Drought continued to surge this past week according to the U.S. Drought Monitor and reported by Oklahoma State Climatologist Gary McManus. Currently, the entire state is considered in at least moderate drought, a level not seen since March of 2013.


Right now, more than 81 percent of the state is now in at least severe drought, including 21 percent in the "extreme" category.


 Forecasts for February are predicting above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation across the entire state.  


Furthermore, drought in February and beyond is expected to either persist or intensify across the entire state.

Click here for a closer look at this week's Drought Monitor or to review the latest Mesonet Ticker reported by McManus.

Lead lobbyist for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association Colin Woodall sat down with me during the Cattle Industry Convention in Phoenix this week, to offer his opinions regarding the progress of ongoing trade negotiations as they relate to the US and its beef producers. At the forefront of that uncertain landscape is the North American Free Trade Agreement which just wrapped up its latest round of negotiations in Montreal. Based on that most recent meeting, Woodall says he has gained a bit more optimism for the prospect of a modernized NAFTA treaty.


"There was a concern that the President was going to come to work one morning and just pull us out of NAFTA. I don't think that's the case anymore," Woodall said. "We feel much more comfortable and confident that he's going to finish this set of negotiations and we will have NAFTA 2.0 - which is exactly what we want to see."


As two of the largest markets for our beef and cattle industry, Woodall insists the US simply cannot afford to lose access to either Mexico or Canada. In fact, he says NAFTA in its present form has worked out very well and been extremely profitable for the ag sector and particularly the beef industry. For that reason, NCBA and most of agriculture has joined together with a unified message to the administration to not change a thing in NAFTA as it relates to agricultural trade. Thus far, Woodall says that message has been received.


"We told them, 'Do no harm,' because what we have is good and so far, they have respected that and we appreciate that," he said. "So, for us, it's giving the President what he needs to stay in NAFTA and also the KORUS agreement too. It's the exact same thing."

In our conversation, Woodall also made mention that he shared the frustration of others in the ag industry, wondering when the hold on Greg Doud would be lifted in the Senate to confirm him as Chief Ag Negotiator for the USTR's office. However - news came late yesterday afternoon that U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona dropped his hold on Doud's nomination.

Listen to Woodall and I discuss the progress of NAFTA negotiations and other trade matters, on yesterday's Beef Buzz - click here.

Read more about this latest development in this litigation that has been going since 2012- click or tap here.

OSU's Kim Anderson joins host Lyndall Stout again this week on SUNUP and will be talking marketing strategies for wheat producers this year.


According to Anderson, wheat markets rallied this week and would now allow producers to forward contract harvest wheat at $4.20 and believes markets will sustain that price until it rains - if it ever does... But should it not, Anderson believes the price of good quality wheat with high test weight and protein levels could command a price of between $6.00 and $7.00 a bushel - basing that figure on the cost of hypothetically importing Russian wheat.


Given that forecasts currently are betting that the drought will continue on through at least May, Anderson says wheat farmers will need to take advantage of the potentially higher prices that he expects may come down the road. For that, he discourages producers from forward contracting their wheat at the current $4.20 price.


You can watch their visit tomorrow or Sunday on SUNUP- but you can hear Kim's comments right now and see what else is on the lineup for this week's episode by clicking here.

In yesterday's email, we included a story covered by our Associate Farm Director Carson Horn on farming within a "holistic context," a concept developed by renowned environmentalist, Allan Savory, who spoke about his theories at the No-Till on the Plains Conference in Wichita this week. While there, Carson also had the chance to speak with Julie Mettenburg, a student of Savory's ideas, who has implemented them on her own family farm. She was also a guest speaker at this event and presented on how to approach the human resources aspect of farming from within that holistic mindset. She explained that all management decisions in some way are underpinned by human resource management, as all decisions are made by humans and typically require human involvement or buy-in, especially on a family farming operation.

"We don't actually think about it, but really it underlies everything because everything we do is about decision making, and humans have to make the decisions," she said. "So, when you talk about human resource management on a family farm - how are multiple people in our family going to stay in farming... what if nobody wants to stay in farming... We have to make a lot of decisions. This holistic framework can help us make these decisions effectively."


The process of thinking holistically, begins with a family or company sitting down and developing a document that basically takes into account who they are, what they represent and what they hope to do - a mission statement essentially. From there, Mettenburg says all future decisions can be weighed against that benchmark to determine which known options advance that mission. She insists, too, that holistic management is not about achieving any certain goal, but rather maintaining a continuous course of improvement on your operation via trial and error in some cases.

Read more or listen to Carson's complete interview with Mettenburg, by clicking here, to learn more about Savory's holistic principles and how they can be applied on an operation.

If you are in the market for some high performing cattle - you've got two great options coming up this weekend that we encourage you to check out and support.

First off is Messner Ranch's Annual Production Sale happening Saturday, February 3rd at 12:30 p.m. at the Ranch in Slapout, OK featuring 150 Service Age Hereford & Angus Bulls and 75 Bred Angus & Hereford Heifers.

Also happening this Saturday is the Roger Mills County Cattlemen's Association 40th Annual All Breeds Bull Sale -
Saturday at 12:15 p.m. at the Roger Mills County Ag Pavilion
 located on the West Side of Cheyenne, OK. This sale features 60 + Excellent Quality Bulls representing several breeds from well know Western Oklahoma Cattlemen.

Be sure to check out these sales and others on the Calendar Page of our website.