Times Democrat - Crawford Visits Piggott as Part of Farm Tour

News Article

By Tim Blair

First District Congressman Rick Crawford's summer farm tour made a stop in Piggott Wednesday, Aug. 22, to meet with livestock producers concerning recent drought conditions. The breakfast meeting at The Piggott Diner also afforded Crawford a chance to update local producers on the two versions of the Farm Bill currently being considered.

With around 25 producers and local leaders in attendance, Crawford first spoke about the drought of 2012 and available relief programs. He noted that the State of Arkansas, USDA and even the IRS have programs that offer help to producers in the drought-stricken areas such as Northeast Arkansas.

Crawford offered literature on specific programs, and was accompanied by Marty Conley of the Clay County Farm Services Agency office for details on the local efforts. He also fielded questions from livestock producers on programs that are already past deadline or no longer available.

The Congressman also took time to answer questions, and talked about the message he brought to the local gathering. "Our message today is not so much that I'm delivering, but that I'm listening to what producers have to say--that's the number one thing," he explained. "The second thing is that we make sure that what assets are available, especially for livestock producers, that they are aware of it."

Crawford added that it was a great advantage to have Conley on hand from the local FSA office, "there are a lot of questions that people have--there are a lot of programs that have been authorized to try to provide some help during this time of extreme drought," he noted.

The first term legislator from Jonesboro also spoke of the diversity of his district, "that's really our strength, if you want to know the truth of it. It's intensive row-cropping in the eastern part of the district while the western part has a lot more livestock and poultry," he explained. "Typically they don't always get along, by example--livestock producers want to buy corn low, but our row-crop producers want to sell it high, so we try to meet in the middle."

But, in these days of drought conditions Crawford noted that both producers have felt the impact and have been forced to deal with it in different ways. "We're in the corn harvest right now, but what we're seeing more of is corn farmers starting to bale up the corn stover and that is saving a heck of a lot of money on truckin- in from another state," he illustrated. "We could be bringing it in from Mississippi or Alabama and that would increase the cost by at least $30 a roll--it may not be as good a foliage, but it sure will help mitigate some of the damage the drought has done."

Crawford explained that he felt the process was a win-win situation, as the corn producer reduces his loss on that land and avoids having to burn-off or make extra passes with the disc after the corn harvest.

"We are also here to talk about the Farm Bill and where we stand on that, and talk about what the House version looks like and where we go with respects to trying to pass it out of the whole House," he added. Crawford explained that the Farm Bill he endorses has cleared the House Agriculture Committee, of which he is a member, on a vote of 35-11. "The vote shows how both parties can work on critical legislation in a bipartisan fashion," he explained. "In joining my colleagues on advancing the discharge petition, I am working to put farm families in Arkansas ahead of Washington's partisan politics."

Among those on hand for the Piggott meeting was Terry Pollard of Greenway, president of the Clay County Farm Bureau. Pollard noted that the Farm Bill endorsed by Crawford has the backing of his organization, "we're very interested in the Farm Bill that's being considered in Congress, we like it a lot and feel it is much better than the Senate program," he explained. Pollard noted that Crawford has always been supportive of the region's agriculture community, and that he is looking forward to seeing the Farm Bill go forward.

When asked about particular concerns between the House and Senate versions Pollard noted that the two pieces of legislation make distinctions based on the size of an operation, and where it's located. "There is a difference in how operations are treated according to size, but also by what region they're in--we want producers in the south treated just as well as those in the Midwest," he explained.

Crawford's farm tour also included other stops within the First Congressional District. Some of the stops included a meeting with livestock producers in Smithville, the grand opening of a peanut buying point in Pocahontas, the tour of a fish farm at Paragould, a visit to the Lou Mann Cotton Research Station Field Day and a tour of the Producers Rice Mill in Stuttgart.

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