[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 49 (Wednesday, March 21, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H1752]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     COMMEMORATING NATIONAL AG DAY

  (Mr. PANETTA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PANETTA. Mr. Speaker, as a Representative of the salad bowl of 
the world, the 20th Congressional District in California, I commemorate 
and celebrate National Ag Day.
  In my district, the number one industry is agriculture, yes, because 
of the fertile land, but also because of the fearless attitude of 
farmers and farmworkers, growers, and families and friends of those in 
agriculture.
  Having grown up on the central coast, we understand that the key to 
their success is based on that willingness to take risk. We know that 
risk-taking attitude is the foundation of our country, but since then, 
the seed of risk taking has been sown in our culture and spread across 
our agricultural community.
  People in agriculture are constantly using that trait to deal with 
Mother Nature, to overcome government mandates, to transform for the 
changing market conditions, and to contend with the lack of immigration 
reform right here in Congress.
  Nevertheless, with that risk-taking attitude, people in agriculture 
don't shrink from those challenges; they stand up to them. That is why 
they not only survive, they succeed. That is why we in Congress 
shouldn't just recognize people in agriculture today; we should learn 
from them every day.

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