According to the latest Oklahoma drought monitor report, exceptional drought remains at zero percent, unchanged from the start of the calendar year.

Extreme drought or worse has increased to 31.44 percent, up from 23.41 percent last week. Southwest, northeast, northcentral and even southeast Oklahoma all have patches of extreme drought this week.

Severe drought or worse has increased to 52.37 percent, up from 45.29 percent last week.

Moderate drought or worse, increased to 70.97 percent, up from 70.27 percent last week.

Abnormally dry or worse have increased to 85.59 percent, up from 84.44 percent last week.

As for our neighbors, Northwest Arkansas had moderate, severe, and extreme drought all expand, while in Louisiana, moderate drought expanded in the north and in the south, with a new pocket of severe drought introduced in the south. A new area of moderate drought emerged in southern Mississippi and into southern portions of Louisiana. Moderate drought expanded over portions of central Tennessee. Texas had widespread degradation over much of the east and central portions of the state as well as expansion of moderate drought over the Panhandle. 

Kansas Drought Monitor shows Moderate Drought expanding from 56.74% last week to 64.38% this week. Texas Drought ratings saw an increase from 41.66% a week ago to 55.12.

Click here for the Kansas Drought Monitor Page and Click here for the Texas Drought Monitor Page.

The Oklahoma Agriculture Mediation Program knows this is a hard time for farmers and ranchers. We want you to know we are still open, and we are still here for you. The Ag Mediation program is a free service that provides mediation to agriculture producers who may need help with ag-related disputes.

At Oklahoma Ag Mediation, we have been helping people in agriculture resolve conflicts since 1987. We know firsthand about working together to resolve conflicts, so you don’t have to go through the court systems. Let our professional mediators help you. Mediation is allowed for lease issues, farmer/neighbor disputes, family farm transitions, and more. These services are available at no cost for Oklahoma farmers and ranchers in all 77 counties. For more information, you can go to ok.gov/mediation, or give us a call at 800 248 5465.

The Oklahoma State University Agricultural Economics Department hosted the Rural Economic Outlook Conference at the ConocoPhillips Alumni Center on the OSU campus yesterday, Wednesday, October 16, 2024. Farm Director KC Sheperd got to talk with OSU’s John Michael Riley about the latest in grain markets.

“It’s not the prettiest of days in grain markets,” Riley said. “Prices for all of our grains are under a lot of pressure. Production is outpacing demand. We are hitting some headwinds with trade as we look at a various number of factors, such as competition from overseas. In the Markets, we’ve had some strength in the dollar as of late, and compiling port issues for the export market that weren’t needed because there is enough pressure here domestically. All told it’s not the rosiest of outlooks concerning where we are at with corn, beans, and wheat – all of our grain markets.”

He observed that though there was a lot of apprehension about wheat early in the growing season, the crop improved as time went on; however, all of Oklahoma’s summer crops are under pressure.

“Cotton is probably in one of its worst years of the past five or so,” Riley stated. “Yields are not the best because of the dry conditions here in the state, and on top of that, you’ve got all of the pressures that exist in the grain market spilling over into cotton. Normally, you would have a natural hedge in some respects: when you have a bad growing year, you might have stronger prices. That is just not the case this year with cotton.”

CattleFax’s Mike Murphy Provides Overview of Cattle Feeders’ Trends and Issues

The Texas Cattle Feeder’s Association represents feedlots in Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico, and recently held their annual meeting. Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays is featuring comments from Mike Murphy with the CattleFax Organization about several topics including La Nina, corn prices, and beef on dairy crosses. Murphy was a speaker at the TCFA meeting in San Antonio.

He mentioned how the dry conditions stemming from the La Nina weather system constrict producers in growing feed, forage, and water supplies. “Overall, we’ll have to keep our eyes on our ability to see herd expansion from heifer retention at the cow calf level,” Murphy said.

He spoke about how the abundance of this year’s corn crop is keeping the corn prices down. “Corn is kind of at the four to four sixty level from the basis of a spot futures market. From a cattle feeder’s perspective, that translates to about a dollar fifteen to twenty total cost to gain,” he said. “More importantly, that sort of cost structure allows for those higher calf prices across the country.”

