November/December 2009

Have you heard? about the many benefits of your Farm Bureau membership?

You may not know that when you pay your annual membership fee, it includes many valuable member benefits. Highlighted below are a few of these benefits. To see a complete list, visit our Web site at www.msfb.com.

Take advantage of the benefits available to Farm Bureau members ONLY. If you are not a member, joining is simple. Contact the Farm Bureau office in the county where you live, pay your membership dues, and start enjoying these benefits today! ®

www.msfb.com

MISSISSIPPI FARM COUNTRY MAGAZINE When you join your county Farm Bureau, you automatically receive Mississippi Farm Country magazine for one year. Published bi-monthly, this magazine spotlights a different area of agriculture each issue. It also contains feature material about rural Mississippi and information on agricultural issues and Farm Bureau programs. Join today.

You don’t want to miss a single issue.

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Please call 1.888.777.0440 or you can visit www.agristar.com.

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M I S S I S S I P P I FA R M C O U N T RY

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER

MISSISSIPPI FARM COUNTRY Volume 85 Number 6 November/December 2009

CONTENTS

Features

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EDITOR Glynda Phillips

CHANGES IN AGRICULTURE Come with us as we look at recent changes within in the cotton, dairy and catfish industries.

We also learn about Mississippi’s farmers markets and visit a man who is supplementing his retirement income growing alternative crops.

Graphic Arts Coordinator Danielle Ginn Department Assistant Angela Thompson

FARM BUREAU OFFICERS

President - David Waide Vice President - Donald Gant Vice President - Randy Knight Vice President - Reggie Magee Treasurer - Billy Davis Corporate Secretary - Ilene Sumrall

FARM BUREAU DIRECTORS

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SOLVE THE MYSTERY

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SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS

This Copiah County town was once known as the Tomato Capital of the World.

Read the clues and make your guess.

Mississippi Farm Bureau knows that today’s youths are tomorrow’s agricultural leaders.

We offer a number of scholarships to students majoring in ag-related fields of study.

Meet this year’s recipients inside.

Departments

Dr. Jim Perkins, Iuka Kevin Simpson, Ashland Paul Briscoe, Oxford Bill Ryan Tabb, Cleveland Mike Ferguson, Senatobia Dan L. Bishop, Baldwyn L.C. Sanders, Hamilton Doss Brodnax, Starkville Betty Mills, Winona Weldon Harris, Kosciusko Kenneth Thompson, Philadelphia Max Anderson, Decatur James Ford, Taylorsville Mark Chaney, Vicksburg Jeff Mullins, Meadville Bill Pigott, Tylertown E.A. “Pud” Stringer, Foxworth Wendell Gavin, Laurel Terry B. Estis, Lucedale Tom Daniels, Gulfport Dott Arthur, Carthage Brad Woods, Columbia

HONORARY VICE-PRESIDENTS Louis J. Breaux, David H. Bennett, and Warren Oakley Mississippi Farm Country (ISSN 1529-9600) magazine is published bimonthly by the *Mississippi Farm Bureau® Federation.

EDITORIAL AND BUSINESS OFFICES 6311 Ridgewood Road Jackson, MS 39211 TELEPHONE 601.977.4153

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Member Benefits

4

President’s Message

6

Commodity Update: Beef

7

Commodity Update: Dairy

26 Counselor’s Corner

ABOUT THE COVER Claiborne County farmer Lonnie Fortner says there’s nothing better than a field of good-looking cotton. He just can’t afford to grow it right now.

Read about changes within the cotton industry, beginning on page 8.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER

M I S S I S S I P P I FA R M C O U N T RY

ADVERTISING Call Paul Hurst at 1.800.397.8908 Farm Bureau members receive this publication as part of their membership benefit. Periodicals postage is paid at Jackson, MS, and at additional mailing offices.

Postmaster: Send address changes to P. O. Box 1972, Jackson, MS 39215.

*FARM BUREAU®, FB® and all Farm Bureau Logos used in this magazine are registered service marks owned by the American Farm Bureau Federation. They may not be used in any commercial manner without the prior written consent of the American Farm Bureau Federation.

Material in this publication is based on what the editor believes to be reliable information. Neither Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation nor those individuals or organizations contributing to the MFBF publication assume any liability for errors that might go undetected in the publication - this includes statements in articles or advertisements that could lead to erroneous personal or business management decisions.

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Agriculture’s Future is Bright

By David Waide • President, Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation

T

he focus of our magazine is on the changing times of agriculture.

This issue looks at some of the really big changes that have occurred and that will continue to occur in agricultural production. Agriculture has been a continuing evolution since the beginning of time. It is the oldest known profession.

The thing that has been phenomenal in agriculture is the number of people involved in agricultural output. Over the last 100 years, we have gone from almost 100% participation by our population to something less than 2% of the workforce being involved in the production of food, fiber and energy.

Agriculture is such a vital part of our economy, not to mention how essential it is in our everyday lives. At least three times each day, we all participate in agriculture, whether we realize it or not.

Those three times include the intake of the different food groups that cause us to sustain healthy bodies.

In a day, there are many other ways we participate in agriculture that we seldom realize. From the early-morning newspaper that we read to the various correspondences we use in our daily activity, it is all rooted in agriculture.

We in Mississippi are very fortunate to have the utilization of land, water and timber to sustain the economy through this downturn that our nation is experiencing.

While Mississippi has experienced rough economic times, our downturn has not been nearly as bad as many of our sister states.

This is because of the economic base we have in Mississippi and our dependence on agriculture.

Niche Markets What does the future hold for agriculture?

It holds great opportunity for various niche markets. Rather than a reduction in the number of farms, we are seeing an 4

increasing number of farms in most all states but especially in Mississippi. The fact that we are creating local markets for homegrown produce is vitally important in sustaining our domestic food supply.

When transportation costs are reduced and locally-grown produce is made available, we are finding there is a huge consumer demand. This is not going to change in the future. It will only increase. It will provide great opportunity for the new agriculturist. sustaiNable eNergy The future also holds great promise for sustainable energy. The land-grants have always been on the cutting edge of technological development of our resources to be utilized in agriculture. This will not change in the future, but we are going to see a little different focus from what we have seen traditionally. The emphasis in the future will be on how we can produce sustainable energy products at an affordable cost.

We keep hearing about cap and trade legislation. We talk about the effect it can have on our spending of food dollars. In addition, we hear about the impact it can have on our cost of transportation. All of this is real if that legislation is passed in its present form.

It is our challenge to convince those powers that be that the science behind the reasoning is not sound. It is all mere speculation. Let me offer a prime example of one of the things that is being touted, and let’s reduce it to the common sense approach. Take a glass of water and ice, filled to the brim. The ice melts. The water does not overflow. This is a common sense approach to prove that, if the glaciers melt, this will not have the effect that many environmental activists tell us it will have by reducing our land mass because of the melting of those glaciers.

If we use common sense and reason, we can do those things that are essential to M I S S I S S I P P I FA R M C O U N T RY

protect our environment. However, we should be very careful how we approach it, and we should ask those activists to scientifically support their claims. I hope Congress will do that as they deliberate cap and trade.

The ability we have to produce domestic energy will increase with technological advances. In addition, we will see pharmaceutical plants grown that will make our diet healthier. It will be essential to maintaining a resistance to some diseases, such as diabetes, heart-related illness, and many cancers. bright Future Overall, I see a bright future for agriculture. I also see numerous challenges in the regulatory field. I hope, as Farm Bureau members, we will all engage in trying to inform our regulators and legislators that we indeed want sound science to back those regulations and laws that are passed that possess the possibility of having a tremendously negative impact on what we do in agriculture

CALENDAR OF EVENTS Nov. 5

State Resolutions Meeting MFBF Building, Jackson

Dec. 5-7

MFBF Annual Meeting Hilton Hotel, Jackson

Jan. 10-13

AFBF Annual Meeting Seattle, Washington

Jan. 26

Winter Commodity Conf.

Row Crops and Aquaculture MFBF Building, Jackson

Jan. 27

Winter Commodity Conf.

Livestock and Forestry MFBF Building, Jackson

Feb. 1-3

Member Tour of the Capital Washington, DC NOVEMBER/DECEMBER

WORKS NIGHT AND DAY. UH, WE’RE TALKIN’ ABOUT THE TRUCK. $

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*Must be a Farm Bureau member for at least 30 days. Contact your local Farm Bureau office for details. †See your dealer for a copy of this Limited Warranty. Farm Bureau is a federally registered collective membership and a registered service mark of the American Farm Bureau Federation and is being used by Dodge under license from the American Farm Bureau Federation. Cummins is a registered trademark of Cummins, Inc.

COMMODITY UPDATE

Doug Rogers

Jon Kilgore

BEEF

Beef Industry Checkup By: Doug Rogers, MFBF Beef Advisory Committee Chair Jon Kilgore, MFBF Commodity Coordinator for Beef

The old saying goes that the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. Objective analysis of today’s livestock sector requires the ability to tell the difference between a symptom and the root problem. Let’s take our trusty medical bag and give the beef industry a checkup.

Beef suffers from a long-term export setback – a 5½-year-old BSE hangover. Lost export markets have never been fully regained, but it sure hasn’t been for a lack of trying by this organization and many others. To be sure, no one is looking at a business that has reduced cattle numbers since the late 1970s and suggesting that producers cut herd sizes back. Drought, land-use changes, aging producers, soaring input prices, and profitability have taken care of that just fine over the years.

To be sure, the economic slowdown at home has affected beef demand to a greater degree than pork or poultry. Restaurant demand at the higher end of the spectrum just plain died. White tablecloth establishments are key to supporting loin and rib markets for Prime and upper Choice product. When folks became unsure as to their future income streams, they curtailed restaurant spending significantly, beginning almost two full years ago.

According to a tracking survey of its members conducted by the National Restaurant Association, the outlook improved in July for the first time in three months. Looking inside their survey numbers yields this interesting fact: When asked whether they expect higher or lower sales volume in six months, 31% said higher while 33% said lower same-store sales. However, when asked about change in “general economic conditions” in six months, 32% said things would be better and only 24% said worse.

When 33% believe their sales will be down in six months while almost the same proportion thinks the economy will actually be better, it reveals restaurant operators have paid attention to consumer behavior for the past two-plus years. Even when the “green shoots” come up, folks are holding onto their nickels and pennies for the inevitable rainy day. Bad news for restaurateurs remains bad news for the beef business.

Still, there have been bright spots in the cattle/beef complex.

Black ink has made a dramatic reappearance on many feed yard closeout statements. Less expensive feed fed to less expensive feeder steers has gee-hawed nicely with an upward trend in fed cattle prices. In fact, many feeders actually had opportunities from

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mid-June through mid-August to go to the futures and lock-in prices above expected breakevens for fall closeouts. This is a truly shocking development considering where we have been for so much of 2009.

Cow-calf operators are wondering when these few positive developments are going to start trickling down to their level. Hay supplies remain tight across most of cow country, and drought has intensified to record levels across much of Texas. Calf prices remain below 2008 levels across most of the country, reflecting continued concerns about beef demand and the inevitable effect of billions of dollars in lost equity at the feeding level. Our optimism is in short supply for a fall rally at the auctions, on the video, and in the country this fall, but we are still set up, supply-wise, for great prices when (1) our economy and (2) everyone else’s economies improve.

As far as the export market is concerned, we find the spring doldrums extending over into the summer. Through June (the last month for which we have government data), beef and beef variety meats were down only 2% in volume but 6% in value. However, if you want to know how important the return of the Republic of Korea to the beef import game has been, consider this: If you take Korea out of the mix, U.S. beef exports would have been off 8% in volume and a full 12% in value rather than 2% and 6%, respectively. June itself was an awful month, beef was down 16%.

We will come back for our yearly checkup and discuss where inventories actually went, whether we killed too many cows, whose elections hurt our exports and whose elections helped, and numerous questions from the markets. What is actually less certain than what the markets will bring us is what will political change bring?

The Justice Department (DOJ) and USDA jointly announced they will hold public workshops in early 2010 to address concentration issues in the agricultural sector. Some of the issues likely to be discussed are quite familiar to us livestock folks: “market practices such as price spreads, forward contracts, packer ownership of livestock before slaughter, market transparency and increasing retailer concentration.”

A fresh look at market organization, continued debate on health care and climate change…these are just another few things we have to pay attention to while we’re trying to make a living raising cattle.

This article was written by Jim Sartwell, III, AFBF Livestock Economist.

