BY REBECCA FRENCH SMITH

Fall is a perfect time to learn about agriculture. Harvest is in full swing and farmers are bringing the last fruits and vegetables of the summer season to farmers’ markets, while some farmers are getting ready to host guests looking for an experience only agriculture can provide.

Across Missouri, farmers are opening their farms to guests not only during the fall but year-round. This time of year, pumpkin patches and corn mazes are busy making final preparations for guests to come gather their fall decorations or ingredients for their pumpkin desserts. Corn mazes will soon hear the squeals of children enjoying the twists and turns of the paths through the corn.

At other times of the year, u-pick berry patches, orchards and community supported agriculture farms are busy sharing their harvest with their customers who want to pick their own food. But food isn’t the only sort of agritourism found in the Show Me State. Horse rides, hay rides, Christmas trees, nurseries, wineries, on-farm bed-and-breakfasts and a host of other agriculture and rural experiences exist outside the city limits.

The idea of attracting visitors to the farm is not new. In the last two decades in Missouri, agritourism has become a more viable option as a new revenue stream for an existing farm or for new farmers looking to carve out a niche to support their families. According to the 2012 Ag Census, agritourism farms in Missouri grew from 588 farms in 2007 to 844 farms, a 43.5 percent increase, one of the fastest growing sectors of agriculture. Farm income from agritourism also increased significantly in Missouri, from $7.7M to $10.5M.

The growth of agritourism was apparent during the recent festivities at the Fall Farm Festival at the Magic House in St. Louis, where we brought a little of the farm to town. Guests to the museum enjoyed learning about agriculture and interacting with dairy cows, sheep, donkeys, tractors and hands-on activities. Little fingers and little hands wrapped around orange construction paper and pipe cleaners that would become a pumpkin when they were finished, as Missouri Farm Bureau volunteers explained the connection that these activities had with farming. At the pumpkin table, when I asked, most of the children knew how pumpkins grow — on the vine in the garden, of course. Many had been to a farm and picked out a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch.

Finding an agricultural experience is easy. You can put together a trip of your own and get more information on available opportunities at MOFB.org/MarketingCommodities/Agritourism.aspx.

Rebecca French Smith, of Columbia, Mo., is a multimedia specialist for the Missouri Farm Bureau, the state’s largest farm organization.

MATT SEDENSKY, Associated Press

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An Institute of Medicine report says Americans often suffer needless discomfort and undergo unwanted and costly care as they die.

The “Dying in America” study released Wednesday was done by a panel of 21 experts. It finds that people repeatedly stress a desire to die at home, free from pain, but often the opposite happens.

The authors blame a medical system ruled by “perverse incentives” for aggressive care, inadequate physician training and too few conversations about end-of-life wishes.

They say patients’ advance directives have not been particularly effective, and urge a series of conversations throughout life about what’s desired in death. They say those talks should begin early, perhaps when people are teenagers.

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors is recalling 221,558 Cadillac XTS and Chevrolet Impala sedans because the brake pads can stay partially engaged even when they’re not needed, increasing the risk of a fire.

The recall involves Cadillacs from the 2013-2015 model years and Impalas from the 2014 and 2015 model years. There are 205,309 vehicles affected in the U.S.; the rest of the vehicles are in Canada and elsewhere.

GM says the electronic parking brake arm that applies pressure to the back of the brake pads may not fully retract after use. If the brake pads stay partially engaged with the rotor, excessive brake heat may result in a fire.

GM says it knows of no accidents or injuries related to the defect.

GM will notify owners and repair the vehicles for free.

 

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A getaway driver in a deadly northeast Kansas liquor store robbery has been sentenced to five years in prison.

The Kansas City Star reports that 34-year-old Larry Marshall Jr. received the sentence Friday after testifying last month at the Johnson County trial of his cousin, Bruce Ashley Jr. The trial ended with jurors convicting Ashley of first-degree murder and attempted aggravated robbery in killing of 61-year-old Gerry Grovenburg. Ashley is scheduled to be sentenced next month.

Marshall also had initially faced a murder charge but was allowed to plead guilty to lesser charges of conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery and aiding a felon.

Grovenburg had owned Mr. G’s Liquor Store in Shawnee for 35 years when he was killed in a May 2010 robbery attempt.

