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National Wheat Statistics: Winter Wheat Planted reached 20 percent, down three points from the previous year and down three points from the five-year average. Winter Wheat Emerged reached 4 percent, equal to the previous year and the five-year average.

National Cotton Statistics: Cotton bolls opening reached 60 percent, down two points from a year ago and up one point from the five-year average. Cotton Conditions reached 47 percent good to excellent, down five points from the previous week. Cotton Harvested reached 12 percent, down one point from the previous year and equal to the five-year average.

In Oklahoma, Winter wheat planted reached 14%- down one point from the previous year and down two points from the five-year average. Corn crop conditions are now at 66% good to excellent versus 66% a week ago. Corn for grain harvested reached 29 percent.

The Oklahoma soybean crop conditions are at 43% good to excellent versus 37% a week ago. Cotton conditions in Oklahoma are rated 69% good to excellent, versus 67% last week. Grain Sorghum is at 70% good to excellent, equal to the previous week. Grain Sorghum harvested reached 7 percent, down ten points from the previous year and down one point from the five-year average. Pasture and Range conditions are at 58% good to excellent this week, versus 59% a week ago.

Korben Gossen from Corn, OK in Washita County placed first in the White Bread Category of the Junior Division at the State “Best of Wheat” Bread Baking contest held on September 21st at the Oklahoma State Fair. His “Moist White Bread” loaf had perfect shape, texture and flavor which was baked flawlessly throughout. It topped the Junior Division also winning him the title of Grand Champion.

Renee English from Oklahoma City in Oklahoma County placed first in the Other Wheat Breads Category of the Senior Division at the State “Best of Wheat” Bread Baking contest. Her entry of “Fluffy Friday Challah” which was impeccably braided into the perfect loaf was also baked to perfection throughout and suitable for any picture-perfect display. Her consistent texture of the loaf throughout that had exquisite flavor ultimately allowed her loaf to be tapped in the final round of competition giving her the title of the Senior Division Grand Champion.

The contest is an annual event sponsored by the Oklahoma Wheat Commission and Oklahoma State Fair. “We had 104 entries from 43 counties this year, all champion or reserve champion winners in the county contests,” said Raymond Parrish, Chairman of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission. “We had record breaking attendance and always enjoy the opportunity to award the top bread bakers in the state.”

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) CEO Colin Woodall responded to the announcement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that a new case of New World screwworm has been detected in the Mexican state of Nuevo León, less than 70 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border: “It is extremely concerning for the American cattle industry that New World screwworm has moved so far north in Mexico and now is just 70 miles from the border. The speed that screwworm has moved through Mexico is a reminder that this pest poses a critical and urgent threat to America’s cattle producers. “NCBA appreciates all the resources Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins has invested in protecting American agriculture from the New World screwworm. Designating funds for a domestic sterile fly facility, exploring new technologies for sterilizing flies, enhancing fly surveillance, and coordinating with other departments across the U.S. government are all important steps for safeguarding the U.S. cattle industry.

Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association President Carl Ray Polk Jr. released the following statement after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed a New World screwworm (NWS) case less than 70 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border:“With the recent detection of New World screwworm just 70 miles south of Texas’ border, TSCRA remains actively engaged with the USDA, Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) to intensify surveillance, coordinate response efforts and prepare cattle raisers and landowners for any potential incursion.Since last year, TSCRA has supported timely, effective measures to protect the U.S. from a potential incursion of NWS, including increased production of sterile flies.

R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard issued the following statement in response to USDA’s announcement of this recent detection of NWS in closer proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border.  “We commend Secretary Rollins’ ongoing actions to prevent the introduction of NWS into the United States. Those actions include closing U.S. ports to imports of cattle, bison, and horses from Mexico; stopping the pest from spreading in Mexico; maximizing the United States’ readiness through emergency management plans; expediting the production of sterile NWS flies to reduce the pest’s population in Mexico and to push it south of Panama; and supporting innovative research to further enhance eradication efforts.

According to OSU Livestock Market Econopmist Dr. Derrell Peel, the September 1 feedlot total was 11.08 million head, down 1.1 percent year over year and the tenth consecutive monthly decrease compared to one year earlier. Feedlot inventories continue to decline slowly. Average inventories the past year are down just 3.1 percent from the peak in 2022, but the September 12-month moving average is at the lowest level since January 2019. With the September on-feed total up slightly from the previous month, the August total was likely the seasonal low for the year. The feedlot inventory on August 1 this year was the lowest monthly inventory since October 2017.

Total feedlot production is declining more rapidly than the slowly declining feedlot inventories would indicate. Feedlot placements in August were 90.1 percent of last year and the smallest August placement total since 2015. Figure 1 shows the relative comparison between 12-month moving averages of cattle on-feed and feedlot placements. Placements have declined more than the on-feed inventory up to this point aided by a slower turnover rate in feedlots. 

August marketings were down 13.6 percent compared to last year. Feedlot marketings for the first eight months of 2025 are down 5.4 percent year over year. Average feedlot marketings the past year are down 8.2 percent from peak average marketings in 2022. Smaller calf crops and limited feeder cattle supplies mean there is less cattle available for feedlot production. Feedlot production and beef production are expected to continue to decline into 2027. 

