Agriculture, Economy

Oklahoma cattlemen: SQ 832 could upend the way farms and ranches operate

June 4, 2026

Ray Carter

On June 16, 2026, Oklahomans will vote on SQ 832. Visit www.sq832killsjobs.com to learn more.

Throughout Oklahoma’s history, the state’s farmers and ranchers have traded goods and services for labor and have paid by the job rather than by the hour. That neighborly approach has been part of the foundation of rural Oklahoma’s economic system.

But under State Question 832, that system would likely be eliminated and replaced by a paperwork-intensive scheme mandating that payment may be provided only in cash based on the hours worked.

“This will have very detrimental effects on agriculture as a whole,” Michael Kelsey, executive vice president of the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association, warned in a May 21 interview on the “Weighing In” podcast produced by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA) and OCPA Action.

Under SQ 832, the minimum wage in Oklahoma will more than double from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour by 2029, and then continue rising every year thereafter based on increases in the cost of living in the nation’s largest urban centers, as measured by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers.

That would effectively tie Oklahoma’s wage mandate to the cost of living in places like New York City or San Francisco, which is a huge problem for low-cost rural communities.

While SQ 832 would initially mandate that entry-level jobs pay $15 an hour in 2029, an analysis by The State Chamber of Oklahoma and Oklahoma Farm Bureau found SQ 832 would put Oklahoma’s minimum wage on a fast track to $35.61 per hour and continue rising thereafter.

The Economic Policy Institute, which supports SQ 832, put out a report in March that estimated the increased labor expenses created by SQ 832 will be more than $783 million annually for Oklahoma employers at the initial $15-an-hour rate, and increase from there.

In addition, SQ 832 eliminates minimum-wage exemptions that have been in place for decades for farms and ranches, part-time employment, and teenage employment.

The exemptions for farming and ranching exist for good reasons, Kelsey noted.

He said many jobs on farms and ranches are paid by the task rather than by the hour, because it is not practical for either the employer or employee to keep track of hours.

Ranchers cannot predict the exact day and hours that many jobs can be done because of weather or the unpredictability of animals, Kelsey noted, pointing to tasks such as fence building, baling hay, and calving heifers.

“These heifers don’t calve on an hourly basis,” Kelsey said.

Weather changes impact hay baling dramatically, he noted.

“It becomes, ‘When is the hay dry enough?’” Kelsey said. “Sometimes, if the humidity’s high, that may take a little longer. And then once we start baling the hay, I may have to stop. I may have to pause because the humidity gets too high.”

SQ 832 also effectively outlaws many forms of compensation that are common in agriculture and actively sought by workers.

For example, an employer will be responsible for the care and feeding of a ranch hand’s horse.

Many ranches also provide a side of beef as part of a worker’s compensation. At current prices, that equates to $2,000 to $2,500 in benefit.

“We have a lot of ranch managers, and even ranch hands, that part of their compensation package is beef,” Kelsey said. “They’ll get a half-a-beef a year for their family.”

But under SQ 832, those arrangements will effectively be illegal, with employers required to instead pay documented hourly wages.

“I won’t be able to negotiate those types of things as an employer, as an employee, under State Question 832,” Kelsey said.

Many ranchers also swap help with neighbors, agreeing to help work one owner’s cattle one day, and then the other owner’s cattle the next day.

Once again, under SQ 832, those arrangements will effectively be illegal.

“It certainly pushes the brakes hard because now, instead of having an amenable, win-win type of relationship, I’ve got a lot of documentation. I’ve got to do a lot of regulatory (compliance)—and I won’t be better off because of that,” Kelsey said. “It will cost money. It will cost time.”

SQ 832 also applies to nearly all businesses in Oklahoma, regardless of size. SQ 832 exempts only businesses with fewer than 10 employees and less than $100,000 in gross receipts—not $100,000 in profit, but $100,000 in revenue—meaning businesses with only a few employees will be treated as the equivalent of giant corporations.

The average herd size in Oklahoma is 40, Kelsey said. At current market rates, that would produce around $100,000 in gross sales, which means those small businesses would be subject to SQ 832.

Kelsey said 97 percent of farms and ranches in Oklahoma are family-owned.

“We’re not talking corporate ownership here,” Kelsey said. “We’re talking 97 percent of farms and ranches are family owned. So this is mom, dad, and the kids.”

The bottom line: SQ 832 paints a bullseye on much of rural Oklahoma, which is why the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association is among the many groups urging Oklahomans to vote “no” on the measure.

“For agriculture, farm-and-ranch family businesses,” Kelsey said, “this will really be a really bad, bad situation, that … will prohibit growth.”