At the 2023 National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, I caught up with National FFA Officer from Skiatook, Oklahoma, Karstyn Cantrell.

Cantrell is the National Vice President for the Central Region and will give her retirement address at the end of the week.

“It has been 367 days since I was elected to national FFA office,” Cantrell said. “On October 29, I ran on stage, and my life has truly been changed for the better.”

Over the past year, Cantrell said she has had the chance to travel around the U.S. to nine state conventions, five camps, many conferences, and more.

One of Cantrell’s favorite parts of her service this past year has been the chance to have real conversations with FFA members.

“It is too often that people expect national officers always to have their life together and have everything figured out,” Cantrell said. “I think something that is really special is we get to meet people where they are, and they get to meet us where we are.”

Our 2023 National Convention coverage is powered by Oklahoma Farm Bureau- Together- We Are Rural Oklahoma



National Livestock was founded in 1932 in Oklahoma City. National’s Marketing Division offers cattle for sale weekly at the Oklahoma National Stockyards in Oklahoma City. The Finance Division lends money to ranchers across several states for cattle production. The Grazing Division works with producers to place cattle for grazing on wheat or grass pastures. 

National also owns and operates other livestock marketing subsidiaries including Southern Oklahoma Livestock Auction in Ada, Oklahoma, OKC West Livestock Market in El Reno, Oklahoma, and the nation’s premier livestock video sale, Superior Livestock Auction. National offers customers many services custom made for today’s producer. To learn more, click here for the website or call the Oklahoma City office at 1-800-310-0220.

At the “Grown” tour in Enid, Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Intern, Maci Carter, had the chance to visit with Sheri Glazier, the Dirt Road Dietitian.

Through great partners like the Oklahoma Wheat Commission, Oklahoma Farm Bureau, and Sidwell Enterprises, Glazier said registered dietitians who are nutrition experts had the chance to come and see the beginning of the food processing chain in Enid last Friday.

The event was geared toward Oklahoma Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics members but also open to members and non-members.

“If you are interested in learning where your food comes from, we are willing to make those opportunities possible,” Glazier said. “We had students from Oklahoma State University as well as the University of Central Oklahoma. There were also dietitians who drove as far as McAlister to Enid, Oklahoma, today, and that is pulling at my heartstrings a little bit that people really found value and had the desire to drive that far to learn a little bit about agriculture in Oklahoma.”

El Niño May Yield Favorable Conditions for Herd Rebuilding Next Fall

In this episode of Beef Buzz, I am back talking with Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist Dr. Derrell Peel about the latest Cattle on Feed report issued by the USDA. Hays and Peel talk about how the industry is still ruminating about what the October report is telling us about rebuilding the beef cow herd in the days ahead.

“The last Cattle on Feed Report did come in with a surprisingly large placement number, so the market really capitalized on that bearish sentiment, and they used that to pull the markets down even further,” Peel said. “It certainly was a bit bearish in the short-term since there are more cattle on feed because of the placements.”

For the first time in a year, Peel said the on-feed number was above a year ago. The supply of cattle did not change as a result of this report, Peel added.

“It is really two things, I think,” Peel said. “Some of those things were probably drought-related movement of cattle that maybe marketed in September when they normally would have marketed in October and November…the other bigger part of it is really in that October report in terms of the heifer on feed number.”

Peel said the number of heifers in the feedlot was at the highest level for October in the current cattle-on-feed data series all the way back to 1996.

Oklahoma State University Extension specialists say residents should remain diligent in preventing tick bites as the alpha-gal allergy emerges as a serious health in Oklahoma and the southeastern U.S.

Tick bites are rare during the cooler months, but the pests are considered a year-round threat in states with mild winter temperatures.

12 years of mysterious illness

Sand Springs, Oklahoma, resident Stephanie McAllister developed a mysterious cough in 2008 that baffled medical specialists. She coughed constantly, but every X-ray was clear and every test declared normal. The pulmonologist she visited mentioned a chronic cough is usually an indicator of some kind of allergy, but no diagnosis was determined.

