Winter in agriculture is the beginning of many traditions: shutting down the combine after harvest, breaking ice for livestock and, for many, meeting season.

While there still are many chores to do at the farm, I know many of us in agriculture believe in the power of true grassroots policy development. Spending a couple of nights away from home seems worth it when you can improve agriculture for your communities and catch up with some old friends.

Grassroots policy is the foundation for some of the best ideas we have in place today. I believe in the power of local leaders — whether that’s on a city, county or regional level — to identify what changes may make a meaningful difference for our farmers and ranchers nationwide.

State leaders then can take that information and work on implementing the changes we need in agriculture, alongside local leaders. You can see this leadership model working today in almost any agriculture group you look at — that’s something unique that not every industry has.

A look back

When I became your director of agriculture in 2017, I knew that my love for grassroots policy would only grow. It’s now been three years since I headed to Jefferson City to work on behalf of Missouri’s farmers and ranchers, just like my family in Shelby County.

But it's still important to me that I head home every weekend to help my family catch up at the farm and pay the bills. I think it’s important for whomever is sitting in the chair as director of agriculture to stay in touch and understand the financial challenges and opportunities we have in farming.

It was a great surprise to walk into the Department of Agriculture as the new kid on the block to find 350 team members who passionately care about agriculture. Today, they are like family to me. Many of our employees have lived or worked on a farm at some point in their life. The dedication and commitment you’ll find within the department today is unique and inspires us to work harder for you.

It’s always been my goal to stay true to my grassroots policy training. Bringing policy questions closer to the farm level helps clarify where we need to be on certain issues. When our team is stuck, I ask who we can call to get feedback from.

We lean on our farmers, ranchers, agribusiness leaders and citizens more today for feedback than we have before. Those relationships help us be sure we are protecting and promoting agriculture.

More meetings

That’s why we launched the ReachMORE Tour in 2017. Our entire leadership team hit the road for close to three months, getting in front of every major agriculture membership we could schedule.

We wanted to make sure that when you needed something from the Missouri Department of Agriculture, you knew exactly who to call. And we wanted to make sure you could put a face with the name you were calling.

We’re excited to return to those meetings again in the next few months to visit with you, introduce our new team members, share important updates and get feedback on how we can serve you better. I will be bringing with me Chris Klenklen, our Missouri deputy director of agriculture, as well as the leaders of our five divisions:

If you have a question or concern, please look for us on your meeting agendas. We will be publishing a full list of the meetings we are confirmed to attend on our website at agriculture.mo.gov. We hope to see you at a meeting in the coming months!

Chinn is the director of the Missouri Department of Agriculture and a hog producer from Clarence, Mo.