USDA SECRETARY MADIGAN TO VISIT AREA

BENTON -- United States Secretary of Agriculture Ed Madigan will be feature speaker during the Farm Bureau appreciation dinner to be held at Benton Sept. 5.

Other speakers during the dinner, to be held at Robert's Restaurant, include U.S. Congressman Bill Emerson (R-Cape Girardeau), who will be conducting his annual Agricultural Tour next week, and Roger Wilson (D-Columbia), representing the 19th state senatorial district.

The dinner, held in recognition of area legislators for their help on various legislative issues, is sponsored by the 8th Congressional District Farm-Pac.

Tickets for the dinner, which starts at 6:30 p.m., are $5 per person, and are available from local county Farm Bureau offices.

The Farm Bureau Farm-Pac is a political action committee composed of trustees from counties throughout the 8th congressional district.

Emerson announced plans recently for his 11th annual ag tour during the week of Sept. 4.

In addition to visiting farms and forest product related business, the tour will include visits to the Rice Research Experiment Station at Glennonville, Mo., the annual Delta Research Center Field Day and the St. Francois County Soil & Water Conservation District Project at Mineral Area College in Flat River.

"Each year that I have been in office, I have set aside time to first-hand look at The challenges facing our farmers and agribusinesses," said Emerson. "The farm tours have provided me with valuable insight and information which has enabled me to have a better understanding of the day-to-day demands placed on the number one industry in Missouri agriculture."

Emerson said that as a member of the House Agriculture committee he spends countless hours year-around studying and developing solutions to the issues on which he is focusing this year's farm tour.

"But, there is nothing more valuable than actually going to the farms, saw mills and feed stores and listening to the folks in our rural communities who are affected by the policies enacted in Washington."

Emerson will start his tour at the Schaller Lumber Co. in Poplar Bluff at 10 a.m. Sept. 4. His second stop of the day will be the rice research experiment station, with the final stop at Stutz Farm, Dexter.

The Sept. 5 schedule starts at 11 a.m. at the Delta Center Field Day. Other stops during the day include a 2:30 stop at Mid-America Growers at East Prairie and the 6:30 Farm Bureau meeting at Benton.

Four stops are on the final day, Sept. 6, schedule, starting at 7:30 a.m. as guest speaker at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce First Friday Coffee, at Drury Lodge.

Emerson will visit the Gilster-Marylee popcorn packaging business at Perryville at 10 a.m. and visit the St. Francois soil and conservation projects at 1:30 p.m. He will up the tour at the Bob and Jim Graham Livestock Farm at Fredericktown at 3:30 p.m.