University of Missouri Extension

griculture plays a key role in the economy of Pettis Counties. There are 1249 farms in the county with a value of land and buildings of $364,446,747. Cash receipts from farming in Pettis County total $85,467,000. Livestock and poultry receipts made up the largest part with $162,321,000; and crop receipts were $23,146,000. The value of feed produced on Pettis County farms that was fed to livestock is not included in the crop receipts.

Following are some facts where Pettis County ranks within Missouri’s 114 counties.

Cash Receipts 9
Hogs & Pigs 6
Poultry & Poultry Products 6
Cattle & Calves 20
Wheat Production 10

Corn Production 28
Soybean Production 19
Sorghum Production 16
Hay Production 25

A proper soil fertility program is both an economic and environment necessity for farmers. The testing programs provided through the present University Extension testing laboratories are assisting those farmers needs. Farming methods are changing for both crop and livestock farmers increasing the needs for testing services including those involving soil fertility. To meet those needs, the local University Extension provides access to complete non-biased testing service for farmers and homeowners as following: limestone quality; plant tissue; manure and soil analysis.

Many questions confront farmers and homeowners about plant food management. For example, can a farmer’s fertilizer needs be met with animal manure? Hundreds of tons of animal manures are becoming available due to the increased recent growth of poultry in the area.

Fine tuned recommendations are given to farmers based on the following: crops to be grown; yields desired; amount of plant food in the manure; management of the manures before and after application; amount of plant foods in the soil; in addition to the amount and rate of nutrient-uptake by the plants growing on the area to be fertilized.

Testing services were completed for 336 farmers and homeowners in Pettis County in 2001. Soil fertility information is provided throughout the year in other forms such as meetings, tours, and on the farm contacts.

New technology and chemicals for pest control continue to change in the markets. In addition to products available, herbicides and fungicides continue to be reclassified from the general use to a restricted use. Training meetings were conducted for Pettis County farmers where new applicators qualified for buying and applying restricted use pesticides.

Twenty-one grain sorghum research varieties were planted and evaluated on the Ken Tevis farm at Hughesville as part of the University of Missouri Crop Performance Testing Program. Results for each variety include data in yield, plant heights, head compactness, lodging, off type heads, and grain moisture at harvest. The yields ranged from 131 to 160 bushels per acre and averaged 147 bushels. These plots assist local farmers with a reliable, unbiased, up-to-date source of information when selecting varieties to plant on their farms in Pettis County.

More than 200 copies of the University of Missouri Crop Performance Trials on wheat, corn, soybeans, grain sorghum and sunflowers are provided to Pettis County producers.

The Pettis County Outreach & Extension Center cooperated with the Pettis County Weed Control Board and Mark Edwards, coordinator, on making referrals on noxious weed control and conducting a summer crops tour and winter annual meeting and educational program.

New technology in herbicides, seeds and equipment continue to help in Johnsongrass and other weed control problems in crop production. Providing Pettis County crop producers with the latest information is an on-going objective of the program.

Pettis County residents utilize a variety of testing provided by the University of Missouri through the Pettis County Extension Center. A large number of plant samples were submitted to the University Extension Plant Pathology Laboratory at Columbia for disease and problem identification. These included; soybeans, corn, wheat, grain, sorghum, grass, as well as homeowner problems with ornamentals, fruits and vegetables.

Several corn samples were submitted to the Veterinary Toxicology Laboratory at the University of Missouri-Columbia for aflatoxin analysis to determine if the grain could safely be fed to dairy cattle, beef, and hogs. Soybean growers also utilized the services of the soybean cyst nematode detection analysis. Other services utilized include: feed quality analysis; insect identification; weed identification; livestock waste analysis; and fescue fungus analysis.

Agricultural Guides published by the University of Missouri-Columbia-Extension Division are provided to Pettis County residents on a wide variety of subjects to provide educational assistance. Two of the most popular are Farm Cash Rents and Farm Custom Rates.

University studies show there is a big difference in profitability between farms. One objective of the farm management educational program is to increase farm profitability and visibility by providing programs to area farm business managers to: develop management records; analyze records to find strengths and weaknesses in the business and to make sound farm business management decisions consistent with goals and objectives of the farm business.

A program that accomplishes these objectives is the Management Information Records program available through the University Extension Farm Business Center at Sedalia. In 2001, farm managers representing 131 farm businesses were assisted and guided by professional staff in developing useful record information for the individual farm operation; farm enterprise comparison summaries; and current and long run farm data to support research and teaching efforts.

Previous evaluation studies and on-going observation indicated a high level of use by farm business managers in using the management information records in their farm business management education.

Assistance for those interested in the Farm Business Management Information Program is one aspect of programs that are open to all and available through University of Missouri Extension in Pettis County.