 

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A southwest Missouri man is going to prison for embezzling more than $4.9 million from his employer and spending the money on gambling, a tractor and other personal expenses.

Sixty-one-year-old David VanWinkle, of Neosho, pleaded guilty in February to multiple charges in the theft from Frontier Leasing Inc., a Joplin company where he worked as the comptroller.

The U.S. Attorney’s office says VanWinkle was sentenced Friday to five years and 10 months in federal prison without parole. He was also ordered to forfeit the $4.9 million, the tractor and other items to the government.

VanWinkle admitted stealing from Frontier Leasing from June 2008 to December 2013. Prosecutors said the embezzlement put a financial strain on the company, whose employees took voluntary pay cuts to keep the business going.

By Bryan Thompson
Kansas Public Radio

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Obama on Thursday issued an executive order directing the federal government to step up the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

It’s a fight with enormous consequences, according to Rebecca Horvat, who oversees infectious disease testing at the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, Kan. In that role, Horvat is familiar with bacteria that are impervious to front-line antibiotics.

“Half of them are very antibiotic-resistant,” she said. “You only have a few drugs left to treat them. I see it every day.”

The day is coming when disease-causing bacteria will develop resistance to all current antibiotics, Horvat said.
We’ll go back to the pre-antibiotic age, where mothers will see half their children die from infections. That’s really what used to happen,” she said. “A lot of your parents will die earlier, because as they get older they get sicker, and there’s no antibiotics left. I don’t mean to make it seem scary, but that is where we’re going.”

Horvat doesn’t know how soon that scenario might play out. She said one simple step we all can take is to wash our hands to reduce the spread of bacteria.

In conjunction with Thursday’s executive order, a science advisory council released a report to the president on how to combat antibiotic resistance. Among other steps, it calls for reducing overuse of antibiotics in humans and livestock, increasing incentives to spur development of new antibiotics, and improving the monitoring of the development and spread of drug-resistant bacteria.

In addition to the scientific report and the president’s executive order, the White House released a National Strategy for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria. It also announced a $20 million prize sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, and the Food and Drug Administration to spur the development of a rapid diagnostic test to allow health care providers to identify highly resistant bacterial infections at the point of patient care.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, antibiotic-resistant infections are associated with 23,000 deaths and 2 million illnesses in the United States each year. The annual impact on the national economy is estimated at $20 billion in excess direct health care costs, and as much as $35 billion in lost productivity from hospitalizations and sick days.

TOM KRISHER, AP Auto Writer

DETROIT (AP) — Chrysler is recalling nearly 189,000 Jeep Grand Cherokees and Dodge Durangos in the U.S. to fix a fuel pump problem that can cause the SUVs to stall.

NANCY BENAC, Associated Press
DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — A college dropout from Florida.

A nurse’s aide from Denver.

The owner of a pizza-and-wings joint from upstate New York.

Except for their embrace of Islam, there’s no common profile for the 100-plus Americans who have traveled to Syria to join Islamic fighters or are accused of supporting them from the United States.

Some seek adventure and camaraderie. Others feel a call to fight perceived injustice.

But a shared strain of disaffection, a search for meaning, seems to emerge, at times stronger than any motivation tied to religious devotion.

U.S. officials are putting new energy into trying to understand what radicalizes people far removed from the fight, and into trying to prod countries to do a better job of keeping them from joining up.

This year, Kansas has green fields, kissed by the sun. There are blue skies with white clouds high above. There are even valleys where rivers run. Heck, there’s even water standing in terrace channels.

It’s been at least five years since the pastures have been this green in the eastern half of the state and even in some of the drier areas of western Kansas the grass is showing signs of life.

If you’ve traveled anywhere in the state this summer, you can see what a little moisture can do, especially with the nurturing hands of our Kansas farmers.

Corn crops tower above the ground. Ten-feet tall is not unusual. Some farmers say some of their crops are 11 and 12-foot tall.

In Decatur County, far northwestern Kansas, farmers are hoping to harvest 90 to 100 bushel dry-land corn.

Grain sorghum fields sport huge heads nine, 10 and even 12 inches long. These heads are heavy filled with plump red and green berries.

