USDA Offers Disaster Assistance

Agricultural operations in Missouri have been significantly impacted by recent flooding. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has technical and financial assistance available to help farmers and livestock producers recover from this adverse weather event.

“USDA has a suite of programs to support farmers and ranchers as they recover from disasters,” said Farm Production and Conservation Under Secretary Richard Fordyce. “I encourage impacted producers to contact their local USDA Service Center to report losses and learn more about program options available to assist in their recovery from crop, land, infrastructure, and livestock losses and damages.” 

USDA Disaster Assistance

Producers who experience livestock deaths in excess of normal mortality or sell injured livestock at a reduced price may be eligible for the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP). To participate in LIP, producers must provide acceptable documentation of death losses or evidence of reduced sales resulting from an eligible adverse event and submit a notice of loss to the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) no later than March 1, 2027, for 2026 calendar year losses.

Meanwhile, the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP) provides eligible livestock producers with compensation for feed and grazing losses. For honeybees, ELAP may cover colony loss and damage to hives and purchased or produced feed. ELAP may also cover purchased or produced farm-raised fish feed losses for feed that was intended to be fed to eligible farm-raised fish along with any physical inventory loss of the eligible farm raised fish. For ELAP, producers are required to complete a notice of loss and submit an application for payment to their local FSA office no later than March 1, 2027, for 2026 calendar year losses.   

Additionally, eligible orchardists and nursery tree growers may be eligible for cost-share assistance through the Tree Assistance Program (TAP) to replant or rehabilitate eligible trees, bushes or vines. TAP complements the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) or crop insurance coverage, which covers the crop but not the plants or trees in all cases. For TAP, a program application must be filed within 90 days of the disaster event or the date when the loss of the trees, bushes or vines is apparent.  

“Impacted producers should timely report all crop, livestock and farm infrastructure damages and losses to their local FSA county office as soon as possible,” said Ronnie Russell, State Executive Director for FSA in Missouri. “As you evaluate your operation, take time to gather important documents you may need to get assistance, including farm records, herd inventory, receipts and pictures of damages or losses.”   

FSA also offers a variety of direct and guaranteed farm loans, including operating and emergency farm loans, to producers unable to secure commercial financing. Producers in counties with a primary or contiguous disaster designation may be eligible for low interest emergency loans to help them recover from production and physical losses. Loans can help producers replace essential property, purchase inputs like livestock, equipment, feed and seed, cover family living expenses or refinance farm-related debts and other needs.

Additionally, FSA offers several loan servicing options available for borrowers who are unable to make scheduled payments on their farm loan programs debt to the agency because of reasons beyond their control.        

The Farm Storage Facility Loan Program (FSFL) provides low-interest financing so producers can build, repair, replace or upgrade facilities to store commodities. Loan terms vary from three to 12 years. Producers who incurred damage to or loss of their equipment or infrastructure funded by the FSFL program should contact their insurance agent and their local USDA Service Center. Producers in need of on-farm storage should also contact USDA.   

Risk Management

Producers with NAP coverage should report crop damage to their local FSA office and must file a Notice of Loss (CCC-576) within 15 days of the loss becoming apparent, except for hand-harvested crops, which should be reported within 72 hours.   

Producers with risk protection through Federal Crop Insurance should report crop damage to their crop insurance agent within 72 hours of discovering damage and be sure to follow up in writing within 15 days. 

“Crop insurance and other USDA risk management options are offered to help producers manage risk because we never know what nature has in store for the future,” said Collin Olsen, Director of USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) Regional Office that covers Missouri. “The Approved Insurance Providers, loss adjusters and agents are experienced and well-trained in handling these types of events.”

Conservation

FSA’s Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) and Emergency Forest Restoration Program (EFRP) can assist landowners and nonindustrial forest owners with financial and technical assistance to restore damaged farmland and conservation structures or nonindustrial private forests.  

USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is always available to provide technical assistance during the recovery process by assisting producers to plan and implement conservation practices on farms and working forests impacted by natural disasters. The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) can help producers plan and implement conservation practices on land impacted by natural disasters.

“The Natural Resources Conservation Service can be a very valuable partner to help landowners with their recovery and resiliency efforts,” said Nate Goodrich, NRCS State Conservationist in Missouri. “Our staff will work one-on-one with landowners to make assessments of the damages and develop approaches that focus on effective recovery of the land.” 

Assistance for Communities

Additional NRCS programs include the Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) program, which assists local government sponsors with the cost of addressing watershed impairments or hazards such as debris removal and streambank stabilization.

Eligible sponsors include cities, counties, towns or any federally recognized Native American tribe or tribal organization. Sponsors must submit a formal request (by mail or email) to the NRCS state conservationist for assistance within 60 days of the natural disaster occurrence or 60 days from the date when access to the sites become available. For more information sponsors should please contact their local NRCS office. 