M I S S I S S I P P I FA R M C O U N T RY

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER

COMMODITY UPDATE

Max Anderson

Doug Ervin

DAIRY

Working to Help Our Dairy Industry Max Anderson, MFBF Dairy Advisory Committee Chair Doug Ervin, MFBF Commodity Coordinator for Dairy

In 2009, the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation Dairy Advisory Committee worked aggressively to aid the dairy industry in Mississippi. Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation (MFBF) remained at the forefront of this effort on behalf of all of our dairy producers.

The activities of the MFBF Dairy Advisory Committee in 2009 again focused on federal marketing orders, summer forages and supply management. Farm Bureau is working with surrounding states throughout the Southeast and in the West to find workable solutions to our dairy crisis, which entails high input costs, low farm gate market prices, and less exports of milk.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has put the Dairy Export Incentive Program (DEIP) into use after five years of inactivity. This is a program that subsidizes exports of milk products in order to move them outside of our borders. Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) had a herd retirement program in July, which retired 103,000 cows and 1.96 billion pounds of milk.

Our most recent buyout consisted of 87,000 cows being retired and 1.8 billion pounds of milk. This round, which is the CWT’s eighth herd retirement, also removed 3,104 bred heifers. The 294 farms have been tentatively accepted. Approximately 73 percent of the farms selected are located in the East and Midwest, while 70 percent of the cows are from the Western and Southwestern regions of the United States.

Our dairy industry is vital to our local economies throughout the state, with NOVEMBER/DECEMBER

our infrastructure already beginning to break down. Everyone needs to realize if nothing is done to save this local, fresh key ingredient, our overall healthy diet will suffer. Also, the consumers and citizens of the state of Mississippi will pay more for a gallon of milk at the retail level due to the increased cost to ship milk in from other states plus this milk will not be as fresh and wholesome for ourselves and our children

M I S S I S S I P P I FA R M C O U N T RY

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No Longer Row Crop King

Photo by Greg Gibson

By Glynda Phillips

Cotton can be an expensive and often difficult crop to grow. But Clint Tindall and Lonnie Fortner would jump at the chance to grow it again in large acreage, if only that were economically feasible.

The veteran Mississippi cotton farmers say the current price of cotton doesn’t make up for the higher cost of producing it. A recessive economy and high grain prices also make it a less attractive row crop choice right now.

“Dr. Will McCarty, a former longtime Mississippi State University cotton specialist, once said that cotton just gets in your blood,” Fortner said with a smile. “That’s certainly the case with me.

There’s nothing better than a field of good-looking cotton. I just can’t afford to grow it right now.”

Tindall agrees.

“I’m a cotton farmer through and through, but I have to pay the bills,” said the Webster County producer. “In recent years, my father and I made the decision to change our farming operations from 100 percent cotton to a mix of cotton, corn and soybeans. My father and I planted a total of 1200 acres of cotton this year compared to 2500 acres two years ago.”

peanuts and soybeans on their farm near Hermanville in Claiborne County. The farmers grew 600 acres of cotton this year compared to 2200 to 2700 acres two to three years ago. Fortner farms in partnership with J. O. (Joc) Carpenter and Bob and Emile Guedon.

Fortner and Tindall are among a growing number of farmers from across the nation who have cut back on cotton acreage in recent years. In 2009, our nation planted the lowest total cotton acreage since 1983, approximately 9.054 million acres. State farmers planted an estimated 284,000 acres of cotton, compared to about 1.2 million acres in 2006.

SMALL - TOWN ECONOMIES According to Dr. Steve Martin, Mississippi State University Ag Economist, Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville, the lower cotton acreage has hurt cities and small Mississippi towns in terms of available jobs for laborers, but has not significantly hurt overall economies because farmers are growing more corn and soybeans.

“The switch to grain has lessened the economic impact on our

“Dr. Will McCarty, a former longtime Mississippi State University cotton specialist, once said that cotton just gets in your blood,” Fortner said with a smile. “That’s certainly the case with me. There’s nothing better than a field of good-looking cotton. I just can’t afford to grow it right now.”

The change from cotton to grains wasn’t easy.

“My father and I decided to diversify our farms during a time when he was transferring a great deal of the responsibility over to me and after three years of drought,” Tindall said. “I talked with other grain producers about how they grow corn and soybeans, but I had to start from what they were telling me and figure out the best way to grow those crops in my area of the state.

“Once we got into harvest, I knew nothing about a combine and had to learn one mistake at a time,” he said. “I also had to learn how much to put on the hopper bottoms to keep them at the legal weight limit.

“We still grow some cotton with our grains because we are in the middle of a five-year drought. It’s difficult to irrigate in our area of the state, so it’s important to diversify,” he said. “Cotton takes stress well and comes out looking good.”

Fortner agrees. He and his partners rotate cotton with corn,

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER

cities and towns,” he said. “But unless things turn around, they will begin to feel the loss.

“Some gins have closed – Mississippi has about 71 gins now as compared to 89 in 2006 – but many are just waiting,” he said. “They are hoping to start back up again soon.”

Despite the current bleak picture, Martin believes that cotton acreage will eventually come back significantly.

“With the cuts in acreage and as the economy becomes healthier, we will see better prices,” he said. “I don’t know if we’ll ever get back to the acreage we planted prior to 2007 because we’ve gotten into growing grain crops. We won’t have the one-million-plus acres we saw before, but we will have substantial acreage within the next five years.

“We did such a good job and had some of the highest yields in the nation,” he added. “If we can ever get the price back up, we will be growing cotton here in Mississippi again.”

(Cont’d on page 10)

M I S S I S S I P P I FA R M C O U N T RY

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DIVERSIFICATION KEY “I can see myself planting more cotton,” Tindall said. “The population is growing, and we have to feed and clothe ourselves. Plus, I believe that the economy will turn around in time. Grain prices may have plateaued, so it may start looking better to grow more cotton.”

Fortner agrees that cotton will come back … sort of.

“I believe cotton will come back in large acreage in short spurts,” he said. “But the price of cotton is dictated by where the mills are, and the mills are no longer here. They are in foreign countries like China and India. I might be a little pessimistic, but I think the days of big cotton acreage are gone.”

