While attending the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Convention, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays had the opportunity to visit with Congressman Frank Lucas about am host of things- including the AFBF Distinguished Service Award he was presented with at the 2024 National AFBF Convention, a farm bill update, and the outlook for President-Elect Trump’s second term in office.

With the Lame Duck session of the current Congress set to begin later this week- Lucas is very much focused on getting farm policy done. “Of course, it goes without saying that my heartbeat is set by where we are in the farm bill process, and right now, I’m missing a beat every so often,” Congressman Lucas admitted. “It might be the toughest piece of those three. I had a long visit on the phone with Chairman [G.T.] Thompson last night about the issue. He assures me that he is pressing the Speaker on the first hand that we, in the ag committee, have a product that is ready to go and that we can be a part of whatever kinds of year-end negotiations there are.”

Chairman Thompson related back to Congressman Lucas that if they couldn’t have a complete farm bill, they must at least take the Title 1 – Commodity title and the Title 11 Crop Insurance title to incorporate them into the final year package.

In the absence of a complete farm bill, he said that he would prefer to take the sections that must be operative, use supplemental spending to address the needs for disaster relief, and then buckle down on completing a new farm bill in the Spring when the new members are seated.

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This past Friday's Emergency Drought Commission Meeting, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays caught up with Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture Blayne Arthur to talk about the major goals of the meeting.

Arthur related that clarification was a big focus. She said, “We realize that we are responsible to the taxpayers and these dollars that are coming out from the drought committee were appropriated by the legislature.”

People had been questioning if the committee’s decision to utilize a $27 million legislative appropriation to aid producers in drought-stricken counties would still stand after recent rainfall. The decision was made to utilize last week’s Drought Monitor Report which means that all but 6 counties in the state will qualify for aid.

“I think it was important for us to gather as a committee and say that even with the significant rainfall that we have received, drought is still pretty widespread across the state of Oklahoma,” Arthur stated. “We will still move forward with practices that will put us in a better position for future droughts.”

Bottom line from this meeting- there will be $27 Million dollars in Drought Mitigation Grants awarded- applications open TOMORROW Morning- Tuesday- November 12th at your location Conservation District Office.

Latest WASDE Report Pegged U.S. Wheat Production at 1.971 bb in November, In Line with October’s Estimate

USDA released its November Crop Production and World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) reports on Friday. Rich Nelson with Allendale discussed the latest agricultural report with Oklahoma Farm Report’s Stevie White, highlighting the share drop in soybean production by 121 million bushels (mb) to 4.461 billion bushels (bb) and lowered corn production 60 mb to 15.143 bb.

Soybean yield was cut to 51.7 bushels per acre (bpa), down 1.4 bpa from October. The corn yield was pegged at 183.1 bpa, down 0.7 bpa but still a record.

Friday’s new-crop U.S. ending stocks estimates were neutral to slightly bullish for corn, bullish for soybeans and neutral on wheat. World ending stocks estimates from USDA were neutral to slightly bullish for corn, bullish for soybeans and neutral to slightly bearish for wheat.

“There was no change for wheat production, which was normal on this report,” Nelson said. “As far as minor changes for stocks, USDA raised them by 3 million bushels. So, for grains, this was a corn story, this really was a soybean story, but wheat was kind of quiet for this month.”

Delegates at the 2024 Oklahoma Farm Bureau Annual Meeting worked through a wide range of policy positions that was presented to them by the Resolutions Committee of the organization that had come from County Farm Bureaus back earlier in the fall.

After the several hours of debate and approval- Oklahoma Farm Report’s Ron Hays talked with OkFB President Rodd Moesel about the process and the result- a document that will help the public policy team of the group advocate for the state’s largest general farm organization this coming year at the State Legislature. 

