Why Do This?

Some of the reasons to participate in the Tour...

 

 

Education

 

The MO Farm Tour lets young people interested in a career in agriculture get first-hand experience with the various fields of study that farmers regularly put into practice (a.k.a. "Mule School"). The Tour is also designed so that each Volunteer develops a substantial network of farm friends, references, and potential job opportunities along the way - and avoids the "compartmentalization & commodification" of the global marketplace.

The Farmer also learns a lot through the Tour as well – as the “veritable jet stream of labor and ideas” circulating around the State in the form of the Tour provides a regular supply of new ideas and approaches to the Farm.

And the best thing? No tuition – and no final exams!

Labor Supply

One of the key issues facing Agriculture today is shortfalls in the labor supply. This leads to immigration issues, “child labor” laws, and inappropriate technologies as surrogates for reliable farm hands.   But if the MO Farm Tour concept works, it would alleviate some of these issues.

Simple Exchange

The Tour is designed to be a simple exchange of goods (e.g. room & board) and services (farm labor) - thereby reducing Tour participants' exposure to weaknesses in the fiat currency system.  Farms benefit from the elimination of typical business headaches such as:  minimum wage requirements, taxes (W2 forms, &c), workers compensation insurance, cash flow demands, time cards, paychecks, etc.  Volunteers also benefit from our program as it eliminates (while on Tour at least) the demands for rent, car payments, grocery runs, tuition fees, gym memberships, etc. 

Local Support

 

Unlike programs such as WWOOF, HelpX, or WorkAway, the MO Farm Tour is locally-owned and operated by fellow Missourians. Even our Volunteers are from the Show-Me State. If you support the locally-grown movement, then you should support the Tour - we are a home-grown operation through-and-through!

Health & Fitness

Fresh country air and clean living – that’s what it's about. With health care issues being a concern for many, a healthy lifestyle of farm chores and family values can help us avoid some of that.

We’ve also noticed that many farmers pay more attention to the care and feeding of their livestock than to themselves!  We understand time and budget constraints. But we’ve got to take care of ourselves if we want to be of any use to others.

Personal Interest

 

Some people like the outdoors... some like the exercise... some just get bored easily...  others like meeting new & interesting people...  many like their work to reflect their values...  (et cetera)

 

Core Values

Some of our Core Values (or “apple core values” as we like to say) include:

We also appreciate the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling.

Rewards

 

The rewards of the MO Farm Tour are many. Here are just a few: