Lincoln County Farm Bureau took the time to recognize their elected officials at a legislative steak dinner earlier this month.
Mississippi Sen. Sally Doty, Mississippi Rep. Becky Currie and Mississippi Rep. Vince Mangold were all in attendance in addition to Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation President Mike McCormick.
“Only five percent of the elected officials in Washington D.C. have a knowledge of agriculture,” Lincoln County Farm Bureau President Robert Earl McGehee said. “I would say probably just as little at the state capital have a knowledge of agriculture. That is why we are grateful to these three for attending tonight and continuing to work with us farmers.”
The dinner allowed Doty, Currie and Mangold to update Lincoln County’s members on current legislative issues impacting the agriculture industry, including roads and bridges, the lottery, Right-to-Farm and rural broadband. Currie focused her update on roads and bridges and the lottery.
“We always love being here,” Currie said. “I’m not sure how much help you realize we get up there (at the capital) because we don’t know it all. I’m a registered nurse, I’m not a farmer. So, we have to have help when things come up. I think we did pretty good last year, and I hope we continue to do better.”
Doty continued the discussion regarding roads and bridges, the lottery and rural broadband.
“We are headed to a special session next week,” Dotty said. “I have high hopes that we will be able to compromise on a bill that will help our county roads and bridges.”
Mangold made a point to update the Farm Bureau members in attendance on the legislation passed to specifically help the farmers and ranchers in the audience.
“One thing we touched on earlier that we did get passed through was the Right-to-Farm, which is a big deal,” Mangold said. “A man needs to have the right to farm on his land as long as he’s meeting all the criteria. The other thing that we did on the agriculture side was a disaster relief bill. I had the privilege of working with our cattlemen’s association on that one. We hope we never have to use it, but should we have a natural disaster this is something that would step in.”
McCormick concluded the dinner by updating members on the Farm Bill, trade and rural broadband.
“We appreciate these three legislators sitting right here,” McCormick said. “They are always willing to listen to our concerns prior to making a decision. Thank you, our members, for all the work you do.”