Innovation in the Bootheel

~Technology charting new course for agriculture in Missouri

CONTRIBUTED TO BY THE SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS ENGAGEMENT CENTER AND UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

PHOTOS BY KASSI JACKSON

On 6,500 acres of rented and family-owned land in Stoddard, Scott and New Madrid counties, Laura Hunter Collins and her brother, Will Hunter, carry on the legacy of their grandfather, W.P. Hunter. They grow corn, cotton, rice and soybeans on their farm, Willow & Co., which they founded in 2003. Their father, Dr. Sam Hunter, serves as the manager on the family-owned acres.

Willow & Co. crops go all over the world, Collins says. Their corn becomes anything from cattle feed to pancake mix, and their soybeans become soybean oil at a soybean crushing facility. Their rice and cotton are mostly exported.

This size of operation wouldn�t be possible without modern technology.

Collins has used a computer-based platform called Land.db for the past nine years, tracking every crop input on each acre of land. The brother-sister duo also uses Climate technology on their combines and planting tractors for planting and yield mapping, which allows them to see planting and yield data as it�s being done, as well as utilize soil health imagery.

�Since Will and I have come into our operation, there have been many changes in technology, including auto-guidance, high definition yield mapping and variable rating of fertilizer and lime,� Collins says. �The technology is only going to get more extreme and allow us to become more tuned-in and aware as to exactly what is going on, on every acre we farm.�

This is a long way from clearing the ground with teams of mules to be able to plant cotton on what was 40-acre tracts of timber, which is how W.P. Hunter began the farm in 1938. Through the years, he added a sharecropper�s store, a grain elevator and a cattle operation.

�Legacy is what we farm for,� says Collins. �W.P. had the vision to make his operation the way it was, and we now have the vision to carry the family farm forward for future generations.�

Strike up a conversation with Missouri Bootheel natives and they�ll regale you with stories of �cotton holiday� from school and hand-picking cotton as children during harvest season � a pivotal experience that defined them as a generation.

Those days are a distant memory, but the spirit of the region that boasts some of the nation�s most agriculturally fertile farmland is alive and well, and innovation is changing the complexion of this agriculture dynamo as it considers its future.

Sales from agricultural production in the Bootheel � the six counties of Dunklin, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Scott and Stoddard -� are a $1.2 billion industry annually, with more than 90 percent of regional sales from crops such as cotton, rice, wheat, soybeans and corn.

Many are surprised to learn that grain produced right here in the Missouri Bootheel often winds its way through the food chain before becoming an ingredient in Gerber baby food, Rice Krispie treats and in even in Japanese brewed beer. Some southeast Missouri grains feed Iowa cattle, and Bootheel cotton is often sent overseas for processing, then returned to the United States for use as a fiber.

�Agricultural products from southeast Missouri may end up anywhere in the world,� says Dr. Julie Weathers, chair of the Department of Agriculture at Southeast Missouri State University. �Niche markets are becoming increasingly popular as well, with farm-to-table products, and with locally grown and organic labels gaining popularity.�

Farmers are creatively developing new products that can be sold for more income than traditional grains with innovations such as biodiesel facilities, non-GMO organic rice, potato and sweet potato production, production of fresh produce � including sweet corn, watermelons, pumpkins and peppers � cotton seed sold as feed for dairy cattle, organic popcorn and corn meal made from organic popcorn, hydroponics to provide year-around produce, greenhouse tomatoes, non-GMO organic feed for livestock produced at a soybean crushing plant and the production of blueberries, specialty grown rice and peanuts.

Crystal Jones, director of the Southeast Missouri State University Economic and Business Engagement Center, says Southeast Missouri is uniquely positioned to reach a broad agricultural commodity market. After all, the Bootheel boasts 200 miles of access on the Mississippi River with ports at Scott City, Caruthersville and New Madrid, Missouri. The region is served by both BNSF and Union Pacific railroads. Interstate 55 runs north and south with ready access to I-57, and US Highway 60 runs east and west.

�Within a day�s drive, agricultural products can reach the major metropolitan markets of St. Louis, Memphis, Little Rock, Chicago and Nashville, important for certain agricultural products, such as fresh vegetables, fruit and specialized local foods,� Jones says.

While top Bootheel crops include rice and cotton, a plethora of traditional agricultural products also are raised here, including corn, soybeans, wheat and Missouri beef. Cattle raised in southeast Missouri are traditionally sent to feedlots in Kansas. From there they are sent to packing plants in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Once packaged, boxed beef can be shipped to any plant in the United States, Weathers says.

