Considering a Move to Missouri

[ccarpenter2010]

I'd like to be in a small town, I prefer small, local owned grocery stores (I HATE Wal-mart) but a hospital nearby would be excellent because my fiance is accident-prone to the point of needing to be wrapped in bubble-wrap. I prefer a tiny town under 5000 people.

[christina0001]

I would wonder if where you go might also be heavily influenced by what school districts are currently looking to hire an ag teacher.

El Dorado Springs has a population of 4,000. It has a hospital. A WalMart tried to move in a handful of years ago, but the city said no. The area surrounding it on all sides is primarily farmland, so critter-wise you would be in good company. EDS has an adorable town square, a small 1-screen theater that is in an old opera house, a locally-owned WalMart type store (but significantly smaller), and 2 grocery stores. It's one of my favorite towns.

Home Page for El Dorado Springs MO

[OA 5599]

Originally Posted by ccarpenter2010

I'd like to be in a small town, I prefer small, local owned grocery stores (I HATE Wal-mart) but a hospital nearby would be excellent because my fiance is accident-prone to the point of needing to be wrapped in bubble-wrap. I prefer a tiny town under 5000 people.

Sadly, Wal-Mart dominates the retail market in rural Missouri. Most towns of 4,000 people or so have one (with a few exceptions) and many towns of only around 2,000 people have one.

Regarding agriculture in Missouri, most of the southern half of the state tends to be almost exclusively cattle/livestock farming. The soil is too poor to support any type of crops other than hay for cattle. Notable exceptions include the bootheel in southeastern Missouri (the most fertile soil in the state) and western Missouri along much of the Kansas border.

Coupled with logging and tourism in some areas, cattle farming is one of the staples of the region. The soil in the northern half of Missouri is much better, and that part of the state produces lage quanities of corn and soybean.

It sounds like your emphasis as an ag teacher would be on livestock farming. I'd reccomend picking somewhere in the southern portions of the state, really anything south of the Missouri river should do.

When you get close to graduation, you can always see what districts are hiring (as posted above), and ask questions on here about the respective towns you might have a job in. Ag education is a often neglected field, IMO, but the FFA is strong over much of Missouri. I'm a former member myself, and enjoyed learning how to weld and work cattle while at school. We also had our own school farm.

[ccarpenter2010]

I will be focusing more on livestock production, yes. I'd really LOVE to learn more about crop science, but I never really had the opportunity. I'll probably be taking classes on agronomy during college. Maybe a stupid question, but what does IMO mean?Also, I looked at El Dorado Springs, is that in the northern or southern part of Missouri? I've been pointed in the southern part more, and it seems like the south is similar to the West (Wyoming) and the north more like the North (Michigan)

[DemetriusHR]

Check out the area around Rolla, MO

[ShadowCaver]

Originally Posted by ccarpenter2010

I will be focusing more on livestock production, yes. I'd really LOVE to learn more about crop science, but I never really had the opportunity. I'll probably be taking classes on agronomy during college. Maybe a stupid question, but what does IMO mean?Also, I looked at El Dorado Springs, is that in the northern or southern part of Missouri? I've been pointed in the southern part more, and it seems like the south is similar to the West (Wyoming) and the north more like the North (Michigan)

El Dorado Springs is in the northern part of the SW corner of the state, just about 1/2 way between Springfield and Kansas City.

IMO - in my opinion... also IMHO - in my humble opinion.

Most of the southern part of MO is devoted to livestock, whereas most of northern region is crops. Not to say that you don't find mix and/or the other more/less, but just in general. Northern is flatter & colder, southern is rougher [and rockier... the infamous Ozarkian rock gardens have very high poundage productions,,, year after year! ] Southern area is much more wild, more trees, more National Forest lands, streams/caves/springs/etc... beautiful. No offense to northern half, but me being a hillbilly, I'll take them thar hills and hollers any day... of course, can't grow much unless in a valley, etc. compared to the northern half.

One thing you might do is start [if not already] gander at the following, get a feel for whats happening, etc. in the state's ag news, etc.:
Missouri Farmer Today = for just one example of such periodicals
NASS - Missouri Field Office
NASS - Missouri Reports and Statistics

[lifelongMOgal]

Howard Co. Mo (N. Central MO) has reasonable land prices and is a relatively easy commute to Columbia; likewise Greene Co. in S.W. MO is an easy commute to the Springfield area.

You didn't mention what type of livestock you plan to raise. If you are in cattle you may want to check out the Missouri Cattleman's Association. They have a good youth program.
Missouri Junior Cattlemen's Association (http://www.mocattle.org/juniors.htm - broken link)

Oh, Shadowcaver is a bit biased on his opinions of S. vs. N. Missouri. We do have livestock N. of I-70 and a fair amount at that. The state doesn't get flat until one is N. of Hwy 36 and it is also there and N. to the Iowa line where the larger concentration of crops is to be found. We farm plenty of rocks N. of Columbia too.

[midwestmatt]

Originally Posted by christina0001

in the central/southern area, they seem to get less snow (but more ice). Long-time residents can share more perspective on this.

I live in the Springfield metro area (if you can call it a metro area! )...SW Missouri, in the last couple of years, especially, has seen its fair share of severe ice storms. In 2007, 9/10ths of the city of Springfield (151,000 people) was without power altogether. ICK! Seems like every year since then we have had at least one major ice storm with widespread power outages.