Doctors suggested several serious medical ailments as the probable cause, including bulimia or anxiety. McAllister felt like she was going crazy, but deep down she knew none of these were the problem.

“I started having brain fogginess and joint pain in my arms and legs, but all of the tests ran for arthritis came back normal,” she said.

In 2019, while hiking around Keystone Lake near her home, McAllister was bit by a tick and began vomiting five or six times a day. Again, every test doctors administered came back normal.

GROWERS Debuts Two Native Apps, Growers and Growers Retail, With Substantial Updates to Enhance Farmer, Retailer, and Manufacturer Relationships

Yesterday, GROWERS, a leader in digital technology for agriculture, announces enhanced farmer and retailer features within two new mobile apps. The company’s flagship product, GROWERS, is a FREE app for farmers enabling them to work directly with their retailers to request farm input products digitally, streamlining and organizing the entire process. In addition, GROWERS Retail allows retail counterparts to respond to farmers’ requests creating new ways for retailers to drive customer loyalty and sales growth as more farmers embrace technology. GROWERS and GROWERS Retail are available today for iOS on the App Store, with the Android version scheduled to be released in two weeks. 

GROWERS was created to first and foremost help farmers run better businesses using tools to help them embrace technology for all the technical aspects of organizing their business while maintaining the farmer-retailer relationship that is so important to the agriculture industry.

“Over the past decade, there have been multiple attempts at marketplaces, e-commerce, and omni-channel platforms in agriculture. They’ve struggled to gain widespread adoption for a variety of reasons,” says Steven Valencsin, CEO of GROWERS. “Often, the model threatened relationships, attempted to disintermediate multiple players in the value chain, or simply failed to build trust in a digitally enabled transaction. With the thoughtful collaboration of retailers, cooperatives, input manufacturers, and farmers, I could not be more excited to deliver a solution to this market that brings all critical players to the table and unites them around the success of the farmer.”

Get Your Tickets for November 17’s Bacon and Bourbon Dinner at VAST!

The Oklahoma Pork Council’s upcoming Bacon and Bourbon dinner is one of our most popular events of the year. Join us Friday, November 17, at VAST – the restaurant atop Oklahoma City’s Devon Energy Tower – for an elevated evening of pork-focused fine dining paired with high quality bourbons selected by Republic National Distribution Company’s Bruce Upthegrove. 



Come enjoy sunset cocktails at 6 p.m. before dinner service begins at 7 p.m. Whether you are looking for a fancy date night in support of pork producers or a very special employee appreciation opportunity – click here to buy your tickets online before they sell out. If you are interested in purchasing a full table for eight guests, click here to send us a note. We can promise Bacon and Bourbon on November 17 will be a night you won’t soon forget. Don’t wait to purchase your tickets – we expect the event to be full long before the first glass of bourbon gets poured! 

Purchase Tickets Here

Today at the National FFA- Competition Day for Our Speakers and Lots More

It's an early morning for our three Oklahoma speakers here in Indy- as they are all in the early prelims in their respective contests- Creed, Extemp and Prepared Public Speaking.

Early means they are all in the 8 AM eastern Round- so by late morning- we will know if they have moved on to the national semi finals or note.

That includes Corbin Robbins of Chattanooga,in Creed, Gianna Nichols of Edmond in Prepared Public Speaking and Sophia Brentlinger of Edmond in Extemporaneous Public Speaking.

Many of our teams that are competing in Indy are also engaged in their contests as well today.

At the Convention Center- the huge Expo will be officially opened at 12 noon today for it's three day run- and in the football stadium- Lucas Oil- the first of the General Sessions kicks off at 3:30 this afternoon.

Tomorrow morning- USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack will be offering some remarks to the morning general session at 8 AM- and has announced that he will be signing a MOU with the National FFA on behalf of the Biden Administration.

The detailed Convention Session schedule can be seen by clicking here

All the info about the National Convention can be mined by going to the main Convention web location- available here- which includes details how to stream many of the events.

As for me- I will be spending my time early watching our Oklahoma speakers- but then judging in the Prepared Public Speaking contest in the second Preliminary round- serving as the judge from Oklahoma in that contest.