Howdy Neighbors!

In an article by Bart Fisher and Joe Outlaw at Texas A&M, they write: A common question we’ve been fielding since passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill: “With all this money coming from the Federal government, why do farmers keep complaining?”  It’s generally followed by: “you just can’t make some people happy.”

There’s no question that the Federal government has provided a robust level of assistance. For example, the American Rescue Plan Act in March 2021 provided $ 1.9 trillion in relief—$ 1.5 trillion for economic assistance and $ 0.4 trillion for natural disaster assistance. The recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill provided approximately $62 billion (10-year total) in improvements to the farm safety net. While these sound like big numbers—because they are—it’s important to put them in context.

First, for the $10 billion in economic relief from the American Relief Act—implemented by USDA as the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP)—Congress required USDA to calculate losses from the 2024 crop year and then limited the amount of assistance to 26% of the loss. In other words, for losses incurred by producers last year, they were required to shoulder 74% of that loss on their own. 

Alyssa Walsh reflected on her role as keynote speaker at the Agherculture college event held at the governor’s mansion in Oklahoma City. “We just had an incredible night here with women across Oklahoma, around 100–150 young women chose to spend their first Friday night back on campus here with us to grow, not only in professional development, but grow in community, grow in connection,” she said. Walsh shared her own journey of starting a business in college, shifting from building a portfolio for an employer to running her own company full-time. “It was so fun to get to share some of those insights that mentors have shared with me, some of the things I’ve done wrong, a few of the things I’ve done right, and get to kind of walk through my journey.”



A strong advocate for entrepreneurship, Walsh emphasized that college is the perfect time to take small risks. “College is an area where you’re never going to be surrounded with so many opportunities to fail and have people forget about it,” she explained. For her, those risks included teaching herself graphic design and videography. “No one’s ever gonna remember that crappy t-shirt design that you had. I had several,” she joked. What started as small, low-risk opportunities eventually led her to filming her first wedding video on a cell phone—an experience that launched her videography business.

Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays caught up with Dr. Cleveland this summer at the 2025 Beef Improvement Federation annual meeting- click here for his presentation from Amarillo. Dr. Matthew Cleveland, Global Senior Director of Bovine Sustainability at ABS, explains that sustainability is both simple and complex. “We can think about sustainability as really doing more with less, and ensuring that we can continue to do that over time and over generations. But I think it also is a fairly complex topic, because there are different components to it.” He highlighted that sustainability includes the environment, animal health and welfare, communities, and profitability, but perspectives within the industry often shape how people define it.

Cleveland highlighted genetic progress as one of the most powerful tools for enhancing sustainability. “When you look at the data, you can go back as long as you want, but let’s say you go back 50 or 60 or 70 years, we’ve seen massive improvements in productivity and that productivity leads to more sustainability.” He added, however, that the challenge has been quantifying how those productivity gains translate into measurable sustainability metrics, something the supply chain increasingly demands.

For cattle producers, Cleveland emphasized the importance of setting clear goals. “It really starts with understanding what their target is. What is their target for genetic improvement? What are they aiming for, both in the short term and in the long term, and then really building that plan.” He stressed the importance of not only making those improvements but also being able to communicate them effectively: “Here is the evidence. Here is the story that you can tell to make you feel good.”

Associate farm reporter Carli Davenport spoke with Alex Cox, Farm to School Coordinator for the Oklahoma Department of Food and Forestry, who shared exciting news about new state support for schools. “We are really excited to have this state funding that has come down for our local schools,” Cox said, noting that $3.2 million has been allocated for the Food for Schools Program. She explained that the funding must be spent on local food products—ranging from fresh produce to proteins like chicken or beef—and incorporated into school cafeterias for “snacks, breakfast, lunch, any type of meal that they serve to their students.”

In addition to funding for meals, Cox highlighted efforts to encourage hands-on food learning through the annual school garden contest. She explained that the program is a partnership between Farm to School and the Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Committee. “Schools are encouraged to participate in this, and we have several different categories,” Cox said. Winners this year included Middleburg Elementary for Best Startup School Garden ($1,000), Little Sprouts Learning Garden in Muskogee for Best Harvest Garden ($500), Tuttle High School for Best Pollinator Garden ($500), and Kingston Public Schools for Best Education Garden ($500).

Another highlight of the year is the celebration of National Farm-to-School Month each October. Cox explained, “Farm to School Month is just a big celebration of local foods and our producers, and getting the students to learn where their food comes from.” A key part of that celebration in Oklahoma is the Lunch Crunch, which she described as “a time to celebrate in your cafeteria with purchasing and serving whatever kind of local food you want your students to crunch into.”

