Agriculture, Economy

SQ 832 would strip FFA students of opportunity

June 8, 2026

Ray Carter

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

State Question 832, which would increase Oklahoma’s minimum wage by more than 100 percent and continue increasing it every year based on the cost of living in places like San Francisco, has drawn criticism from employers and workers across Oklahoma for a wide range of reasons.

For example, SQ 832 will prohibit low-income students in FFA (formerly known as “Future Farmers of America”) from being able to purchase their own cattle and build a business through labor agreements with local ranchers.

In a May 21 interview on the “Weighing In” podcast, produced by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA) and OCPA Action, Michael Kelsey, executive vice president of the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association, noted that many FFA members agree to work for ranchers in exchange for cattle rather than direct cash compensation.

“I know FFA members who will connect themselves to a local rancher, and they’ll provide them a service. Maybe it’s feeding their cattle, maybe it’s working for them in the summer, and so forth—and part of the compensation is that rancher lets them start owning some cattle and start running their cattle with the rancher’s cattle,” Kelsey said. “This is a high school student.”

The arrangement allows those students to not only gain valuable experience but also begin building their own herds, setting them on a trajectory to self-employment as adults.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity, and it gives them an opportunity to build a business, to build a structure as a high-school student. It’s fantastic,” Kelsey said. “Maybe it starts as: I’ve got a group of heifers here, and I’m going to need you to feed them and to watch them and report to me certain things—maybe illness, maybe it’s when they’re ready to breed. You’re going to help me work them, give them the vaccinations that they need, the medicines they need at certain times, and so forth. And part of my compensation is I’m going to let you pick one of these heifers, and it’s going to be your own.”

Under that arrangement, the student is allowed to run his cattle on his employers’ land, reducing the youth’s overhead.

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

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.

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. And SQ 832 applies to nearly all businesses in Oklahoma, regardless of size, treating small family-owned businesses like giant corporations.

The bottom line: SQ 832 would effectively make it illegal for a rancher to pay an FFA student with cattle, meaning those youth will be stripped of the ability to efficiently enter the business and become their own boss as an adult.

Kelsey said that will be a tremendous loss for many teens, noting the arrangement has been hugely beneficial to many youth who would have otherwise struggled to amass enough cash to buy their own livestock and enter the business.

“At the end of the day, I’m going to own that heifer, and when she has a calf, I own that calf. I can sell that calf. I can start building my herd,” Kelsey said. “This is not an uncommon situation. And 832 would destroy that.”