{"id":13414,"date":"2026-08-21T16:01:56","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T21:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/?p=13414"},"modified":"2026-08-21T16:15:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T21:15:01","slug":"our-land-grant-mission-in-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/2026\/08\/21\/our-land-grant-mission-in-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Our land-grant mission in action"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Senator<\/a>
Senator Eric Schmitt at the Fisher Delta Appreciation Breakfast<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mizzou\u2019s impact reaches every community in Missouri. Throughout the summer, I\u2019ve had the honor of seeing the difference we make firsthand at events across our great state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I recently traveled to Portageville in Missouri\u2019s Bootheel to celebrate the annual Fisher Delta Appreciation Breakfast and Field Day. The event featured U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt, Congressman Jason Smith, Governor Mike Kehoe, State Senator Jason Bean, Missouri Director of Agriculture Chris Chinn, Missouri Farm Bureau President Garrett Hawkins and University of Missouri Curator John Raines, among many other state, community and university leaders. Our Fisher Delta Research, Extension and Education Center<\/a> is a world-class resource for producers in the Bootheel, and we continue to make great progress on the Roy Blunt Soil Testing and Research Laboratory<\/a>. When completed, the facility will offer the very best resources for producers in the region and make a difference for the local economy and workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Governor<\/a>
Governor Mike Kehoe at the 4-H Building Ribbon Cutting<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Last week, we kicked off the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia with Mizzou Day, including a full schedule of exciting Tiger-themed events and announcements. Alongside Governor Kehoe, we celebrated a ribbon-cutting for the transformed 4-H Building on the fairgrounds and announced the game-changing new 4-H Mizzou Ready program<\/a>, which provides guaranteed admission to Mizzou for qualified 4-H members. Missouri 4-H is a program of MU Extension, and this pathway program recognizes that 4-H members have the drive, resilience and leadership skills to succeed on campus. We\u2019re proud to create even more opportunities for students across the state to earn a Mizzou degree and lead their communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Above:<\/a>
Above: Ed Turner provides remarks at the Litton Legacy of Dreams event, seated onstage are Carley McLean, Director Chris Chinn and Congressman Sam Graves. Below: President Choi provides remarks (photo courtesy: Eric Turner).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this month, we celebrated the life and legacy of Congressman Jerry Litton at the Litton Legacy of Dreams 50th<\/sup> Anniversary in Chillicothe. The event was sponsored by the Jerry Litton Family Memorial Foundation<\/a>, Mizzou and CAFNR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was pleased to participate in the program alongside Congressman Sam Graves, Director Chinn, former President of the University of Missouri Board of Curators Ed Turner and Litton Leadership Scholars<\/a> alum Carley McLean. The late Congressman Litton was a proud Mizzou alum, a pioneer of cattle genetics and a prominent voice for rural Missourians. His legacy lives on throughout the state, including here on campus with the Litton Leadership Scholars<\/a>, which supports the next generation of ag leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agriculture is central to who we are as the state\u2019s flagship, land-grant university. Through partnerships and outreach across Missouri, we continue to support producers, invest in future leaders and work each day to meet the needs of all we serve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Mun<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mizzou\u2019s impact reaches every community in Missouri. Throughout the summer, I\u2019ve had the honor of seeing the difference we make firsthand at events across our great state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13414"}],"version-history":[{"count":41,"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13463,"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13414\/revisions\/13463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}