Portageville, MO - Monday morning marked a longstanding agricultural tradition in the Bootheel: the University of Missouri (MU) Fisher Delta Research Field Day and Appreciation Breakfast.
MU Vice Chancellor and Dean of the College of Agriculture, Food, & Natural Resources Chris Daubert served as master of ceremonies, and the morning's program included remarks from MU President Mun Choi, Fisher Delta Center Advisory Board Chairman Trent Haggard (also an active USA Rice member), rice farmer and State Senator Jason Bean, MU Curator John Raines, U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt, Congressman Jason Smith, and Missouri Farm Bureau President Garrett Hawkins. Numerous state representatives, state senators, and other elected officials from throughout the state were in attendance.
Southeast Missouri is arguably home to the state's most productive ground: roughly one third of Missouri's agricultural output originates in just seven counties here, thanks to flat, fertile land and abundant water resources.
The Field Day and Appreciation Breakfast serves a two-fold goal: educate local farmers on the latest research coming out of the Fisher Delta Research, Extension and Education Center (FD-REEC), and educate elected officials on a part of the state's agriculture they rarely see up close.
"When you say 'Missouri agriculture,' most people picture corn and soybeans, and that's fair. That's most of the state. But the Bootheel's crop profile is so much more diverse, including rice, which runs on different water, different equipment, different economics entirely," said USA Rice Senior Director for Grower and International Relations Mollie Buckler. "Getting elected officials down here is the fastest way to close that knowledge gap. You can brief someone on rice policy for an hour, and they'll nod along. Put them next to a flooded field for ten minutes and they actually understand what they're voting on."
Sixty-five years in, the morning still came down to the same two groups: the farmers working this ground and the researchers trying to make their work easier. A common thread ran through the morning's remarks was recognition of the innovation and resilience the area's farmers have committed themselves to, generation after generation. The event closed with field tours of the most recent local research on rice, cotton, soybeans, and peanuts, led by researchers from FD-REEC.
Missouri's field day season continues next Tuesday, August 18, with the Missouri Rice Council's Annual Field Day at the Missouri Rice Research Farm near Glennonville.