Governor praises rural potentials

BY JOE MEEK
DBJ Managing Editor

At the recent Agriculture and Rural Renewal Conference held in Jackson on August 19th, Governor Haley Barbour took a few minutes to share his perspectives with the DBJ. The conference itself featured several speakers who emphasized the economic importance of agriculture and forestry and industries related to these enterprises to the Mississippi economy. In his remarks to the press, he restated his support for efforts to improve this part of our state’s economy.

The governor began by reminding us of the important roles played by agriculture and forestry in Mississippi. With some 5.5 billion in crop values, an estimated 28 billion in products produced from these crops, and around 510,000 people directly or indirectly employed in crop production, our economy is heavily supported by these segments of our economy. The fact that over 500 people registered to take part in the conference amply supports the governor’s point. As the governor put it, “Everyone, including the press, needs to understand that the Mississippi economy is enormously impacted by agriculture and forestry.” He then pointed to the tremendous value added profits that can be seen when our crop and forest production is further processed in the state. Taking 5.65 billion in catfish, broilers, and other agricultural and forest products and turning that into 28 billion in commercial output is the kind of capital production that Governor Barbour wants to see more of in the Delta and throughout Mississippi. He firmly believes that the solution to tight budgets in the state doesn’t lie in higher taxes but in increased private sector development and production with agriculture and forestry leading the way.

The governor made specific reference to a conference presentation made earlier in the day by Dr. Mark Zappi, a professor of chemical engineering at Mississippi State University. Dr. Zappi is working on research to bring bio-fuel development technology to the state. Professor Zappi pointed out the success of the polymer science program at USM and the economic benefits that have accrued from that research. He then told the conference that even greater economic benefits could be achieved if bio-fuel technologies can be used in Mississippi to process our abundant agricultural production.

It was pointed out that currently most federal research funding in this field is centered in the Midwest where the Archer-Daniels-Midland Company is located. Governor Barbour hopes that Thad Cochran and other members of our congressional delegation will be able to see that more of these research dollars are sent to Mississippi to support our state’s efforts to penetrate this growing market. Based on Dr. Zappi’s and other similar projects around the state, the governor expressed his belief that our institutions of higher learning are “economic gold mines that we need to do a better job of mining.” He thanked the state legislature for restoring full funding to Mississippi’s universities in the current budget, and he stated his belief that such investments in our universities will more than pay for themselves in new products and thus new private sector development. The governor firmly believes that research and development will create more opportunities for value-added industries in the state thus creating more capital that stays in Mississippi and allows for even greater investments in other businesses. He reported that if the pending federal Energy Bill is adopted as currently written, it will mandate increased inputs for research in bio-fuel development, and he wants Mississippi to be prepared to lead the way in this new technology area.

He then expressed his support for life-long learning and his gratitude to the legislature for adopting a major overhaul of the workforce development and job training system in the state. He believes that these changes are already paying dividends to our economic development.

Governor Barbour also made reference to conference remarks made by Woods Eastland about the incredible effect technology has in modern agriculture and how rapidly the new technologies have been adopted by production agriculture. Mechanization, chemicals, pesticides, herbicides, etc. are all technology-driven areas in agriculture, and the governor expressed his interest in seeing that we produce more of these products here.

Responding to the quote “As agriculture goes, so goes the economy,” the governor recalled that this has always been essentially true in the state. Growing up in Yazoo County, he well remembers the truism that “when the farmers have a bad year, everybody has a bad year.” While not serving as quite the economic indicator it did fifty years ago, he remarked that Mississippi “is always going to have a huge agricultural and forestry element in our economy because of our rich soil and a great climate.” He praised the stewardship of the land by earlier generations of Mississippians and concluded with his belief that a strong stewardship ethic still exists in our state making it possible for us to continue to lead the world in many areas of production. DBJ