Business Beat

Sandy Allison is the executive director at the Marshall-Saline Development Corporation. The corporation’s goal is to recruit new industries and businesses into the counties and strengthen existing business. As part of Missouri Business Alert’s Outstate project, KBIA's Seth Bodine spoke with Allison about her ideas on how to revitalize small towns like Marshall, Missouri.

Like many small towns, the heart of Marshall, Missouri is the town square -- home to several long-time and new businesses. But as urbanization to larger cities increases, small town businesses have had to find new ways to stay relevant. This week of Business Beat looks at the businesses in Marshall, Missouri. It’s part of a Missouri Business Alert special project called Outstate , a project that looks at entrepreneurship in small towns in missouri.

Karen Miller woke up and saw a flashing lights out the window of her home in Arrow Rock, Missouri. Miller works as the general manager of the J. Huston Tavern, which is the oldest continuously serving restaurant west of the Mississippi River. This wasn’t something someone would typically see in the small town of Arrow Rock, which has a population of 56, Miller said. So, she decided to investigate. Initially, she said she thought the lights were from the highway patrol. As she walked down the street, she ran into another resident who told her what was going on. “They said the tavern was on fire,” Miller said. “Then I started running.” An electrical fire started by a freezer had caused the blaze. The tavern had caught on fire by a freezer under the counter inside the kitchen. Luckily, firefighters were already working on putting out the fire by the time she arrived to the tavern. The kitchen, which was built in the 1950s, was destroyed. The rest of the tavern, which was built in 1834,

Ever since the first goat yoga class opened in 2016, the experience has become a national business trend for goat and yoga enthusiasts alike. The idea is simple: It’s a yoga class, except there are miniature goats roaming around that people can interact with.

Braid artists in Missouri used to have to obtain a cosmetology license to practice legally — but cosmetology training didn’t include instruction on hair braiding. Now, thanks to a bill that was signed into law last year and survived a legal fight that advanced to the U.S. Supreme Court , people desiring to braid hair in the state can apply for a hair braider’s license. It costs $20 and takes four to six hours of instructional video with a board’s assessment, rather than the 1,500 hours previously required. Wendy Doyle, founder and CEO of the Women’s Foundation, shared this story at the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Women in Leadership summit to illustrate why women should be engaged in policy decisions that affect women and why it’s important for them to hold positions of power. The inaugural summit, held Friday in Columbia, brought together businesswomen from across the state to address ways to help women advance in the workforce. Here are four main recommendations from

Kristen Williams, CEO and creative director of Hempsley, achieved what she considers a big accomplishment — she convinced her grandparents in Alabama to try CBD oil. They’re even recommending her business to their friends. Williams’ ever-evolving company sells CBD and aims to educate the public about cannabinoids like CBD. And for her, getting her reluctant grandparents to try CBD was a big deal. Williams considers herself an advocate of cannabis — the name of a plant that refers to both marijuana and hemp. In order for cannabis to be considered hemp, it must be less than .03% THC, the chemical that produces a “high” in marijuana. CBD is a non-psychoactive compound derived from hemp. Williams said she decided to stay in Columbia, where she believes cannabis products are less accepted, because she finds it rewarding to change the opinions of people who are apprehensive about CBD. But Williams wasn’t always so accepting of cannabis products. “D.A.R.E did a good one with me,” Williams

After more than 40 years with the same company, Rick Means will retire from his position as president and chief executive officer of Shelter Insurance in August. Matt Moore, currently executive vice president, will be the company’s next CEO. Means has spent nearly all of his adult life with Shelter, starting as a claims adjuster and working his way up the corporate ladder to claims supervisor, manager, vice president and eventually to his role as the leader of a nearly 2,000-employee insurance company that wrote about $2 billion worth of premiums last year. Missouri Business Alert sat down with Means in his office at Shelter’s Columbia headquarters to discuss his career, the future of the insurance industry and his plans for retirement. How did you get started in the insurance business? Means: I graduated from University of Missouri in 1977. I actually had an advanced personnel management class that required us to get three interviews, where we were to evaluate the interview process.

