Being by nationality an Ozark hill dweller, I am more than slightly partial to grassland agriculture. I know there are good and necessary crops like corn and soybeans and other things that need to be planted every year, but my prejudice favors permanent forages that produce meat and milk.

I provide this information primarily as background, to establish my point of view. When a person is getting ready to fling an opinion at you, it is proper that he make clear where that opinion originates.

All that said, I have noticed that thousands--if not millions--of acres of grasslands in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas are not performing up to par. In fact, on a good many of those acres, the condition is trending downward.

State and federal governments offer several programs to help improve the situation. One of the more effective is USDA's Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP), which, in our part of the country, has the dual goal of improving grasslands and protecting soil and water resources.

The other day, I came across the "scoring sheet" by which Missouri landowner applicants are graded for EQIP cost-share practices. This statement caught my eye: "Attend an approved grazing school--grazing school must be completed prior to receiving EQIP financial assistance for any practices." In the Missouri soil and water conservation program, at least one grassland practice also requires the applicant to attend grazing school.

Now, the University of Missouri conducts a perfectly fine management intensive grazing school and most grassland managers would no doubt benefit from taking the course. In fact, other states have used the Missouri workshop as a pattern for their own schools. But the Missouri grazing school should do very well on its own merits, without the coercive efforts of state and federal conservation agencies to compel enrollment.

I have not researched the matter thoroughly, but I do not believe prior schooling is necessary to receive cost-share assistance for other practices. For example, EQIP has an "Integrated Crop Management Incentive" which involves payments for fertilizers and pesticides used in a specified system.

There's a world of difference between the suggestive "should" and the imperative "must." Some people just don't like to be told that they "must" do something, even when it's for their own good.

Come to think of it, a good many hill folk are like that.