“Diversification has now become important in Mississippi,” he said. “It’s what has saved us in recent years, and I don’t see farmers changing too much in the future.” FC

Soybeans have taken cotton’s place as Mississippi’s number one row crop with approximately 2.2 million acres in 2009. Corn acreage totaled about 800,000 acres. Peanuts are being added to a growing number of diversified farms. Total acreage this year is about 21,000 acres. Pictured on this page in a cotton field are MFBF Cotton Advisory Committee Chair Clint Tindall and his wife Kristy, their son, Connor, 5; daughter, Emma, 4; son, Baylor, 3 months; and Clint’s parents, Butch and Sharon. Also on this page is MFBF Peanut Advisory Committee Vice Chair Lonnie Fortner holding peanuts. On page 8, Lonnie is pictured with soybeans and Butch is shown with corn.

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M I S S I S S I P P I FA R M C O U N T RY

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER

Diversity is Key for KBH

By Glynda Phillips

D

iversity has proven to be an important key to the continued success of KBH Corporation of Clarksdale, especially during times of significant agricultural change.

In its early years, this family-owned company made a name for itself selling fertilizer and cotton equipment exclusively. But modifications in cotton pickers, along with a sharp downturn in cotton acreage and an equally sharp upturn in soybean and corn production in recent years, led this longtime cotton agribusiness to begin to also manufacture and sell grain equipment, not only in Mississippi but throughout the U.S., from coast to coast.

“Our business grew up around cotton. All we handled for many years was cotton and fertilizer From left, Buddy Bass, President, Lonnie Williams, Distribution Manager, and Tim Tenhet, equipment,” said Buddy Bass, President of KBH Director of Marketing, KBH Corporation of Clarksdale Corporation. “Through the 1990s, we were feeling very proud of our popular cotton module builder and cotton cart when cotton pickers suddenly began being increasingly innovative equipment, KBH expanded its market to built with on-board module builders. At that point, we realized that serve farmers across the nation. In the mid-1980s, the company we were too dependent on one crop. We knew that we would need began manufacturing liquid fertilizer application equipment, and in the late 80s, KBH added a module builder and cotton cart to its to diversify.”

When farmers began growing corn in large acreage in the product line.

“By the mid-90s, we were adding equipment lines and searching early-1990s, KBH added dry fertilizer handling equipment to its product line. In 2002-2003, when soybean acreage increased for niche markets, and cotton acreage was booming in the Mid substantially, the company saw bulk seed handling and treatment of South,” Buddy said. “Our company was hitting one of the many peaks it has experienced through the years when modifications to seed becoming prominent.

“We were already manufacturing hoppers and using related cotton pickers caused us to stop and think hard about what we components so we realized that it was a natural to manufacture bulk were doing.”

“We always assumed that the new module devices on cotton seed tendering equipment,” said Tim Tenhet, Director of Marketing, KBH Corporation. “Farmers and fertilizer, seed and chemical pickers would result in the decline of our cotton equipment dealers were already our market, and this served to further diversify business,” Tim said. “But one of the keys to our long- term success has been flexibility and adaptability, and our new Hopper Bottom our product line.”

Grain Trailer is a great example of this. Future changes in the U. S. ag industry are certain, and we must see these challenges SOME HISTORY KBH started out in 1951 selling anhydrous ammonia applicators. as opportunities.”

At that time, it was owned by Buddy’s grandfather, B. Bass, and two other businessmen, Doc Kirby and Duff Holcomb. A year or DIVERSIFICATION IS KEY “The perfect farm is the one that’s diversified,” Buddy said. two later, Kirby and Holcomb sold out of the business and Bass “Whereas, 15 years ago, the perfect Delta farm would have been took control.

In the 1960s, Bass’s son Hamp, a Delta row crop farmer, began 100 percent cotton, today that perfect farm is split equally between working at KBH, and the company started manufacturing cotton corn, cotton and soybeans.

“That’s the way we are at KBH Corporation. We’re as diversified trailers. By the early 1970s, Hamp was running the company and was manufacturing the Roundup Wick Bar, a friction applicator to as we’ve ever been,” he said. “We’re set up for just about anything as long as farmers are farming. That sounds easy, but it is not rid fields of Johnson grass.

During those years of serving the cotton industry with a given.”

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER

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V

By Glynda Phillips

eteran farmer John Abney of Rolling Fork never thought he’d one day consider getting out of the farm-raised catfish business. But in recent years, that seems to be exactly where he’s headed. A couple of years ago, Abney began draining his ponds– not because he doesn’t enjoy raising catfish and not because he doesn’t take great pride in the industry. He simply can’t make a living growing catfish anymore.

“Back in the late 1970s, we were receiving around 55 to 65 cents a pound for our fish, and that was a good price,” Abney said. “Now, we are getting 80 cents a pound, and that won’t cover our cost of growing them anymore.

“The cost of feed, fuel, utilities and all other inputs keeps going up,” he explained. “Before, we could manage the higher input costs. Now, we can’t recoup what we’ve put into our fish because of these higher costs and because of competition from cheaper fish. We invest a lot of time and effort into this process, and we still can’t make any money. It’s reached the point where it’s just not satisfying anymore.”

At the industry’s peak in 2001, Mississippi boasted about 116,000 water acres of catfish ponds, primarily in Humphreys and Sunflower counties.

Now, that number has fallen to about 70,000 water acres.

SUPER EFFICIENT Abney says Carter Brothers Farms grows about 6400 acres of row crops and, at present, about 360 water acres of farm-raised catfish each year.

“At our largest, we had 820 water acres of fish,” Abney said, standing on the levy of one of his drained ponds.

“Now, we have drained about 56 percent of what we once farmed.

“We’re trying to decide what we will do with the empty ponds. We keep going back and forth between row crops and the Conservation Reserve

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M I S S I S S I P P I FA R M C O U N T RY

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER

CHALLENGING TIMES FOR

CATFISH Program,” he said. “We’ve planted soybeans on some of the land that was former catfish ponds, and the beans have done really well.

It is very fertile land. But we may decide to convert some of the drained ponds to CRP, also.”

In the 1990s, the U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish Industry experienced dramatic growth. But by the early 2000s, overproduction, coupled with competition from cheaper fish like tilapia and imported catfish-like fish such as basa, ushered in a time of downturn and change. Higher input costs and a recessive economy in more recent years have also hurt the industry.

Abney says that Carter Brothers Farms has been able to survive these changes by being diversified and by becoming super efficient.

“I’ve cut the stocking rate (number of catfish per acre) in our ponds down real low so that I haven’t needed to buy fingerlings for three years,” he said. “I haven’t purchased any equipment because of the surplus from the drained ponds, and we haven’t spent a lot of money keeping up the levy roads.

