[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 10]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 13854]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


            A SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO FARMWORKER APPRECIATION DAY

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                          HON. PAUL E. GILLMOR

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 22, 2002

  Mr. GILLMOR. Mr. Speaker, it is with a great deal of pride that I 
rise to pay a very special tribute to an outstanding event taking place 
in my district in Northwest Ohio. On Saturday, August 3, 2002, people 
from across the district will gather in Liberty Center to celebrate 
Farmworker Appreciation Day.
  Mr. Speaker, there is no question that farming is the backbone of our 
nation. From the earliest days of our nation's history, hardworking men 
and women have taken to the fields to plant and harvest crops and raise 
livestock in order to feed their families, their neighbors, and their 
fellow countrymen.
  Farming is an honorable profession that takes a great deal of skill, 
patience, and hard work. Those hardworking men and women who work on 
our nation's farms deserve much credit for helping to make our lands 
productive.
  Through the arduous process of working and cultivating the soil, 
these farmworkers help prepare the ground, plant the crops, and harvest 
the food we need to live. The life of a farmworker is a tough 
lifestyle. Like the farmer, the farmworker must endure the ever-
changing seasons from the harshest winters to the sun-drying, waterless 
droughts to rain-soaked days that lead to disastrous floods. 
Farmworkers watch the fields as thunderous storms race across them 
damaging the crops from which they make their living. However, through 
it all, farmworkers continue to the fields to do their work.
  Mr. Speaker, agriculture is vitally important to the Fifth District 
of Ohio as we are home to nineteen percent of all of Ohio's farmland. 
We know that the economy of our part of Ohio depends on farming and a 
big factor in our prosperity is due to the tireless efforts of 
farmworkers who bring in the crops. I can think of no better way to 
celebrate the contributions of these individuals than to take part in 
Farmworker Appreciation Day.
  Mr. Speaker, I would ask my colleagues to join me in paying special 
tribute to farmworkers by helping me to proclaim August 3, 2002, as 
Farmworker Appreciation Day. We thank them for all they have done and 
wish them the very best for the future.

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