The Oklahoma State University Agricultural Economics Department hosted the Rural Economic Outlook Conference at the ConocoPhillips Alumni Center on the OSU campus on Wednesday, October 16, 2024. Farm Director KC Sheperd got to talk with OSU Associate Professor in Agricultural Economics Amy Hagerman about the pending Farm Bill.

Hagerman said that having a new Farm Bill or an extension of the current Farm Bill by the end of the calendar year is critical. She doesn’t see it happening until after the election, so an extension is more likely.

“I really think that we’re going to get a twelve-month extension because we’ve got a lot of work to do to get to a Farm Bill,” Hagerman said. “If that new Farm Bill conversation actually extends beyond when new members of Congress and the new Administration come on board, that changes things a lot and for a lot of different reasons.”

She explained how there would be a new Congressional Budget Office baseline, and that the cost of the Farm Bill under the proposed amendments from the House or Senate would be known. Those factors will mean a lot to a Congress that is concerned about costs after the deficit and tax cuts conversations that will happen in the Spring of 2025.

The Oklahoma Wheat Commission promotes greater use of wheat in domestic and international markets through research, market development and public education.

Our Commissioners develop policy and programs, direct the funding, represent producer interests and, of course, promote Oklahoma wheat!

Learn more about the Oklahoma Wheat Commission by clicking here for their website.

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 heifer retention. Murphy was a speaker at the TCFA meeting in San Antonio. This is the second in a two-part series with Murphy. The first can be found here.

According to Murphy, this fall is the second year in a row for big financial margins at the cow calf level, which he believes will lead to the retention of roughly 450,000 more heifers that will become mama cows in the next couple of years.

“We are finally seeing that turn, but it did take two years of back-to-back big margins for the cow calf sector to go ahead and keep those heifers back and have the confidence that this market is sustainable as they start to build for the end of the decade,” Murphy said.

Murphy is optimistic about 2025. He believes that it could be another record-setting year. He expects fed cattle to average $192 for the year, with a plus or minus $12 range. He predicts feeder cattle to be at a practical range of $2.30 to $2.70. Calves, in the early spring, on a U.S. averages basis for a 550 lb steer, should get to $3.30 to $3.40 per hundredweight; while he still expects the seasonal pullback in summer and fall, so long as there isn’t a major drought event, he says that $2.95 to $3.00 in the fall should be reasonable support to the calf market.

National FFA Convention Convention Week Has Arrived- We Head for Indy

The 97th Annual National FFA Convention and Career Show is ramping up over the next couple of days in Indianapolis, Indiana. over 70,000 expected to be there for the 2024 convention- close to 2,000 of them from Oklahoma- FFA members, ag-education teachers and supporters.

State FFA President Kayla Poling of Silo FFA is leading the State Officer team as they participate in working on some of the business of the organization.

Already there in Indy is our National FFA Officer Candidate from Oklahoma- Kylee Falasco of Weatherford FFA. We will know tonight if she has made the initial cut from 37 to down around 19 to 20 that will be a part of those in final consideration for one of the six national officer slots that will be announced this coming Saturday. Maci Carter and I interviewed many of the National Officer candidates- go to our Blue Green Gazette webpage to listen to our visits with about 30 of the 37 who were in Stillwater last month for a training session.

Oklahoma FFA members are among the elite in competitions and awards that will be handed out this week- Here's the comprehensive list of Oklahoma FFA members competing or to be honored this week.

Click on the names below to jump to stories we have already posted about those in the hunt in 2024 in Indy:

Oklahoma has a finalist in each of the four Stars over America contests- click here for details

Oklahoma FFA has the second most Proficiency Award Finalists in America headed to Indy-Click here for details

Oklahoma FFA is tied for first in the number of national Agriscience Projects headed to Indy- click here for details

Coy Davidson of Elgin is our National Prepared Public Speaking rep- click here for our story with him

Our coverage all this week is powered by Oklahoma Farm Bureau- thanks to OkFB for helping us tell you the Oklahoma FFA story all week long.

