FARM BUREAU CHIEF SEES GOOD IN CHANGE OF ESTATE TAX POLICY

NEW MADRID -- State Farm Bureau President Charles Kruse said Southeast Missouri farmers and agribusinessmen can feel good about the change evident in Washington.

Kruse, a Dexter farmer, said the Farm Bureau was concerned about 18 months ago that the estate tax exemption was going to be dropped from $650,000 to $250,000.

Now, efforts are under way to raise the exemption to $750,000. The Farm Bureau is seeking a $2 million limit with indexing.

Kruse spoke to about 100 farmers, agribusinessmen, government employees at the annual meeting of the Bootheel Resource Conservation & Development Council.

The council serves the Southeast Missouri counties of Scott, Mississippi, New Madrid, Stoddard, Dunklin and Pemiscot.

U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson, vice chairman of the House agriculture committee, said the ports at Scott City, New Madrid and Caruthersville are keys to economic prosperity in Southeast Missouri, especially for agriculture.

Emerson expects more common sense in dealing with wetlands in a new farm bill and less regulations for business.

And, he drew applause when he said local school cooks could decide better what should be in a school lunch than Washington nutritionists.

Clyde Southern of Steele, chairman of the Bootheel RC&D Council, said the Southeast Missouri Regional Water District will take water samples this summer to build a data base to show that the agriculture industry isn't contaminating groundwater.

He said the Precise Application Project, coordinated by Bill Holmes near Oran, was using satellites to map about 10,000 acres in northern Scott County. Results from the project have shown that overall nutrients have been decreased by 25 percent in three years, reducing the pollution hazard and helping to improve farmers' profits.