[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 4442]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                CELEBRATING AGRICULTURE IN WESTERN IOWA

  (Mr. KING of Iowa asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KING of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I rise today not only because of St. 
Patrick's Day but because it is also National Agriculture Week. Iowa 
ranks number one in the Nation in corn, soybean, pork and egg 
production, and second in total agricultural exports. We have a fertile 
State with some of the richest and most productive soil in the world. 
And we use this resource to provide the safest food supply in the 
world.
  This week I am asking Iowans to celebrate our rich heritage of 
agricultural production; but I also want us to look with anticipation 
to the future of agriculture, value-added agriculture, and our youth. 
Iowa agriculture is no longer just about growing commodities that we 
ship away by truck, train, or barge. Farmers in western Iowa have 
realized that if we do all of our business this way our small towns and 
cities will lose its youth, a very precious resource.
  As I look at the youth of my district, I want them to have all the 
benefits of growing up in a farming community. And I want to see them 
in our communities making a difference, choosing to raise their 
families in western Iowa for years to come. There is no better place if 
we can continue to be innovative in agricultural development.
  Our farmers and community leaders have led the charge to develop this 
new generation of agriculture because we think differently in Iowa. Let 
us use National Agriculture Week to thank them not only for rich 
heritage of agriculture production but for looking to the future and 
building a foundation for a new rural western Iowa.

                          ____________________