U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins on Sunday announced the suspension of live cattle, horse, and bison imports through U.S. ports of entry along the southern border due to the continued and rapid northward spread of New World Screwworm (NWS) in Mexico, effective immediately. NWS has been recently detected in remote farms with minimal cattle movement as far north as Oaxaca and Veracruz, about 700 miles away from the U.S. border.



The United States and Mexico continue efforts to interdict and eradicate NWS in Mexico and work in good faith. However, despite these efforts and the economic impact on both countries due to this action, there has been unacceptable northward advancement of NWS and additional action must be taken to slow the northern progression of this deadly parasitic fly. As such, effective immediately, the USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) in conjunction with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will restrict the importation of live animal commodities originating from, or transiting Mexico. This import suspension will persist on a month-by-month basis, until a significant window of containment is achieved.

Cattle Groups Stand With The Secretary on the Mexican Cattle Import Stoppage

The nation’s largest and oldest cattle organization- the National Cattlemen's Beef Association- and three of it’s key affiliates here in the southwest have praised the decision by US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins as she is immediately stopping cattle, bison and horses from entering the United States from across the Rio Grande because of concerns regarding the New World Screwworm. 

Click here for the statements from the NCBA, the Oklahoma Cattlemen, Texas Cattle Feeders and the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers- all released on Sunday. And- you can check out Monday's Beef Buzz by clicking here and listening to Ron and Ethan Lane of NCBA for the inside story of what NCBA is hearing about this decision.

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.

Oklahoma Farm Report’s Maci Carter had the opportunity to visit with Mary-Thomas Hart, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Chief Counsel, about telling consumers the beef industry’s sustainability story. In today’s Beef Buzz, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays highlights her comments from that conversation

NCBA visited cattle producers in other countries that were already dealing with regulatory environmental mandates. They were surprised to learn that the United States’ beef supply chain is the global blueprint for producing beef in an efficient and sustainable way.

“According to the United Nations, the U.S. beef supply chain has the lowest greenhouse gas emissions per pound of beef of any beef-producing nation,” she said. “That’s not an accident. That is a product of the market telling our producers how they want their beef, producers answering those market demands, maximizing efficiency within the supply chain and our environmental sustainability, protecting those natural resources – our water, soil, and carbon resources and wildlife biodiversity.”

Farmers and Ranchers in DC Last Week Urging Action on Farm Bill

Farm director KC Sheperd was on the ground in the nation’s capital this past week with the National Association of Farm Broadcasters, and had the chance to catch up with the President of the National Farmers Union, Rob Larew.  



He emphasized the pressing need for intervention. “The fact is, is that the state of the farm economy, coupled with a great deal of uncertainty in farm country right now, the threat of additional trade implications in the ongoing trade war, all of this, along with USDA kind of unveiling some of their plans, and the fact that we still don’t have a farm bill in place, so we are trying to send a message to Capitol Hill, to USDA and the White House, that farm country needs help.”  

BREAKING NEWS- US and China Both Reducing Tariffs for 90 Days

On Sunday, the word was out that the US and the Chinese had a trade deal- no details were available then- but overnight early Monday morning- the floodgates have opened and there are lots of details starting to flow- mainly on X- and the cuts are over a hundred percentage points on both sides.

Javier Blas with Bloomberg posts "At least, a temporary reprieve in US-China trade war. Washington and Beijing agree to lower tariffs while talks continue over next 3 months:

"US to lower tariffs on China to 30% (from 145%) for 90 days

"China to lower tariffs on US to 10% (from 125%) for 90 days."

CNN is reporting that "The two sides also agreed to establish “a mechanism to continue discussions about economic and trade relations,” led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, according to the statement.

Global Markets are exploding higher with the news- and the US Stock Market and some of our Ag Futures will benefit- at around 3 AM this morning- we were watching US soybeans up 10 to 11 cents and the Stock Market- oh my- the Dow is up over 900 points, S&P 500 up 160 points and the NASDAQ up over 730 points.

The U.S. wheat industry is actively engaged in the ongoing legislative landscape in Washington, D.C., navigating the complexities of farm bill discussions and the reconciliation process. Farm Director KC Sheperd recently spoke with Jake Westlin, Vice President of Policy and Communications for the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG), to gain an update on these critical issues.

Westlin highlighted the farm bill as a primary focus for wheat growers, directly linked to the current state of the farm economy. “The farm bill is something that’s at the top of the mind of many of our growers. That goes back to what the state of the farm economy looks like.”

He also addressed the reconciliation debate, noting its initial focus on taxes, aiming to extend and improve upon the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) President and CEO Dan Halstrom thanked the Trump administration for prioritizing beef access in these negotiations and welcomed the UK’s creation of a duty-free quota. This is a critical step, because U.S. beef has not had duty-free access to the UK since Brexit. But Halstrom notes that U.S. beef still faces numerous non-tariff barriers in the UK, and those must also be addressed for the U.S. industry to have meaningful opportunities in the British market. He also sees significant potential for U.S. pork exports to the UK, but tariff and non-tariff barriers for pork must be removed as well.

Fueled by a combination of the right weather conditions and ample volunteer wheat and other safe harbors, producers across the state appear to be losing the battle against these tiny critters and the diseases they carry in what could be the worst WSMV outbreak since 2017. 

“We have some fields that are close to total losses,” said Kelsey Andersen Onofre, K-State assistant professor of plant pathology, who has been across the state scouting fields. “It’s hard to walk in a wheat field in Kansas right now and not find at least low-level, trace-level symptoms of WSMV, and that’s pretty unusual.”

Kansas Wheat Crop Tour Kicks off Tuesday May 13th

Tuesday through Thursday of this week- the 2025 Kansas Wheat Crop Tour will be happening- sponsored once again the by Wheat Quality Council.

The routes begin in Manhattan, Kan., the morning of May 13, driving to Colby, Kan. Then, May 14, the tour will drive from Colby south and east, ending in Wichita, Kan. On May 15, the tour will drive north from Wichita back to Manhattan, where a final tour estimate will be announced. Some routes also drive through neighboring Nebraska and Oklahoma.

We will be talking to Oklahoma Wheat Grower President Dennis Schoenhals who will be traveling on the Tour again this year- and will have reports from him later in the week.