Missouri Cattle Producer Questions MDA Grant Selection Process

George Sholtz, who runs an 80-head commercial beef operation in Texas County, raised the issue after examining the published list of grant recipients. In a post for Conservatives for Rural Missouri on Facebook, he said about one-third of the successful applicants hold leadership, board, government or institutional roles.

The Missouri Department of Agriculture said it received more than 3,300 applications for the fiscal 2026 programmes. In a statement to Brownfield, the department said applications were evaluated independently and that neither the applicant’s name nor location was part of the scoring process.

According to information on the department’s website, 52 beef and dairy producer grants were awarded. The Missouri legislature provided $1m for each programme. Beef farms received 25 awards, while dairy farms received 27.

Brownfield’s review of the recipient list confirmed that some awardees had held leadership positions in Missouri agricultural organisations. Sholtz applied for funding to buy 30 replacement heifers but did not receive an award.

Sholtz also wrote that, in his view, Missouri’s eight leading cattle-producing counties received no beef grants. He said the county with the largest number of grants ranks 83rd in the state for cattle production. He questioned why a state university received an award from a programme he understood to be intended for producers.

He said the results could discourage some smaller producers from applying for future funding and requested more information about the way applications were assessed. The comments were reported on August 12, 2026.