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Diana Sheridan knows a healthy pasture when she sees one. She knows an unhealthy
pasture when she sees one, too. |
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Back in 1993, when John Heckmann and his family purchased the first half of
their 800-acre farm near Hermann, few would have guessed that it one day would
be used as a showcase. But on June 2 it will be the site of the annual Missouri
Tree Farm Conference, and Heckmann will be recognized as the Tree Farmer of the
Year. |
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Back in 1995, Carl Saunders wouldn’t have guessed that he someday would be
earning a living from the four acres surrounding his home near Warrenton,
Missouri. |
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Bob Ridgley kneels in a sea of green cover crops and performs some mind
mathematics. Some of the people in the group visiting his farm that day are not
as well versed in livestock economics or math, so they just nod in agreement
when Ridgley says the 32-acre paddock of forage radishes, forage turnips, cereal
rye and cereal oats will feed 120 head of cattle for about $64 per day for a
couple weeks in the fall and about a month in the spring, and that’s not bad. |
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When Ann Whitehead acquired 100 acres of agricultural land near Wellsville, it
gave her the opportunity to fulfill her dream of raising cattle. Since then she
has been taking advantage of technical and financial assistance from the Natural
Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to ensure that the land will be productive
for future generations of people who might share her dream. |
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Stanley Shoemaker watched the Bourbeuse River cut about 50 feet into the lower
field of his Gasconade County farm during the 20 years that he has owned the
farm. The streambank erosion bothered him, but he didn’t know how to affordably
stop it. |
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Jim Hoene stood
in a large equipment shed on the Jefferson County property along the Big
River that he has been farming for 30 years. Torrents of rain beating on
the tin roof caused him to speak loudly to be heard above the roar. A
few years earlier in a similar situation he might have expressed concern
about getting his crops in, and keeping those already planted from
washing away. But he wasn’t worried this year. |
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Three decades ago, a livestock fence
installer from central Missouri met with some farmers from New Zealand.
Ideas were exchanged and now the fencer is a full-time rancher with 27
miles of fence dividing his Braunvieh cattle into paddocks for a
successful rotational grazing system. |
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Military families know the drill.
At the end of three or four years in one location, it's time to pack up
the house and move on to another destination. Each move brings new
opportunities, people to meet and places to discover. For Sarah
Hoffman, founder of Green Dirt Farm, one constant in her life remained
the same no matter the location: there was always a family farm to
attend to. |
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The fancy door on Jim Prouphet's seasonal high
tunnel wasn't included in the kit he purchased with funding he received
from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). But, he
does credit NRCS for helping him afford the rest of the structure that
allows him an earlier start to his supplemental, subscription-farming
business that supplies fresh produce to St. Louis-area families. |
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After more than 50 years
of agricultural teaching and research, Fred Martz retired in 1997 and
now focuses on a business he enjoyed all his life, farming. With 450
acres located on the outskirts of northeastern Columbia, Martz assists
his son, Kevin, in tending to 150 cattle, 24 ewes, 50 lambs, 100 hens
and one protective llama on a daily basis. |
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Missouri's edge-of-field
monitoring system, now utilized by several states participating in the
Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI), is in
place and capturing data on approximately 200 acres of resource-rich
land in Missouri. |
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After 30 years of
conventional farming, landowner John Rice of Tebbetts, Mo., opted to try
his hand at an organic operation. Today, Rice sells organic meat
and eggs to vendors around the state. |
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They may not know it, but each day
passengers in the 2,000 cars that travel Highway H about two miles west
of Pineville benefit from a USDA program that reduces risks to life and
property. |
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There won’t ever be a little house or
anything else on Bill and Helen White’s prairie.
The Whites worked with the USDA
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to place 118 acres of
native prairie near Mount Vernon in a permanent easement under NRCS’
Grassland Reserve Program (GRP). In exchange for the easement, the
Whites receive $1,125 per acre and retain ownership and use of the land. |
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The improvements
Marlin Meyer made to his Nodaway County hog operation weren’t to keep up
with what the neighbors were doing. That’s because Meyer’s 600-sow farm
at Ravenwood is the last sizable hog farm in the county.
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What are the odds of a
Giant Floater stopping a multi-ton piece of dredging equipment in its
tracks?
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When Hosea and Debbie Lawrence
started clearing cedar trees from their 275 forested acres near
Theodosia in Ozark County, the neighbors wondered what was going on. |
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Byron Miller may be
retired from a 30-year career as a teacher and principal in Nodaway
County, but he’s still educating. These days he uses his skills to
spread what he believes is an important message: bounty begins with a
bee. |
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The “Big Bad Wolf” jokes don’t
bother the 10 people in the southern Missouri counties served by the Top
of the Ozarks Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) office who
received grants to construct straw-bale houses. |
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Anthony and Tom Westhues
weren't very pleased in 2006 when they received a letter from the USDA's
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). It informed them that a
conservation compliance review of their farm near Glasgow revealed an
excessive rate of soil erosion. The Westhues brothers were told that, by
law, they would need to come up with a new plan to reduce erosion if
they wanted to continue participating in USDA programs. |
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After spending
29 years in a forest-fire lookout tower, it would have been
understandable if Lawrence Buchheit preferred seeing fewer trees after
retiring in 2001 from his career with the Missouri Department of
Conservation. But Buchheit keeps planting more trees. |
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Chariton County farmer Raymond McNeall is happy that the
Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) program helped him repair a
150-foot hole in his levee along the Chariton River so quickly. |
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It didn't take Jesus Perez long to figure out that he
liked the new animal waste management system on his dairy farm. |
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For more information on Missouri news items or publications, please call
Public Affairs, (573) 876-0911.
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