Virtually every single county in Oklahoma got an inch of rain from the system that rolled across Oklahoma starting this past Sunday afternoon and exited by Monday afternoon-

It's another big hit to the drought that we have been wrestling with since late summer. This dose of moisture will be factored into the Drought Monitor numbers we will be seeing this coming Thursday morning- and the severe drought numbers may be zeroed out this next go round.

Arnett in Ellis County topped the hit parade with just over three inches with this system- but bunches of Mesonet stations found over two inches of rain in their gauges- from Slapout to Miami to Haskell to Pauls Valley. The map above is clickable back to the Mesonet site so you can see details on each station across the state.

This latest round will go a long way to finishing filling ponds and lakes in the state ahead of the winter season- and will help a lot with soil moisture profiles as well.

Wednesday night Prayer Warriors- Good Job!

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USDA's weekly Crop Progress Report shows that nationwide, harvest is nearing completion - the US corn and soybean harvests are complete, and the US Cotton crop is now 77% harvested.

With Significant Rainfall, Winter Wheat plantings in Oklahoma are closing the gap with 90 percent planted, down 6 points from the 5-year average with 75 percent of our crop emerged. Our neighbors are much closer to the five-year average with 100 percent planted in Kansas with 91 percent of their crop emerged, and Texas now stands at 86 percent planted with 71 percent of their crop emerged.

Oklahoma's winter wheat conditions rated 37 percent good to excellent, up 9 points from last week. Kansas's rated 49 percent, up 9 points from last week, and Texas's conditions rated 47 percent good to excellent, a 14 percent improvement over last week.



Oklahoma's cotton and soybean harvests are underway with cotton at 57 percent, down 13 points from a year ago, and soybeans at 70 percent harvested, down 4 points from a year ago.

The Oklahoma Corn harvest is complete - while the Oklahoma Grain sorghum crop is now 88 percent harvested down 1 point from a year ago.

The Kansas corn and soybean harvests are complete. The Sorghum harvest is 1 point ahead of a year ago at 88 percent. Kansas cotton is 93 percent harvested, down 1 point from a year ago.

Texas's Corn, Sorghum, and Soybean harvests are complete. Their cotton harvest is 72 percent completed, well above 65 percent a year ago.

No Pasture and Range Conditions for the 48 states were given- but we have state numbers here in the southern plains. Oklahoma has improved 2 points to a 12 percent good to excellent rating - Kansas improved 1 point to 24 percent good to excellent - Texas declined 2 points to a 12 percent good to excellent rating.

Rabobank’s Lance Zimmerman Discusses Strong Beef Market and Survey Importance

Rabobank’s senior beef analyst, Lance Zimmerman, talked in depth with Oklahoma Farm Report’s Ron Hays about producer attitudes towards the beef market and the importance of filling out surveys.

Overall, he says that most producers are quite satisfied with the current market conditions.

“If you would have told producers at the beginning of 2024 that we were going to see record high retail beef prices, set thirty-year highs in demand, feedyards would keep finding cattle and supplies would be steady to higher for the year, and that prices of cattle would move higher across the board regardless of cattle class, I think everybody would have taken that,” Zimmerman said. “But that’s where we are!”

High consumer demand offsets the ability to find more supply whether through increased feeder cattle and calf imports from Mexico and Canada, increased carcass weights, or just finding ample placements in the feedyards throughout the year.

While attending the National Association of Farm Broadcasters Convention, Farm Director KC Shepard caught up with American Farm Bureau Foundation’s Vice President of Public Policy Sam Keiffer to talk about the recent presidential election.

According to Keiffer, industry leaders are keenly focused on who Trump’s appointees will be.

“There are a lot of appointments that we don’t know, yet,” he said. “But we look forward to making sure that the agricultural conversations occur in a manner that is amenable to bipartisan policy conversations because that is what the farm bill is, and that’s what USDA does. We want the folks who are in place to remain committed to focusing on the science.”

Keiffer admitted that historically, farm bills have been difficult to accomplish, and the situation with the current farm bill is no different. He said that if a farm bill cannot be completed during the congressional lame duck session, an extension will be necessary to continue the outdated one designed in 2018, meaning that the new farm bill would have to start over at ground zero with all new players and a different budget arrangement.

