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Happy Halloween, Everyone! Here's an Extra Spooktacular Friday Farm Funny! Hope you enjoy stealing all the best candy from your Kiddos! (kidding.. kinda).. ;)

President Donald Trump championed a new deal for U.S. soybean farmers on October 30, 2025, after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea. As part of the agreement, China has agreed to resume buying soybeans and other agricultural products from the U.S. after months of boycotting them amid trade disputes. 

U.S. farmers are expected to regain their soybean sales to China for at least the next three years. China has again agreed to start buying 25 million metric tons (mmt) — or 918 million bushels (mb) — of U.S. soybeans. That will allow farmers, grain elevators, and shipping infrastructure to begin more deliveries after spending the last few months trying to figure out where to store soybeans to avoid basis levels that were as much as $1.50 under the futures price.

The announced sales equal the same amount of soybeans China bought in the 2023-24 marketing year, which amounted to 54% of all soybean exports.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Fox Business Network early Thursday that China agreed to buy at least 25 million metric tons (918 million barrels) each year for at least the next three years. Bessent also said that other countries would buy at least 19 million metric tons (698 million bushels). That’s a total commitment based on trade deals of 1.6 billion bushels (bb).

At the 2025 National FFA Convention, Ryder Klaassen from the Hydro-Eakly FFA Chapter represented Oklahoma as a finalist for the Star Farmer of America Award, one of the organization’s most prestigious honors. Ryder spoke with senior farm and ranch broadcaster about this exciting opportunity. He began the conversation expressing gratitude for the recognition, saying, “Just want to say, Ron, thank you guys so much for this opportunity. Couldn’t do it without any of y’all.”

Ryder described his Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) as “a very diverse and challenging operation.” On the crop side, he rents 300 acres from his grandparents, where he grows wheat, cotton, black-eyed peas, corn, and mung beans. He added, “Those acres are on dry land and irrigated acres. I grow all those crops on.” On the livestock side, he runs a cow-calf herd and a stocker cattle operation, noting that he’s “just now starting to get into raising show steers.”

When discussing his specialty crops, Ryder explained how the operation evolved and the partnerships that make it possible. “With the mung beans, I have a broker, Tyrone Wilson with JLee Corporation in Hennessey that does all my financing work for me,” he said. He also shared that his black-eyed peas go to “Ricky Jett there in Binger, Oklahoma, with Jet Co. Industry.” He credited his crop consultant, “Howard Bartel… he’s the one that gives me recommendations of what crops I should grow every single year, but I still make the final call every single time.”

According to the latest Oklahoma Drought Monitor report, exceptional drought remains at 0 percent, unchanged from the start of the calendar year.

Severe Drought: Severe drought (D2) still remains in parts of central and southwestern Oklahoma, but severe drought present last week in Payne County has withdrawn this week. D2 severe drought now covering 3.48% of the state.

Widespread Dryness: Over 56 percent of the state is now experiencing abnormally dry to drought conditions versaus over 72 percent last week.

According to the 6-to-10-day precipitation outlook map, a large majority of the state is leaning below 40-50% chance of rain through November 8, with far Southwestern Oklahoma leaning below 50-60% chance through that same date.

In the southern plains, Heavy rains in many regions engendered broad areas of improvement across most of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Some areas of deterioration were observed in areas that missed the heavy rains, specifically southern and coastal Texas, part of the Texas Panhandle, and a few patches of the Red River (South) Valley. Several inches of rain resulted in a few swaths of 2-category improvement across central and east-central Texas as well as central Oklahoma, where upwards of 4 to 8 inches of precipitation were observed. Overall, coverage of dryness and drought dropped from 80.6 to 68.6 percent of the Region while drought coverage (D1 or worse) was reduced from 37.1 to 27.6 percent.

Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays continues his conversation with Cattle market analyst Cassie Fish, who says the current discussion about beef being “too high” in price is misplaced. She explains, “You know who will tell us it’s too high? The consumer.” Fish argues that price data alone doesn’t determine affordability, emphasizing, “Just because it shows up in the CPI data as being high… the way it works is, if they stop buying it, then we have a problem.”

Reflecting on past trends, Fish recalls, “That’s why we had a problem in 2014 because they did not like paying $5 a pound for hamburger. In 2014, we just completely priced out demand.” This time, however, she says it’s different. “We have more highly marbled beef, cattle are grading very, very well. Consumers haven’t stopped buying it.”

She insists that the market should be allowed to function naturally without interference. “I’m a complete believer in let the market sort it out. The market is smarter than all the rest of us, including the government.” Fish adds, “They’ll stop buying it. Boxes won’t rally. They’ll have to cut the kills dramatically. And then that’s what you know… it doesn’t matter how many cattle you have, because nobody wants your product.”

