Flood Recovery Funds and Flexibility Needed for Missouri Farmers
01-26-2012

A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announcement last week regarding the availability of funding for the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) and Emergency Watershed Protection Program (EWPP) was welcome news for Missouri farmers, landowners and communities affected by natural disasters in 2011. However, farmers and ranchers in northwest Missouri might not be on the receiving end for EWPP funding due to unfortunately placed program deadlines. >>Read More

Missouri Food Prices Outpace National Average
01-12-2012

“The fourth quarter results reveal food prices continued to climb in supermarkets across Missouri,” said Diane Olson, director of promotion and education for the Missouri Farm Bureau. “This quarter’s Missouri average was higher, at $52.01, than national prices, which ended at $49.23. Typically, Missouri comes in under the national average.” >>Read More

Recovery from Ruin
01-27-2012 by Dan Cassidy

Judging from editorials in the Upper Missouri River Basin following the Great Flood of 2011, you would think major changes are in order. They argue last year’s event was a call to action; an affirmation of their long-held belief the system is broken. These pundits don’t envision a system of strong levees, river commerce and production agriculture. They see the Great Flood of 2011 as further proof Missouri River flows should be left unconstrained to wander from bluff to bluff, commercial navigation relegated to the Mississippi River and vast amounts of taxpayer money spent to provide habitat for everything from mosquitoes to pallid sturgeon. Last year’s flood provided a dose of reality for those farmers that toil on the most productive soil in the country. The land is too valuable to sit idle, and they plan to farm it. >>Read More