Agriculture appreciation day is every day

Thursday, March 20, 2008 9:26 AM MDT

GREAT FALLS, Mont. n March is National Ag Appreciation month, and this week is National Ag Week.

While it is very important to acknowledge and honor farmers and ranchers throughout our country, the Montana Farmers Union (MFU) believes that every day offers opportunities to appreciate the hard work and dedication it takes to provide us with food, fiber and fuel.

Toward the end of Ag Week, Congress will begin its Spring break. As a way of thanking Montana’s farmers and ranchers, Montana Farmers Union urges all Montanans to ask our Congressional delegation to do something important for the countryside, which is to pass a Farm Bill. Montana’s delegation supports agriculture, but ask them when they return to Washington to urge their colleagues to set the controversy aside and work in good faith for a good bill.

There is plenty at stake: an agreement on implementing country-of-origin labeling could be lost; a provision for permanent disaster could be lost; and gains in conservation and renewable energy could be lost. There also is considerable stress among farmers and ranchers about spring planning and planting without knowing what is over the horizon legislatively.

Agriculture, indeed, is the backbone of our country. Farmers and ranchers provide our daily bread, and fiber. Soon, fuels from the farm will help lead the way to energy independence. Each farmer today feeds about 144 people in the United States and abroad, and agriculture contributes more than $2.5 billion each year to the Montana economy.

The Montana Farmers Union pays tribute to the hard-working men and women involved in agriculture. We salute Montana’s farming and ranching community, and are proud to be a part of our state’s No. One industry n agriculture.

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