Of the 1.7 million head of cattle raised in Missouri each year, only 187,500 of those cattle are finished on Missouri soil – a situation the University of Missouri Extension team hopes to rectify.

The evolution of agriculture marketing has drastically turned in recent years. Consumers are questioning everything that is put in front of them instead of taking news sources at face value. This provides ample opportunities for producers to encourage and promote agriculture as one of the most sustainable industries. Even in these unpredictable economic times, one thing holds true: People have to eat.

The Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) presented Bruce and Tracey Mershon of Mershon Cattle LLC the BIF Commercial Producer of the Year Award on June 19 during the group’s annual meeting and symposium in Brookings, South Dakota.

Dairy tours and on-farm education has been proven to be one of the best learning tools for farmers; however, sometimes being a dairy farmer makes it hard to step away from the operation when there are so many chores to be completed. The opportunity to see operations in action that are being profitable may make that step worthwhile.