Author: Jason Jenkins

As Missouri’s only commercial grass-based sheep dairy and creamery, Green Dirt Farm creates award-winning artisanal cheeses It’s a little after 5:30 on a Thursday afternoon, and already the “girls” are a bit restless. There is comfort in routine for this mixed flock of Lacaune and East Friesian dairy ewes, and […]

Atop a hill just off a gravel road in rural Buchanan County, an old, weathered barn stands sentinel over the rolling farm landscape of northwest Missouri. Once a place that bustled with activity, the structure now sits empty, its doors locked—a vestige of a bygone era. This was a tobacco […]

After Years of Struggles, One Bootheel Farm Family Found Success Growing Organic Crops In a post-pandemic world, the video teleconference has become an essential tool for conducting business—even for farmers like Steve McKaskle of Braggadocio, Mo. He’s found unique ways to use the technology to his advantage. “We’re going to […]

Over the years, Rance Daniels has tried his hand at several cash crops. He’s cultivated corn. He’s grown and baled cotton. But here in southern Dunklin County, Mo., just a stone’s throw from the Arkansas border, one crop excels where others struggle. “This is rice ground,” the third-generation Bootheel farmer […]

More Than Two Decades Ago, One Southwest Missouri Company Helped Turn an Unwanted Byproduct into a Valued Commodity They say perception is reality. In the late 1990s, the perception among poultry producers was that oak shavings weren’t a good bedding material inside chicken houses. Del Oney didn’t believe that was […]

In the poultry industry, being “up with the chickens” isn’t an expression reserved exclusively for early mornings. It also means late nights, weekends, holidays and everything in between. Tammy and Richard Hale know this all too well—yet they wouldn’t change a thing. “The chickens are kind of like your kids […]

Milas Mainord has done his fair share of traveling. He’s visited vast oceans and breathtaking mountains, sprawling cities and quaint resorts, towering forests and picturesque prairies. For him, however, none compare to East Prairie, Mo. “My wife, Barbara, and I once took a trip to Monterey, California,” he says. “We […]

Farmer-owned Peanut-shelling Facility Gives Growers More Control of Their Future Most people wouldn’t be satisfied working for peanuts. Tommy Jumper came out of retirement to do just that. After years of planning and development, Jumper and a group of farmer-investors opened Delta Peanut, the first peanut-shelling cooperative in Arkansas, in […]

It’s late January, and a thick blanket of newly fallen snow covers the rolling farm ground of north Missouri. While it’s been months since Matt and Madison Larkin finished combining corn and soybeans, their harvest continues. Just down the road from the farm in the town of Hamilton, tucked inside […]

For centuries, the barn was the space for celebrating. No matter the occasion — whether it be a birthday, wedding, holiday or even the raising of the barn itself — this place for housing crops and livestock would transform for communal gathering, making way for dancing and merriment. Somewhere along […]

Pandemic Puts Pressure on Local Processors As a boy, Mike Cloud anxiously anticipated the flip of the calendar page from June to July, and it wasn’t just because of the ensuing Fourth of July holiday. While the parades and picnics, festivals and fireworks meant lots of fun for Mike and […]

When it came to picking a profession, Joe Kleeman of Braymer couldn’t settle on just one. “I always had a love for veterinary medicine but also for farming in general — from livestock to row crops,” he says. “So, I did both.” A half-century ago, Joe hung out his shingle […]