Upfront

Mexico MFA Agri Services gets Missouri Extra STEP Award
The Mid America CropLife Association presented MFA Agri Services of Mexico, Mo., the state’s 2006 Extra STEP award. The award was presented at the 2007 MO-AG winter convention and legislative conference.

MACA sponsors the award, which is designed to recognize an entity that goes above and beyond meeting the requirements of business law and environmental regulations to become a true steward of the community.

MO-AG recognized MFA’s Mexico employees for their work in safeguarding the environment. Recently the location remodeled its facility by completely enclosing its rinse pad and mixing area and updating the dikes around liquid fertilizer tanks.

In addition, employees at Mexico’s Agri Services provide the latest technology to their customers by being a leader in precision ag equipment such as light bars that help to prevent over-application of pesticides and fertilizer.

Another contributing factor to receiving the award is Mexico Agri Services’ habit of leading by example. That much is evident when you pull into Mexico. In a business where storage areas and equipment lots can become chaotic, things are kept orderly at Mexico Agri Services. The retail store is one of the first things you see when you come into Mexico. Its cleanliness and organization are appreciated by the town’s leadership and citizens.

“MACA is pleased to recognize Mexico MFA for their efforts in taking the Extra STEP. They are active in the Mexico Chamber of Commerce and have received various community awards for their efforts. They are also involved and supportive of the 4-H clubs in the surrounding area,” said MACA executive director Bonnie McCarvel. “They know the extra time and effort are worth it because it benefits the entire community.”

This is the second year MACA has sponsored the Extra STEP award. MACA was established in 1967. Its purpose is to unify the efforts of the crop protection industry in the states of Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin by providing a framework for those involved in the crop protection industry to discuss the issues and reach a consensus on how to proceed.


Take the foot-and-mouth survey online
The Center for Animal Disease Modeling and Surveillance recently launched a nationwide research study aimed at protecting the livestock industry from the consequences of foot-and-mouth disease.

The center, a part of the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis, is asking livestock producers throughout the country to participate in an online survey to gather data on animal movement and husbandry practices. With the data the center will build a simulation model to predict the duration and magnitude of an FMD outbreak. The study will use the model to determine the best strategies for containment.

With no recent cases of FMD (the last in the United States was in 1929), it is difficult to predict how the disease might spread under modern commerce. The 2001 outbreak in the UK resulted in losses exceeding $15 billion with some six million animals being slaughtered and burned on huge pyres.

In the United States, economic impact of an outbreak is estimated as high as $13 billion.

So take a moment to visit www.cadms.ucdavis.edu and take the survey. The survey is administered in conjunction with the National Center for Foreign Animal and Zoonotic Diseases and supported by the USDA. Your information will be kept confidential and only used for modeling purposes.


“Don’t shoot at it, kill it”
That headline is advice offered by a southwest Missouri cattleman on how to deal with feral hogs. And it’s advice that the Missouri Conservation Department agrees with, but said hasn’t been enough to solve the problem. With increasing feral hog numbers, the agency has embarked on a three-pronged approach that will replace a hunting-based strategy.

Conservation Department officials estimated the state’s feral hog population today at between 5,000 and 10,000.

Seeing problems associated with feral hog populations in other states, the Conservation Department began encouraging hunters to shoot feral hogs on sight as early as 1999. This approach resulted in limited success for a few years; then feral hog numbers began to rise again.

One reason hunting didn’t work is that hogs are clever and learn to be wary of hunters.

Another reason hunting alone does not work is the fact that hunting creates an incentive for a few people to ensure hogs’ survival. The Conservation Department has evidence that hogs are being brought into Missouri illegally and released on public land.

The new plan is to adopt a multi-faceted approach similar to that used by state and federal officials in Kansas. It involves traps, sharpshooters and helicopters along with other control methods.

Like sport hunting, trapping is effective only up to a point. Hogs not captured in the first few attempts become trap shy. Some of these trap-savvy animals can be taken at night by sharpshooters using night-vision optics. In some terrain, trap-shy hogs can be taken from the air, using helicopters to locate and pursue them.

The Conservation Department is working with Kansas officials and the USDA Wildlife Services to learn aerial hunting techniques. Training scheduled for this spring on conservation areas in southwest Missouri will get the process started.
While these measures may seem extreme, feral hogs can carry diseases capable of devastating the state’s agricultural economy. Large-scale livestock operations in other states have been decimated by swine pseudorabies spread by feral hogs. And, a feral hog-transmitted disease, leptospirosis, affects people as well as most animals. Its flu-like symptoms make leptospirosis hard to diagnose. Antibiotics cure most human cases, but about one person in 10 develops a form of Weil’s disease, which can be fatal.

Domestic animals can contract leptospirosis from ponds or other water that is contaminated by infected animals. The disease settles in the kidneys and can cause abortions and stillbirths.


Previous recipients—we want to hear from you
Did winning an MFA scholarship make a difference in your life? The life of someone you know? Let us know. We want to hear from you.

2008 is the 50th anniversary of MFA Foundation. During that time, MFA Foundation has handed out more than 10,000 college scholarships. The lump sum totals a staggering $10 million.

So 50 years, 10,000 recipients and $10 million later, there has to be a lot of you out there.

We want to highlight the success of this worthwhile, charitable enterprise. To do that, we want to find individuals in whose lives the MFA scholarship has made a difference. If you know of someone who fits that description (whether they’re nationally famous or just highly important in your life), please contact your nearby MFA location and share that individual’s name with us.

We’ll be collecting names so that we can select individual stories to tell during the Foundation’s anniversary year.

E-mail clay@mfa-inc.com or mail the information to Today’s Farmer, 201 Ray Young Dr., Columbia, MO 65201.

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