On November 22, 2024, the Chief Veterinary Officer of Mexico notified the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of a positive detection of New World screwworm (NWS) in Mexico. The NWS was found in a cow in the southern Mexico state of Chiapas, at an inspection checkpoint close to the border with Guatemala. NWS are fly larvae that infest living tissue of warm-blooded animals, causing infection. 

“Given the northward movement of NWS, APHIS has in recent months stepped up its efforts in Central America to partner with impacted countries to push this pest out of newly affected areas,” said Dr. Rosemary Sifford, Chief Veterinary Officer of the United States. “With this latest find in Mexico, we will further intensify this work to protect American agriculture and reestablish the barrier in Central America.”

Given the severity of the threat from NWS, APHIS is restricting the importation of animal commodities originating from or transiting Mexico effective immediately (Live cattle and bison are the animal commodities impacted by this restriction.) and pending further information from Mexican veterinary authorities on the size and scope of the infestation. A complete list of regions APHIS recognizes as affected by screwworm as well as more detailed information on trade restrictions can be found on the USDA APHIS Animal Health Status of Regions website. 

NWS maggots can infest livestock and other warm-blooded animals, including people. They most often enter an animal through an open wound and feed on the animal’s living flesh. While they can fly much farther under ideal conditions, adult flies generally do not travel more than a couple of miles if there are suitable host animals in the area.

Oklahoma Farm Bureau works to improve the lives of all Oklahomans by supporting our state’s agriculture community. As Oklahoma’s largest general farm organization led by Oklahoma farmers and ranchers, OKFB takes grassroots values and advocates for agriculture at the state Capitol and in Washington, D.C., to ensure our way of life continues for generations to come. Farm Bureau hosts leadership events, supports our state’s agricultural youth and connects consumers with agriculture in order to build a brighter future for our state. Become an OKFB member today online at okfarmbureau.org/join. Together, we are rural Oklahoma.

This is the last of USDA's weekly Crop Progress Reports for the season. It shows that nationwide, harvest is nearing completion - the US corn, soybean, and sorghum harvests are complete, and the US Cotton crop is now 84% harvested.

With Significant Rainfall, Winter Wheat plantings in Oklahoma are nearly caught up with 95 percent planted, only down 2 points from the 5-year average with 80 percent of our crop emerged. As for our neighbors, Kansas is finished planting and 96 percent of their crop has emerged. Texas now stands at 93 percent planted with 77 percent of their crop emerged.

Oklahoma's winter wheat conditions rated 47 percent good to excellent, up 11 points from last week. Kansas's rated 55 percent, up 6 points from last week, and Texas's conditions rated 52 percent good to excellent, a 5 percent improvement over last week.(picture above from Canadian County on 11/23/24)



Oklahoma's cotton and soybean harvests are underway with cotton at 65 percent, down 16 points from a year ago, and soybeans at 76 percent harvested, down 4 points from a year ago.

The Oklahoma Corn harvest is complete - while the Oklahoma Grain sorghum crop is now 93 percent harvested down 2 points from a year ago.

The Kansas corn and soybean harvests are complete. The Sorghum harvest is equal to a year ago at 96 percent. Kansas cotton is 71 percent harvested, down 7 points from a year ago.

Texas's Corn, Sorghum, and Soybean harvests are complete. Their cotton harvest is 80 percent completed, well above 72 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 9 points to a 21 percent good to excellent rating - Kansas declined 1 point to 23 percent good to excellent - Texas improved 1 point to a 13 percent good to excellent rating.

Dr. Derrell Peel Analyzes the Impact of U.S. Cow Herd Liquidation in Recent Years

The liquidation of the U.S. cow herd has been a big deal over the last couple of years. Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays talked to OSU Extension Livestock Market Economist Dr. Derrell Peel after the latest USDA Cattle on Feed Report was released on Friday afternoon to talk about cull cow liquidation.

In part one of this conversation, Peel said that feeders heifers is the biggest factor in how feedlots are staying relatively full with overall cattle numbers down.

“We’ve been lower most of the year on cull cow numbers, and normally, we see a seasonal increase in the fall of each year,” Peel noted. “We have not seen much of that increase this year so we are pulling them down even faster.”

Peel also noted that year to date, beef cow slaughter is down almost 18%, and there hasn’t been a lot of price pressure because there aren’t as many cows being culled.