More Information 

Additional USDA disaster assistance information can be found on farmers.gov, including USDA resources specifically for producers impacted by flooding. Those resources include the Disaster Assistance Discovery Tool, Disaster-at-a-Glance fact sheet, Loan Assistance Tool, and Natural Disasters and Crop Insurance fact sheet. Additionally, FarmRaise offers an FSA educational hub with LIP and ELAP decision tools as well as farm loan resource videos. For FSA and NRCS programs, producers should contact their local USDA Service Center. For assistance with a crop insurance claim, producers and landowners should contact their crop insurance agent.     

 

Letter to the Editor -- Amendment 4 Destroys 118 Years of Missouri Tradition

Amendment 4 destroys 118 years of Missouri tradition 

This August, politicians in Jefferson City want to take away your voting power.

A promise was written into the Missouri Constitution 118 years ago: “The people reserve power to propose and enact or reject laws and amendments to the constitution by the initiative, independent of the general assembly.”

The initiative process is our ultimate check and balance. When politicians refuse to listen, it gives voters the power to step in and fix things. Signatures from hundreds of thousands of Missourians throughout the state are collected to place an amendment or proposition on the ballot for the people’s vote.  Citizen-led initiatives brought changes such as term limits, legalized marijuana, crack down on lobbyist gifts to politicians, limits on taxation without voter approval, minimum wage increase, and expansion of Medicaid.

Amendment 4 ruins that balance. It changes the rules to make it nearly impossible for citizen initiatives to pass. By forcing a vote to win a majority in all eight congressional districts, a tiny minority of Missouri voters in just one area could cancel out a landslide statewide win. 

Former Governor John Ashcroft warned against this back in 1992, vetoing a similar attack: “It is through the initiative process that those who have no influence with elective representatives may take their cause directly to the people.”

Politicians are trying to kill this check on their power. Learn more about Amendment 4 at RespectMOVoters.org/a4, and on August 4 vote NO on Amendment 4.

  

Thank you.

Nancy Zeliff

Skidmore MO

 

Nodaway County Rural Water District Says it Can’t Deny Water to Data Center

The Nodaway County Rural Water District pushed back on calls to deny water service to the proposed data center south of Maryville. Board President Dean Adwell, other board members, attorney Nick Robb, and water operator Ed Waldeier all provided more answers to the people than they had at the June meeting about what they can and can’t do, but the answers did not please most of the people present.

Mr. Adwell explained that the Rural Water District is a public utility and not a business and can’t deny service to whoever it wants. “We can’t discriminate against anyone,” he said. What they can do, he said, is determine how much water they can feasibly provide and tell the data center that this is all they are going to get. This was the reason for the recent feasibility study, the draft of which was recently released to the public. Another thing the Rural Water District can do in the event of a drought or a water shortage is ensure that residential customers are the last customers to be turned off. Mr. Robb said that whether a data center locates in the area is up to the city, county, and state. One board member said he had been on the board for over 30 years and that they had never denied anyone service, except for non-payment.

Wayne Beatty said that this was a national security issue. “If we go to war, what do you think people are going to target,” he asked. “We don’t need that around here.” The US is currently fighting an intermittent war against Iran. Russia and Ukraine are currently fighting a full-scale war and are targeting each other’s infrastructure.

Mr. Adwell said that the water the district had was finite. “We’re always looking for more water,” he said. Brock Pfost said they had been having discussions with other water districts for years about getting more water.

While the District is in good shape financially now, Mr. Pfost said that there would be pressures on them in the future with Maryville raising its water rates by 50% as of January 2027 and 50% more on January 2028. “We’re going to pay like everyone else,” he said. He said that would result in $500,000 in increased costs for the district next year.

The answers did not satisfy most of the 50+ people present, many of whom repeated calls for a town hall with the Rural Water District, Nodaway County Commission, Maryville City Council, and Economic Developer so that everybody could be on the same page as to what people can and can’t do. “We’ve been left out in the dark,” said Jennifer Gillespie.

“There’s going to be air pollution and cancer, and you will be responsible,” said Ms. Gillespie. “And it’s just getting started. They’ll spread to Gentry County, Worth County, Atchison County. People are already being approached. They are coming for all of us.” The ultimate goal, said Ms. Gillespie, is a world in which AI takes everyone’s jobs.

Rob Duvall talked about a situation in Wyoming in which a data center got bacteria in its water supply, and it spread to the treatment center that it was getting its water from, shutting down the treatment plant for three months. “And don’t forget heat islands; it gets five to 15 degrees hotter near these places,” said Ms. Gillespie. Monday’s high temperature was 97 degrees, which could turn into 112 degrees if the worst-case scenario turns out to be true. That is hotter than the record temperature for the area, which was 110 in 1980 and 110 in the drought year of 1936.

