I recently had the chance to visit with Congressman Frank Lucas about the farm bill and the Weather Reauthorization Act.

Aside from serving as the U.S. representative for Oklahoma’s 3rd Congressional district, Lucas is the former chair of the House Agriculture Committee and currently chairs the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

Lucas first gave an update on the ag appropriations bill.

“I think the appropriators want to do not just the bill that contains the ag money, but they want to do all twelve,” Lucas said. “We are operating under something called a CR: a continuing resolution to fund the government at last year’s levels through essentially the end of January.”

Lucas said that according to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, if the regular appropriations order cannot be finished, it will be time to start the new appropriations process for 2025.

“He would expect some kind of bill to fund things to finish out the regular bookkeeping year, the regular fiscal year, which is the last day of September 2024,” Lucas said. “We are funded, and we are going to stay funded. It is just what kind of process it is going to be that is the real question.”

As for the writing of a new farm bill- Lucas is convinced that there will be a window of opportunity to do a full five year renewal in the first few months of 2024- he's just not certain where the money will be found to increase base reference prices to improve the federal farm safety net.



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OKFB Hosts Oklahoma Grassroots Rural & Ag Business Accelerators Demo Day

At the Hamm Institute for American Energy, the Oklahoma Farm Bureau hosted a demo day for the Oklahoma Grassroots Rural and Ag Business Accelerators. At the event, members from the Activate Oklahoma cohort and Customized Development had the chance to present and answer questions in front of an audience of rural Oklahoma advocates and investors before receiving their certificates of graduation.

The Oklahoma Grassroots Rural & Ag Business Accelerators program is a collaborative rural development initiative from the Oklahoma Farm Bureau and national and state-level partners developing Oklahoma-based innovators creating ideas, technologies, and products creating economic Opportunities in rural Oklahoma.

Oklahoma Farm Bureau’s rural economic development coordinator, Amarie Bartel, led the event and visited with associate farm editor Reagan Calk about the program’s success.

Bartel said state leadership at OKFB saw a need for rural development through information gathered by the USDA Census of Agriculture.

“The census was coming back to us and letting us know that two-thirds of Oklahoma counties were experiencing a population decline,” Bartel said. “The USDA also started reporting that 96 percent of farm families derive a portion of their income from an off-farm source, and then lastly, through conversations, it was discovered that less than 1 percent of venture capital is deployed in a rural community.”

USDA’s Marcia Bunger Highlights Value of Livestock Risk Management Products

In this episode of Beef Buzz, I am visiting with the head of USDA’s risk management agency, Marcia Bunger, about livestock risk management products.

The growth of livestock risk management products, Bunger said, has been astronomical.

“When I take a look at some of the most recent data, I now believe that LRP (Livestock Risk Protection), one of the livestock products, is now in the top ten of all of the policies that we sell, which is just phenomenal,” Bunger said.

The LRP program, Bunger said, is driven by the Chicago Board of Trade and can be sold by insurance agents and brokers.

“It is a revenue product, so it is protecting the bottom for producers,” Bunger said. “It is relatively easy to purchase, and the broker, the agent, tracks the price, and you, the producer, if you wish to pull the trigger, you just need to get ahold of your agent, your broker. You are locking in rates for price.”

While there are some requirements regarding how long livestock have been owned, Bunger said LRP can be tailored to fit an individual operation.

Dr. Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, offers his economic analysis of the beef cattle industry as part of the weekly series known as the “Cow Calf Corner,” published electronically by Dr. Peel and Mark Johnson. Today, Dr. Peel talks about feedlot trends.

Feedlot production continues to develop and reflect changes in cattle genetics and feeding technology and management. This article summarizes trends in production and productivity in Kansas feedlots over the last 15 years. The data is from the Focus on Feedlots survey compiled by Kansas State University. Figures 1-6 depict data as twelve-month moving averages, which smooths month-to-month and seasonal variation to focus on underlying trends. This article focuses on steers but data on heifers indicates similar trends over time.

Figure 1 shows how feedlot placement and finishing weights have changed over time. Average final weights the last twelve months have been 1419 pounds, up 80 pounds from the average final weight in 2010. Average initial weights have been lower in recent years, averaging 757 pounds the last year, and down by 43 pounds from the 2010 level. Both initial and final weights are impacted by cyclical variation in cattle numbers and by feed costs.  

Wheat Food Council Launches U.S. Campaign Highlighting Nutritional Power Of Wheat Foods

Recognizing the increased emphasis consumers are placing on nutrition, the Wheat Foods Council (WFC) launched a social media campaign that educates fitness professionals and trainers about the benefits of incorporating wheat foods into healthy diets.

