Category: Ag News

By Kirsten Hollansworth

When Joel Jackson was hired as the meat pilot plant manager at the Robert M. Kerr Food and Agricultural Products Center, his goal was to open a Cowboy Meats Retail Store. Available to the public, the Cowboy Meat…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) today announced an additional $21.9 million of funding is being awarded to 111 grant projects through the Meat and Poultry Inspection Readiness Grant Pro…

Click here to listen to audio

RON’s Dave Lanning has a pre-opening look at today’s agricultural Markets.

Click the audio tab below for today’s report.

U.S. Wheat Associates (USW), Arlington, Va., has hired Ralph Loos as Director of Communications. He comes to the organization with nearly 14 years of experience in agriculture communications, serving both the grain and livestock industries. He replaces Amanda Spoo who left USW for another position in July.

“Ralph’s experience working with USDA Foreign Agricultural Service cooperator organizations and his enthusiasm for the marketing communications profession is a great fit for U.S. Wheat Associates,” said USW Vice President of Communications Steve Mercer. “I think the wheat farmers we represent in overseas markets, our state wheat commission members and his colleagues are going to be very pleased with his work.”

Raised on his family’s farm in southern Illinois, Loos paid his way through college as a newspaper reporter and editor. He earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communications from Southern Illinois University in 2008.

Loos began his ag career as Communications Specialist for the U.S. Soybean Export Council. He then worked as Editor and Communications Manager for the American Sheep Industry Association, where he produced a monthly magazine for sheep producers and helped launch the association’s social media platforms.

In 2015, Loos joined the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) as its Communications Director. Along with creating written content, Ralph worked closely with USMEF staff around the world to produce video segments for the organization’s internal and external audiences.

In August 2021, Loos took a year-long leave from ag communications to work as Communications Manager for a Denver-based healthcare startup that specializes in staffing public health departments and setting up emergency COVID testing and vaccination clinics.

“While I valued the healthcare communications experience, I am happy to return to my roots and look forward to doing what I can to help support the U.S. wheat industry,” Loos said.

U.S. Wheat Associates’ (USW) is to “develop, maintain, and expand international markets to enhance wheat’s profitability for U.S. wheat producers and its value for their customers.” USW activities in more than 100 countries are made possible through producer checkoff dollars managed by 17 state wheat commissions and cost-share funding provided by USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. USW maintains 15 offices strategically located around the world to help wheat buyers, millers, bakers, wheat food processors and government officials understand the quality, value and reliability of all six U.S. wheat classes. For more information, visit www.uswheat.org.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled today to uphold the state statutory procedures a state question must follow to advance to the ballot.

Last week, proponents of State Question 820 – a measure to legalize recreational marijuana – filed …

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture are now putting the Daily Cash Grain Report into a PDF format – we are saving that PDF and archiving them for today’s specific report. To see today’s update, click on the PDF report link at the bottom of this story.

In addition to the PDF of the daily report, you can also listen to the Cash Grain Report by calling 405-621-5533. Push 2 for the grain report.

Click here:

Click here to listen to audio

Listen to today’s report with Justin Lewis, by clicking or tapping on the LISTEN bar

Click here to listen to audio

Farm Director, KC Sheperd, had the chance to visit with Senator James Lankford talking about what is impacting businesses in the area and his work to protect the well-being of Oklahomans and those in agric…

Corteva Agriscience and BASF Agricultural Solutions announce their agreement to develop future herbicide-tolerant soybeans and complementing herbicides for farmers in North America and beyond. The collaboration aims to bring competitive alt…

Mark Johnson, Oklahoma State University Extension Beef Cattle Breeding Specialist, offers herd health advice as part of the weekly series known as the "Cow Calf Corner" published electronically by Dr. Peel, Mark Johnson, and Paul …