A new partnership is expanding resources for on-farm stewardship projects by bringing together leading voices for agriculture and conservation in Missouri. The Missouri Corn Merchandising Council, Missouri Department of Conservation and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service joined forces with the Missouri Soybean Association and Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council to better serve Missouri farmers’ and landowners’ desire for collaboration.
“The wise use of our resources is a recurring theme across agriculture and conservation, and among landowners,” said Kyle Durham, a farmer from Norborne and chairman of the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council. “Partnerships maximize the impact of farmers’ investments, from learning about new research and opportunities, to implementing those practices on the farm. It’s a great value to have that collaboration happening here in Missouri.”
The partnership is focused on facilitating new opportunities to collaborate, promote and enhance the conservation and stewardship of Missouri’s working agricultural lands. The partnership also allowed the Missouri Soybean Association to add a new position focused on those priorities, conservation programs manager. In January, Clayton Light, of Freeburg, was hired into that role. He’ll also serve as the conservation programs manager for Missouri Corn.
Through this partnership, Light will work on projects connecting farmers and landowners with resources and expertise from Missouri’s corn and soybean organizations, USDA-NRCS and MDC. Projects will include supporting farmers’ efforts to improve their soil health and water quality, as well as programs around native plantings and improving wildlife habitat on-farm. In addition, he’ll serve as a liaison to other community and non-profit groups, including Missourians for Monarchs and the Missouri State Beekeepers Association.
The collaboration is made possible, in part, through Missouri farmers’ corn and soy checkoff programs. To learn more about the effort and connect with Light, explore mosoy.org.