“I believe that all of the farmers who are still in the business are super efficient managers. Their desire is to stay in the fish business as long as they can,” he added.

THE FUTURE If Carter Brothers Farms drains all of its catfish ponds, Abney will farm row crops. Row crop production is managed by his brother-in-law, Clark Carter, and his cousin, Gip Carter. His father-in-law, Jimmy Dick Carter, and Jimmy Dick’s brother, Lawrence, founded Carter Brothers Farms in the early 1940s.

They are semi-retired now and not active in the day-to-day decision-making process.

“I hope we can hang onto what’s left of our ponds,” Abney said.

“We have enough fish to stock the remaining ponds for one more year, and I have a very good work force.

“I truly believe that there will always be a market for farm-raised catfish,” he added. “It’s a delicious, healthy product that is grown in clean freshwater ponds and fed a high-quality protein feed. I hope there will always be farmers growing farm-raised catfish because I believe there will always be people wanting to buy it.”

According to experts at the Thad Cochran National Warmwater Aquaculture Center in Stoneville, our nation’s growing population plus the growing demand for healthy food and the depletion of fish from the sea, have people looking to farm-raised fish to fill that need.

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“The farm-raised catfish industry is still by far the largest aquaculture industry in the U.S. – twice as big as trout,” said Dr. Craig Tucker, Director of the Thad Cochran National Warmwater Aquaculture Center. “Farm-raised catfish is important to the agricultural industry across the Southeast and ranks fifth in Mississippi in importance.

“The industry has experienced a significant downturn, but it is still a very important part of the economy,” he said. “Because of the processing facilities still in operation and because the industry needs seining equipment and fingerlings, farm-raised catfish is still an important part of the employment picture.”

“We don’t know what the future holds for our farm-raised catfish industry, but in the short-term, I think we will continue to see reductions in acreage and fewer farms devoted solely to catfish production,” said Dr. Jimmy Avery, Extension Aquaculture Leader, Thad Cochran National Warmwater Aquaculture Center. “It’s just an economic reality that those farmers who want to continue to grow catfish will need to diversify. For example, some farmers are growing row crops along with their catfish ponds and some are leasing their ponds for duck and dove hunting.

“As water acreage declines, the amount of catfish available to processors will become tight and prices will rise,” he said. “If the American consumer wants to continue to have access to this product, he or she will pay a higher price for it at the retail level.

“On the positive side, I think we have some opportunities, if we can reduce the pressure from cheap imports and receive true market value for our fish.”

A GOOD LIFE Abney appreciates the help the U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish Industry receives from experts at Stoneville, the Catfish Institute, the Catfish Farmers of Mississippi, the Catfish Farmers of America and the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation. Furthermore, he believes that the Country of Origin Labeling law – and getting the law enforced into all areas of sales, from the wholesale to the retail level – should help to educate consumers about where the fish they are purchasing was grown.

“I enjoy growing catfish and contributing a healthy product to the marketplace,” Abney said. “I hope that things turn around for the industry, but whatever might happen, this has been a very satisfying life.” FC

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A Niche Market

By Glynda Phillips

Billy Ray Brown became a dairyman this summer. At a time when our nation is losing its dairies, Billy Ray has settled in for the long haul. He says he can make money dairying or else he’d be doing something else with his time and money. So what’s his secret?

Billy Ray isn’t a commercial dairyman with hundreds of cows that produce thousands of gallons of milk each year marketed either independently or through a large dairy cooperative. No, Billy Ray owns only six Jersey

The Oxford beef cattle and hay farmer, who also owns a small fence company, milks his cows twice a day then pasteurizes and bottles the milk in ½-gallon and 1-gallon glass containers. He sells his products through local farmers markets, to mom and pop grocery stores, and out of a cooler on his farm. He also sells to three area restaurants.

“I got the idea for this from noticing the number of supermarkets that are selling organic milk,” he said.

“We are amazed at how many of our customers want to form relationships with us. They want to know the people who grow their food,” he said cows that produce a total of 30 gallons of milk a day that’s marketed primarily through area farmers markets.

“We target farmers markets and sell off our farm,” he said. “In doing so, we cut out the processor and the grocery store. We control our market and get a good price for our product. Plus, we are reminiscent of the good old days, and that appeals to today’s consumers.”

“The dairy manager at one of the larger stores said he’d never seen a niche market grow like the organic milk market has grown in recent years.

“I was also hearing that local farmers markets were clamoring for farm fresh milk,” he added. “My milk is not organic, but it is pasteurized and sold right off the farm. I thought that was one niche market I could fill.”

(Cont’d on page 16)

Billy Ray serves on the Lafayette County Farm Bureau Board of Directors. He is the son of critically-acclaimed Mississippi writer, the late Larry Brown, who wrote a book of essays dedicated to him entitled “Billy Ray’s Farm.”

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GETTING STARTED In getting started, Billy Ray did his homework and worked closely with experts at Mississippi State University. He also bought his Jersey cows from veteran dairyman Bradley Taylor of Prentiss County, who has been featured in a past issue of our magazine.

Billy Ray says it took him a year and a half to build his dairy and processing facility because he worked on it a little at a time, as he was able to save up money.

“I looked at a bunch of older dairies built in the 60s and started out with a flat barn,” he said. “But then I found a double-four herringbone parlor in Pontotoc County and was able to fit one side of it inside the flat barn.

“I bought a used 300-gallon milk tank in Union County, and I bought a brand new pasteurizer,” he said. “I hired a company in Canada to design the glass milk bottles. We sanitize the bottles and use them over and over. Our customers swap out bottles and pay for just the milk. Or if they forget to return their bottles, they pay for new bottles in addition to the milk.”

FAMILY FARM The Brown dairy is a true family farming operation. Billy Ray’s wife Paula and his mother Mary Annie take turns milking if Billy Ray has business elsewhere. His mother and mother-in-law, Martha Klepzig, sell milk at the Oxford Farmers Market, while Billy Ray, his wife and three kids, Molly, 7, Sarah, 5, and Harris, 2, sell at a farmers market in Taylor.

“We are amazed at how many of our customers want to form relationships with us. They want to know the people who grow their food,” he said. “I’ve invited several of them to visit our farm, and people come out almost daily with their kids. They want their children to know where their milk comes from, and I want people to see that my dairy is very clean and efficient.

