At the Cattle Industry Summer Business Meeting, I caught up with the Gellert Family Professor of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University Dr. Harry Kaiser about Kaiser’s five-year study of Return On Investment (ROI) for the Beef Checkoff.

Coverage from the 2024 Cattle Industry Summer Business Meeting in San Diego is being powered by Farm Data Services of Stillwater.

By profession, Kaiser teaches and conducts research in the areas of price analysis, marketing, industrial organization, policy, and quantitative methods. He has been hired by the Beef Checkoff to conduct independent studies to thoroughly assess the effectiveness and additional financial benefits produced by the program’s demand-driving activities for decades. At the Cattle Industry Summer Business Meeting in San Diego, he released his most recent study’s findings to cattle industry leaders.

Overall, Dr. Kaiser was impressed with the latest ROI numbers. He said, “There is significant improvement from five years ago, but it is important to know that they were doing extremely well five-years ago and ten years ago. It is remarkable to me that they go from a very high ROI to an even higher ROI.”

The study just released shows a direct impact that delivers $13.41 for each dollar paid into the checkoff-up from the $11.91 for the ROI five years ago.

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. 

One of the newest additions to the National Family is Dakota Moss- and Livestock Risk Services.

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. 

While attending the APERS 56th Annual Meeting in Oklahoma City, Farm Director KC Sheperd had the chance to visit with the Dean of the Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources at OSU, Dr. Jayson Lusk, about updates on the OSU Campus.

He said that the biggest news is that Ag Hall is gearing up to move into a new building at the end of this month. “We are really excited about that happening. We’ll start with our student-facing offices, then hopefully knock it out in the following two or three weeks. We will have a Grand Opening in October, so those who are on campus for the West Virginia football game, need to stop by the new Ag Hall and have some ice cream and look around.”

As far as other Campus improvements go, one major priority is focusing on the Agronomy Research Station to support OSU’s wheat breeding program and other agronomic research efforts.



He said, “We are in discussions with architects and construction folks to plan that facility and are hoping to be able to break ground this spring. As a team, we have gone out and visited other wheat breeding and greenhouse facilities to make sure we are on the forefront and state-of-the art so that we can really make those investments payoff for the farmers of Oklahoma.”

Editor's Note- What the heck is an APRES? It's the American Peanut Research and Education Society. Click here for their website.

Final Kansas Wheat Harvest Report

This is day 13 of the Kansas Wheat Harvest Reports, brought to you by the Kansas Wheat Commission, Kansas Association of Wheat Growers, Kansas Grain and Feed Association and the Kansas Cooperative Council.

With harvest down to the final few days, this will be the last report for the 2024 Kansas wheat harvest. Rain delays continue to stretch out the season, but producers welcome the moisture as they turn their attention to planting fall crops and managing the weeds coming up rapidly in wheat stubble.

Moisture over the weekend continues to prevent harvest from wrapping up in northwest Kansas, but no one is complaining about the beneficial moisture for fall crops, according to Jeanne Falk Jones, Multi-County agronomist with the Northwest Research-Extension Center in Colby.

Area producers started test cutting after Father’s Day and harvest kicked into full gear the following weekend. The end of harvest is now in sight – maybe three days more if the skies stay clear. This last push feels more like last year’s harvest – foggy mornings and tough wheat that can’t be cut until late in the day. 

Benjamin Franklin once said that “if you want something done, ask a busy person.” In the case of Dr. Cheryl DeVuyst, that adage is true as her busy schedule got a little busier at the start of 2024 when she was elected to the position of Secretary Treasurer of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board. She says the duties have her reviewing invoices submitted by Checkoff Contractors and more.

Dr. DeVuyst is the third Oklahoman to serve as an officer of the Beef Board in recent years- following Jimmy Taylor and Chuck Coffey. (Pictured above- Past Chairman Taylor and Secretary Treasurer DeVuyst at the Summer Beef Board Meeting this week in San Diego)

Our coverage of the 2024 Cattle Industry Summer Business Meeting is powered by Farm Data Services of Stillwater.

