Photo Gallery

Meredith Mason  and Steve Barns with AG Marketing Partners will be here to discuss how you can manage your risk in a volatile market by using puts, calls, and other marketing techniques.

- Meredith grew up in rural Southern Colorado. As an adolescent, she was very active in 4-H with horses, hogs and sheep. The swine and sheep projects resulted in fair sales that paid for a couple of years of college education. The horse projects resulted in multiple Colorado state fair championships as well as many other winnings and high placings. In her spare time, she excelled in High School sports and attended college on a basketball scholarship. She received her Bachelor’s Degree of Science in Accounting in 2016. She is now a commodity broker based in central Missouri.

- Steve received his Bachelor of Science degree in Ag Economics in 1982 and has been in agri-business since. With initial stops in the ag chem and hybrid seed corn arenas, attention was turned to providing risk management marketing advisory and assistance for producers in 1994. The idea for starting Ag Marketing Partners was hatched in the early 2000’s and became a reality in 2007. Steve’s initial interest in the commodity marketing side of agri-business came about after seeing many grain producer friends struggle with the marketing side of their farming operations. The idea of starting Ag Marketing Partners was born in order to provide more training and education, and to customize the total marketing services package to each producer’s specific needs. 

The Missouri Department of agriculture has started a new initiative focusing on Mental health in agriculture. Christi Miller from the Mo department of ag and Karen Funkenbusch from MU Extension will be here to talk about the new Agristress Helpline and to give some tips on things you should look out for in your family and friends and some ways to help cope with stress on the farm.

 Mike Smith and David Harms from MFA Agri Service will be helping producers understand how they can leverage the crop insurance they are already buying, and how livestock revenue protection can help them set a floor price on the livestock they are marketing 

-Davin grew up on a farm in west central Missouri and attended the University of

Missouri - Columbia receiving his bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics.

After a 10 year career in the farm equipment business, Davin came to MFA in 2011 and

joined the Precision Agronomy department, where he worked with producers in the

precision technology and agricultural data space and promoted MFA’s Nutri-Track

system. In 2016 he became a Certified Crop Advisor and in 2018 a licensed crop

insurance agent. Davin is now a District Precision Manager at MFA and works every day to help producers improve their bottom lines through better placement of fertility and more

accurate and innovative crop reporting techniques.

-Mike started his insurance career in 1991 with Kansas Farm Bureau, insuring farmers in Harper County, KS. His knowledge ranges from farm personal property to crop insurance of all types. Mike has managed and trained insurance agents throughout his insurance career. Mike’s passion is to be on the farm helping farmers manage their risks. This ranges from protecting their crops from weather challenges to market volatility. He strives every day to find ways to better serve his producers. Mike knows that understanding your crop insurance is an import part of your success.

 Whether you’re just starting out or getting ready to retire, how you are going to pass your estate on to the next generation is something that is important to all of us. Connie Haden from The Law Firm of Haden and Colbert in Columbia is one of the top experts on this subject in this area and she will be here to talk about some different ways this can be done and possibly some changes that have happened in tax law over the last several years.

-  Connie S. Haden practices in the areas of estate and business planning, trust and probate administration, elder law, and tax-exempt and non-profit organizations. Prior to starting the firm, she practiced with Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin LLP, specializing in complex estate, business, gift, and tax planning issues. She then served as independent counsel for Graves Bartle Marcus & Garrett LLC in Kansas City where she continued her practice in estate planning and trust and estate administration and expanded her practice into the areas of non-profit organizations and elder law. Her passion is to assist clients in developing and implementing the best possible plan to achieve their goals, while encouraging the participation of family members and other family advisors, minimizing taxes, and offering candid and affordable legal advice. 

Join FCS Financial for a discussion on the current landscape from the vantage point of an ag lender.  Loan Officer Matt Kahrs will provide an update on marketplace activity and provide best practices for working with your lender, specifically during periods of increased interest rate cost.  Danielle Thompson, credit analyst, will give an update on trends the credit team is witnessing as they dive into farm financials.  Finally, Jason Wagner, Chief Appraiser with FCS Financial, will provide insight into drivers of Missouri land values and updates based off FCS Financial’s benchmark farms. 

Andre Gradinariau (Farmer Dre), is production manager of a  family owned 55 acre farm. They grow apples, peaches, blueberries, blackberries, tomatoes and lots of other produce. In addition to the produce they have an on farm bakery and farm store. In recent years they have also expanded into agritourism by creating family friendly activities to do as well as you pick produce.  Andre will be discussing what they have done to make their farm business successful and how they promote agriculture  

 Check them out on YouTube, Tiktok, Instagram, and Facebook @farmerdr

Topics will include ( but not limited to):  Arc welding settings, polarities, electrode selection and how to figure amp settings; MIG wire reading, Oxy-fuel gas settings and safety; Drill press/hand drill settings, table saw safety, bench grinding safety; how to sharpen mower blades; tricks of figuring cubic yards; "reading" your oil and oil selection; spark plug selection, small engine model/code meanings; and electrical wiring rules! Question and answer format will be welcomed. 

We will be having a round table discussion with a veterinarian and other industry experts about what is going on in the industry and some things you may want to watch out for

Stephanie Handy and Shanna Borthick from the Springfield Community Gardens, will be going over how you can harvest seed from your garden and preserve it so you can plant them the next year. They will also be giving some helpful gardening tips such as the benefits of companion planting 

-Stephanie Handy was born and raised in the Portland Oregon area.  She has a Master’s in Social Work and 20 years of work with children and families.  She also has 20 years of backyard gardening experience.   After a period of serious illness Stephanie shifted her career focus to building community through helping people to grow and eat healthy food.  She moved to Missouri 4 years ago and for the past 3 years she has worked as an outreach coordinator with Springfield Community Gardens.  Stephanie runs an heirloom seed saving garden and teaches seed saving classes in collaboration with Springfield-Greene County Library.  She has also started her own garden consultation business with a goal to create a network of backyard gardeners.

-Shanna Borthick has Master's in Plant Science and Psychology and a decade of experience in landscaping, gardening, farming and greenhouse and property maintenance. The  past year she has been involved with Springfield Community Gardens as a community development coordinator. Prior to that she worked for Missouri State University and as a private contractor while completing her degrees. She's worked with Darr College of Agriculture, the Campus Community Garden, and food banks in the area to alleviate food insecurity. She also has a lifetime of gardening and plant experience and loves nature and improving our relationship with crop and soil health and community involvement with the foods we eat!

 Thinking about getting into canning? or maybe you’ve been doing it for a long time but just want to learn some new things. Mike and Nancy Keilholz will go over hot bath canning, pressure cooking canning, Jellies/Jam making, canning considerations and food safety.  They will show (and share) some samples and would like to have anyone interested to bring a canning recipe idea to share with the group!