Soybean leaves are the size of footballs. Pods weigh down the plants.

Calves graze in grass that nearly tickles their bellies. Even in the short-grass country of western Kansas, the buffalo grass is green and full of protein. Low spots and  buffalo wallows are filled with life sustaining water. It’s a stark contrast to so many years when the grass has already turned brown, parched by the sun.

The Sunflower State has been truly blessed with moisture during the summer of 2014. Rainfall has been plentiful in many areas of our state.

Timely rains keep falling. In some areas of Kansas, farmers have stopped irrigating and are anxious for their fall crops to dry down. They’re ready to harvest.

The May family has farmed and ranched in Decatur County since 1887. Roger and Susan May are fourth-generation producers and they’re thankful for the moisture in 2014.

“It’s been a great year,” Roger says. “The cattle are looking good and in great shape. It’s been several years since our grass has been this green this late in the (growing) season.”

Plenty of showers, moisture from 35 to 60 hundreds of an inch, have been sure and steady throughout the summer, the Decatur County farmer/rancher says. They’ve also enjoyed a couple of more abundant rainfall events that totaled a couple inches. So far this year, nearly nine inches of rain has fallen on their land.

On this early September morning, temperatures hovered in the low 70s. Barn swallows bobbed and weaved in the sky searching for insects. Many of the insects are pesky black flies that pester the cattle and calves.

These insects don’t like to fly on such cool, early mornings. As the cattle kick them up from the ground, the swallows snatch them from the sky, eat them or carry them home to feed their hungry offspring.

Looking out the pickup window at his herd, Roger says he’d rank them at near the top on a scale of one to five. The plentiful moisture, good grass and plenty of milk for the calves has been a real asset this summer.

“They’re in top condition – they’re fleshy and their coats are sleek and shiny,” Roger says. “With these cows in such fine shape, they’ll raise a better, healthier calf this coming winter.”

The Mays manage a 350 head cow/calf operation as part of their farm and ranch operaton. Most years they feed the calves out to finish.

The cornerstone of his livestock operation has always involved making sure they have good feed, good nutrition and the proper health care. He likened his cattle to his family.

Each and every day the Decatur County stockman drives out to look at their herd. Once in the pasture, he meanders slowly through his stock, checking carefully for any sick cows or calves. Roger also checks to see if the cattle have water, mineral and salt.

Another important part of this daily routine is to count the stock and make sure they’re all inside the fence. The Decatur County stockman likes to keep his stock in his pastures.

“If you can keep livestock in, off your neighbor’s property and off the road, that’s a real accomplishment,” May says. “Every cattleman must keep track of his fences – make sure they’re in top repair.”

Like the poem by Frost says, “good fences make good neighbors.”

Yes sir, out here on the May place cattle have always been a major part of their operation. The better they take care of their livestock, the better the cattle will take care of them.

That’s the way it was with his dad and his grandfather before him. As a matter of fact, that’s the way Roger believes it will always be.

John Schlageck, a Hoxie native, is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas.

By KHI NEWS SERVICE
KHI News Service

TOPEKA — The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has been awarded a $3.5 million, five-year Healthy Start grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The Healthy Start grants, awarded to 87 organizations in 33 states, will launch projects aimed at reducing infant mortality rates and improving the health of mothers and infants.

The Kansas grant will help support a Geary County project known as Delivering Change, which is designed to help eliminate disparities in perinatal health in rural Geary County.

Key partners in delivering these programs include the Geary Community Healthcare Foundation, Geary Community Hospital, Geary County Health Department, Flint Hills OBGYN, Kansas Breastfeeding Coalition Inc., Kansas Infant Death and SIDS Network, Kansas Children’s Service League, Unified School District 475 and March of Dimes.

“This Healthy Start initiative is an effective way to empower pregnant women by giving them the resources they need to improve their own health and the health of their babies,” said Dr. Robert Moser, KDHE secretary. “We are looking forward to working with a number of partners in Kansas so that Geary County children will benefit from these services.”

Delivering Change will expand on the work of the Geary County Perinatal Coalition and support these key project goals:

• Improve women’s health, with a focus on access to care.

• Promote quality services.

• Strengthen family resilience.

• Increase program accountability