[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 20 (Tuesday, March 1, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 1, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                     MINNESOTA RURAL FUTURES AWARDS

 Mr. DURENBERGER. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to 
six people who tonight will be honored with awards from Minnesota Rural 
Futures.
  LaVonne Nicolai, director of the Rural Finance Agency in the 
Minnesota Department of Agriculture, broke ground for women in several 
arenas without realizing she was on the cutting edge. LaVonne was the 
first woman to serve on a soil and water board in the Nation, and the 
first woman to serve on the Agriculture Committee of the Independent 
Bankers. She has an abiding faith in Minnesota farmers and through her 
eloquence has become an important spokesperson for the agriculture 
industry. Through her commitment to Minnesota agriculture, she has 
influenced laws and changed the way the system works.
  Soneva Goering, a Jackson pork producer, has waged a 3-year campaign 
to merge the Pork Council Women and the Pork Producers into one 
organization, first in Minnesota and then nationally. The result is an 
all-around better opportunity to promote the pork industry. Soneva 
believes in the future of agriculture, but acknowledges that it is a 
changing future. She envisions more networking and sharing among rural 
people, creating a different type of farming. Soneva recently stated, 
``Sometimes it's tough going and it does take its toll, but there is a 
future out here.''
  Carrol Peterson is a farmer and owns and operates a store in Eagle 
Bend. Among her many accomplishments, including that of 4-H advisor, 
Todd County Cancer Society volunteer, and her church and choir, is the 
library and museum she helped build in her community of 600 residents. 
Carrol is a member of the board of the Central Minnesota Initiative 
Fund, a foundation that provides grants and loans to businesses in 
rural Minnesota.
  Barb Overlie, through her work as a volunteer spokesperson [VSP] with 
the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association, makes presentations about 
agriculture to inner-city classrooms. It is imperative, she believes, 
to instill the link between rural and city life, telling students that 
they need farmers to provide food, and farmers need city people to 
create markets for their products. As a member of the board of the 
Madelia Hospital, Barb works on the line to keep hospitals and health 
care accessible for people in rural Minnesota.
  Mary Jo Forbord works with farmers and others in rural Minnesota to 
find a common voice to discuss how farming practices relate directly to 
the food we all put in our mouths. As a partner in a dairy farm in 
Benson she also works through organizations to validate the experience 
of rural women. Included in her work is a project entitled ``In Her Own 
Image--A Portrait of Rural Women.'' The project will use the visual 
arts to describe how the lives of rural women differ from, and are the 
same as, the lives of other women.
  Linda Thrane, public affairs troubleshooter for Cargill, is able to 
help ``shape policy, win battles, and create opportunities'' in 
farming. She describes agriculture as the engine that keeps local 
communities and even the Nation moving forward. ``Agriculture is not an 
industry of the American past, but is the growth industry of the 
future,'' she says. Linda is the first woman to serve on the Minnesota 
Agri-Growth Council.
  Mr. President, each of these people has contributed greatly to the 
strength of rural Minnesota. I thank you for allowing me the 
opportunity to pay special recognition to their accomplishments in 
behalf of all Minnesotans.

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