In the visitors room of the Women’s Eastern Reception, Diagnostic & Correctional Center in Vandalia, nine women stand dressed in bright blue caps and gowns. They’re the first to graduate from ASPIRE MO, a program designed to teach inmates the entrepreneurial skills to start a business once they leave prison. The 20-week program teaches them various skills like market projections, advertising and feasibility studies. By the end of the course, they make a comprehensive business plan. Kellie Ann Coats, director of the Missouri Women’s Council, said she came up with the idea during a meeting with the Anne Precythe, Missouri’s director of corrections. Coats was told that Missouri had the fastest-growing female prison population in the country. “That really struck me,” Coats said. “I was like ‘Wow, what is going on, and what are we doing to help them?’” To read more, visit our partners at Missouri Business Alert.

Beth Snyder turned her hobby of printmaking into a career when she started 1canoe2, a print and illustration studio. Her passion for creating prints began when her husband, then-fiancé, bought her a press for about $700 on eBay, for Christmas in 2007. She had wanted to print her wedding invitations using a traditional method.

Senior Airman Drew Forster joined the military as a way to pay for college. He returned from active duty in 2014 and says his time in the Air Force taught him skills he still uses today, like resilience, working under pressure — and something a little unexpected.

Five of the six biggest companies that produce and sell seeds and chemicals to the world’s farmers are pursuing deals that could leave a market dominated by just three giant, global companies. They say getting bigger means bringing more sophisticated and innovative solutions to farmers faster, but opponents say consolidation has irreversible downsides.

Like most farmers, Mark Nelson, who grows corn, soybeans and wheat near Louisburg, Kan., is getting squeezed. He's paying three times more for seed than he used to, while his corn sells for less than half what it brought four years ago. "It's a – that's a challenge," Nelson says. "You're not going to be in the black, let's put it that way." Low commodity prices are rippling up and down the farm-economy food chain — from the farm to the boardroom — and it has many of the huge companies that control farm inputs looking to a new future. Most of the seeds and chemicals used to grow the world's crops come from just a handful of big companies, and the largest of those multinational companies — Monsanto, Bayer, Dow, DuPont, and Syngenta — are trying to get even bigger. The prospect of fewer, larger companies controlling so much of the basic food supply is giving some farmers and antitrust advocates heartburn. With massive supplies of the world's most important crops, like corn and soybeans,

After a decade of planning and development, the Katy Trail extension towards Kansas City is set to open. A portion of the trail will be open to the public this October and it’s news not only for cyclists, but also for business owners. The Missouri State Parks Department says the Katy Trail supports 367 jobs and generates about $18.5 million in economic impact a year, which could grow. Over 47 miles will be added to the Katy Trail, expanding it from Windsor to Pleasant Hill. This means more land will be available for potential business to cater to the visitors to the soon-to-be largest railroad trail in the country. “[The expansion] could double my revenue. Visitors can plan a day trip from Pleasant Hill to Cabooses,” said Damon Cruce, the owner of Cruce’s Cabooses—a bed and breakfast along the Katy Trail. Cruce says he’s mostly excited about the Katy Trail expansion and confident his business will improve with the increase in cyclists along the trail. “Everybody will benefit. That’s

This week is the first Bringing Up Business Week in Columbia. It’s an opportunity for entrepreneurs to pitch new ideas, learn business skills and network with each other. KBIA’s Michaela Tucker talked with Steve Wyatt, the Vice Provost of Economic Development at the University and an organizer of the week, about how the university is engaging with the entrepreneurial community in Mid-Missouri. Columbia's a great city and if you look a lot the rankings we generally rank very high an entrepreneurship support. it's a great place for young people to start their companies. And we have a lot of events throughout the entire year. and what we realized is that it would be great if we had a week long celebration. we took some of those events that were scattered throughout the year and we begin to kind of compress them during this week long celebration, and then we added some new events that we hadn't recently had. So it's our attempt to bring those events together and give people an opportunity

