Green Horizons

This article is part of a Missouri Department of Agriculture (MDA) series called "Small Farms, Big Ideas" that showcases Missouri producers who are trying innovative and sustainable projects on their farms. The grant that assisted the Karr’s in establishing their windbreak is part of the MDA’s Missouri Sustainable Agriculture Demonstration Awards program. In 2004, UMCA sponsored three of the program’s grants to focus on sustainable projects that involve agroforestry. For Sustainable Agriculture Demonstration Awards program information, contact Joan Benjamin, MDA, at (573) 522-8616; or email at jamin@mda.mo.gov. To contact story author Lori Compas: call (608) 238-1654; or email lori@hartcreek.com.Visit www.mda.mo.gov to access additional "Small Farms, Big Ideas" stories.

While no farmer expects life be easy, Robert and Cheryl Karr had no idea it would be this hard. Last year a tornado destroyed their house, garage, two barns, and almost every tree on their property. Now, a year later, their brand-new house sits proudly in its yard, which is freshly seeded and covered with straw. Cattle graze contentedly in the pasture. And thanks to a grant from the Missouri Department of Agriculture, 90 young trees form a new windbreak to replace cedars destroyed by the storm.

"We try to manage our farm as good stewards," Robert says. "A good steward takes care of everything - you have to conserve the soil, keep the trees healthy, take good care of the animals. You have to watch over the whole complex thing."

The Karrs run about 50 red Angus cows on their own 100 acres and an additional 20 acres they rent from a neighbor. They survived the tornado by standing in a closet. The storm ripped off the roof of their house, but the walls remained standing. They emerged to find their farm in shambles.

"We used to have 28 huge oak trees,

Robert Karr received a grant to establish a low maintenance, quick growing windbreak after his farm was destroyed by a tornado in 2003. UMCA sponsored three of the MDA Sustainable Agriculture Demonstration awards to feature agroforestry projects.

just here in the yard," says Cheryl."

Their scrapbook shows photographs of the trees completely uprooted. A dump truck hauled the stumps away four at a time. Other trees were damaged, too. Cedar trees along the Karr's northwest corner of their first 40 acres once provided a windbreak in the winter and shade in the summer. The storm destroyed the trees,

and only their stumps remain. Skip Mourglia, a forester with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, urged Karr to apply for a grant from the Missouri Department of Agriculture. The grant, part of a program called Missouri Sustainable Agriculture Demonstration Awards, provides funds for farmers to test, evaluate, and adopt sustainable agricultural practices on their own farms. In 2004, the University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry sponsored three of the grants to focus attention

The Sustainable Agriculture Demonstration Awards program is sponsored by the Missouri Department of Agriculture with support from the Community Food Systems and Sustainable Agriculture Program of the University of Missouri and Lincoln University. For more information, visit agebb.missouri.edu/sustain/ or call (573) 522-8616.

on sustainable agriculture projects that involve agroforestry, or the integration of trees and shrubs into agriculture systems.

Karr applied for the grant and received funding to purchase cedar and pine seedlings. Along with his son and granddaughters, he planted about 90 trees in an L-shaped windbreak earlier this spring. The windbreak should provide protection for his cattle in all seasons.

"We get a strong north wind here on this prairie. Those cattle sure will appreciate it," Robert says, looking out over the young trees. "It might take a couple of years, but they'll use it."