Moesel says that delegates and the Resolution Committee agreed that private property rights as it related to renewable energy projects- wind, solar and transmission lines for renewables- needed to be addressed. Delegates voted to call on the group to advocate for protection of the land owner in eminent domain discussions over the a corridor across the northern part of the state for a possible transmission line that would carry electricity generated by wind power in the Panhandle region. The OkFB President says he calls a lot of this discussion “farming energy” as farmers, ranchers and rural landowners deal with companies wanting to lease their land for these renewable energy projects.

The delegates also spent a lot of their time on water policy after lunch on Saturday. Moesel says this year’s conversation was a transition from previous policy discussions- moving from policy that was more statewide water policy to 2025 policy that is “starting to look at regions or water basins recognizing that there is really tremendous differences in water availability and water issues in the different parts of the state and the different water basins.”

We also talked with OkFB Vice President Monte Tucker of Roger Mills County about the policy development efforts- and he agrees that a one size fits all water policy is not longer the direction that the group needs to take. Click on the Blue Button below to listen to both interviews to get a good feel on how the Resolutions process went on Saturday.

The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) concluded its annual strategic planning conference in Tucson, Ariz., Friday with the election of officers for 2024-25. Steve Hanson, a rancher and cattle feeder from Elsie, Neb., is the new USMEF chair, succeeding Minnesota pork and grain producer Randy Spronk.

Hanson has previously held many beef industry leadership roles, including chair of the Nebraska Beef Council and Federation of State Beef Councils and president of the Nebraska Cattlemen. He also served on the Beef Promotion Operating Committee, where he came to appreciate the importance of international marketing programs for U.S. red meat.

“The Operating Committee is where I first got my exposure to USMEF, which invests our checkoff dollars so well and adds value to the beef carcass,” Hanson said.

Hanson also praised USMEF for bringing together a wide range of agricultural sectors to support a common goal – something he said was fully on display in Tucson.

“That’s one of the best things about USMEF conferences – the idea that I can attend the Pork Committee and Exporter Committee meetings, to broaden my perspective,” he said.

“Yesterday, I sat in on the Exporter Committee meeting so I could learn more about the challenges they face moving product overseas. Those guys have some real hurdles, and this meeting gave me a much greater appreciation for what they do.”

Oklahoma State University recently has received a $719,000 United States Department of Agriculture-National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant to help new farmers and ranchers get their start in Oklahoma.

The average age of an agricultural producer in the U.S. today is 58, and the number of family farms in the U.S. is decreasing. The Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Program is critical to establishing the next generation of producers.

“We plan to equip people with specific information that allows them to be successful farmers and ranchers in Oklahoma,” said Josh Campbell, assistant state Extension program specialist for beginning farmer and rancher development. “We’ll look at crops, livestock or whatever agriculture enterprise someone is interested in through the lens of what it takes to be successful here in Oklahoma.”

The USDA defines beginning farmers and ranchers in five experience categories from zero to 10 years of farm ownership. OSU’s new NIFA-funded project will primarily focus on the first two categories of farmers with three years or less experience. Oklahoma Farm Report’s Ron Hays spoke to Campbell about the program in October. That interview and story can be found here.

Express Ranches Wins Angus Honors for 12th Year in a Row

Angus cattle have a tradition of excellence in the show ring, and that history continues across the country each year. The American Angus Association® created the Roll of Victory (ROV) Show Program in 1984 to recognize show-winning animals, their sires, dams, breeders and owners on a per year basis.

The ROV Breeder of the Year was Express Ranches of Yukon, Oklahoma. Express Ranches earned 759 points from the 16 eligible shows throughout the year. This is the 12th consecutive year Express Ranches has won the award.

The award was handed out last weekend in Ft. Wor4th at the American Angus Association Convention.

In the photo above- Pictured from left are Miss American Angus Lauren Wolter; Donnie Robertson, Ryan Callahan, Jennifer Callahan, Kevin Hafner, and Mark Squires all of Express Ranches; and Mark McCully, American Angus Association CEO.