Love note from Jeff City

Greetings, My Fellow Missourians

Last Thursday, I attended the Hickory County Cattleman’s monthly meeting. Katie Stewart, with Farmers Care MO Beef Program, presented the MO Beef MO Kids MO Fit (MoBKF) program. This program connects schools with farmers and ranchers to “beef” up the lunches served in schools. Beef has lots of essential nutrients, including zinc, iron and protein, making it a wonderful source of nutrition for children who face food insecurities. With the MoBKF program, students are fed additional protein that can help fill them up and allow them to better focus on their studies. Cattleman can donate a beef animal to the program and in doing so, will receive a tax credit for the animal. A regional MoBKF team member can help connect the donor to a school’s administration. Together they can work with an USDA inspected processor to implement the program. One beef animal can provide up to 3,500 servings for students. There are 34 schools participating statewide. MO Beef MO Kids MO Fit is supported through Beef Checkoff and more than 50,000 Missouri farmers and ranchers in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Agriculture. If you would like more information on the program, please visit www.mobeefkids.com

Friday, I drove to Jefferson City and attended the Pork Month Proclamation and BBQ at the Missouri Department of Agriculture. October is National Pork Month and Governor Parson presented a proclamation to the MO Pork Association to recognize the farmers and families behind the 3.5 million hogs raised in the state of Missouri. The Governor talked about how getting young people involved in agriculture is critical to the future of our state. The average Missouri farmer is 58, with the largest number by age of farmers being 70.

Don Nikodim, Missouri Pork Association Executive Vice President, told Governor Parson “There’s a lot of opportunity in the pork sector and for young folks getting involved and engaged and come on down the line, I think that says a lot about where we can be down the road.”

Missouri is the 6th largest pork producer in the United States producing 4% of all the pork in the nation. The pork industry provides employment to 25,000 Missourians and adds $1.68 billion to our state’s economy. In 2018, each American consumed an average of 65.6 pounds of pork.

The value of pork is rising. African swine fever has hit China’s pigs causing the Chinese to increase their imports of American pork. From January to August of this year, China tripled the amount of pork purchased from the United States from 23.4 million pounds to 93.4 million pounds. The USDA’s data shows that we will export 123,500 tons of pork to china in 2020. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange reported a price increase on pork of 8% in the last two days.

Chris Chinn (MO Dept. of Agriculture Director), Gov. Parson, Marcus Belshe (MO Pork Association Chairman) and Don Nikodim (MO Pork Association Executive Vice President)

Interim hours: Now that Session is over for 2019, I will be back in the District full time. If you need any assistance my Legislative Assistant Amy Helton will continue to be in my Capitol office Tuesday-Thursday and will be happy to help you.