The top Blue Button is our part two with Dr. Peel focusing on cull cows. The second blue button is his weekly analysis in Cow Calf Corner.

While at the National Association of Farm Broadcasters Convention, Oklahoma Farm Report’s Maci Carter caught up with the President and CEO of the National Grain and Feed Association, Mike Seyfert. The National Grain and Feed Association represents about 850 member companies from country elevators up through export elevators, soy crush facilities, ethanol plants, millers, exporters, livestock feeders, integrated poultry, as well as several transportation companies.

“Our members are responsible for trading, marketing, and moving the commodity from once it leaves the producer’s farm until it reaches its final destination,” Seyfert explained.

National Grain and Feed Association members enjoyed a good harvest year with plenty of commodities to work with and a latter-year export increase. While prices have been as tough on them as for producers, members are overall satisfied.

Post-election concerns for Seyfert are similar to those of other ag entities: learning who cabinet appointees will be is one. He expressed a good working relationship with the Biden administration and with the previous Trump administration, so anticipates more of the same.

At their board meeting Nov. 14, 2024, U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) directors elected Mike Spier, Vice President of Overseas Operations, as the export market organization’s next President and CEO, effective with the retirement of current President and CEO Vince Peterson on July 1, 2025.

“I am deeply honored and humbled to be elected to this position and grateful to our officers and directors for their trust and confidence,” said Spier. “I am also immensely grateful to Vince Peterson, whose vision and dedication have laid a durable foundation for future success. I look forward to working with my outstanding colleagues, as well as the National Association of Wheat Growers, state wheat commissions, and our industry partners. Together, we will continue to innovate, create new export opportunities, enhance profitability for U.S. wheat growers, and deliver value to customers overseas.”

The USW President serves at the pleasure of the wheat farmers on its Board of Directors and is responsible for implementing board-directed policies and for managing staff, export market development programs, and finances. 

“Mike is well-known and respected by our overseas wheat buyers and the entire domestic industry. He is highly qualified, and I am very pleased the board selected him to lead the organization,” said Peterson, who was named USW’s fourth President in 2017. “With strong support from our board, we have maintained a solid financial position that will give Mike and our talented, hard-working staff a great foundation to meet the challenges and opportunities ahead in the world wheat market.”

At the National Association of Farm Broadcasters Convention, Farm Director KC Sheperd caught up with U.S. Grains Council (USGC) Director of Trade Policy Andrew Brandt.

The USGC is composed of nine offices around the world tasked with promoting various U.S. grains such as corn, barley, and sorghum in foreign markets, as well as helping to shape trade policies domestically.

“I, myself, do the trade policy piece of anywhere from tariffs, free trade agreements, and I spend a surprising amount of time on sanitary and phytosanitary or SPS issues, specifically related to MRL or maximum Residue Limits, which is related to residual crop protection residue,” Brandt shared.

He said that increasingly, instead of tariffs, other countries are setting such low MRL numbers that U.S. grains can rarely meet.

Thanksgiving Dinner- A Celebration of American Agriculture

Thanksgiving dinner is a special meal cherished by nearly all Americans. Gathering around the table, we give thanks for the abundance of a delicious feast. But, while millions of Americans look forward to their annual Thanksgiving meal, very few know about the amazing diversity of how and where most classic Thanksgiving foods are grown. In this Market Intel, we dive into the facts behind the production of nine Thanksgiving staples that are part of American Farm Bureau’s traditional Thanksgiving Dinner Cost Survey, which has been conducted annually since 1986.

To give a sense of the geographic diversity involved in producing your meal, we ranked the top three production states for nine Thanksgiving dinner staples: cranberries, celery, sweet potatoes, green beans, pumpkins, green peas, potatoes, carrots and turkey. A total of 15 different states appeared at least once in these rankings, representing every region of the country. From Massachusetts to California, Wisconsin to Mississippi – farmers across the nation work hard all year to grow the food we gather around and give thanks for on Thanksgiving.

The story linked below looks the nine commodities mentioned above- but the graphic above zeroes in on Turkey production- very often the star of the Thanksgiving dinner show- as you can see- our neighbor Arkansas is in the top three of turkey production.

Bottom line- it takes a lot of farmers producing safe affordable food to set the table this coming Thursday(or Friday or whenever you celebrate)- I am thankful for them all- and for your role in feeding and clothing American and the whole!!!!