USDA's weekly Crop Progress Report shows that nationwide, the US Corn crop stands at 65% good to excellent - unchanged from last week. Soybeans fell 3 points this week to a 65% good to excellent rating - Cotton improved 4 points this week to 44% good to excellent and Sorghum improved 2 points to 50% good to excellent.



Oklahoma's spring-planted crop conditions mostly headed south. Soybean conditions rated 36 percent good to excellent - a 9 point drop from last week. Cotton conditions rated 37 percent good to excellent, down 8 points from a week ago, and Sorghum conditions rated 59 percent good to excellent- which is down 10 points from a week ago. The lone exception- corn crop conditions- improved three points to 63% good to excellent.

We do have corn and sorghum harvest numbers- the Oklahoma corn harvest is 20% complete- up from 14% last week while the first sorghum harvest number of the season shows 5% now harvested.

Kansas's conditions all improved except for cotton which declined 9 points to 46 percent good to excellent. Soybeans rated at 61 percent good to excellent, up one point from last week, and Sorghum conditions rated 46 percent good to excellent, up 4 points from last week. Corn rated 48 percent good to excellent, up 3 points from last week.

Texas's spring-planted crop conditions are mixed as compared to last week with Corn conditions unchanged at 41 percent good to excellent. Cotton conditions improved to 36 percent good to excellent from last week's 26 percent rating. Sorghum conditions are unchanged at a 47 percent good to excellent rating. Soybean conditions rated 27 percent good to excellent, up 1 point from last year.

Pasture and Range Conditions for the 48 states dropped two points from last week to 28 percent good to excellent. Oklahoma has declined 1 point to a 46 percent good to excellent rating - Kansas improved 3 points to 46% good to excellent - Texas improved 2 points to 15% good to excellent while Missouri declined 7 points to a 71% good to excellent rating.

The vision of the Oklahoma Beef Council is to be a positive difference for Oklahoma's farming and ranching families and the greater beef community, and its mission is to enhance beef demand by strengthening consumer trust and exceeding consumer expectations. 

To learn more, visit www.oklabeef.org. Also, don't forget to like its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/oklabeef for stories on Oklahoma's ranching families and great beef recipes. 

And Check out this video below that helps you learn more about the Beef Checkoff.

In a sharp turnaround from July, farmer sentiment nose-dived in August. The August Purdue University-CME Group Ag Economy Barometer fell 13 points vs. July, leaving the index at 100, while the Index of Current Conditions fell 17 points to 83, and the Index of Futures Expectations shed 11 points to a reading of 108. Weakening farm income prospects weighed on farmer sentiment as the outlook for a bountiful fall harvest were more than offset by declining crop prices. This month’s decline in the barometer takes farmer sentiment back to the average level observed from fall 2015 to winter 2016, a period when farm incomes were declining sharply. The weakness in farmer sentiment could indicate that farmers expect this year’s farm income downturn to last for an extended period. Data collection for the August survey took place from August 12-16, 2024.

Over the last several months, farmers’ concerns about weakening commodity prices have become more evident in barometer surveys. In the August survey, producers’ concerns about commodity prices nearly eclipsed what has consistently been their top concern: high input prices. This month, 30% of respondents picked lower commodity prices as a top concern compared to 33% who chose high input costs. This was a marked departure from a year earlier when just 20% of survey respondents pointed to weak commodity prices as a top concern for their farm operation. At the same time, fewer respondents chose rising interest rates as a top concern. This month, 17% of respondents pointed to interest rates as a top issue, down from 24% a year ago.

Kent Bacus Calls for US Government to Reengage in Trade Negotiations

Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, is talking with National Cattlemen’s Association executive director of government affairs, Kent Bacus, about U.S. Trade deals.

According to Bacus, the overall government approach to pursuing new trade agreements has seen a shift. “When you go back to previous administrations, from Bush and Clinton, all the way up to the Obama Administration, you had a lot of traditional trade agreements that would have the approval of Congress and were negotiated by the executive branch. It helped open up a lot of export markets. Under Trump, you saw a lot of bilateral agreements merge, and you saw a lot of executive agreements that didn’t necessarily bypass Congress, but were able to accomplish similar results with a different path forward.”

He went on to explain that the Biden administration took the position for the first two years of their leadership that they were going to step back and review what has been done. Since they have come forward Bacus, has heard comments suggesting that trade agreements are outdated and the U.S. government needs to shift the way that it engages with trade agreements.