Farmers use early technology to spray cotton for the eradication of army worms in New Madrid in 1938. Photo by Lee Russell.

Agriculture and technology

Agriculture is big business in southeast Missouri, and with it comes enormous responsibility to feed the world. Southeast experts say the region is poised to meet these challenges and grow agricultural production into the future, thanks to rapid technological advancements.

Drones are now being used for assessing the nutrient status of crops and scouting for diseases and insects in fields. Drones also are gathering accurate data about crops and improving efficiency in agriculture fields. By improving accuracy in the data-gathering process, the precise amount of chemicals, fertilizers and nutrients the soil needs are better gauged, with the goal of reducing farm runoff to help reduce farming costs and protect the environment.

Drones also are improving precision in agriculture fields. They can fly over fields and crops to take measurements and gather data in ways easier and more effective than past satellite processes.

Laura Hunter Collins of Willow & Co. runs a 6,5000 acre farm operation with her brother Will Hunter, in Stoddard, Scott, and New Madrid Counties.

�Today�s agriculture is advancing in science and technology,� says Dr. Indi Braden, Southeast Missouri State University professor of agriculture. �Precision agriculture using spatial imagery and remote sensing, like the drone, will help producers evaluate and improve production on a whole different scale. With this technology, crop systems can be viewed on a micro-scale or a landscape survey.�

Apps are also making an impact in this area, with farmers in this region regularly using them now to perform their work.

�There are literally apps for every application of agriculture,� Weathers says. �We can turn the center pivot on with an app from our phone. We can sell grain with an app. I can check the pedigree of our cattle with an app. The way people interpret their crops as worldwide commodities is even changing agriculture. With more up-to-date news and price updates, people are able to get the best marketing plans out there.�

The reliance on technology is driven by continued growth in agricultural operations in the Bootheel. The average market value of farm operations is significantly higher in southeast Missouri as compared to the rest of the state, Jones says. Estimated market value of farmland and buildings in southeast Missouri averages $3.6 million while the Missouri average is about $800,000.

�Agriculture in general is becoming a bigger operation,� Weathers says. �It is still family farming, but as more people get out of traditional farming, the farmers who remain take on more land, and therefore individual operations become larger. It is becoming more technology-heavy with things like drones, unmanned tractors, mechanization of fruits and vegetables, which are traditionally hand-harvested, and Radio Frequency Identification ear tags for livestock.�

Agriculture also is becoming �more trendy,� she says, with consumers becoming more interested in learning about their foods through community gardens and backyard chickens, and through the prevalence of modern-day victory gardens.

Into the future

It is estimated that to meet the increasing worldwide food demand, food production must increase by 70 percent over the next 40 years, according to a Food and Agriculture Organization of the United National report entitled �How to Feed the World in 2050.�

Machinery and equipment are becoming an increasingly important part of that equation, and a larger part of a farm operator�s budget. The estimated market value of farm machinery and equipment averages nearly $350,000 per farm in southeast Missouri, while the state average is just under $90,000, according to Jones.

�Southeast Missouri farmers have tremendous expense in their assets, and this investment demonstrates their commitment to the industry and staying on-trend,� she says.

To support further agricultural advancements in this region, access to broadband in rural areas of southeast Missouri will be key. Rural areas have historically been at a disadvantage, and this comes at a time when the use of data and technology are crucial for this important industry to be able to innovate, she says.

So what�s on the horizon for the next generation of southeast Missouri farmers?

Because farming has become a far more data, technology and market-driven industry, those without education and training in these areas will be at a business disadvantage, Weathers says.

�Now a lot of people are coming to college to major in agriculture or agribusiness to focus on not just how to grow a better crop or animal, but how to be successful with the new technologies that support that, and especially how to market those products to get the best bang for their buck,� she says.

To keep consumers buying food at reasonable prices, farmers will need to be more creative and knowledgeable. Experts agree that change already in motion in agriculture in southeast Missouri must continue.

While an agriculture degree remains important for future farmers, skills in entrepreneurship also will be crucial as southeast Missouri continues to innovate in the agriculture industry.

�Farming knowledge needed to produce crops will remain a necessity, but the region also is going to need entrepreneurs and innovative thinkers to help support the industry into the future from a technological perspective,� Jones says.

The southeast Missouri region is an agricultural powerhouse. Experts agree that with technological advancements and innovations pushing new boundaries, agriculture as we know it is rapidly evolving. Natives will still reminisce about �cotton holiday� for years to come, but agricultural innovation will be at the heart of new memory-making, as this sector of the Bootheel charts a new course.