The 2024 Tulsa Farm Show kicks off this morning at the SageNet Event Center in Tulsa and runs through Saturday afternoon- the show hours are 9 AM to 5 PM Thursday and Friday- 9 AM to 4 PM on Saturday.

Admission and parking are free once again for this 31st Tulsa Farm Show. As Oklahoma’s largest indoor farm show with over 400,000 square feet of exhibits, the Tulsa Farm Show is a great end-of-year opportunity to view all the latest in agricultural and ranching equipment. More than 350 companies will be featuring a full line of displays, including tractor, sprayer, tillage, harvest equipment, cattle management products, and more.

Plan your visit with the new  Interactive Floor Plan to review companies and products represented at the show.

The Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and Oklahoma Farm Report booth is once again adjacent to the show headquarters near the south doors of the facility. For those of you that stopped by and said hello over the years- that's the same spot we have been at for pretty much the entire life of the show! (There's not even a number assigned to it!)

Stop by and say howdy to Ron Hays on Thursday and Friday- and you can watch the live broadcast on Thursday midday for KGGF Radio at 690 on the AM dial. The broadcast from 11:30 AM to 12 Noon as well as from 12:30 PM to 1 PM can also be heard on the Tune In platform by clicking here.



Several of our Oklahoma Farm Report sponsors will have booths at the show- including the overall show sponsor once again in 2024- Oklahoma Farm Bureau- they are located in booth 224.

Oklahoma AgCredit supports rural Oklahoma with reliable and consistent credit, today and tomorrow. We offer loans for land, livestock, equipment, operating costs and country homes (NMLSR #809962) to farmers, ranchers and rural businesses across 60 counties. As a cooperative, we are owned by the members we serve. Through our Patronage Program, we have returned more than $74 million to our members since 1997.

For more information on our services or to find a location near you, visit our website here.

The Cattlemen’s Congress is a stock show for cattlemen and women managed by cattlemen and women. The Cattlemen’s Congress is an opportunity for breeders across North America to showcase their top genetics and connect with fellow beef producers in a central location, in the heart of cattle country. Set for January 4 – 16, 2025, in Oklahoma City, the event is not one to miss.

Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, is catching up with Chairman of the Board for Cattlemen’s Congress Tyler Norvell in this episode of Beef Buzz, talking about the fifth annual Cattlemen’s Congress and the value it adds to the Southern Plains cattle industry.

Norvell compelled every beef producer near enough to drive to spend at least a day at the show. “It is an awesome place to see the most elite genetics in the United States,” Norvell said. “If you need to buy a bull, there will be a bull there that you need or that you want to see in person. If you need some bred heifers, come meet the people who are putting them in the sale. Come talk to the elite purebred breeders from across the United States in one place.”

The Oklahoma State Fairgrounds is centrally located, and parking is free as is admission.

Woodward Ranch Conversation – Woodward, Oklahoma 12/18/2024

Blayne Arthur, Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture, Food, & Forestry will give the luncheon keynote address at the Woodward Ranch Conversation to be held next Wednesday on December 18, 2024, at the Woodward County Event Center. 

Coleta Bratten, Chair, High Plains Resource Conservation & Development Council (HPRCD) made the announcement today. She said “We are honored to have Secretary Arthur speak at the Ranch Conversation lunch. She is a distinguished member of the Governor’s cabinet, serves on the Oklahoma State University Board of Regents, and her work has led to significant advancements in Oklahoma’s agriculture.”  

Bratten added that “The afternoon keynote speaker will be Trey Lam, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Conservation Commission (OCC). Under Mr. Lam’s leadership the programs and services offered by OCC have grown exponentially, and his work in new program development leads that nation.”  

The meeting will be held at the Woodward County Event Center on the Woodward County Fairgrounds, with registration beginning at 9:30 am on the 18th with the meeting starting at 10:00 am and concluding by 3:30 pm.

Farm Director KC Sheperd chatted with US Custom Harvesters President David Misener. The organization began in 1983 with a group of combine operators. It has since grown to include silage choppers, cotton pickers, and manure spreaders.

