Missouri

The Missouri project team successfully worked with Mennonite elders and community members to review and approve educational materials in culturally appropriate formats for upcoming program activities. MO AgrAbility staff will complete requested materials and pass them out during upcoming AgrAbility and safety and health workshops.

During a June roundtable discussion, farmers with disabilities, socially disadvantaged farmers, and military veteran farmers identified the following topics as programmatic needs: pasture weed identification, general pasture weed control, overview of common poisonous plants, and forage quality of pasture weeds. Six pasture weed control workshops in selected areas were facilitated: July 1 in Ste. Genevieve County; July 8 in Franklin Co.; July 10 in Washington County; July 16 in Crawford/Dent Co.; July 17 in Miller County (Mennonite) - Alfalfa 101 Workshop: Establishing a Stand, Starting Production, Harvesting, Feeding and Economics.

Submitted by: Karen Funkenbusch

University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Pharmacy, a Missouri AgrAbility collaborator, included one student pharmacist in AgrAbility client outreach activities throughout July. Free point-of-care health screenings (including blood glucose, blood pressure, and wrist bone density), AgriSafe health risk assessments, and rural wellness and farm safety education were provided to 24 patrons of the Macon County Flywheel in Macon, Missouri, at a value of $1440. Pharm to Farm and Missouri AgrAbility flyers were shared with participants. Patrons were advised on safe medication practices and provided with tips for falls prevention, and were advised on affordable medication options and discount programs.

Kayla Cramer, a UMKC School of Pharmacy PharmD Candidate 2020, is pictured here delivering rural wellness screenings, education and shared Missouri AgrAbility Project information with potential clients at the Macon County Flywheel. She also shared her background and why becoming pharmacists in rural communities is important to her: Kayla comes from the small, rural town of Macon, located in northern Missouri. She grew up in this community with strong values and acknowledgment of the hard work put into agriculture each day. She enjoyed being involved in FFA and her family's cattle and hay farm. In May 2020 she will graduate from University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Pharmacy, from the Kansas City location, as a pharmacist. She believes that members of rural communities have strong bonds and try to help each other out when times get hard. Her future goals include being able to return to a rural community to help serve those who have already enriched her life so much, developing close relationships with her patients, and continuing to learn and grow as a pharmacist to be a resource for others in need. She plans to practice in Schuyler County, MO, which is a designated health professions shortage area that has at most five pharmacists serving the county's approximate 4450 residents.

Submitted by: Kelly Cochran

Farm Outreach Worker Susan Jaster of the Lincoln University Cooperative Extension Innovative Small Farmers Outreach Program and AgrAbility gathered a work crew of helpful people who would lend their skills to Greg Davis (farmer veteran) and his family of Cole Camp. The crew strategically pulled two layers of special plastic sheeting over his high tunnel and secured it to the structure. Two layers of plastic creates a stable climate for season extension of vegetable production. A fan was installed to inflate the layers of plastic for added insulation. The FFA advisor of Cole Camp High School, Jake Montemayer, and four of his students had a couple of hours to complete their task before the winds changed. They were successful.

Submitted by: Nahshon Bishop