The U.S. dairy industry is facing a potential shortage of its most important resource – milk cows. The number of replacement heifers available to enter the dairy herd as milk producing cows has already fallen to a 20-year low. Based on new CoBank research, replacements could fall even further over the next two years before a recovery begins in 2027. These declining heifer inventories could limit growth in the milk supply, a looming concern for dairy processors with expansion plans underway. The U.S. is currently experiencing an historic $10 billion investment in new dairy processing facilities expected to come online through 2027.

The decline in dairy heifers over the last several years is closely tied to beef and dairy market dynamics. Tight cattle supplies and record high prices for beef calves prompted many dairy farmers to produce more calves destined for beef feedlots and fewer to milk barns. At the onset of this trend, raising dairy heifers to enter the milk cow herd was a money-losing proposition due to extremely low heifer values and high rearing costs. While the economics have shifted and the shortage of replacement dairy heifers has sent values soaring, replenishing the pipeline of heifers available to enter the milking herd is a three-plus year proposition.

“The U.S. dairy industry stands at a unique inflection point,” said Corey Geiger, lead dairy economist with CoBank. “Beef sales are contributing a larger share of dairy farm profitability with each passing year and the market for beef-on-dairy calves shows no signs of slowing down. In order to maintain sufficient dairy cow numbers and milk production in the near term, dairy farmers will need to put the brakes on dairy cow culling. And that could be difficult given how much they’ve already pulled back over the past two years.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced a series of significant enhancements to the federal crop insurance system, designed to provide better support for farmers and ranchers. These improvements, which took effect on July 1, 2025, aim to strengthen the agricultural safety net and encourage more producers to manage their risk effectively.

Enhanced Support for Beginning Farmers

One of the most notable changes is the expanded support for beginning farmers and ranchers. Previously, these producers were defined as those in their first five years of farming and received a 10% premium subsidy. The new improvements dramatically extend these benefits:

• Expanded Eligibility: The period of eligibility has been extended from five years to ten years.
• Increased Support: For the first four years, beginning farmers will receive an even higher premium subsidy than before.

New and Improved Coverage Options

The USDA also announced several key improvements to existing crop insurance products:

• Premium Support: All policies with underlying revenue protection will now receive an additional 3% to 5% premium subsidy.
• Whole-Farm Coverage: The maximum coverage level for the Whole-Farm Revenue Protection plan has been increased from 85% to 90%.

A group of students in Oklahoma State University’s Ferguson College of Agriculture recently spent their summer gaining hands-on experience and insights into government, policy and agricultural advocacy in Washington, D.C. 

Trell Amoss, Riley Gilreath, Amara Jackson, and Kennedy Seals recently completed prestigious legislative internships on Capitol Hill, supported by financial assistance from the Ferguson College to help cover associated expenses.

Amoss said his interest in policy was sparked by seeing its direct impact on his family’s operation. While attending the 2024 Agriculture Future of America Leaders Conference, he learned about this internship opportunity, he added. “Working with the National Pork Producers Council and experiencing the energy of Capitol Hill confirmed my passion for agricultural policy and law,” he said. “It’s given me direction as I return to the Ferguson College to focus on building the skills and knowledge to make a meaningful impact in those areas.” 

Congresswoman Stephanie Bice hosted National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattacharya in Oklahoma City for a series of visits highlighting medical research and innovation breakthroughs.



The visit included tours of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF), Stephenson Cancer Center, OU Health Sciences Center, and Dean McGee Eye Institute — all of which showcase advancements in medicine and research taking place in Oklahoma.

“It was an honor to welcome Director Bhattacharya to Oklahoma,” said Congresswoman Bice. “Our state is driving change in the medical and biotech fields, with researchers and institutions making meaningful progress every day. With 322 active projects and $150 million in NIH funding across Oklahoma, we’re committed to building on this momentum and delivering real results for patients and families.”

Checking the Markets...

According to DTN- “Southern live cattle have traded at mostly $242 ($2.00 higher than the previous week’s weighted average) and Northern dressed cattle have traded at mostly $385 ($1.00 lower than the previous week’s weighted average). That $242 was reported by the Texas Cattle Feeders, who represent feedlots in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico.

The live cattle futures pushed further into uncharted territory in the final trading day of August- October live cattle closed $2.72 higher at $239.65, December live cattle closed $2.17 higher at $240.77 and February live cattle closed $2.30 higher at $242.25.

Last Friday- Choice Boxed Beef ended August with another record high price for 2025 at $415.41, up $1.00. For the month, boxed beef posted a record $54.09 August gain, rising in 18 of 22 sessions, the strongest August rally on record.

Monday feeder cattle auctions were off this week- due to the Labor Day Holiday.

OKC West is our Market Links Sponsor- they sell cattle three days a week- Cows on Mondays, Stockers on Tuesday and Feeders on Wednesday- Call 405-262-8800 to learn more.

Click here for our Markets Page on OklahomaFarmReport.Com- there you will find many of the reports we have linked on the right hand column found on the previous format of our email.

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