EMERSON WILL TOUR AREA FARMS NEXT WEEK

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson will be right at home among the crops and cows next week.

She hopes to harvest a first-hand look at the state of agriculture in the 8th Congressional District during her annual agriculture tour.

Emerson said she looks forward to visiting with farmers and agribusiness owners who make up "the very heart and soul of our district."

"Because our farmers face the toughest market conditions in nearly three decades, this year's tour is of particular importance," she said.

The four-day tour begins at 8:30 a.m. Monday at the Oliver Bachman farm in Perryville. It ends with a tour of the Southeast Missouri Regional Port near Scott City from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday.

Along the way, Emerson and her staff will stop at a dairy farm in Farmington, an angus farm in Potosi, Missouri Southern Seed in Rolla and a cattle farm in Salem.

She will hold a roundtable discussion at the Licking Livestock Auction and visit a timber harvesting program at Mark Twain National Forest. Also on the itinerary are visits to an implement company, a veterinarian service, a rice farm and a cotton gin.

This marks the 18th farm tour in the sprawling Southeast Missouri district. The late Bill Emerson started the annual tours when he was congressman. He saw it as a way to get first-hand information that would be useful in writing the farm bill in 1981. His widow, Jo Ann Emerson, has continued the tours since she was elected to Congress three years ago.

Lloyd Smith has served as chief of staff for both Bill and Jo Ann Emerson. He said the tours have been held annually with the exception of 1996. Bill Emerson died of lung cancer that summer.

"It gives a member of Congress a concentrated week of talking to farmers face to face in their barnyards and the turn rows of the 8th District," said Smith.

The tours have included stops at livestock and row-crop farms, as well as agribusiness places. "In a rural area they are all tied together. They are dependent upon each other," said Smith.

The tour focuses on different farms each year. In 18 years, about 350 farms have been visited. "We seldom do the same farm twice," said Smith.

Emerson's district is one of the most diverse agricultural districts in the nation.

"We grow everything except citrus and sugar," said Smith.

"We have apples, oranges, hogs and cattle." The region is the northern most rice- and cotton-producing district in the nation, Smith said.

The congressional district ranks first in the state in dairy production.

Smith said the tours are invaluable. "There's nothing better than the real experience of being on the farm with the people."

The four-day tour covers a lot of miles and requires some tight scheduling.

"We build in a little cushion," said Smith. "You've got to have an ice-tea break and a restroom break. Other than that, you just roll and go."