World Trade Month: Vietnam Buyers Trade Mission ($45 million)

The Missouri Department of Agriculture, with sponsorship and support from the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council, Missouri Corn Merchandising Council and Missouri Rice Council, hosted a Vietnam Buyers Mission to Missouri last week. Surveys collected at the end of the mission indicated that Vietnamese buyers intend to purchase more than $45 million in Missouri agricultural products within the next year.

In total, 13 representatives from eight different Vietnamese companies participated in the mission looking to purchase food ingredients & additives, feed ingredients & additives, dairy ingredients, corn, soybeans, soybean meal, wheat, rice, dried distillers grains, nuts, beef, pork and poultry from Missouri suppliers. Meetings and tours hit every region of Missouri to showcase our state's diverse agricultural systems. The delegation was divided into three groups to tour the state, which allowed buyers to connect with more Missouri suppliers and increase the individual educational value provided to buyers. 

 The Department will continue to follow up with the Vietnamese buyers and Missouri suppliers over the next year and offer export assistance as needed. Both buyers and suppliers expressed an interest in having a Missouri delegation travel to Vietnam to continue building relationships and business prospects, so staff will begin exploring the possibility of a trip in February 2019.

Click here to learn more about the Department's efforts to increase Missouri agricultural trade

It's Official: May is Beef Month in Missouri

Director of Agriculture Chris Chinn announced, on behalf of Gov. Eric Greitens, that May is officially Beef Month in Missouri! She made the announcement at Mount Vernon Elementary School alongside members of the Missouri Beef Industry Council (MBIC) and Missouri Cattlemen's Association (MCA) leadership teams. 

Missouri beef producers have a long history of caring for their cattle and the environment by protecting land, air and water resources on their farms and ranches. Missouri is home to more than 4 million head of cattle and calves, which generate more than $3.3 billion in sales annually and maintain more than 40,000 jobs. 

We celebrate beef each year because it is recognized as one of the most nutrient dense foods for a healthy & active lifestyle. In fact, beef provides consumers with ten essential nutrients in one three ounce serving.

Mount Vernon Elementary School was chosen by MBIC to host this year's proclamation ceremony because they have successfully completed one year of the MO Beef for MO Kids program, which doubled the amount of beef served this school year. Thank you to the cattlemen and women who have donated beef to their local schools and truly brought their farm to the table!

Click here to see more photos from the announcement.

Missouri farm family committed to the land and lifestyle 

Kate Lambert’s non-farming extended family still talks about the Christmas Eve night when she and her husband unexpectedly had to drive six hours back to their farm to tend to a favorite ewe that was having trouble giving birth.

Lambert never thought twice about her responsibility to their farm and animals.

Across Missouri, farm families like the Lamberts own 90 percent of farms and understand that the farm comes first at certain times of year, such as planting, harvest, lambing or calving. Lambert, who was born and raised within 60 miles of Chicago, admits it took a few years of marriage to her farmer husband, Matt Lambert, to learn and accept the farm’s demands. Today, her commitment to the farm, her husband, two boys and the agriculture industry intertwine.

“I always had these big ambitions of going to law school, sitting in a big office somewhere doing something ‘important,’ whatever that might be,” says Lambert, a loan officer with FCS Financial, part of the Farm Credit System. “Now, the level of fulfillment of working on the farm and working with families at Farm Credit, plus the satisfaction of raising a crop are unmatched. You combine that livelihood with a lifestyle and the way we’re raising our kids. Like any farm family, it’s what our family lives and breathes. I can’t imagine doing anything else or being anywhere else.”

Click here to read the full story.