Left to Right: John Blair - Reporter, Thomas Hairrel - Treasurer, Wendy Hutson - Secretary and Sweetheart, Quint Fuller - Vice President, Gary Batton - President.
Choctaw Takes Ag Seriously; FFA Honors our Tribe
Chahta yvt Osapa Atoksvli Fehnachi; FFA vt Hvpim Okla Holitobli
Published December 8, 2025By Chief Gary Batton
I recently became the proud recipient of the 2025 Honorary American FFA Degree. According to the FFA, the award is given to those who advance agricultural education and FFA through outstanding personal commitment.
For those not familiar with the FFA, it is an organization that works to enhance the lives of youth through agricultural education. I am proud to say I was the FFA President of our Clayton, Oklahoma chapter when I was in high school. Once you are engrained within the FFA organization, you never truly take the blue coat off. Many of the lessons I learned as a high school FFA student continue to be valuable to me to this day.
This honor from the FFA is not just a personal accolade, but it was earned through the hard work of our Choctaw leadership and associates who further the progress of our agriculture endeavours. Whether it be the annual Choctaw Livestock Show, our beef production, pecan harvests, or any of the many other ways we create sustainable agriculture right here in Southeastern Oklahoma – the Choctaw Nation is an agricultural leader.
For fiscal year 2025, here are just a few statistics that we are proud of that reflect the importance of agriculture to the Choctaw Nation:
- Choctaw Beef Revenue: More than $2.8 million
- Pecan Revenue: More than $400,000
- Choctaw Stock Show Contributions: More than $1.1 million across 37 area shows
- Also, of the $4.5 million USDA’s Local Food Purchase Assistance grant, we have used more than $2.6 million and have served more than 11,000 tribal members with more than 170,000 pounds of Choctaw beef and more than 80,200 pounds of Choctaw pecans.
Choctaw Beef Sales
- The Travel Plazas and Country Markets sell Choctaw Beef as well as a location in Caney and a not-yet-open store in Atoka. Choctaw Beef is also served in CNO Food & Beverage venues in Grant and Pocola and is also featured in certain Roots offerings. We have been approached by Texas Live (Texas Rangers), South Korean importers, Dallas-area restaurant associations, and importers from as far away as the Far East who have sought us out because of our reputation and unmatched product quality.
I hope you can see why I’m so proud of our agriculture program and leadership in these vital businesses across our reservation. We are constantly looking for new and sustainable ways to feed our tribe. It is our duty and honor as Choctaw to provide new and better ways to enhance our food chain and to take care of our people when the federal government can’t or won’t.
While it was a great honor to have received the 2025 Honorary American FFA Degree, make no mistake, I view this honor as one that belongs to our tribe and the hard-working associates who make our Choctaw agriculture program the best of the best.
Yakoke and God Bless!