Jason Smith touts agricultural industry during farm tour

U.S. Rep. Jason Smith's second annual farm tour kicked off Tuesday morning at a Gordonville walnut tree farm.

Martin Walnut Tree Farm started more than 20 years ago as open cropland and pasture, but now is nearly 300 acres of thriving trees. The black walnut trees are the real prize, Dr. Richard Martin told the congressman. The nuts they produce are also the official state tree nut.

Martin and Mike Edmunds, the farm manager, offered details about the farm's operation and production. In addition to selling the nutmeat from the walnuts, the hulls can be ground and used for a number of items, such as pin cushion fillings, or used in place of sand for blasting.

Near the end of the tour, Smith said he was surprised to learn about the multiple uses of walnuts.

Throughout the tour of the tree farm, Martin and Edmunds also made stops along rows of tall, slender black walnut trees and in the buildings that house processing equipment, all while answering the congressman's questions. While many of his questions were about the history of the farm or the available market for its produce, Smith also asked about the farmers' biggest concerns and how his office could help them continue to run a successful business.

U.S. Rep. Jason Smith

Those are the types of questions Smith said he plans to ask of all the farmers he meets along his tour. He said the goal of the two-week tour, which spans the 8th Congressional District, is to promote the district and its biggest industry: agriculture.

"Our economy is based on agriculture," Smith said.

From specialized farms like Martin's to the more traditional row-crop and cattle farms, Smith said he's hearing many of the same concerns. Those in the agriculture industry seem to worry most about overreaching government regulations, he said, and how much they can affect the way farmers do business. That's one reason the congressman said he was pleased to see the right-to-farm constitutional amendment approved by voters in this month's election.

The measure was well-received in the 8th District, but suffered in more urban areas. Still, Smith said, it started a statewide discussion about the importance of agriculture. He said he hopes the recent approval of right-to-farm will inject a more positive tone into this year's farm tour.

"What you see, just what I've heard here, a lot of farmers are worried about government regulations and this provides a basis that protects them from unnecessarily burdensome regulations," Smith said. "So I hope the tone is much better now with the passage of right-to-farm. I'm extremely happy to see that done."

srinehart@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

330 Deere Country Lane, Gordonville, MO