In an effort to turn away from chemical pesticides, which have the potential to damage the environment, some farmers are looking in a new direction in the age-old, quiet struggle on farm fields of farmers versus pests. They’re warding off intruding insects and noxious weeds with bugs and chickens. Gary Wenig and his wife bought 40 acres in central Missouri to grow organic vegetables. The land was full of weeds and insects, he says, and going organic meant the Wenigs couldn’t use conventional pesticides like the ubiquitous Round-Up or Atrazine. Organic farmers can use natural pesticides, but they’re expensive and still can be dangerous. Wenig decided to experiment. He planted what are known as “trap crops,” sacrificial plants not raised for harvest but that are extra tasty for pesky insects like squash bugs. Trap crops like Blue Hubbard squash attract the harmful bugs, leaving his zucchinis largely untouched. “The bugs will move in and they’ll stop at that point and eat those plants,”

Sandy Songer of Broken Bow, Oklahoma, has a bit of advice for anyone who wants to watch chainsaw artists in action. “If you’re going to stay around us very long, you need to put some earplugs in,” she says with a laugh, as chainsaws revved and roared behind her like race cars, drowning out everything else in the background. From carnival barkers, to Ferris wheels humming, to snorts and moos of livestock shows, late-summer state and county fairs are noisy, chaotic affairs. Add to the din this season: chainsaws buzzing. At the Adams (Illinois) County Fair at the end of July, a group of carvers brought their saws and their ear plugs to compete in chainsaw carving competition. Each artist turned a block of wood into a sculpture – an animal, a wizard, a dragon – and the artist whose work brought in the most money at auction was declared the winner. Songer demonstrated her sculpting skills at the fair with her husband, Stevie. She said they’ve been carving for 16 years. “He was a chainsaw

When the first busload of campers arrived at Camp Sabra in Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks this summer, they were greeted by more than one hundred cheering, dancing and hugging counselors. For the first time in four years, Sydney Aaranson was not one of those counselors.

Graduation season is upon us, which means that college graduates across the nation will have to confront the realities of adulthood. Aside from finding careers and gaining overall independence, there’s another huge responsibility that’s facing millions of grads—handling student loan debt. Kara Tabor and Bita Eghbali of the Three Broke Mice podcast chat with Teddy Nykiel of NerdWallet.com about how young adults can overcome the debt hurdle. To learn more about conquering student debt, check out the Three Broke Mice podcast here on KBIA, at Missouri Business Alert and on iTunes.

In the increasingly health-conscious food market, the use of cage-free eggs is starting to gain some serious traction. After Panera Bread announced its progress on a commitment last November to using cage-free eggs, Hardee’s is the latest restaurant chain pledging to use 100 percent cage-free eggs by 2025. So why are more and more companies jumping in on this trend? Will consumers accept the higher prices of products made from cage-free eggs? KBIA’s Joyce Tao tells the story of how the cage-free egg switch is affecting chains and customers.

This piece was produced in conjunction with Missouri Business Alert, a digital newsroom that provides business news from across the state of Missouri. The Salvation Army’s time-honored red kettle bell fundraiser has captured hearts - and ears - of patrons walking into and out of local grocery and retail stores for years. As a family walks into HyVee, a woman slips change into two children’s hands; the children rush toward the sound of the bell and drop the money into the cherry red bucket. Ron Busroe, the Secretary for the Salvation Army’s Community Relations and Development, said the charitable organization has been ringing bells for 125 years. However, he said they’ve been aware of the new trends in way people shop and spend money. “People are not carrying cash,” Busroe said. “I don’t have change in my pockets anymore, and when I buy things, I most often use plastic. I don’t use cash.” Between more credit cards and fewer bills and coins as well as decreased foot traffic at retail