U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) Monday introduced the Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act. The bill includes $39 billion in new resources to keep farmers farming, families fed, and rural communities strong.  

Chairwoman Stabenow said: “The foundation of every successful Farm Bill is built on holding together the broad, bipartisan Farm Bill coalition. This is a strong bill that invests in all of agriculture, helps families put food on the table, supports rural prosperity, and holds that coalition together.” 

The bill builds on the proposal Chairwoman Stabenow released in May by investing new resources and including innovative, new ideas to deliver the assistance farmers need faster. It provides farmers with the certainty of a 5-year Farm Bill – so they can plan for the future – and the immediate help they need to manage the urgent needs of the present. It doubles down on our commitment to rural communities, ensures that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) keeps up with the realities of American life, and brings the historic investments in climate-smart conservation practices into the Farm Bill. These new investments include: 

• $20 billion to strengthen the farm safety net to support all of agriculture and establishes a permanent structure for disaster assistance so emergency relief reaches farmers faster.  
• $8.5 billion to help families make ends meet, put food on the table, and improve access to nutrition assistance.  
• $4.3 billion to improve quality of life in the rural communities that millions of Americans call home.  

A summary of the bill is available here. 

Bill text is available here.  

The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) issued the following statement after the unveiling of Senate Democrats’ 2024 Farm Bill text by U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI).

“Though America’s pork producers appreciate Chairwoman Stabenow’s efforts to publish Farm Bill text, this is simply not a viable bill, as it fails to provide a solution to California Prop. 12,” said NPPC President Lori Stevermer, a pork producer from Easton, Minn. “Pork producers have continually spoken up about the negative impacts of this issue, and it is a shame these conversations were disregarded.”

In May, NPPC secured 100 percent of pork producers’ priorities in the House Agriculture Committee-passed bipartisan 2024 Farm Bill. In June, producers once again secured all policy priorities in Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member John Boozman’s 2024 Farm Bill framework.

NPPC urges both chambers of Congress to swiftly consider and pass a Farm Bill this year that includes a fix to California Proposition 12, a state law that places arbitrary housing standards on the pork industry, creating uncertainty for pork producers as they look to continue their operations to the next generation.

We Wait on the Trump Pick for Secretary of Ag- Jimmy Emmons Remains in Contention

The Ag Trade media now has Oklahoma farmer Jimmy Emmons on their lists of contenders for the Secretary of Ag post in the Donald Trump administration.

The President Elect did announce his choice for the Department of Transportation on Monday- former congressman Sean Duffy.

KC Sheperd and I are being told that the buzz around name of Jimmy Emmons for the USDA job remains strong- the latest google on Jimmy's name brings up multiple articles that show him in the mix for the job.

I especially enjoyed the No Till Farmer website article- the author has dug up multiple players in the no till arena who are all big fans of Jimmy- here's a sample:

“Jimmy is winning awards from conservative agricultural groups as well as environmental groups. The regenerative agriculture principles that folks like Jimmy follow are protecting people, planet, and PROFITS,” said Bryan Hummel, a watershed protection expert for the EPA in Texas.

“Jimmy has increased his soil infiltration rates by 700-1,400% and by soaking up the rain into his soil profile this helps mitigate drought, wildfire, and flooding. Improving soil health helps protect downstream communities from flooding by converting flooding liabilities into biologically filtered groundwater assets.“

“I've known Jimmy for 2 decades, and he's the epitome of a public servant who understands the direction the USDA should go,” said Steve Groff, a long-time Holtwood, Pa. no-tiller, cover crop expert and conservation influencer in the U.S. and abroad. 

University of Maryland soil science professor Ray Weil said Emmons would be a great choice as well. “He is decent, visionary, practical, and an effective communicator. And, of course, he understands the value of healthy soils. It would be an honor to work him in any capacity.”

“America ag needs changing as much as all other facets of our government and society. Jimmy Emmons would be a great change agent for American ag as the next Secretary of Agriculture,” said Keith Berns, co-owner of Green Cover Seed. “He is a leader who has real farming experience, a passion for the land and really cares about the farmers.

Maybe today we will hear Jimmy's name called!

Long Live the Soil!