The difference between the fed cattle value and the total cost to gain, or value of gain, is another area where Murphy has observed changes in the market. Cattle feeders are feeding cattle longer and growing them larger than in the past making the cattle more efficient.

The national network of agricultural experiment stations at the nation’s land-grant universities, agInnovation, is launching a working 10-year Research Roadmap.

The plan was created by state agricultural experiment station directors nationwide, members of 1890 and 1994 land-grant universities, and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities’ Board on Agriculture Assembly. Oklahoma State University helped develop the organization’s roadmap as an agInnovation representative of the southern region.

Land-grant universities and other state and private institutions conduct 70% of publicly funded research and development, which delivers $20 of economic activity for every $1 invested. agInnovation’s roadmap outlines the need for additional research funding for its institutions over the next decade. The funding would support the organization’s core principles, including food security, economic prosperity, natural resource protection and improvement of the health and well-being of all Americans.

“Our experiment stations are an important part of the land-grant mission,” said Scott Senseman, associate vice president of OSU Ag Research and a member of the agInnovation Research Roadmap working group. “This research roadmap emphasizes the importance of what we do and clarifies the research directions that collectively represent our experiment stations nationwide.

Farmer Rationale On Harris Vs. Trump

While various polls suggest Trump has a clear edge among rural voters and there’s significant support for Trump among farmers, Jim Wiesemeyer, Farm Journal Washington correspondent, is quick to remind the community is not uniform in its voting intentions, with policy preferences and personal values driving individual decisions.

In general terms, Wiesemeyer says farmers support Trump because they:

• Believe Trump better understands rural America and agricultural issues
• Are concerned about his trade policies and confrontation with China
• Have concerns about border security and illegal immigration under the current Biden/Harris administration
• Are of the opinion Trump will lower costs for farmers, especially related to energy
• Oppose what they view as socialist or anti-American policies from Democrats

Farmers support Harris because they:

• Back environmental policies and renewable energy
• Approve of the Biden/Harris administration’s efforts to strengthen farm workers’ rights
• Believe in Harris’ food and nutrition policies
• Support Harris’ economic policies aimed at working-class Americans

Time is running out for thousands of farmers who may face steep fines and possible jail time for failing to file their businesses with the federal government. Jan. 1, 2025, is the deadline to file Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) with the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). New analysis in a Market Intel by American Farm Bureau Federation economists shows more than 230,000 farms are required to file, but government data indicates less than 11% of all eligible businesses nationwide have done so.

The Corporate Transparency Act of 2021 required businesses to register any “beneficial owner” of a company in an effort to combat money laundering. Many farms are structured as either a c-corporation, s-corporation or limited liability company (LLC), which are now required to be registered if they employ fewer than 20 employees or receive under $5 million in cash receipts – which covers the vast majority of farms.

“The use of LLCs is an important tool for many farms to keep personal and business assets separated, but small businesses often lack the staff to track and stay in compliance with changing rules and regulations,” said AFBF President Zippy Duvall. “It’s clear that many farmers aren’t aware of the new filing requirement. Unclear guidance and lack of public outreach are now putting thousands of America’s farmers at risk of violating federal law.”

Blackjack Farms and Guests Annual

Female Production Sale on Saturday 10/19

Blackjack Farms, LLC and Guests are hosting their Annual Female Production Sale on Saturday, October 19, 2024 at 12:30 p.m. – at the ranch near Seminole, Oklahoma

The address is 35824 EW 1140, Seminole, OK 74868

SALE GUESTS are PFEIFFER ANGUS FARMS and McFERRAN FARMS.

Over 170 lots of Angus, Sim Angus and Simmental cattle will be offered.

Click on the Blue button to jump to the catalog for the sale.

Sale Day contacts include:

Sale Manager

Matt Sims (405)641-6081

Keith Grissom

(405) 997-9678

Keith McFerran

(405)380-5747

John Pfeiffer

(405)880-0862