The Legacy for the Kimmons Family
OZARK, MO. – “My name is George Kimmons and I am a Christian County farmer. Even as a 12-year-old, agriculture and farming are very important to me. It is a tradition in my family. It is important to have farms because we all have to eat. I am glad to be a farmer in Christian County.”
Hope for the future of agriculture swelled in the standing-room-only meeting where George gave his testimony to the Christian County Commission as they considered Agri-Ready Designation for his home county. All three commissioners smiled. The crowd held their breath.
George and his sister, EmmaSue (age 9), are the hope of Kimmons Farm, owned and operated by their parents, Mark and Amanda Kimmons. Their farm encompasses 900 acres along the Finley River in Ozark, Missouri and is home to a commercial cow-calf herd. The family grows forages and hay for use and sale. They follow market signals as they background their calves.
George was joined by agriculturists of all ages and backgrounds to speak up for Christian County agriculture because agriculture is a BIG deal. Agriculture, including food, feed and forestry, contributes $121.6 million in value-added products, $348.4 million in output, over 3,700 jobs, and adds $223.2 million to household incomes in Christian County according to the 2021 Missouri Economic Contribution of Agriculture and Forestry Study. Beyond its growing economic significance, farming is historically significant to many families in Christian County, including the Kimmons.
The Kimmons Farm is the legacy of Mark’s grandfather, George Kimmons. Grandpa George was born in 1919 on a family farm near Clever. With a degree in agricultural education from the University of Missouri-Columbia, he returned to Ozark. In 1954, he purchased multiple land parcels from the same owner to establish the Kimmons Farm. Grandpa George grew his own feed and forages, milked cows and had a beef herd. His river bottom land gave him a production advantage, so he grew seed corn. He competed in multiple annual yield contests, even winning a combine as top prize one year!
The heartbeat hum of Grandpa George’s milking parlor stopped in 1993, the same year the love of his life, Pauline, passed away. One of their four children and her sons moved home to Missouri that year to help Grandpa George with the farm. The value of his replacement heifers tanked, but Grandpa George believed there could be hope for the farm in milking them. He built a new milking barn and his grandson, Mark, started milking cows in 1996. Mark was in eighth grade.
Farming comes with natural challenges, and unfortunately, farm inheritance can come with overwhelming obstacles. In 1999 as a young farmer still in high school, Mark received an astronomical tax bill when Grandpa George passed away. The current tax code demanded a hefty death tax on capital gains AND a bonus tax because the inheritance skipped a generation. Specialized tax programs allowed Mark to amortize the burden for the first five years if he kept the estate farming, followed by a traditional note to pay the balance over another decade. On top of that, although the farm was left in trust, the document was contested, bringing more burdensome expenses to the effort to keep the farm intact.
“As long as I have been a part of the family, I have heard about how important it was to Grandpa that the farm should stay a farm, as it had always been. He hoped it would stay together and so we were willing to do whatever it took,” shared Amanda.
“Through our worst years, our hope came from being young and dumb,” Mark said with a chuckle. “We thought we could do anything. We wanted the farm to work.”
Besides the operations that continue today, Mark and Amanda milked cows for nearly 25 years. Amanda also built a full-time career at Ozark Bank. Their hope and support during those long days came from Mark’s mom, Georgia, who often milked the cows.
“Grandpa always said I’d have to work for it, that nothing was going to be easy,” Mark remembered. “He didn’t give speeches. He had lots of nugget wisdom he’d share with me; some of it I can’t repeat in polite company.”
Across the decades, as a small family with a big farm, hope for Kimmons Farm sprang up from the agriculture community: friends lent a hand in body and spirit, traded work, and shared equipment. With this support, filling the silo each fall has become Amanda’s favorite farm tradition.
“Everybody comes. Everybody helps. Everybody stays until the job is done,” Amanda shares. “That’s how it always is. But especially at silo time.”
Not just at silo time, but in the milk barn, working the beef herd, during planting and harvest, photos of Mark and Amanda’s children around the farm usually also include Keith, Scott, Grandpa Bob, Kevin, AJ, Benjamin, Lucas, Travis and others. Not their family-but their FARMily.
The 81st Agri-Ready Designated County
Thanks to encouragement from George and other Christian County agriculturalists, the Christian County Commissioners voted unanimously to apply for Agri-Ready Designation, a voluntary program that recognizes counties committed to supporting and growing their agricultural industry in partnership with Missouri Farmers Care. To qualify, a county must agree to support agricultural stewardship, growth, and economic interests. Christian County’s official Designation was announced on January 7, 2026.
“Christian County is proud to become an Agri-Ready Designated County,” said Presiding Commissioner Lynn Morris. “As Presiding Commissioner, I recognize the critical role that farming and agriculture play in driving our local economy. We look forward to educating our communities about where their food comes from and how it is raised, strengthening the connection between agriculture and everyday life.”
A New Hope
Christian County’s new agri-ready designation gives Mark more hope for the future of his family’s farm
“I hope that this Designation means our elected representatives are paying attention to agriculture. I hope that my children can take over our working family farm someday, but today that opportunity is a challenge,” Mark said. “Our farm is inundated and changed by suburban run-off, sometimes causing water to stand inside barns, meanwhile we work daily to be courteous in suburban traffic. There are other struggles. Agri-Ready Designation is a great step in the right direction.”
“I hope that the four of us will work together on the farm. Maybe there will be cows, but maybe there will be something new that we haven’t even thought of yet, as long as we can farm together,” Amanda said.
George has already diversified the farm and grows pumpkins to sell each fall. He is the secretary of the Mighty Eagles 4-H club, an officer of the Ozark Junior High FFA Club, and a trombone player in the Ozark Junior High Band. “My favorite part about farming is doing something. Feeding a cow or making a hay bale,” George shared. “I like sitting in the tractor, being with myself, looking out across the field, and knowing I am doing something.” Sometimes George wonders what his Great Grandpa George would think today.
