About the Tour

Welcome to the Missouri Farm Tour!

Home of the "Missouri Mules"

"The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings..." - Masanobu Fukuoka

Founded in January 2012, the Missouri Farm Tour is the locally-owned, volunteer-driven, education-based, multi-modal and nonprofit annual working tour of family farms across Missouri - and we're looking for Farms, Volunteers, and Sponsors! The mission of the Tour is to help family farms and train future farmers. The Tour Office will coordinate qualified Volunteers with each participating Farm's needs, and hopes to visit each region of the state and help out at many types of farms as part of our "rotational job combine" organizational model.

Farms

Farmers are our heroes! We are here to help them. In exchange for qualified volunteer farm workers, the Farm need only provide:

basic "room & board" (a bed & some food - no special needs)
transportation assistance between neighboring farms (e.g. ride share, bike tire, bus ticket - or just pick them up)
occasional internet / phone access (to help coordinate Tour logistics)

Volunteers

Each Volunteer (warmly regarded as "Missouri Mules") will be pre-qualified by the Tour Office as able-bodied, intelligent, and enthusiastic about Missouri agriculture. Volunteers will work at each participating Farm as "journeymen farmers" performing basically ANY farm chore from "sun-up to sun-down" for each day of the farm stay. We also encourage our Volunteers to:

prepare for their Tour by pre-training with a local gym to maximize productivity & enjoyment along the Tour
- coordinate at least one leg of their Tour with the Adventure Cycling Association - as bicycling is a great way to explore Missouri
- document their Tour via an online photojournal or Story Maps - which (if published in Ag-related media) may generate income along the Tour