Emerson to visit Dunklin and Pemiscot counties on Farm Tour

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson is passing through the local area today, visiting Strothers' Sod Farm at Bragg City, Mo., and having lunch at Strawberry's at Holcomb, as part of her 2009 Farm Tour.

During the Farm Tour, which will run from Wednesday, Aug. 5 through Monday, Aug. 10, Emerson will make her annual visits with Southern Missouri's producers and value-added businesses in an effort to address the concerns of constituents over federal agriculture policy and program funding.

"Even in the most normal times, it's never an easy year to run a farm, ranch or dairy. Our agriculture operations and all of the local businesses connected to them rely on good policy, and I work very hard in Congress to make sure all of our concerns are heard at the federal level," Emerson said. "This is an important conversation about keeping Missouri agriculture competitive with the rest of the world and the rest of the country, as well as preserving our edge on technology and infrastructure."

The first stop on Emerson's tour is at 10 a.m., at Strothers Sod Farm at Bragg City, located in Pemiscot County. From there, the representative will travel to Holcomb to have lunch with Agriculture Commodity Groups at Strawberry's from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Other stops on the tour include visits at a buffalo ranch, a winery and a miniature horse ranch.

"We feature a great diversity of agricultural operations and expertise in Southern Missouri, and I am very proud of the fact that our district is a literal 'horn of plenty' for the nation. That also means that virtually every change in federal agriculture policy affects us in some way," Emerson said.

"A new tax on energy would affect every single home and business in Southern Missouri, but a 75 percent increase in the price of electricity and fuel would hit our producers especially hard. They use a lot of energy to produce our safe, stable and affordable supply of food -- from the gas in farm trucks to the electricity that runs the irrigation system at a farm or the barn at a diary. Any price shock on energy not severe enough to put them out of business will still be big enough that everyone who goes to a grocery store in America will feel the pinch," Emerson warned.

"Another key issue for Missouri producers is keeping the local USDA or Farm Service Administration office open to serve the producers close to their dairies, ranches and farms. Federal agriculture programs are complicated and they change often, so we need to preserve the expert career staff for the times we need to help our farmers and ranchers understand the changes, comply with the rules, respond to disasters, and use the safety provided by the federal farm programs when they need it."

The Daily Dunklin Democrat will be present during Emerson's local visits and will publish a report in the Thursday, August 6 edition of the DDD.

For a complete list of tour stops, log on to www.dddnews.com.