“We have customers who want us to start a delivery route, and we might do that sometime in the future,” he added. “But right now, we’re still growing and figuring out what we want to do next.

“I love farming,” he concluded. “Filling this niche market is very satisfying and helps me diversify my operation.” FC

Brown Family Dairy

Billy Ray and Paula Brown are shown in front of their dairy barn and processing facility with their children Molly, 7, Sarah, 5 and Harris, 2

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By Glynda Phillips

Mississippi’s dairy numbers continue to decline. Over the past decade, several hundred dairies have closed, and more dairy producers are expected to exit the industry in the near future as profit margins continue to erode. Down from approximately 350 dairies in 1999, the state can now only claim about 149 Grade A dairy farms, as recorded in December 2008. Mississippi State University Extension Dairy Specialist Lamar Adams says this downturn is reflected not only here in Mississippi but throughout the Southeast and across the nation as a whole. It is due, he says, to pure economics.

“Milk prices have fluctuated wildly in the last 20 years,” he said.

“They tend to fall much more quickly than they rise, and it’s hard to plan for the future. In 2007-2008, we had record high milk prices but also record high input costs. Dairy farmers enjoyed the high prices, but milk was more costly to produce so producers didn’t have much net gain.”

The recession has also hurt.

“There’s not as much demand for milk products, and the bottom has fallen out of milk prices,” Adams said.

Hurricane Katrina dealt a devastating blow to dairy producers in our state’s southern counties in 2005. Many dairies immediately shut down, while others sustained serious damage.

An aging population of dairymen has only complicated matters here in Mississippi.

“Among the 140 or so dairy producers operating in Mississippi today, the average age is probably in the late 50s to mid-60s,” Lamar said. “There are some older dairy farmers but not many younger farmers.

“It is a tough financial crisis we are experiencing now and few dairy producers have children or grandchildren who want to take over,” he said. “Some dairy farmers who have been in the business for 40 to 50 years say they’ve never experienced a crisis of this magnitude before.

“Our dairy farmers are averaging a loss of $3 to $7 per cow per day,” he said. “They can’t do that for very long without dipping into and eventually depleting their savings. It is time to be establishing cool season annual grasses and small grains for winter grazing, but many dairy producers find themselves short of funds to plant. Many farmers are short on operating capital and are having difficulty in securing loans. If something doesn’t change in the next few months, several more dairymen will be forced to cut their losses and sell out of business.

“If more jobs were available, more dairy farmers would be out today,” he added. “The availability of health insurance is a crucial issue. Most dairy producers are members of a cooperative, which offers health insurance to members. Many producers have legitimate concerns about being able to secure affordable insurance coverage if they exit the dairy business.”

As Mississippi and the Southeast lose their local milk supply, more milk will be transported cross-country to processing facilities in our area. This will increase the cost of milk to the consumer, and consumers will also probably notice a loss of freshness and reduced shelf life of milk and other dairy products.

“We need to do everything we possibly can to maintain our dairy industry to provide consumers high-quality, locally-produced dairy products,” Adams said. “One way of doing this is through producers placing greater emphasis on intensively managing their pastures and forage crops to support more cost-efficient milk production. This type of idea is fueled by the high cost of grain.

“Mississippi dairy farmers know how to grow grass, and they know how to manage cows to produce milk on grass,” he said. “We may see more dairy farms being established in our state as interest increases among investors from countries like New Zealand, where dairy farmers effectively utilize intensively-managed pastures. In fact, several investors have expressed genuine interest in developing pasture-based dairy farms in Mississippi – to be operated similarly to New Zealand grazing dairies.

“And that brings up another issue. Several states have tax incentives and other lucrative benefits designed to recruit dairy producers from other areas to relocate there,” he said.

“Mississippi doesn’t have that yet.”

As a result of efforts by Farm Bureau, Dairy Farmers of America, National Milk Producers Federation and other ag groups to seek immediate financial assistance on the federal level for dairy farmers, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsak announced relief in July by raising the price of milk through the Dairy Product Price Support Program.

“Unfortunately, this might be too little too late for many producers,” Adams said. “Dairy farmers are also discussing the possibility of initiating a national milk supply management (milk quota) system.

“Dairy farmers have debated and discussed this issue for years without finding much common ground upon which to build,” he added. “If some sort of national supply management program is established, milk marketed by a producer during a specified time period will be established as his initial production base. He will be paid full market price for milk produced up to his established base level, with the pay price for milk production over his base being significantly discounted.”

“Such a system should provide more stability in milk prices in future years by discouraging huge herd expansion when prices return to more profitable levels,” he said. “But trying to get this type of system established and administered through USDA and trying to get a consensus on this among producers throughout the nation is a challenge. Then dairy producers and the industry have to get it approved in Congress, and that is another major task.”

“We need to do everything we possibly can to maintain our dairy industry to provide consumers high-quality, locally-produced dairy products”

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B

Photo courtesy of MSU Ag Communications

ack in the good old days, farmers markets (or fruit stands as they were often called) were a common sight along Mississippi’s rural highways and country roads. Then suddenly, they disappeared.

In recent years, the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce (MDAC) has begun working with rural communities and farmers to increase the number of farmers markets across our state. MDAC believes that farmers markets benefit everyone.

“Farmers markets are a great opportunity for farmers, both large and small, to sell at retail prices instead of wholesale,” said Andy Prosser, Director of Public Relations and Market Development, Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce. “This helps their bottom line because there’s no middleman that they have to pay.

“Farmers markets also appeal to consumers because of the public’s demand for safe and healthy food and their desire to know where their food is grown,” he added. “People want that connection. They want to trust the growers of their food.

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“Finally, farmers markets help the economies of our rural communities by serving as an added attraction in our cities and small towns.”

GROWING The number of farmers markets in Mississippi has grown from around 35-38 in 2002 to around 55-57 in 2009. More Mississippi farmers have increased their operations to provide for these markets.

“Our farmers markets sell all kinds of products, from produce to farm-raised eggs to pastured poultry and grass-fed beef,” Prosser said. “We are also selling value-added products like jams and jellies, pies and cakes.

“Farmers are seeing that they can make a good profit through a local farmers market,” he added. “Some are also doing well with U-pick operations and by selling to restaurants.

“We have local restaurants come down to the Mississippi Farmers Market in Jackson and fill orders with our farmers there,” he said, “They know that their customers are willing to pay more for products grown locally by people they trust.”

