Author: Jason Jenkins

Third-Generation Family Feather Business Roosts in California, Mo. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. But what about when life gives you feathers? You start a company and let it soar to new heights. What began as a side business in a family’s basement more than seven decades ago […]

When telling the tale of Andy Dufresne’s prison escape in the classic 1994 film, “The Shawshank Redemption,” actor and narrator Morgan Freeman explains how Andy wears the warden’s shoes back to his jail cell, shoes that he had buffed to a “high mirror shine,” as instructed. Yet neither the guards […]

For many, Christmas traditions begin with an annual pilgrimage to The Branch Ranch Across the nation, the day after Thanksgiving—known to most as “Black Friday”—is one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Retailers of all kinds attempt to lure shoppers into their stores with limited, money-saving specials on […]

It’s a scene that plays out every spring and fall at local agricultural cooperatives and farm supply stores across the country. A single-file, serpentine line of pickup trucks and trailers forms in the parking lot, often before the start of business hours. Loaded down with stock tanks, garbage cans and […]

When Roger McCallie tells people he’s in the feeder business, some assume the central Arkansas farmer is talking about cattle. They’d be partially correct. While he does raise about 750 head of feeder calves annually, that number pales in comparison to the millions of “feeder” fish he produces each year. […]

For more than a quarter century, Campo Lindo Farms has raised the freshest free-range chicken and eggs. Just a few. That was the plan when Jay and Carol Maddick raised their first broiler chickens in the 1990s on their farm in Clinton County, Mo. But a few quickly turned into […]

Overcoming tragedy, fourth-generation Sullivan County farmer forges ahead to grow the family business in animal agriculture Growing up in north Missouri’s Sullivan County, just a few miles from Green City, Trevor Shafer always felt his place was on the family farm. After all, the Shafers’ roots run deep in this […]

There’s something about digging holes that little boys and girls just can’t resist. Whether it’s in the sandbox, the backyard or at the beach, few children will pass up the opportunity to play with toy bulldozers, backhoes and dump trucks, moving sand and soil to build moats around castles or […]

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 […]