If a farmer runs into trouble with their own harvest equipment or lacks the proper equipment to do a job, he can call the US Custom Harvesters and they will bring the needed machine(s) to the field to do the job.

“You are welcome to give our office a call, explain your needs to Mandy, and she will send an email out to our membership and one of our harvesters will reach out to the farmer to get the work done,” Misener explained.

During this year’s harvest, Misener started near his home in Oklahoma, traveled to Kansas, South Dakota, North Dakota, and then returned to South Dakota to harvest soybeans and corn. At the time of his interview with Sheperd, he was waiting for the ground to dry in Oklahoma to finish harvesting cotton.

More information can be found at uschi.com including the main office phone number.

On December 4, 2024, the National FFA Foundation announced its new 2025 Sponsors’ Board Members. The board is made up of top corporate executives who wish to support agricultural education and the National FFA Organization. During their three years of service, board members play a vital role in advising the National FFA on opportunities to improve agricultural educational programs, secure funding, and seek continued development of the next generation of leaders.

Aaron Wetzel has been named the 2025 Sponsors’ Board Chair and is currently serving as Vice President of Production & Precision Ag Production Systems at John Deere. With over 35 years at John Deere, Wetzel’s career has evolved through various roles including Finance & Accounting, Sales, Marketing, Product Management, and Manufacturing. Wetzel is an FFA Alumnus from Charleston, Ill. Oklahoma Farm Report’s Stevie White visited with Wetzel to hear how he will use his past experiences to help propel the FFA organization forward.

“I have had the pleasure of representing John Deere on the FFA Sponor Boards since 2019,” Wetzel said. “I am a former FFA member, and during my time there, I got a lot of valuable leadership lessons and developments that have helped me in my career aspirations at John Deere, so I am trying to pay it back to help the next generation of young people understand more of the opportunities that are in agriculture.”

John Deere is the longest continuous sponsor of the National FFA organization, having its own John Deere FFA Alumni and Supporters Chapter.

According to new data from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), U.S. sales of Ag tractors and combines fell in November 2024 compared to the year before.

U.S. sales of tractors in all classes dropped 14.5% compared to November 2023. U.S. sales of combines remain soft, showing a decline of 24% year-to-date in 2024.

Canadian sales of Ag tractors dropped 18.8% while combines fell 39.4% in November 2024 compared to the year before.

The Ag Tractor and Combine reports can be found on the AEM Market Share Statistics page. The U.S. report can be downloaded from this page, while the Canadian report is available for download here.

Texas A&M's John Robinson- A Statistically Lousy Year for Cotton Prices

Texas AgriLife Ag Economist Dr. John Robinson offers this view of current cotton prices in the US- and the resulting description is in the headline above- "Lousy."

"Statistically generated near-term price forecasts are useful to compare/contrast with Extension ad hoc price estimates, USDA monthly price estimates, and trade price estimates.  Ongoing cotton price forecasting research at Texas A&M University provides some timely short-term (monthly average) price forecasts that shed light on the 2024 season.

"Over the period January 2014 to August 2024, ICE No.2 cotton monthly average futures prices ranged from 53.75 cents per pound to 146.17 cents per pound, averaging 78.23 cents per pound. The first nine years of this data were used as the training sample for model construction, while the 2024 monthly average prices were used for out-of-sample forecasting using a structural econometric model described in the next paragraph.

"Structural econometric models consider the direct effects of specific variables on our dependent variable of interest:  ICE No. 2 cotton futures prices.  Our best working model specifies monthly average nearby ICE cotton futures as being explained by the monthly stocks-to-use ratio, real disposable personal income, real retail clothing sales, real personal consumption expenditures, the Michigan consumer sentiment index, seasonality indicator variables, and various qualitative factors.  We hypothesize that ICE NO.2 cotton futures prices are positively related to real retail clothing sales, real disposable personal income, real personal consumption expenditures, and the Michigan sentiment index but negatively related to the stocks-to-use ratio.  After estimating the model coefficients, the signs and magnitudes of the continuous variables in the model conform to prior expectations. This model accounts for roughly 96 percent of the variables in monthly average nearby ICE No.2 cotton futures prices."