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.”
Ryder emphasized the challenges of marketing and managing specialty crops. “That’s the main challenge,” he admitted, “trying to find who can buy this crop for us.” He also explained the production difficulties of mung beans: “Weed management is very, very difficult with this crop, once we sow it, we’re not supposed to spray any herbicide or pesticide on it.” Despite those obstacles, the 75-day crop allows him to implement “a three-crop rotation with my cattle, mung beans, and wheat.”
On the cattle side, Ryder manages 17 spring-calving cows and uses wheat pasture when conditions allow. He explained, “In the past, I’ve always taken them out to wheat pasture and then go buy some of my father’s or my grandparents’ calves.” However, he noted that recent drought conditions in Oklahoma have limited that practice, saying, “I haven’t had the opportunity to do that just because Oklahoma has seen a significant drought issue over the past two or three years.”
Ryder’s FFA journey has shaped both his leadership and career goals. “Back when I was in high school with the Hydro-Eakly FFA Chapter, I was involved in a lot of things… livestock judging, trap shooting, showing, public speaking,” he shared. Now a student at Oklahoma State University, Ryder is majoring in agricultural business with a minor in animal science and a concentration in farm and ranch management. His long-term goal is to “move back home and continue on the farming operation… and try to become a commodity stock broker to help agriculturists within the industry.” As he concluded, “I want to continue staying in this industry. It’s been very helpful for me.”
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