News Release

(JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.) – Missouri dairy farmer Randy Mooney, from Rogersville, Mo., was recognized by Director of Agriculture Richard Fordyce Saturday evening at the 45th Missouri Governor’s Conference on Agriculture with the 2014 Missouri Dairy Legacy Award, recognizing him for leadership in Missouri’s dairy industry. Mooney and his wife, Jan, own and operate Mooney Dairy, a 300 cow dairy on 400 acres.

During the awards banquet, Missouri’s Director of Agriculture Richard Fordyce recognized Mooney with this year’s top dairy honors in front of hundreds in attendance.

“Great leaders are essential to any industry,” said Director Fordyce, “And we are fortunate to have so many extraordinary men and women who work on behalf of Missouri agriculture. Staying involved with issues that affect the marketing of milk and the development of farm policy, Randy has dedicated his life to improving the future of the dairy industry.”

As Missouri’s Dairy Legacy Award recipient, Randy Mooney was recognized for his outstanding contributions to Missouri agriculture. In 1979, Mooney began marketing milk through Mid-America Dairyman, Inc. and has exemplified great leadership in dairy since then. Mooney was elected chairman of the Board of Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), a national dairy farmer-owned milk marketing cooperative and food company, in 2010. Under his leadership, DFA continues to supply the major dairy processing plants in Missouri that produce a wide variety of dairy products.

Mooney’s dairy farm was one of two demonstration dairies that cooperated with the University of Missouri Extension in 1991-1992 in order to evaluate the profitability of pasture-based systems. The results from this two-year study provided the impetus for the current MU pasture-based dairy program. Mooney is a steward of the land. His rotational grazing conserves land resources and as a model for others. His dairy has been featured on the biannual Missouri Dairy Grazing Conferences farm tours.

Missouri’s Dairy Legacy Award was recognized alongside Legacy Awards in Soybean, Cattle, Corn, Poultry, Pork, Forestry, Rice and Cotton, the Missouri Farm Innovation Award, the Missouri Agriculture Environmental Steward Award, Missouri Ag Education Leader Award and the Missouri Food Animal Veterinarian Award at the 2014 Missouri’ Governor’s Conference on Agriculture closing banquet.

The conference, which took place at the Lake of the Ozarks, concluded Saturday evening with a special performance by country music band Sawyer Brown. The three-day event included nationally-recognized speakers, in-depth discussions about current issues and an agriculture tradeshow. Special events during the conference included the Taste of AgriMissouri reception and the Friday evening benefit auction supporting programs for youth and young professionals in agriculture.

For more information on the Governor’s Conference on Agriculture and the Missouri Department of Agriculture, visit the Department online at http://agriculture.mo.gov.

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Note: Photos of the award presentation are available by contacting Sarah Alsager at Sarah.Alsager@mda.mo.gov or (573) 751-2613.