“Sadly, in that transition, they have set aside market access,” Bacus stated. “By that, I mean tariff reductions and moving tariff barriers for our products into other countries. For the cattle industry, that is huge. Prior to the creation of a Free Trade Agreement, we had a forty percent markup on our products into Korea, into Japan, it was 38.5 percent, into Columbia, it was eighty percent. Because of trade agreements, we could move those barriers. Now we have much more competitive access into those markets.”

At the OCA Conventionthis summer, Intern Kate Munson caught up with Cheyenne Sparks, Oklahoma Ag Mediation Program Officer Manager, to talk about what she does and the importance of ag mediation in the industry today.

The program, started in the 1980s, during the agricultural crisis of that era to help lenders, USDA, and producers be successful in their operations. “We are a nonprofit organization, so you will never get a bill from us. We help to resolve conflicts and create a perfect relationship moving forward so that everybody is profitable in the end,” Sparks explained.

Organic discussions, lease agreements, and family farm transitions, are just a few of the situations that are mediated by the program. “Anything that can cause conflict on your operation is something that we are going to discuss. If you have an ag conflict, bring it to us,” Sparks offered.

The Oklahoma Ag Mediation Program is a part of the Coalition of Ag Mediation Programs, which provides an environment to discuss conflicts that may arise in the future on agricultural operations.

Two finalists have been selected for the 2024 Oklahoma Leopold Conservation Award®. The award honors farmers, ranchers, and forestland owners who go above and beyond in their management of soil health, water quality, and wildlife habitat on working land.

Named in honor of renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold, this award recognizes landowners who inspire others with their dedication to environmental improvement. In his influential 1949 book, A Sand County Almanac, Leopold called for “a land ethic,” an ethical relationship between people and the land they own and manage.

The finalists are:

Scotty and Jo Herriman of South Coffeyville in Nowata County and Cody Sloan of Gore in Sequoyah, Muskogee and LeFlore counties.

The award recipient, who receives $10,000, will be recognized this winter.

Cattle prices have reached record highs, and the cattle herd is the smallest since the 1950s. USDA predicts high domestic prices will result in increasing imports in the coming years. The U.S. is an attractive market, particularly for lean beef trimmings for ground beef. This article briefly discusses the recent spike in live animals, fresh/chilled, and frozen meat imports. 

During the first half of 2024, imports of beef and live cattle soared. From January to June 2024, the U.S. imported 175,441 more head of cattle than in the same period last year, a 19% increase, reaching 1.12 million animals (Fig. 1). Over the same span, imported Fresh/Chilled and Frozen beef rose 11% and 29%, totaling 331,550 and 365,067 metric tons (MT), respectively (Fig. 1). Tight lean supplies along with high domestic beef prices help explain the growth in foreign acquisitions. 

As the U.S. cattle herd declines, live animal imports have increased, mostly from Mexico (Fig. 2). Drought in Mexico and high U.S. cattle prices helped fueled more U.S. feeder cattle imports. In 2023, Mexican sales to the U.S. jumped 43%.  That is 375,879 more head of cattle than in 2022. The Mexican herd has been stable recently, with FAS-PSD/USDA forecasting 0.4% growth in 2024.

Imported fresh or chilled beef has been growing over the past decade (Fig. 3). In 2023, the U.S. imported more than double the quantity it did in 2013 (Fig. 3). During this period, Canada provided, on average, half of the U.S. imported fresh/chilled meat while Mexico had, on average, 34% of market share. FAS-PSS/USDA predicts Canada stocks will drop 2% in 2024, down to 11.06 million head. 

Holcomb named assistant director of Food and Ag Products Center

Rodney Holcomb has been named assistant director of Oklahoma State University’s Robert M. Kerr Food and Agricultural Products Center and the McLaughlin Family Endowed Chair for Food Safety.

He will help lead the Food and Ag Products Center through a renovation of its processing facilities while identifying new research and outreach opportunities to support Oklahoma’s growing food industry. Holcomb will continue working with the center’s clients and focus on research in food safety technology, consumer perceptions of food technologies and food labels.

“It is a well-deserved promotion for Dr. Holcomb to lead client support, entrepreneurial, and business development,” said Roy Escoubas, director of the Food and Ag Products Center. “He has many years of experience and is a respected leader in the food and agribusiness sectors across America.”

Holcomb is a professor in the OSU Department of Agricultural Economics and a food economics specialist for OSU Extension. A member of the OSU faculty since 1997, Holcomb specializes in agribusiness development with research projects in value-added manufacturing economics and market evaluations. He is an Oklahoma AgCredit board member and leads OSU agribusiness management courses.