Oklahoma Farm Bureau members are set to gather Nov. 7-9 for the 2025 OKFB Annual Meeting at the Omni Hotel in Oklahoma City.

This year’s annual meeting theme, “Elevating Agriculture,” showcases the spirit of grassroots members around the state who work tirelessly to represent family farmers and ranchers by elevating our state’s agriculture industry in their local communities, at the state level and across the nation through their work at every level of Farm Bureau.

By representing Farm Bureau, family agriculture and our rural communities throughout the year, OKFB members elevate agriculture in the public eye by raising awareness of the positive impact agriculture has in the lives of all Oklahomans.

During convention, members will elevate agriculture by recognizing a year’s worth of Farm Bureau achievements through awards, competitive events, giving opportunities and more.

Senior Farm And Ranch Director Ron Hays speaks with Dr. Robert Wells, who joined the King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management last November as an endowed chair, described his new role as “a great experience so far.” He explained that the institute, created through an endowment from the King Ranch to Texas A&M–Kingsville, has a clear mission: “Our mission is to sustain the ranching heritage of our industry, and in order to do that, we have a two-pronged approach.” One side focuses on the education of master’s level students, while the other emphasizes outreach to working producers through continuing education.

Wells elaborated on the outreach: “We do a series of lectureships. We have about 11 different lectureships that we rotate, and we split those roughly five one year, six the next year.” These lectureships are intentionally “very timely in their type and nature.” He emphasized the credentials ranchers can earn: “If you go through four of those lectureships and two of our symposiums that we do annually in November, then we will bestow upon you a Certificate of Advanced Ranch Management.”

The program, Wells said, is designed to be practical and useful: “We look at it as a continuing education program for producers and for ranch managers and ranch owners. They’re high level, but at the same time, we’ve got them designed where we can bring somebody along very quickly, and then when they leave, they have some tools in their pocket that they can take home to use on the ranch immediately.” Ranchers can pick and choose topics that meet their needs. “We’ve got everything from equine management to brush management, grazing management,” he said.

Foreign workers hired under the H-2A Guest Farm Worker program are assured of being paid at least the Adverse Effect Wage Rates (AEWRs) determined through a federally designed mechanism.  The AEWR determination process serves a two-fold objective: (1) to look after foreign workers’ welfare by assuring they are paid at just, fair wage levels and (2) to ensure that H-2A wages would not “adversely” affect U.S. farm labor market conditions, which could happen if such workers are paid at very low wages that could depress the domestic workers’ market wage rates.

Except for AEWRs set monthly for range occupations (i.e. farms engaged in herding or livestock production operations performed on a range), the wages of the majority of H-2A hires are guided by a single annual rateprescribed for 18 farming territories – consisting of 3 states (California, Florida, and Hawaii) and 15 regions (Figure 1).  Under existing H-2A program guidelines, the AEWR for the current year is derived from the average wage data collected by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) in the preceding year’s Farm Labor Survey (FLS).

A singular state/regional AEWR for non-range field and livestock workers (for such farm work positions as graders, sorters, equipment operators, crop/nursery/greenhouse workers, ranch/aquaculture farm workers, packers, and packagers) is derived as the average of the FLS wage data for six Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes and titles.

A few Weeks Ago, a top appeals court ruled against the Trump administration’s imposition of so-called reciprocal tariffs under an economic emergency declaration. The ruling was simultaneously set aside as it was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. With the briefs process starting next week and oral arguments set for November, this timeline shows an understanding of the seriousness of the case and the court’s intention to move it quickly.

This case, brought by importers of goods, has been heralded by proponents as likely to bring “certainty to international trade.” While that may be true for importers, some products, or other commodities, an eventual Supreme Court ruling either for or against the Trump administration is unlikely to change much about U.S. wheat exports or customer relationships.

The primary reason for a lack of expected change is that wheat exports have seen relatively few negative repercussions from the administration’s reciprocal tariffs. A wide diversity of customers blesses U.S. wheat farmers and have yet to see direct retaliation from customers who were previously purchasing U.S. wheat.The two places where the U.S. has seen threatened retaliation impact sales are Brazil and the European Union, neither of which is connected to reciprocal tariffs. In the case of the European Union, threatened retaliation is a response to the U.S.’s Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

Checking the Markets...

On Monday, Choice boxed beef closed at $381.39, down $0.66 from Friday’s $382.05. Select was reported at $362.09, up $2.17 compared to $359.92 on Friday. The Choice/Select spread narrowed to $19.30, versus $22.13 on Friday, with 108 loads reported against 131 previously. Boxed beef has now been down for 13 consecutive days, losing $34.62 in that span, though Monday’s $0.66 decline was the smallest drop over that period.

Oklahoma National Stockyards reported 4,800 head for Monday-  Compared to last week: Feeder steers steady to 5.00 higher than last week's lighter test of steers. Feeder heifers 2.00-6.00 higher. Steer calves 10.00-20.00 higher, spots sharply higher. Heifer calves 15.00-25.00 higher. Demand extremely good for all classes. 

Joplin had strong prices as well- Compared to last week feeder steers sold mostly 5.00-20.00 higher. Heavy seven weight steers sold 25.00 higher with over 700 head in the offering. Feeder heifers sold steady to 10.00 higher. Supply was heavy with very good demand. 

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