U.S. Wheat Associates and the WFC are both U.S. farmer-led organizations that promote the value and benefits of U.S. wheat. International customers of U.S. wheat are encouraged to look to the WFC for resources and ideas to increase awareness of wheat foods nutrition.

Wheat’s Nutritional Role:

The new WFC campaign on Facebook and Instagram officially launched Nov. 20. It provides evidence-based information on the nutritional and performance advantages of wheat foods. Among those advantages is how wheat foods serve as a reliable and efficient source of energy. The campaign also helps dispel myths about wheat foods and fosters a deeper understanding of the positive impact they have on performance and overall wellbeing.

Instagram users are able to follow the campaign on @wheatfoodscouncil. Users can post the hashtag #WonderofWheat to share and view experiences and recipes.

“By harnessing the power of social media, the campaign creates a dialogue, encourage knowledge-sharing, and inspire a paradigm shift in how the fitness industry views the role of wheat foods in a healthy lifestyle,” WFC President Tim O’Connor said. “The Wheat Foods Council, along with our partners, are committed to fostering a community of educated and informed fitness professionals who understand the crucial connection between nutrition with wheat foods and fitness.”

Texas Tech Researchers Awarded $4.9M to Explore Climate Smart Crops

A new study led by Texas Tech University agricultural scientists presents a unique opportunity to derive low-cost proxies for greenhouse gas emissions and establish targeted climate-smart commodities to strengthen economic and environmental sustainability on the Texas High Plains.

The $4.9 million interdisciplinary project, directed by Krishna Jagadish, the Thornton Distinguished Chair and professor of crop-forage-livestock systems in the Department of Plant and Soil Science, includes 10 faculty and professional staff from across the Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources. Included in the five-year effort will be a diverse combination of 20 producers from 10 counties on the Texas High Plains.

“Participating producers have volunteered to be a part of this effort, which shows their desire and willingness to incorporate climate smart practices into their operations,” Jagadish said.

Three key climate-smart commodities will be examined. They are sorghum-cotton rotation, no till, and multispecies cover crops.

The grant, titled “Establishing climate smart commodities with reduced greenhouse gas footprints to enhance environmental and economic sustainability in the Texas High Plains,” is supported through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities, which is centered on obtaining information on production, energy and water use on diverse producer plots.

Southern Plains Perspective: Are we seeing a fundamental shift in the cattle industry?

There is a new blog post out at the Southern Plains Perspective. The Southern Plains Perspective is authored by Clay Pope- who farms with his wife Sarah. 



Sometimes when you write a blog like this you feel like a broken record. It seems that some themes keep coming back over and over again.

Case in point—Is something fundamental happening in the U.S. cattle industry?

A little over a year ago I wrote a blog asking if beef production was at a turning point in the Southern Plains (you can check it out at https://wordpress.com/post/southernplainsperspective.wordpress.com/576 if you’re interested). In that piece I talked about how a report from Texas A&M pointed out that when ranchers were culling herds during the extreme dry conditions in 2021 and 2022, they were taking more heifers to the sale barn than they did during the drought that ran from 2011 to 2015.  The premise was that while there was a huge selloff of cattle during both droughts, more replacement heifers were maintained in 2011-15 in the hope of rebuilding herds when conditions got better.  This time, even if conditions miraculously improved, it would take longer for cattle numbers to recover just because the females needed to rebuild the herd simply weren’t there.

That got me thinking—is it possible that some older cattle producers were calling it quits?   Understand, I have nothing to go on other than a gut feeling, but think about it—the average age of agriculture producers in the United States is around 57. That means that half of all farmers and ranchers are older than that. 

If you were in your 60’s or 70’s during the drought of 2011-15 and made it through those record conditions (which most folks thought would be once in a generation) only to get hit with another extreme drought just a decade later, wouldn’t you think twice about sticking around? You could get out, rent (or sell) your land and try to enjoy what few golden years you have left.  If you’re getting older and it looks like you’re going to have to fight this battle all over again, do you really want to?



Fast forward this month to an article from Reuters talking about how we currently have the lowest cattle herd since 1962 and how meat exports from the United States continue to shrink. On top of that, noted livestock market economist Dr. Derrell Peel was quoted this week in the Oklahoma Farm Report as saying that the beef cow herd may shrink to the lowest levels since 1961. He went on to say that there currently is no pipeline of replacement heifers and that when we do start rebuilding the herd, it will be at least a two-year process to get those heifers into production.