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WORKSHOPS Three years ago, MDAC, in cooperation with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, began conducting grower workshops across the state. These workshops specifically address fruit and vegetable production (including crops for different growing seasons, including fall crops); selling to farmers markets; and marketing and public relations.

“Thus far, we’ve held 15 workshops with approximately 800 attendees,” Prosser said. “There is a demand for this. Farmers see that they can make a good profit if they know how to market themselves.

“Because of these workshops, we are seeing growers extend the growing seasons for various crops, and we are seeing them try different crops and varieties,” he added. “They are also using marketing techniques they’ve never used before.”

By Glynda Phillips MISSISSIPPI INITIATIVE MDAC is in the second year of offering a Certified Farmers Market Program. This marketing initiative recognizes Mississippi farmers markets that have at least two Mississippi growers or more and sell at least 50 percent Mississippi-grown or made products.

This year, 17 farmers markets were certified through the program. Certified markets are eligible to receive funds for marketing and promotion that they can spend at their discretion. They are also recognized in the Mississippi Market Bulletin newspaper.

“We inspect every farmers market to certify that they meet the requirements of the Certified Farmers Market Program, and we stay in contact with their market managers on a regular basis,” Prosser said.

For more information about Mississippi farmers markets, contact Prosser at 601.359.1158 or andy@mdac.state.ms.us FC

Photos of Hitching Lot Farmers Market, Columbus, courtesy of Columbus Main Street & MDAC.

Growing Alternative Crops

E

By Glynda Phillips

dwin Harris has a plan. Alternative agricultural crops, like shiitake mushrooms, organic vegetables and Boer goats, will provide him with an additional source of retirement income both now and in the years to come.

The 72-year-old former New Orleans resident, who lives and farms on family land east of Lorman, has been growing shiitake mushrooms for three years. He successfully markets the mushrooms to restaurants in New Orleans, Natchez and Port Gibson, and he also sells through a farmers market in New Orleans.

“I met a guy 20 years ago in Florida who was making a good living growing button mushrooms,” Edwin said. “I kept that idea in the back of my mind until my circumstances allowed me to grow mushrooms on my own farm.”

MUSHROOM PRODUCTION Edwin has been assisted in his alternative agricultural pursuits by Alcorn State University’s (ASU) Small Farms Development Center.

“Ricky Johnson and Joe Buzhardt (retired ASU Specialty Mushroom Program Director) have helped me a lot with this,” he said. “I started using blocks of wood to grow my mushrooms after Joe came out and visited my farm. He saw that I was trying to grow them the hard way…on logs. Joe introduced me to experts at Alcorn State University, and I began to get better information and support.”

Edwin soon joined the Mississippi Natural Products cooperative, a group of professional, dedicated shiitake mushroom farmers with a central facility for processing and distribution in New Hebron. From the co-op, he obtains sterilized substrate blocks of hardwood sawdust enriched with nutrients and inoculated with shiitake mushroom spawn.

Mississippi Natural Products was formed seven years ago and now has 19 members. Grower members sell their mushrooms back to the co-op or through farmers markets and restaurants where they have cultivated their own markets. You will find Mississippi Natural Products mushrooms in some larger supermarkets and numerous high-end restaurants.

“I water and care for the wood, and when the mushrooms are the right size, I pick them, bag them, and they are ready to eat,” he said. “You don’t need to wash them or anything. It is a very clean process.”

Edwin is at his lowest level of production right now because he’s been helping to care for his brother, who is terminally ill.

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But he’s in the process of constructing two buildings that will be devoted exclusively to growing mushrooms. He plans to eventually grow 1,000 blocks of shiitake mushrooms a year. He says you can get six to seven crops out of each block of wood, and he will use the wood until everything is grown out of them. That translates into quite a few pounds of mushrooms.

“The market is there,” he said with confidence.

OTHER CROPS Edwin is also in the process of learning how to grow Boer goats and organic vegetables.

“I’ve had a number of siblings die from heart disease so I am dedicated to healthy food and healthy eating,” he said.

Through ASU, meat goat farmers in South Mississippi have formed a cooperative called Southwest Mississippi Meat Goat Producers.

Edwin has networked with cooperative members and plans to provide Boer goats for processing.

He is also attempting to learn how to grow organic vegetables. He had a good crop this past year, but experienced problems with deer eating his plants. He’s learning how to keep the deer out of his garden and is looking forward to growing 3 ½ acres of organic vegetables in the coming year.

“It looks like my retirement plan is going to work,” he said with a smile.

MORE INFORMATION For more information about growing shiitake mushrooms, organic vegetables and Boer goats, contact the Alcorn State University Small Farms Development Center at 601.877.6449 or write them at Alcorn State University, 1000 ASU Drive #1080, Alcorn State, Mississippi 39096.

For more information about the Mississippi Natural Products cooperative, a participant in the “Make Mine Mississippi” program, visit their Web site at www.NaturalMushrooms.com. You may also call them at 601.694.2893 or email them at info@naturalmushrooms.com.

FC

SOLVE THE MYSTERY

Which Copiah County town is known for the popular Tomato Festival held there each June?

Read the clues and make your guess.

Agriculture played an important role in the development of this town. Farmers grew cotton then switched to produce in the 19th century. In 1879, the first load of tomatoes was shipped out by rail, and the town eventually became known as the Tomatopolis or Tomato Capital of the World.

Cabbage was also grown and shipped in large quantity.

Name this town. Here are more clues.

SOME HISTORY This town was founded in 1820 by Rev. Elisha Lott, an itinerant Methodist minister. Rev. Lott gave the town its name after discovering cool, crystal-clear springs in the area.

The railroad came through in 1858, and the town began to prosper. Because it is the highest point between Memphis and New Orleans, this town became an important train stop. Lake Chautauqua was built by the railroad as a source of water to fuel steam engines.

In the late 1800s, this town became a premier location for shipping out vegetables. Around the turn of the 20th century, along the railroad tracks, you could see packing sheds for tomatoes, cabbage and other vegetables. After World War II, the trucking industry grew and produce farming declined.

This caused an abrupt drop in produce shipping.

Most of the sheds are gone now, but one former shed remains and is home to Kitchens Law Firm.

NAME THIS TOWN Today, this town boasts some 5,000 residents and many busy downtown shops. It is a popular bedroom community to Jackson, and several local industries provide employment opportunities.