The Farm Business Center-MIR program has and continues to receive national and state recognition in the National Association of County Agricultural Agents (NACAA) Search for Excellence and the John Deere-NACAA Farm and Ranch Financial Management Program.

Waste Management plans for poultry, dairy, swine, and beef producers; septic system design-problems; energy audit; trickle irrigation; plugging abandoned wells; radon concerns; secondary containment; composting poultry and swine carcasses; etc., were some of the concerns and requests of Pettis County citizens that were responded to by agriculture extension specialist serving Pettis County. John A. Lory, MU Extension Nutrient Management Specialist provided several programs on soil testing and nutrient management for livestock and poultry producers in Pettis County along with Tim Schnakenberg, Agronomy Specialist.

Farm-A-Syst is a national program that was developed to help agriculture producers to determine what are pollution risk factors on farms or related to farming activities common in rural America. While this program as been available to Missouri since the early 1990’s, there has been a renewed interest in the program largely due to the USDA’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) that is administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service. In response to this demand from Missouri landowners and farmer, Darin Starr, Regional Agriculture Engineering Specialist, and Tim Schnakenburg, regional Agronomy specialist, provided a two-hour training that took participants through all nine sections of the Missouri Farm-A-Syst program.

In addition to the presentation participants were provided with the Farm-A-Syst packet that includes a series of Fact Sheets and Worksheets for each topic. Following a presentation on each section, participants were allow time to complete a corresponding worksheets that identifies the risk potential of environmental pollution. During informal discussions following each event, it was observed that all participants had identified at least one area of moderate-high or high pollution risk on their respective farmstead.

One participant from the Sedalia training commented, “[this] information was pertinent to every farmer; and we better pay attention and start implementing these pro-active measures.” Participants indicated that they planned to implement changes on their farmsteads within 6 months (67%) or within one year (33%) – no participant indicted that they would not be utilizing the information presented in implementing changes.

On August 23, 2001 a Livestock Manure Management Field Day was held at Russell Hall Farm and David Warnke Farm located southwest of Sedalia, MO. This program was coordinated by Darin Starr, University of Missouri Extension Regional Ag Engineering Specialist and Mike Morris, USDA NRCS Nutrient Management Specialist. This program was designed to provide livestock farmers with current information related to:

In addition to the presentation those in attendance had an opportunity to view equipment for the land application of livestock manure, lagoon agitation equipment, incineration equipment for animal mortalities, composting facility for animal mortalities, and a poultry litter stack house.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service, Pettis County University of Missouri Extension and Soil and Water Conservation Districts of Pettis, Benton, and Morgan Counties sponsored the program.

University of Missouri Extension is committed to provide up-to-date research to farmers in the region. Agricultural specialists spend considerable time in training and in reading the research that is done at the University of Missouri and elsewhere. Information in the following categories was provided to farmers in the Central Missouri Region in 2001: Agricultural Economics, Agronomy, Livestock, and Agricultural Engineering.

The Ag Connections newsletter is mailed to farmers throughout the Central Missouri Region. Regional University of Missouri Extension specialists and state specialist write articles for the newsletter. The newsletter is also placed on the World Wide Web. In addition, agricultural specialists provide this information to farmers through meetings, phone calls and farm visits. A regular column is also provided to the Sedalia Democrat and Central Missouri News.

The Sedalia Area Chamber of Commerce Agriculture Committee sponsored it eighth Ag Expo in February 2001. The two-day event held at the Exhibition Center on the Missouri State Fair Grounds in Sedalia drew nearly 2600 people.

The Agriculture Committee sponsored the Expo as a part of its program to promote and develop agriculture and ag related business as a major segment of the Pettis County economy. As part of the Ag Expo activities, University of Missouri Extension specialists helped arrange these seminars for the 2001 Expo:

As a service to farmers attending the Ag Expo, Tim Schnakenberg, Agronomy Specialist, conducted a 2 ½ hour pesticide applicator training program. Forty-three private pesticide applicators, who use restricted use pesticides, attended the training and received their license issued by the Missouri Department of Agriculture.

The Sedalia Farm Business Center had a booth at the Expo to promote the MIR-FBC program. Farm management specialists Bill Buehler (retired) and Don Utlaut were kept busy the two days demonstrating and answering questions about the Management Information Records Program. The educational seminars and the Farm Business Center booth provided a way for University of Missouri Extension to reach a large number of new clientele.

University of Missouri Health Care and University of Missouri Extension provided private and confidential, sun exposed skin cancer screenings and information on skin cancer prevention, detection and treatment at the 2001 Ag Expo. There was no charge for the screening.