Mr. Robb said that the project, if it is built, would be done without cost to the water district as the data center would build its own infrastructure like any other new customer. He said he shared a lot of the concerns people raised, but that if people want the project stopped, “Talk to Congress or your elected officials.” He said that the situation was beyond the board’s control. “We have to supply them with the water if it’s available,” he said.

Many people were skeptical of a water usage agreement between the proposed data center and the district. But Mr. Adwell said, “They’re only going to get so much. If they come back to us later and want more water, they’re not getting it.” “But then they will dig up water from the ground,” said Ms. Gillespie. Many people in the area of the proposed data center have well water and are not hooked up to the district. The fear is that digging up water from the ground would mean they run out of water.

“People tell me all the time to go talk to other people,” said Ms. Gillespie. “I’ve already talked to everyone. Think of all the crop production being lost.”

Mr. Beatty said the data center was looking for more and more land and that they would not stop if they got the current proposed project off the ground. He said people near Bedison were getting offers and someone else had been looking at 500 acres of land. “And they’re all real estate agents. They don’t tell you who they are working for,” said Mr. Beatty, noting that one landowner had backed out after they didn't get straight answers about why they wanted the land.

The Rural Water District is currently serving 2,828 customers. Water usage is high due to recent rains and washouts. Repair expenses are expected to rise.

The project hooking up some new rural Sheridan customers is nearing completion, with $204,000 of the budgeted $250,000 having been spent.

The district got the audit back from the auditor; it will be approved at the next meeting.

Future meetings will focus on rate increases due to the City of Maryville raising its water rates.

The board went into closed session to discuss legal matters under Section 610.021 (1).

 

 

Maryville in Process of Updating UTV Ordinance

The City of Maryville is in the process of updating its UTV ordinance so it can provide better enforcement. A group of citizens has been coming to meetings calling for stronger regulations. Two such citizens addressed the council at Monday’s meeting. Currently, state law is vaguely written. It prohibits their use on highways, but it carves out exceptions for industrial or agricultural use. That, according to Maryville Police Chief Mike Stolte, leads to situations where his officers get excuses such as:

—They were just getting done with farming and going to town to eat;

—They were getting groceries and were taking them back to the farmhouse;

—They were getting together for a farmhouse social.

The Maryville City Council has been having discussions over regulating ATV’s, UTV’s, electric bikes, and other low-speed vehicles.

The goal is to rewrite city ordinances so that people would know what they can and can’t do. The city currently doesn’t have a licensing system for UTV’s. They used to, but Mr. Stolte said they haven’t had one in the 22 years he’s been on the force.

One of the challenges the city faces is that Northwest and Nodaway County have different regulations. But everyone agreed that UTV’s were not safe for roads. Another challenge is how to regulate UTV’s and other slow-moving vehicles, such as golf carts. Mr. Stolte noted that his officers don’t enforce golf carts because there is no city ordinance against them. Council members agreed they need to be addressed separately.

City Manager Ryan Heiland said that these conversations about UTV regulations have been happening all over the state. Section 304.052 authorizes Missouri cities to do permitting.

Mr. Heiland has been checking with other cities for their ordinances. For instance, Cottleville has the following regulations:

—UTV’s must be for official use or for agriculture;

—All users must wear helmets;

—They are restricted to streets with maximum speed limits of 30 mph;

—All such vehicles must have safety flags that are at least 7 feet high;

—They can only be operated in daylight.

Mozingo Lake already has restrictions on such vehicles. They only allow golf carts. And nobody on the council wanted to include four-wheelers.

Officers cannot set fines if they ticket people for unlawfully operating a UTV on the highways. That is determined by the legislature and the court system. Officers can arrest users for DWI, and that person would lose their license through the Department of Revenue just like they would if it were a car they were driving. These administrative rules apply even if someone is arrested driving a lawn mower while intoxicated. “We’ve picked up a couple of those,” said Mr. Stolte.

The council will revisit UTV’s and other such vehicles at their August 10th meeting.

At the start of Monday’s meeting, Mayor John McBride read a statement saying, “A lot of people don’t know me. We all have full-time jobs. We all do very important work, and we raise families here. Nobody is in this to make money; we ran to serve. If you see social media postings that head south, show some grace.” The July 23rd issue of the Maryville Forum had posted a lengthy front-page article that displaced even the recently-passed data center moratorium charging the city with having repeated closed sessions that were in violation of state law and with errors in the minutes. The city, in its own Facebook post, responded that their closed meetings were done in accordance with state law and after consultation with its attorney, that errors in the minutes cited in the Forum article were clerical in nature and not an attempt to alter the record, and that it was never given a chance to provide an accurate response. The Facebook post was signed by Mayor John McBride, council members Erin Allen, Bryan Williams, Ben Lipiec, and Dannen Merrill, Clerk Stacy Wood, and City Manager Ryan Heiland.

