As we wind up 2023- there is zero amount of extreme or exceptional drought to be found in Oklahoma.

Severe drought now stands at 3.08 percent of the state versus 4.49% a week ago and at 80.92 percent at the end of 2022.

Moderate drought 21.64% this week- versus 26.15% last week and 89.73% in the last report of 2022.

Abnormally dry conditions are now found in less than half of the state- at 46.38% versus 61.81% of the state last week and 98.18% of the state one year ago.

To view the latest Oklahoma drought map, CLICK HERE.

Jump to our story on our website to check out the surrounding states as well as the national drought outlook as wrap up the reports for 2023.



Midwest Farm Shows is proud to produce the two best Farm Shows in the State of Oklahoma annually- the Tulsa Farm Show each December and the Oklahoma City Farm Show each April. 

They would like to thank all of you who participated in their 2023 Tulsa City Farm Show. 

Up next will be the Oklahoma City’s premier spring agricultural and ranching event with returns to the State Fair Park April 4-5-6, 2024.

Now is the ideal time to contact the Midwest Farm Show Office at 507-437-7969 and book space at the 2024 Oklahoma City Farm Show.  To learn more about the Oklahoma City Farm Show, click here. 



Earlier here in December-I talked with the Executive Vice President of the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association, Michael Kelsey, as Kelsey gives a year in review for OCA and talks about what is coming up for 2024.

Overall, Kelsey said 2023 has been a year of challenges and opportunities. In all of his years serving the cattle industry, Kelsey said 2023 has been the most unique with the mix of drought, declining cow numbers, government regulations, attacks from animal rights groups, and more.

Kelsey said he is proud of OCA members for being open to new innovations in a changing industry.

“We have a lot of members who have changed their marketing to new methods,” Kelsey said. “What I mean by newer is newer to them. Communicating more actively with their marketer…”

Kelsey also applauded OCA members for continually preparing their cattle better for the market.

“It is almost to the point where we knew this was coming,” Kelsey said. “It is not so much as a premium market anymore; It is a discounted market. There are fewer and fewer cattle that are getting discounted because people are doing a better job of preparing their cattle.”

We also talked about 2024- and you can read Michael's comments and listen to our conversation by clicking on the Blue Button below.

2024 to be Baseline Year for Ranch to Table CAB Program

I had the opportunity in recent days to talk with the Director of Producer Engagement Kara Lee about the Certified Angus Beef Ranch to Table program that was established in 2023- and is expected to gain momentum in 2024. Lee says “We really see the Ranch to Table line extension as a producer engagement effort that allows those producers who are willing to jump through the hoops- accessing grading and going through all that whole process to be able to access Certified Angus Beef branding where it makes sense.”

Angus cattle producers who sell beef directly to consumers now have access to a new program called Ranch to Table, which permits them to use the Certified Angus Beef stamp to market their product. Ranch to Table is a program offered through CAB and was created to allow producers the opportunity to sell premium Angus products to their customers. 

To be eligible for the program, producers must raise cattle with registered Angus genetics, provide proof of Angus bull registrations, have current Beef Quality Assurance certification and provide standard procedures from their meat processors. Additionally, cattle must meet the CAB brand’s live-animal assessment with predominantly solid-black hides.

There's more hoops to jump thru- but already multiple producers are working to make this a part of their marketing strategy- and Lee is hopeful that 2024 will be a year where we start to see significant results of this new way that consumers can buy and enjoy Certified Angus Beef.

Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Intern, Maci Carter, visited a few weeks back with the Chairman of the 2023 U.S. Meat Export Federation 2024 Executive Committee, Randy Spronk, about how USMEF works to promote animal proteins around the globe.

Randy Spronk, a pork and grain producer from Edgerton, Minn., is the new USMEF chair.

A past president of National Pork Producers Council and Minnesota Pork Producers Association, Spronk is president and managing partner for Spronk Brothers Holding, which includes operations that produce pork and feedgrains along with feed milling and delivery. Spronk is also part of a group of producers that purchased a former Hormel plant and is marketing pork products under the label of Wholestone Foods.

“We go into international countries, and we market U.S protein- beef, pork, and lamb,” Spronk said. “It is a really unique cooperation among many different sectors of agriculture that come together to promote beef pork and lamb worldwide.”

Looking into the current U.S. meat market, Spronk said there are headwinds, and there are positives.

“From a pork standpoint, we are at record levels at volume and value,” Spronk said.

As the beef cow herd in the U.S. has declined and there is less product to export, Spronk said prices have gone up.



“The exports of beef, pork, and lamb add a lot of value back to U.S. agriculture,” Spronk said.

Former USDA Ag Secretary Ann Veneman Looks Back on the Cow that Stole Christmas

Our Latest Ag Perspective’s Podcast features a conversation that I had with former USDA Secretary of Ag Ann Veneman had about the first case of BSE that was found in the US in December 2003. The 20th Anniversary of that animal health event was this past weekend.

In May 2003, the first North American case of BSE was reported in Alberta, Canada, sending shockwaves through the highly integrated North American beef supply chain. The United States, along with many other countries around the world, immediately closed its border to Canadian beef and cattle.

Despite the import bans, in late December 2003, APHIS confirmed the first U.S. case of BSE in a dairy cow that had been imported from Canada to Washington State. The ‘cow that stole Christmas,’ as then Veterinary Services Deputy Administrator Dr. W. Ron DeHaven put it, sent the agency into full-on emergency mode. Holiday plans were canceled, and hundreds of APHIS employees were mobilized to determine the source of the disease, ensure that no animals from the affected herd had entered the food supply, and—along with other USDA agencies and the Food and Drug Administration—implement new prevention and surveillance measures.

Secretary Veneman and I talk about those days twenty years ago from the USDA and Bush Administration perspective.

The LDS Church (often referred to as the Mormon church) has sparked some backlash from local farmers after snapping up about 370,000 acres of prime ranch land in Nebraska. The Utah-based religious organization now owns at least $2 billion worth of agricultural terrain across the country. It now owns an estimated $134 million worth of agricultural land in Nebraska and is on track to surpass CNN founder Ted Turner as the single largest landowner in the country.

Nebraska Farmers Union President John Hansen told news outlets in recent days that the land grab was artificially driving up land prices and forcing out local farmers. “It’s not fair competition when folks bring in that much outside money and bid against local farmers and ranchers,” Hansen says. “They’ll become the number one landowner in the state if they continue this buying spree at the current rate.”

The church is the largest landowner in Florida after buying almost 383,000 acres of timberland in that state's panhandle. The 315,000-acre Deseret Ranches, bought in the 1950s, is home to orange groves and cattle. Deseret is located just south of Orlando.

Of course- they have owned land in Osage County for decades. In 1989, the church paid about $14 million for 70,000 acres of ranchland in Oklahoma and Kansas, where its Sooner Land and Livestock Co. raises beef.