University of Missouri Health Care physicians, nurses and Dr. Fred Bluhm, Sedalia dermatologist screened sun-exposed areas -- head, face, neck, arms and hands for 248 people. The screenings took approximately five minutes per person. Eighty-six individuals were referred for further follow-up. Most were referred to physicians in the Sedalia area.

Pettis County residents requested information on a number of alternative enterprises during the past year. These included - rabbits, goats, agroforestry, poultry, sheep, mushrooms, catfish, popcorn, buckwheat, etc. Information sheets and research, if available, were provided to meet these requests. Research is being done on a number of the alternative crops. The Missouri Alternatives Center 800-433-3704 also provides timely information about alternative agricultural opportunities.

The Department of Agricultural Economics University of Missouri-Columbia and extension farm management specialists for the past 22 years have teamed together to conduct Ag Lender seminars across the state. The seminars along with an annual Missouri Farm Financial Outlook report, prepared by MU Agricultural Economists, provide information on the general economic outlook, management strategies, and financial considerations to improve understanding of the agricultural economy.

Farm management specialists Wesley Tucker, Mary Sobba, Kelly Dyer and Don Utlaut teamed to conduct seminars for 59 Ag lenders in 2001. Pettis County agriculture lenders participate in the seminars. Glenn Grimes MU livestock Economist and Ron Plain, MU Extension Economist, presented the outlook and management issues for 2002.

The hosting farm management specialists presented information on local farm management issues and regional farm enterprise data. One of the highest rated program segments is the Ag lender panel with discussion from participating financial institutions, i.e. Farm Credit Service; commercial banks; farm mortgage insurance companies; Farm Service Agency; and farm equipment dealers. Also, farm managers serving on commercial bank boards of directors participate in the seminars.

In addition to the education information presented at the seminars, the data presented in the Missouri Farm Financial Outlook is widely used by the agricultural lenders in working with their farm borrowers and others in farm financial management to improve farm profitability and strengthen rural communities. When asked how the lenders rated the seminar book on a scale of A to F. Ninety-six percent rated it with an A or B

Seminar evaluations indicate that the lenders will use and share the information presented. A large number indicated that they would use it for reference and to help prepare cash flows for customers. Several indicated they would use the information for new loan evaluation, loan servicing and portfolio management. The program impact reaches many more than just those in attendance.

Income tax laws and regulations are continually changing. University Extension offers educational programs to keep professional tax practitioners and individual farm business managers up-to-date on key tax management issues.

A Farm Tax School was held in Sedalia in October 2001. University Extension and the regional Farm Business Centers in Sedalia and Carrolton sponsored the school. The income tax school was designed both for farm tax practitioners and farm managers to keep current on current farm income tax changes and issues. Mike Hardin, associate professor of agricultural economics at Oklahoma State, and Sandy Peterson, tax specialist with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) taught the school.

The ninety-five practitioners and farm managers that attended the school reported that they prepare or represent firms that do 31,451 tax returns. Participant’s evaluations rate the farm income tax school high on usefulness to them in their work. Ninety-nine percent asked that the Farm Tax School be held again next year.

In addition to the formal tax school, thirty-five participants in the Management Information Record Program at the Farm Business Center were provided with educational information and worksheets to assist in income tax management. Also, approximately 210 copies of the Farmers Tax Guide, a free publication from the Internal Revenue Service, are distributed through Pettis County University Extension Center to answer individual questions. The Tax Guide explains how the federal laws apply to farming.

STRATEGIC GOALS: Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension is focused on priority issues identified through a grassroots process.

Agricultural Profitability: Missouri farm firms produce I an internationally competitive environment. Extension programs focus on informing producers about how to lower production costs, increase production efficiency and returns on investment, and adopt new technologies that will make it possible to compete in the increasingly global marketplace.

Environmental Quality and Natural Resources: Stewardship of Missouri's natural resources is important to all citizens. Society is demanding clean water, clean air, and protection of our natural resources. Environmental programs focus on such areas as the safe and environmentally sound use of pesticides, control of soil erosion, and improved livestock nutrient waste management.

Food Quality: Food is agriculture's primary product. Consumers want a high-quality, nutritious, abundant and safe food supply. Extension is conducting educational programs that help producers, processors, and input suppliers meet society's food goals.

Stronger Communities: Rural Communities and urban neighborhoods feel the impact of major changes in the economic and political environments. Community Development Extension provides programs that build community leadership, help communities plan for the future, and enhance local capacity for decision making and action.

Public Policy Education: Citizens and public policy makers have a need to understand the issues and impacts of policy decisions. Extension activities incorporate discussion of public policy issues into ongoing educational programs. Specific programs are developed to provide technical information on issues related to public policy decision making.


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		University of Missouri Extension Pettis County pettisco@missouri.edu Site maintained by Eva Kabler, kablere@missouri.edu Updated 05/24/04

Pettis County

Agriculture in Pettis County