AGRI-BUSINESS TOUR: AN INFORMATIVE FIRST-HAND LOOK AT AREA AGRICULTURE

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Harold Lowes of Friedheim and Lillian Reisenbichler of Pocahontas sample of River Ridge Winery's German style white wine at the River Ridge Winery.

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The group takes a look at a new hog house at the Don Heisserer farm west of Scott City.

The annual Agri-Business Tour sponsored by the Jackson Chamber of Commerce, SEMO Cattlemen's Association and the Cape County Pork Producers had more than 150 people to take the tour.

Darrell Aufdenburg, branch manager of Coop Service Center, Inc. in Whitewater, chairs the Chamber's agriculture committee which plans the tour each year.

Aufdenburg said he's been involved with the tour for five years.

"We try to rotate what we see. This year was agriculture and next year we will focus on industry," Aufdenburg said.

The tour traveled from Jackson to the Jerry Siemers Dairy Farm west of Cape Girardeau, Mid-West Agri-Chemico near the SEMO Port Authority, River Ridge Winery near Commerce and the Don Heisserer farm west of Scott City.

The group met at Jackson High School in the morning and three buses split up to take the tourists first to Siemers' dairy operation or to Mid-West Agri-Chemico.

The tourists got to see one of the newest dairy operations in the area at Siemers' farm. The newest facility at the farm was built in 1995.

Siemers said that right now his farm produces 15,000 pounds of milk every other day.

On the tour, Siemers said he tried to explain the operation and the expansion project that is ongoing.

"It's an informative tour. Most people don't get to see what's going on in a dairy operation," Siemers said.

Siemers took over the operation for his father in 1985, but has worked on the farm his entire life. He has 200 head of milk-producing Holsteins and an additional 150 head of livestock on his 600-acre farm.

The next stop was at Midwest Agri-Chemico near the SEMO Port Authority between Scott City and Cape Girardeau.

Russ Mothershead, president of Midwest Agri-Chemico Inc., said that the tour had a lot of people with good questions. He also said that he was impressed with the makeup of the tourists.

"They had a good number of agriculture and business related people on the tour," Mothershead said.

The group looked at the offices of the wholesale fertilizer company located on Nash Road and then toured the river port and warehouse.

They got to see barges unload dry bulk commodities and the liquid terminal facilities that handles liquid fertilizer.

After lunch at the Scott City Knights of Columbus Hall the tour group again split up with one group going to the Don Heisserer farm and the other group going to the River Ridge Winery.

At the River Ridge Winery the tourists sampled wine produced at the winery and toured the vineyard and winery house.

Jerry Smith purchased the property near Commerce in 1980. He planted grape vines from 1980 to 1995. In 1993, he applied for state and federal licenses to produce and sell wine and began commercial production in the fall of 1993. He opened for business in September 1994.

"Our business is better than we initially thought it would be," Smith said.

The winery produces 7,500 bottles of wine now and Smith said he expects the winery to produce 10,000 bottles within the next year. He said that it is possible that the winery could produce 20,000 bottles of wine per year within three to four years, but he doesn't like to count his chickens before they hatch.

Smith runs the winery with his wife Joannie. Joannie led the tours through the vineyard and Jerry showed the winery to the people on the tour.

At any given time, there are usually five different types of wine that can be sampled and purchased at the winery, Smith said.

Smith said he thought many of the people on the tour were amazed at the size of the gift shop at the winery. He was glad to see all the many different people that got to see his operation for the first time.

River Ridge Winery's signature wine is a dry white wine named "Serendipity" meaning a pleasant surprise, but the winery offers other white, blush and red wines as well throughout the year.

River Ridge Winery produces Continental-style wine without the addition of sugar and water.

Grape seed oil is another product the winery produces. Smith said that it is better for people than olive oil.

The winery has picnic tables in the vineyard and overlooking the Mississippi River for wine patrons. The winery also sells picnic baskets to go along with the wine.

Smith said he believes strongly that wine is a beverage of moderation and is to be enjoyed with a meal.

The tour also stopped at Don Heisserer's farm west of Scott City. The farm has cattle and hogs along with some corn, hay and other crops. Don farms with his son Charlie.

The Heisserers showed off their hog buildings. One building has housed hogs since 1977, but the highlight of the tour was the new hoop building.

The hoop building has many advantages over the older type of buildings that house hogs. The building keeps the hogs cooler. The Heisserer's building is 30' by 92' and they house 200 hogs in the building. The cost of constructing the hoop building is about a third of the cost of constructing a conventional building for hogs, Heisserer said.