A local poultry farm owned and managed by Jim and Sharon Shepherd east of Aurora is one of the stops on Congressman Roy Blunt’s annual farm tour.

The 13th Annual Southwest Missouri Agriculture Tour will have an emphasis on urban agriculture, gardening and agri-businesses when it rolls out on August 10 and 11.

“The 2009 agriculture tour will take a new look at an old practice that is making a popular comeback--gardening,” Blunt said. “As with past tours, the Southwest Missouri Agriculture Tour will be as diverse as the region’s rural economy. The sixty participants will get a firsthand look at the practices and the technologies that make Southwest Missouri’s billion-dollar agriculture economy vital to the region’s overall economic health.”

The tour will begin at Springfield’s Nathanael Greene Park to see the vegetable bed that produces hundreds of pounds of produce each year for charity.  The tour will also observe Joplin’s Franklin Technology Center’s FFA urban agri-science program which includes gardening, aquaculture and landscaping. In Monett, officials from the Tyson Poultry Plant will explain its state-of-the-art, award-winning waste water program, and the tour will also visit the Dairy Farmers of America Cheese Plant to see curds and whey being made.  The Ag Tour will also inspect a forage-based dairy south of Monett, a beef farm in western Lawrence County, and the new Veterinarian Technology Program at Crowder College.

The second day of the 2009 Agriculture Tour begins with a visit to a ranch that breeds, raises and trains national grand champion miniature horses east of Springfield. The tour travels just north of Springfield to a winery, a 15-acre vineyard and an urban farm that produces organic vegetables, chickens, and pork. This day also includes visits to a dairy and a beef farm north of Morrisville.

The beef farm is using switch grass for forage. Switch grass, a native grass normally used in conservation programs, is also being considered as a source for alternative fuels.  

The complete schedule for the agricultural tour is as follows:
• Monday, August 10: Master Gardener’s Demonstration Garden in Nathanael Greene Park in Springfield, Jim and Sharon Shepherd’s Poultry Farm east of Aurora, Tyson Poultry Plant in Monett, Dairy Farmers of America Cheese Plant in Monett, Mike Meier’s Rotational Grazing Dairy Farm south of Monett, Crowder College’s Veterinarian Technology Program, Joplin’s Franklin Technology Center and FFA Program, Rod and Christine Lewis’ Beef Farm northeast of Sarcoxie
• Tuesday, August 11: Sheppard’s Seven S Miniature Horse Farm east of Springfield, Overboe’s OOVVDA Winery near Springfield, Curtis and Sarah Millsap’s Community Supported Agriculture & Farm north of Springfield, Mike and Kathy Dennis’ Tyler Ridge Vineyard north of Springfield, Richard McConnell’s Beef Farm northwest of Morrisville, Fred Letterman’s Holstein Dairy Farm north of Morrisville