[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 17 (Thursday, February 4, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S479]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO THE JASON SMITH FAMILY

 Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, today I congratulate the Jason 
Smith family for being named the Desha County Farm Family of the Year 
for 2009.
  I have felt a long kinship with Desha County, and I am grateful for 
the friendships I have made there.
  As a seventh-generation Arkansan and farmer's daughter and as 
chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, I understand firsthand 
and appreciate the hard work and contributions of our farm families. 
Agriculture is the backbone of Arkansas's economy, creating more than 
270,000 jobs in the State and providing $9.1 billion in wages and 
salaries. In total, agriculture contributes roughly $15.9 billion to 
the Arkansas economy each year.
  Our farm families are critical to our Nation's economic stability. We 
must work to continue the farm family tradition, so families such as 
the Smith family are able to maintain their livelihoods and continue to 
help provide the safe, abundant, and affordable food supply that feeds 
our own country and the world and that is essential to our own economic 
stability.
  I salute the Smiths and all Arkansas farm families for their hard 
work and dedication.

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