At the Ranchers Sustainable Tour hosted by Clay Burtrum, Oklahoma Farm Report Intern Kate Munson spoke with Ag Secretary Blayne Arthur following her welcome address at the Sustainable Ranchers Tour in Stillwater on June 20.



One focus of the Sustainable Ranchers Tour is to teach producers how to interact with and meet consumers’ needs in the age of sustainable understanding.

“It is really important to the consumer how we are managing our environment,” said Arthur.

The beef cattle industry “has a great story to tell, and for a long time we didn’t have to worry about telling that story, but now consumers are very engaged. They want to ask those questions, they want to have that information,” she added.

Arthur also spoke on the historic panhandle rains and the challenges of receiving half of the average rainfall within 12 hours.

“From a state perspective, we have emergency management teams that were out there yesterday,” Arthur said. “From the ag side of things, we’re trying to see what resources they need immediately.”



Invenergy is committed to Oklahoma, having completed its first project in the state in 2006. Today, Invenergy operates three wind energy centers in our state, employs over 60 Oklahomans and continues investing in our project communities. We believe building relationships is the key to being good community partners and we work to develop relationships to benefit our landowners, our employees, and our communities.

We invest in Oklahomans, and we take pride in their success. Our energy facilities provide jobs, tax revenues, landowner payments and other sources of local economic development.

For more information, visit www.InvenergyOklahoma.com

Trust In Beef Sustainable Ranchers Tour Helps Producers Build Regenerative Ranching Network

At the Trust In Beef Sustainable Ranches Tour at Burtrum Ranches, LLC in Stillwater, I had the chance to catch up with nationally recognized no-till farmer, regenerative rancher, and soil-health expert Jimmy Emmons to talk about the Trust In Beef program led by Farm Journal.

Trust in Beef is led by Farm Journal‘s social purpose initiative, Trust In Food, and its industry-leading beef brand, Drovers. Recently, Farm Journal welcomed Emmons as senior vice president of climate-smart programs. Emmons is leading Trust In Food’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Connected Ag Project, America’s Conservation Ag Movement, and Trust In Beef, coalition-driven conservation programs developed to accelerate the adoption of conservation agriculture at scale.

Trust In Beef works across two program streams to secure a sustainable future for beef including empowerment of producers on their journey and connecting consumers to beef’s sustainable story.

“What we are trying to do is connect all of the dots together and help ranchers understand they are a big part of the picture, but not the whole part of the picture,” Emmons said. “There are consumers, processors, and retailers all on this train. Then, all of these partners we have trying to get ranches and the whole gamut of the complete circle to understand what sustainability is.”

From Dust Storm to a 1000 Year Rain- Goodwell- Guymon After the Storm

This past week- in the early morning hours on Wednesday- the Mesonet station at Goodwell recorded 7.5 inches of rain in about five hours- that actually is more than they got in all of 2022 at that location.

Our friend Vicki Portman is with Invenergy and lives on a horse ranch at the edge of Goodwell- and she and her husband experienced the fury of the storm that dumped so much rain into Texas County. She says total rainfall on their place approached ten inches!

The picture above is looking back towards their house a couple of days after the storm- waters had dropped about two feet from their peak. She says by this point horses were standing in only six inches of water instead of up to their chest(and higher).

Vicki writes "What is so crazy is literally the morning of the flooding we had severe dust storms with 70mph winds and pile ups on the highways due to the dust storms and then all the rain."

For a lot of folks- they have spent the weekend cleaning up and starting to assess the damage. Lots of damage in both Goodwell and Guymon is being seen- and loss of crops and livestock will become more apparent this week.

Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief is planning to be in the Panhandle this week to assist folks- you can donate to their efforts by clicking here.

One picture that captures the crazy amount of rain that was received in this area is from near Highway 54 close to Goodwell- OEM workers in a boat rescue of several horses- Vicki says this was close to their ranch but not their horses- wow!

After decades of substantial U.S. agricultural trade surpluses, the U.S. is forecast to experience a record trade deficit for the second year in a row. American Farm Bureau Federation economists analyzed the factors contributing to the deficit in their latest Market Intel report.

According to the analysis, the forecast $32 billion deficit is caused by a multitude of factors, one of which is rising imports of fresh fruits and vegetables. American produce farmers face significant challenges in competing with less expensive foreign-grown produce, most notably a lack of affordable and available farm labor.

“Production of many fresh fruits and vegetables is extremely labor intensive,” AFBF economist Betty Resnick writes in the Market Intel. “For U.S. agricultural production broadly, labor accounts for about 10% of expenses. For fruit and vegetable production – labor costs account for 38.5% and 28.8% of input costs, respectively.”

Factors contributing to decreased agricultural export values include falling commodity prices for American crops and a strong U.S. dollar.

Panda Biotech celebrates Grand Opening of the Panda Hemp Gin of Wichita Falls, Texas

On Wednesday, June 12, Panda Biotech, along with Panda Hemp Gin equity partner, The Southern Ute Indian Tribe, celebrated the grand opening of its Wichita Falls, Texas industrial hemp facility. Friends and colleagues from around the world gathered for an official hemp denim ribbon-cutting ceremony and celebratory barbeque lunch inside of the 500,000 square foot Panda Hemp Gin facility in the heart of Wichita Falls. Ceremony speakers included Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce CEO Ron Kitchens, Panda Biotech President Dixie Carter, Panda Biotech Chief Operating Officer Scott Evans, Southern Ute Indian Tribe Chairman Melvin J. Baker, and Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller.

Panda Biotech President Dixie Carter opened the ceremony noting Chairman and CEO Robert W. Carter’s astounding vision to build a large-scale, top-tier processing facility here in the United States for domestic industrial hemp decortication. Bob Carter’s signature “no excuses” leadership style inspired the Panda Biotech team to persevere through a number of challenges including a global pandemic to arrive at this momentous day.

Noteworthy guests included Paul Guez, long-considered the “father of denim” who launched the first brand of designer jeans with his brand Sasson, as well senior executives from the world’s largest textile spinning mills, textile importers and exporters; regional agriculture leaders and producers; members of the esteemed Southern Ute Tribal Council; Mayor Tim Short and other city officials.



“We will lead the nation in industrial hemp!” proclaimed Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller with Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce CEO Ron Kitchens adding, “Today, we celebrate the courage of entrepreneurs who said over and over again, we believe in you, Wichita Falls.”

Fish and Wildlife Determines Kiamichi Crayfish Does Not Warrant Listing Under the Endangered Species Act

After a thorough review of the best available scientific and commercial information, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has determined that the Kiamichi crayfish is not warranted for listing under the Endangered Species Act.

The Kiamichi crayfish is a small, olive to reddish brown crayfish found in the headwaters and tributaries of the upper Kiamichi River in Southeastern Oklahoma. It is highly adapted to shallow and rocky riffles but finds refuge in deeper pools during dry periods. The species has historically faced elevated threats from sedimentation, but the majority of the species’ range was acquired by the U.S. Forest Service, where management maintains predominantly stable soil conditions.

On June 18, 2007, the Service received a petition to list the Kiamichi crayfish under the Endangered Species Act. On Dec. 16, 2009, the Service published a 90-day finding in the Federal Register that the petition presented substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that listing the Kiamichi crayfish may be warranted. This “not warranted” decision represents the Service’s 12-month finding.