August 8, 2025
OKFB Young Farmers & Ranchers travel to Sulphur for YF&R Summer Conference
ore than 70 Oklahoma Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers gathered in Sulphur for the 2025 YF&R Summer Conference July 25-27.
Farm Bureau members ages 18-35 toured local agricultural facilities, heard from guest speakers and networked with fellow farmers and ranchers during the three-day event.
Jaclyn Darling welcomed the group Friday evening for dinner at the Southern Oklahoma Livestock Auction sale barn in Ada, where members heard from Robert York, CEO of National Livestock.
Saturday morning kicked of with John Kane, weapons of mass destruction coordinator for the Oklahoma Federal Bureau of Investigation, who visited with attendees about agroterrorism.
The tours began at Buchanan Family Pecan Farm near Ardmore, where members had the opportunity to tour the grounds while learning about the family’s business.
Members also had the opportunity to visit the Washita Valley Sod Farm where Keith and Mary White gave members a tour of the sod farm and showed the group their cattle herd with E-collars.
Mary uses the E-collars for rotational grazing with her cattle herd. With the E-collar, she is able to set up a boundary where she wants the cattle to graze instead of moving poly wire fence daily.
Members stopped for lunch at the Noble Research Institute, where they heard from Dr. Charles Rohla as he shared Noble’s work with the E-collars for cattle.
Members wrapped up the afternoon with a tour of Cofey Ranch from Chuck Cofey himself. Members learned about the ranching operation and how wind turbines on his property have impacted the usage of his ranch by having gravel roads throughout the ranch making it easier to get around the property.
The day full of tours wrapped up at Doc’s Food Truck Park in Ada, where members played cornhole and listened to live music.
Eddie Wollenberg from SOLA led the group Sunday morning for a vespers service. Kinsey Westwood, OKFB senior director of public policy, wrapped up the morning by sharing with members recent legislative updates.
OKFB hosts ffth-annual FFA Communications Conference
klahoma Farm Bureau hosted nearly 100 FFA members at the organization’s ffth-annual FFA Communications Conference Monday, July 21, at the Hilton Garden Inn in Edmond.
The one-day conference gave FFA members the opportunity to learn from agricultural communications professionals in several segments of communications to ignite students to share their FFA chapter’s story through communications work.
FFA members were split into four breakout sessions, including graphic design, photography, videography and social media.
The design session was taught by Elizabeth Perdue, marketing assistant for Ruth Inman Creative Services. She taught students how to use the design platform Canva to make social media graphics and fyers for their FFA
chapters to use to promote events and activities across their audience.
Ruth Inman of Ruth Inman Creative Services led the social media session, where she taught students how to post efectively across all social media platforms. She also advised students on what content to post for the most engagement with their audience versus content viewers outside of the agriculture industry would not engage with.
The photography session was taught by Mitchell Alcala, photographer for Oklahoma State University Agriculture. He taught students about photo composition, the why for taking a photo and how a photo can tell a story.
JD Rosman, vice president of communications for the Oklahoma Youth Expo, taught the videography session. Rosman taught students how to create a short reel and gave them the opportunity
to create their own reel to show them how they can use videos to engage their audience on their FFA chapters’ social media pages.
During the morning session, FFA members heard from Oklahoma FFA advisor Scott Nemecek about the importance telling the FFA and agriculture story with those who are not directly involved with agriculture.
Kylee Deniz, executive director for the Oklahoma Pork Council, spoke to students about how they can build their personal brand.
OKFB’s own Dustin Mielke presented the fnal session at the FFA Communications Conference, where he shared with FFA members how to combine all the skills they learned into a cohesive messaging strategy to efectively share the FFA story.
OKFB Capitol Camp applications due Aug. 15
pply for Oklahoma Farm Bureau’s Capitol Camp Sept. 3-4, an immersive two- day legislative experience for high school juniors and seniors. Capitol Camp will be held Sept. 3-4 at the Oklahoma Capitol. Students will have the opportunity to write their own legislation about an issue important to them with help from mentors through a series of zoom calls prior to the camp. Applications are due no later than Friday, Aug. 15, to Holly Carroll. The application can be found on the OKFB website at okf.news/CapitolCamp2025.
For questions about Capitol Camp, contact Holly Carroll at (405) 523-2300.
Tate joins OKFB as public policy summer intern
klahoma State University student Luke Tate has joined the Oklahoma Farm Bureau public policy department as a summer intern.
Tate, a native of Ninnekah, Oklahoma, is a junior studying agricultural business with a pre-law option at OSU. During his internship, Tate will assist with OKFB events, conduct legislative research and various other policyrelated projects.
“This position is teaching me how to better advocate for agriculture and share the agriculture story to those not closely
related to the industry,” Tate said.
Tate grew up on a hay operation in Grady County and was heavily involved with 4-H and FFA, where he competed in prepared public speaking events and land judging competitions.
Tate is a Collegiate Farm Bureau member at OSU, a member of Collegiate Republicans at OSU and is involved with the Grady County GOP.
Tate plans to go to law school after graduating from OSU in the spring of 2027.
OKFB launches Farm in a Bag program to share the
and food-themed plush squeeze toys, an agriculture-accurate book and facts about the agriculture industry.
Farm Bureau members, leaders and other agriculturalists can use the Farm in a Bag as a tool to share the agriculture
story within schools, local libraries and community events.
Each Farm in a Bag comes with 25 plush squeeze toys based of farm animals, crops and vegetables with the OKFB logo printed on each toy, an accurate agriculture book and farm and agriculture industry facts.
Each complete package can be purchased for $100 by contacting your OKFB feld representative or by calling Burton Harmon at (405) 523-2300.
Toys included in each Farm in a Bag:
• Tractor
• Tomato • Pig • Peanut • Lettuce • Beef cow • Carrot • Corn • Dairy cow • Barn • Soybean • Hamburger • Potato • Sheep • Onion • Broccoli • Chicken • Egg
Postmaster:
Send address corrections to: Perspective
P.O. Box 53332, Oklahoma City, OK 73152-3332 PUBLISHED
FARM BUREAU
STAFF DIRECTORY
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Thad Doye (405) 523-2438
VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
Dustin Mielke (405) 530-2640
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF MEDIA RELATIONS AND ADVOCACY COMMUNICATIONS
Rachel Havens (405) 523-2346
PUBLICATIONS SPECIALIST
Kate Jackson (405) 523-2527
COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST
Mickinzi Ferguson (405) 523-2343
Oklahoma Farm Bureau 2501 N. Stiles Oklahoma City, OK 73105-3126
Non-Proft
U.S. Postage PAID Permit No. 131 Okla. City, OK.
Summer 2025 issue of Oklahoma Country is now available
he Summer 2025 issue of Oklahoma Farm Bureau’s Oklahoma Country magazine, flled with stories from around Oklahoma agriculture and Farm Bureau, is headed to mailboxes and is also available on the OKFB website for viewing and reading.
OKFB’s Summer 2025 magazine features Angie Johnson, Seminole County Farm Bureau member, as she shares her family’s story of why they entered into commercial pork production. Also in the summer issue is Jackson County member Keef Felty as he shares his experience serving wheat growers nationwide on the National Association of Wheat Growers.
Additional magazine content includes Okmulgee Farm Bureau member LeAundre Delonia, newly elected Northeastern Vice President for the Oklahoma state FFA ofcer team. Also featured is a 2025 legislative season review and wrap-up; a recap of the 2025 Ag Tour; organization’s annual Washington D.C. summit; and August Area Meeting information. Check out our featured content on the OKFB website to learn more. OKFB members can read the print edition delivered directly to their mailboxes.