As the Northern Hemisphere harvest concludes and crops in the Southern Hemisphere near maturation, wheat markets are still highly sensitive to weather-related news. As headlines about dry conditions around the globe come and go, and markets fluctuate daily, having information about the current drought conditions worldwide and potential impacts remains important to wheat buyers.

Southern Hemisphere

At this stage in the Southern Hemisphere, weather conditions become crucial for determining yield potential.

In September, persistent dryness in Western Australia prompted the state’s grain industry association to reduce the region’s output by 7% to 9.3 million metric tons (MMT), while late-season frost had detrimental effects across southeast Australia. In response, private analysts lowered their total Australian production estimates to between 27 MMT and 29 MMT. Despite the decrease, current projections still align with the five-year average of 29.8 MMT. Likewise, estimates from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) and the October World Agricultual Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) held their forecasts steady at 31.9 MMT and 32 MMT, respectively.

Similarly, in Argentina, a recent update from the Rosario Grains Exchange decreased Argentinian wheat production 1.0 MMT to 19.5 MMT, as key farming areas remain dry. Even so, the October WASDE kept Argentinian production at 18 MMT, a 2.2 MMT bump from the year prior and a 42% increase from the 2022/23 drought.

On this past Saturday- while attending the Oklahoma Best Beef Competition, held during the Stockyard’s Stampede, at Oklahoma Stockyard City, Oklahoma Farm Report’s Maci Carter got to talk with Katrina Avers, who founded Blackjack Legacy Beef, and Josh Bedell.

They were challenged by a processor to enter their beef in the competition and were glad they did after they earned the Oklahoma’s Best Beef title. Based in Minco, Oklahoma, Blackjack Legacy is a coalition of small ranches joined by their common quality standards so they can compete on a larger scale while maintaining their small, manageable operations.

“We know that teamwork makes the dream work,” Avers said. “We saw that today with our grilling team. They did a phenomenal job, but it starts with our ranchers and includes our processors, and customers.”

As a mother of five always trying to support her kids’ fundraisers, Avers’s marketing mindset is a bit different from others. Her goal is to connect consumers in touch with their local producers to support families; therefore Blackjack Beef is a small, family-owned operation.

“Buy from your local kids that need to raise money for their band uniforms, cross country meet, or travel expenses,” she said. “Those kids need our help and this is a great way for us to come together as a community and have 100% re-investment. Let those kids take your orders, pack your groceries, and bring you farm fresh beef from Blackjack Legacy.”



The grilling team was comprised of two sets of brothers, none of which had ever experienced anything like Oklahoma’s Best Beef Competition. Bedell said, “We practiced a little bit this past week, well one of us did, but once we got here, we got a plan together and did our best. We maintained good temperature control, a good seasoning from Blackjack, and the steak really spoke for itself.”

Over 230,000 farms are up against a Jan. 1, 2025, deadline to file their detailed Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) with the Treasury Department under the requirements of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). Despite facing steep fines and possible jail time for failing to file, less than 11% of eligible businesses nationwide have filed their BOI. Efforts to protect small businesses from these invasive requirements and the harsh punishment for noncompliance have stalled in Congress. Let’s review what the Corporate Transparency Act means for farmers.

What is the Corporate Transparency Act?

The Corporate Transparency Act was passed in 2021 to combat money laundering and organized crime funding. The CTA requires that registered businesses register any “beneficial owner” of the company with the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The BOI filing requirement applies to any small business that files an incorporating document with their state business authority to conduct business in the United States, including corporations, limited partnerships or limited liability companies (LLCs). The FinCEN classification of a “small entity” is having less than 20 employees and under $5 million in cash receipts.

While the actual structure of a business – and the process to incorporate – can vary slightly state to state, most farms operate as pass-through entities in which the company’s income is passed directly into the owner’s individual income, rather than being taxed as business revenue. When a business files an incorporating document, it is classified as a C-corporation (C-corp) or S-corporation (S-corp). When a business files an organizing document, it is generally classified as an LLC. C-corps are legally separated from their owners and are taxed at both a business and individual level. S-corps, partnerships and LLCs pass business revenue through to be taxed at the owner level, but they provide liability protection to their owners by operating as independent entities.