Dr. Devuyst is the Head of the Ag Economics Department at Oklahoma State University. She and her husband Eric have cattle on their DeVuyst Ranch, a cow-calf and stocker operation. At the start of the year- she began her second three year term on the Cattlemen’s Beef Board.

Oklahoma Farm Report’s Ron Hays caught up with Dr. DeVuyst at the Cattle Industry Summer Business Meeting in San Diego and they talked about her role on the Beef Board, and more about the programs of the Beef Board that she believes are important. Listen to their conversation by clicking on the Blue Button below.

The United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA-NASS) releases monthly indexes for input prices paid and output prices received. These indexes include collecting survey responses for output and input prices for agricultural production, crops, livestock, and food commodities. The spread between these two indices often helps understand where farmers are getting price squeezed and how their profit margins are impacted. Current farm income instability from inflationary pressures, high interest rates, and several supply chain disruptions (e.g., the Russian-Ukraine war and Panama/Suez Canal) are forcing farmers to pay higher input costs while receiving lower commodity prices, emphasizing the need to consider these indexes into the future. 

These price indices measure the change in prices paid (and received) relative to a point in time—2011 in this case (Figure 1). The base year is often chosen during a time without prevailing inflation or major supply chain disruptions (Schulz, 2022). 2011 was a good year for agricultural production and profitability. As such, using 2011 as a base year is a way to highlight how better or worse-off agricultural producers are compared to a good year.

According to Farmers National Company, the agricultural land market has been “nothing short of exceptional during the past five years.” Gains in value are prevalent across all classes of land in every region of the country. Strong commodity markets, moderate interest rates, buyer demand and an overall healthy agricultural economy have also supported the growth of land values during this time.

“But a lot has changed in the past 12 months, and even more has changed within the past five years,” said Paul Schadegg, senior vice president of real estate operations at Farmers National Company. “Moving into the second half of 2023 and the first half of 2024, we’ve experienced significant increases in interest rates, declining grain markets, and inflation. Despite these negative pressures, the land market has remained relatively resilient but shows signs of settling in general, including single-digit decreases in specific areas.”

One aspect of the agricultural land market is the long-term appreciation of land value. Over the past 25 years, land values have experienced a stair-stepping trend following the ups and downs of the agricultural economy. As grain markets and farm profitability rose, the land markets followed while leveling off as markets and profitability did the same. Schadegg said each plateau has set a new value standard sustained through production, demand, and profitability.

“A significant factor in maintaining the level of land values has been investor interest in the market. While these bidders are not always successful buyers of land, they are certainly involved in setting the floor on values as they bid up to the levels of their investment criteria. This segment of buyers also considers the long-term appreciation in value we have experienced in the past 25 years, the potential for future appreciation, and land’s value as a diversified asset,” Schadegg said.

Oklahoma FFA Alum Ethan Stone a Part of Upcoming New Century Farmer Conference

A select group of 50 FFA alumni from across the country will convene in Des Moines, Iowa, July 21-25 to discuss future issues and opportunities in the field of production agriculture. The annual New Century Farmer Conference convenes FFA alumni ages 18-24 who have demonstrated leadership in their studies and work experience, earning them a sought-after spot at the conference. 



Since FFA programming is reserved primarily for middle and high school students, the New Century Farmer Conference offers former FFA members who have chosen to pursue careers in agriculture a look inside the business operations of farming. Attendees are interested in careers in agribusiness, agricultural education, animal systems, communications, food products and processing, natural resources, plant systems, and more. The students’ current farming and work experience ranges from managing 650 heads of cattle, 4,800 pigs, or 5,500 hogs to raising a small brood of hens to sell organic eggs to family and friends on the livestock side, and managing anywhere from 0 to more than 4,000 acres of crops on the plant side.