WASHINGTON  -  U.S. Representative Jo Ann Emerson (MO-08) tomorrow will meet with
Wright County area dairy farmers to discuss the upcoming reauthorization of major agriculture legislation.  Emerson will be at the Little House Restaurant in Mansfield from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. CDT.

 

“The Farm Bill is the cornerstone of our nation’s agriculture policy and the key support for American producers.  Every time we open up this vital law for reauthorization, we have to defend the programs and policies that keep our farmers and ranchers in business.  I want to hear from our hardworking dairy farmers about their ideas to make this legislation as friendly to their operations as possible, and I am looking forward to a productive discussion” Emerson said.

 

Emerson supports a two-year extension of Farm Bill programs while the U.S. negotiates trade agreements with the World Trade Organization.

 

“We absolutely must stand fast on our agriculture policy at home while these discussions are taking place at the WTO.  Our responsibility to our farmers and ranchers supercedes any international agreement, and changing these existing U.S. programs can only undermine our position with the international community.  Therefore, our domestic farm policies should remain firm.  Still, it is never too early to think about the future, and the process of making future farm policy is already underway, with or without an extension of the Farm Bill,” Emerson said.

WHO:          U.S. Representative Jo Ann Emerson
WHAT:        Meeting with Dairy Farmers on Farm Bill Reauthorization
WHEN:       TOMORROW, April 12, 2006   9:30 to 10:30 a.m. CDT
WHERE:     Little House Restaurant, 874 West Commercial Street, Mansfield