Author: Jason Jenkins
Where Rice Reigns
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 […]
Oak Opportunities
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 […]
Family Flocked Together
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 […]
Deep Delta Roots
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 […]
Building a Legume Legacy
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 […]
Farming Fungus
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 […]
Beyond the Barn Dance
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 […]
Meat Mania
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 […]
Dual Day Jobs
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 […]
White Gold
The Erickson family has filled a farming niche in northwest Missouri Most of the year, an Erickson family cornfield looks like any other around the small town of Tarkio, Mo., practically a stone’s throw from the Iowa border. In the spring, row after row of newly emerged petite plants line […]
Apple Ambitions
A ‘happy accident’ 50 years ago launched a legacy Few foods are as synonymous with a season as the lauded caramel apple. For a handful of weeks each autumn, this timeless treat — with its classic combination of tart apple, sweet caramel and salty chopped peanuts — adorns countless grocery […]
Orchard Opportunity
After journeying from Romania to the United States, the Gradinariu family has put down deep roots in the Ozarks Radu Gradinariu was only 4 years old when his father, Cornelius, made a decision that would change the course of his family’s life forever. Living in Soviet-occupied Romania in the late […]