Scott Wilson addressed the council about the recently submitted permit application by White Cloud Generating to build 12 gas-powered turbines at the site of the proposed data center south of Maryville. He said that the 102 did not have capacity to provide the water needed for such a project. Mr. Wilson said that after being told that the project would only need 70,000 gallons of water per day, that the recent permit application stated it would be running nearly 24 hours a day instead of the three hours per day cited at the Mozingo Lake community forum. He called on the city not to supply the proposed data center project with water. Mr. Wilson, who is running for Nodaway County Presiding Commissioner as an Independent and who will appear on the November ballot, asked to be included in any future discussions about the data center.

Ray Garten asked for the city to put in a miniature golf course next to the Thompson Splash & Play area.

The council gave permission for the Downtown Maryville Market to close Main Street from 4th Street to 5th Street from 6 am to 1 pm for setup and teardown, potentially on August 1st, 8th, and 15th depending on how construction is proceeding. The market is moving from the Nodaway Valley Bank parking lot to the Downtown Pavilion across the street from the Public Library. It has hosted 30 vendors a week and 300 customers this year.

The council approved the closure of numerous roads for Saturday, October 10th for Maryville Fall into Fun. The roads will be closed from 7 am to 8 pm to allow for setup and teardown. The event itself will be held from 12 noon to 6 pm.

The following roads will be closed — Main Street from 2nd to 5th Street, 3rd street from Vine to Buchanan Street, and 4th Street from Vine to Buchanan. The closures will still allow access to the A&G parking lot and the Nodaway Valley Bank parking lot.

Fall into Fun, which marks the closing of the Downtown Maryville Market season, is in its fourth year. Last year, it drew 2,200 visitors.

The council approved the closure of North Vine Street between 2nd and 3rd Streets on August 22nd for the Elks Membership Drive event they are holding between 7 pm and 10 pm that evening. The street will be closed from 7 am to 12 midnight. There will be bounce houses, Fire Department water activities, Bingo, live music, and a street dance.

The council tabled a request by Sunrise Dispensary to extend its hours from 6 am to 1:30 am. This would put it in line with the liquor stores in the city. It says it would be able to offer more hours to its employees and that it would be safer, since there would be less opportunity for break-ins. Currently, other cities are expanding hours of dispensaries, with Kansas City looking at 24/7 and St. Joseph also looking to increase its permitted hours. Generally, marijuana dispensaries are regulated by the state, but cities can set hours that they can operate.

 

 

Aivry Griffin Golf Tournament Donors

The following businesses and individuals donated to the Aivry Griffin Memorial Golf Tournament according to the Foundation:

$1,000 or more

Donnetta and the Late Roy James-Grant City

Daniel and Bobbi Gladstone-Worth

Wiederholt Truck Repair-Stanberry

$500 or more

Jack and Patti Spainhower-Grant City

Rick and Jackie Ridge (Pleasant Valley Farms and Prugh Dunfee Funeral Home)-Grant City

Nucor LMP-Maryville

Mosaic Medical Center-Albany

SurGro-Sheridan

The Petaler-Grant City

Doy Allen and Jamie Allee-Grant City

Brennen and Brooke Claypool-Grant City

Engel Farms-Jay and DJ-Grant City

$250 or more

WestFork Tire and Auto-Stanberry

Worth County Care and Rehab-Grant City

Pettijohn Auto Center-Bethany

Sherri’s Pharmacy-Grant City

Lone Star Investments-Albany

New Shopper, Perry and Susan Phillips-Albany

Mozingo Clubhouse and Golf Course-Maryville

Keely’s Creations-Allendale

Chris and April Healy-Grant City

Parman Farms--Pete and Diane Parman

Worth County Lumber-Grant City

Collin Robert Sager Memorial-Rob & Marci Sager-Stanberry

MFA-Grant City

BTC Bank

$100 or more

Rick & Serena Naylor-Albany

Les and Rebecca New-Sheridan

Ryan & Laura Almquist-Albany

Rural MO Insurance-Grant City

Grant City Auto Parts-Grant City

Monticue Construction-Grant City

Briar Patch-Albany

B&B Bar-B-Que-Albany

Nick Smith-Prudential-Albany

Hy-Vee-Albany

Shoats-Albany

JT and Becky Thomas

Robert Smith-Albany

Andrews Hann Funeral Home-Grant City

City of Grant City-Grant City

Grumpy Toad-Albany

Shoats-Albany

Robert Smith-Albany

Hogue Lumber-Albany

Carousel Creations-Albany

Dollar General-Grant City

Mark and Suzanne Cadle