FALL 1999
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In this issue • Value-added agriculture builds hope for rural Iowa • Clinton listens to producer concerns • Cooperative study offers model - and savings - for Iowa • School food production and service: Half a century of training • Iowa manufacturers take note: Changes at IMTC • Youth catch BOOMERANG! -- Build character and life skills
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Clinton listens to producer concerns President Clinton came to Iowa in July to discuss the economic crisis in agriculture. Clinton met with a panel of producers, Sen. Tom Harkin, Rep. Leonard Boswell, Gov. Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture Patty Judge and Wendy Wintersteen, director of Iowa State University Extension to Agriculture and Natural Resources. "I felt the president was very serious in his commitment to address the concerns the producers were discussing," Wintersteen said. He seemed well informed on agriculture and interested in the ideas of those attending the Des Moines session. Pork producer Mary Krier, a Keokuk County Extension Council member who participated in the discussion, would like to see producers join together to address the issue in a constructive way. "I hope I left [President Clinton] with the message that farmers want a level playing field," she said. Wintersteen said she suggested to Clinton that possible solutions might include payments to producers for environmental practices and support for investments in value-added agriculture enterprises. "I felt he was very interested" in finding short- and
long-term solutions, Wintersteen said, but he couldn't make
promises -- he wanted to go back to Washington to work on a
nonpartisan effort. |