Major Player in Missouri

Missouri’s agriculture industry is already a major player in the state’s economy, contributing about 88-point-four million dollars of value. But industry leaders, as well as the University of Missouri Extension, said the contribution can be much higher. They’ve set an ambitious goal to double the value of Missouri agriculture by 2030 while sustaining the state’s natural resources. Rob Kallenbach, associate dean for extension, says they’ve identified three objectives to achieve their goal, starting with increased efforts to connect consumers with local food producers.

The second goal is enhancing value-added processing for Missouri commodities, along with assisting farmers and agribusiness owners with strengthening their operations or developing new businesses.

Finally, Kallenbach says farms stand to benefit from new technologies.

University of Missouri associate dean for extension Rob Kallenbach notes that Extension plans to assess the state’s progress toward reaching their goal about every three years. More details about the project are available on Extension’s website.