to develop continuity of business plans now.

Producer participation in the Secure Beef Supply is voluntary. Cattle operations that choose to participate in the Secure Beef Supply Plan will be better prepared to request a movement permit once movement is allowed in an outbreak and may see benefits of reducing other disease outbreaks.

In a recent biosecurity survey by Oklahoma State University researchers, only 15.43% of Oklahoma cow-calf producers knew the recommendations of the Secure Beef Supply and had started any level of implementation on their operation.

AFT Applauds Introduction of Bipartisan Bill to Advance Agrivoltaics

American Farmland Trust (AFT) celebrated today’s introduction of the bipartisan Agrivoltaics Research and Demonstration Act of 2023. Introduced by Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Senator Mike Braun (R-IN), the legislation would establish a framework for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to define and evaluate agrivoltaics to better incorporate the practice of pairing solar energy generation with agricultural production into USDA programs. It would also authorize USDA to create a network of research and demonstration sites. The bill’s introduction comes less than a week after AFT released its recommendations to Congress to advance a Smart Solar buildout in the upcoming Farm Bill that benefits rural communities and protects farmland and farm viability.  

“We applaud Senator Heinrich and Senator Braun for their forward-thinking leadership in introducing this bill,” said Tim Fink, Policy Director for American Farmland Trust. “As the essential transition toward renewable energy accelerates across the country, it must be done in a way that strengthens rural communities and minimizes the footprint on our most productive farmland. This legislation would help advance the potential for agrivoltaics to do both.”   

According to the Department of Energy, achieving the goal of a decarbonized electric sector by 2050 will require converting 10.4 million acres of land to solar energy generation. Farmland is often favored by solar developers, particularly high-quality farmland, because it is flat, sunny, cleared, and near energy infrastructure. In fact, recent AFT modeling revealed that 83% of new solar energy development is likely to take place on farmland if additional policy steps are not taken, with half of that on the nation’s best land for producing food and crops.  

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