The American Soybean Association (ASA) appreciates President Trump and his administration for prioritizing America’s farmers in today’s announcement regarding U.S.–China trade. After months of stalled purchases and uncertainty, this is a very positive development for soybean farmers who rely on open markets.

“Today’s announcement is great news for American agriculture, and soybean farmers are extremely grateful to President Trump for making soybeans a priority in negotiations with China,” said Caleb Ragland, ASA President and soybean farmer from Magnolia, Kentucky. “This is a meaningful step forward to reestablishing a stable, long-term trading relationship that delivers results for farm families and future generations.”

While details are still emerging and to be confirmed, we understand that today’s announcement includes minimum purchase commitments of 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans for the remainder of this marketing year and a minimum of 25 million metric tons annually through 2028. ASA is encouraged that these commitments are framed as minimums and looks forward to continued growth in soybean purchases beyond these levels. China has historically purchased 25 to 30 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans in recent years, and today’s commitments lay a strong foundation to return to those traditional volumes over the coming marketing years.

Attention Oklahoma Property & Livestock Owners: A state law (effective Nov. 1, 2024) outlines how certain county-maintained public roads can be officially designated as “open pasture roads” by Nov. 1, 2025. An open pasture road is a county-maintained road with cattle guards at both access points, land on both sides owned by the same person, and no fencing along the roadway.

Property owners can request this designation by notifying the Board of County Commissioners and providing a map showing ownership and road location. Once approved, the county will install cattle crossing signs, paid for by the property owner. Then, livestock owners are not liable for vehicle damages caused by animals on that designated road.

Only roads meeting the requirements by Nov. 1, 2025 can receive the designation. No additional roads can be registered after the Nov. 1 deadline. Additionally, property owners must confirm each year that the road still meets all requirements to keep the designation.

The threat of New World Screwworm (NWS), Cochliomyia hominivorax, continues to impact cattle producers in Mexico. Although eradicated from the continental U.S., this parasitic fly still poses serious risks to livestock, wildlife, pets, and humans as its infestation front advances northward.

In August 2025, U.S. public health authorities confirmed a human case of NWS in the United States in a patient returning from El Salvador. This case appears to be isolated case with no further human or animal spread detected domestically. In September 2025, Mexico confirmed a detection of NWS less than 70 miles from the U.S. border. The infected animal was an 8-month-old calf in a herd moved from southern Mexico. The USDA continues to work closely with Mexican authorities supporting sterile fly release across Mexico.

Although risk to livestock and wildlife remains low, surveillance measures have been elevated across the southern border in Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. Thousands of traps have been dispersed with over 13,000 surveillance samples testing negative for NWS.

It will be a busy day on Friday for many of our Oklahoma finalists in various contests as well as several teams- including the Ag Issues team fielded by Stillwater FFA. Stillwater won the right to represent Oklahoma this week at the 2025 National FFA Convention in Indianapolis and they have advanced and competed in the Final Four of the contest on Thursday. Ag Issues is one of four Career Development Events that will have results announced during the fourth General Session on Friday morning. There will also be multiple proficiency champions named as well as more Agriscience honors given out.

On Thursday, Oklahoma claimed two National Championships in Proficiency Awards- Kyriana Beard of Stillwater FFA won the national title in the Agriscience Research- Animal Systems category. Earlier this year- Beard took home the Oklahoma Star in Ag Placement at the 99th Oklahoma FFA Convention in May. The other Proficiency Award that was earned by an Oklahoman went to Kenzie Mowert of the Chickasha FFA Chapter- Kenzie is the National Champion in Agricultural Sales- Placement.

In the National Agriscience Fair- Oklahoma has claimed six National Championships thus far- including:

Kylee Eck of Stillwater FFA in the Social Science, Division One category

Brookelyn Ryan of Oologah FFA in Animal Systems, Division One category

Maguire Biggs and Kaisley O’Nan of Stillwater FFA in Animal Systems, Division Two category

Paetyn Gilliam and Eliana Timmons of Stillwater FFA in Animal Systems, Division Four category

Gracie Essary of Stillwater FFA Chapter in Food Products and Processing Systems, Division One

Keeley Gross and Addyson Ferrell of Stillwater FFA Chapter in Food Products and Processing Systems, Division Two

Checking the Markets...

On Thursday, October 30, 2025, the Choice Boxed Beef market took a step back, marking its first decline after five consecutive days of gains. The Choice cutout fell by $3.11 to $378.27, while Select dropped $2.27 to $359.52, narrowing the spread to $18.75. Total loads moved were 102, down from 137 the previous day.

Woodward had a light run of 788 head on Thursday- Compared to last week: Feeder steers 10.00 to 20.00 lower. Feeder heifers 5.00 to 15.00 lower. Steer and heifer calves 15.00 to 20.00 lower. 

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