Some of the industries include Kuhlman Electric, which makes transformers that are shipped all over the nation; Georgia Gulf in Gallman, which makes plastic pellets that are also shipped around the nation; and Sanderson Farms in Hazlehurst, which boasts a large hatchery and processing facility.

The Mississippi State University Truck Crops Experiment Station is located in this town.

This town has access to great fishing, hunting and other outdoor recreational opportunities. It is also the home of historic Chautauqua Park, a 74-acre site with wooded rolling hills, flowing springs and a 35-acre lake.

Chautauqua Park was established in 1872 as a

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Methodist religious retreat. In 1892, a Chautauqua Assembly was incorporated, and the grounds were renamed Chautauqua Park.

Chautauqua is an Indian word that means “a boy leading the blind.”

The Chautauqua Assembly remained active until 1917. During those years, noteworthy scholars, evangelists and actors of the period visited our mystery town. In 1909, delegates from five cities convened at the site of the park’s present amphitheater to form the first Mississippi Conference of Parents and Teachers Association (PTA).

In addition to a lake, Chautauqua Park boasts a Treetop Trail that takes hikers through an arboretum. It also has an Oriental Garden, a Memorial Garden, and the Tomato Museum.

The Tomato Museum was established so that the history of the area would not be lost. On display are antique farm equipment and other items that have been handed down from generation to generation. The museum also exhibits photos and other historical memorabilia related to our mystery town and its history, the park, area agriculture and the railroad.

Each year, people from all over the world visit Chautauqua Park and our mystery town. Name this town.

e-mail your guesses to FarmCountry@MSFB.com.

Please remember to include your name and address on the entry.

Visit our Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation Web site at www.msfb.com.

When all correct guesses have been received, we will randomly draw 20 names. These 20 names will receive a prize and will be placed in the hat twice.

At the end of the year, a winner will be drawn from all correct submissions. The winner will receive a Weekend Bed and Breakfast Trip, courtesy of the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation.

Families may submit only one entry. Federation staff members and their families are ineligible to participate in this contest.

The deadline for submitting your entry is November 30.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER The correct answer for the September/October solve the Mystery is Woodville.

CORRECT GUESSES Mail guesses to Solve the Mystery, Mississippi Farm Country, P. O. Box 1972, Jackson, MS 39215. You may also

Left page: Classes are still held in the historic high school building. Tomato artifacts are on display at the Tomato Museum. Below, Wisteria Inn Bed and Breakfast.

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BOARD TOURS CENTRAL MS RESEARCH AND EXTENSION CENTER The Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation Board of Directors and their spouses toured the facilities of the Central Mississippi Research and Extension Center (CMREC) as part of their August board meeting. CMREC, located in Raymond, provides oversight to a staff of state specialists from the Mississippi State University Extension Service and Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station (MAFES).

Tour participants visited the Brown Loam Branch Experiment Station in Raymond, which specializes in improving beef and forage systems and also studies cotton, soybean, corn, wheat, oats and conservation management, and the Truck Crops Branch Experiment Station in Crystal Springs, which serves an urban-rural area with research on both commercial and home garden fruit and vegetable crops.

The Coastal Plain Branch Experiment Station near Newton, also a part of CMREC, performs forage variety tests and small-game production studies. CMREC serves these counties: Adams, Amite, Claiborne, Copiah, Franklin, Hinds, Jefferson, Lawrence, Lincoln, Leake, Madison, Pike, Rankin, Scott, Simpson, Smith, Walthall, Warren, Wilkinson and Yazoo.

A special thanks to Dr. Dwayne Wheeler, head of CMREC, to his staff, and to MAFES Associate Director Dr. Reuben Moore.

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Enjoy A Holiday Classic

Red Wine Pan Sauce:

⁄2 cup finely chopped red onion ⁄4 cup dry red wine 1 can (13-3/4 to 14-1/2 ounces) ready-to-serve beef broth 2 T. unsalted butter, softened 2 T. all-purpose flour 1 3

Seasoning:

2 T. steak seasoning blend 2 t. dried oregano leaves 2 t. dried thyme leaves

Mississippi Beef Council (601) 353-4520

Brought to you by Mississippi beef producers through The BeefCheckoff

Herb-Seasoned Rib Roast with Red Wine Pan Sauce

Instruction: 1. Heat oven to 350°F. Combine seasoning ingredients; press evenly onto all surfaces of beef roast.

2. Place roast, fat side up, in shallow roasting pan. Insert ovenproof meat thermometer so tip is centered in thickest part of beef, not resting in fat or touching bone. Do not add water or cover. Roast in 350°F oven 1-3/4 to 2-1/4 hours for medium rare; 2-1/4 to 23/4 hours for medium doneness.

3. Remove roast when meat thermometer registers 135°F for medium rare; 150°F for medium. Transfer roast to carving board; tent loosely with aluminum foil. Let stand 15 to 20 minutes. (Temperature will coninue to rise about 10°F to reach 145°F for medium rare; 160°F for medium.)

4. Meanwhile prepare Red Wine Pan Sauce. Skim fat from pan drippings, reserving 1 tablespoon. Heat reserved 1 tablespoon fat in 3-quart saucepan over medium heat until hot. Add onion; cook and stir 1 to 2 minutes or until tender. Meanwhile place roasting pan over medium heat; add wine. Cook and stir 1 to 2 minutes or until browned bits attached to pan are dissolved. Add wine mixture and broth to onion in saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook 12 to 13 minutes or until reduced by about 1/3 (about 1-1/3 cups). Reduce heat to low. Combine butter and flour in small bowl until smooth. Whisk into wine sauce; cook and stir 1 minute or until sauce is thickened.

5. Carve roast into slices; season with salt, as desired. Serve with wine sauce.

Total recipe time: 2-1/4 to 3-1/4 hours - Makes 6 to 8 servings

For more recipes go to: www.BeefitsWhatsForDinner.com

COUNSELOR’S CORNER

RIGHTS AND FREEDOM Sam E. Scott, MFBF General Counsel

In the present, emotionally-charged debates over expanded or universal healthcare, there is the controversial question of whether Americans have a right to healthcare. This is, of course, an entirely different question from the affordability of such expanded coverage or whether the government is capable of administering such a program or even should attempt to do so.

Whether there is a right of citizens to adequate (which one assumes means competent and affordable) medical care, yet there seems to be little disagreement that healthcare has become unaffordable nor much about whether it is competent as compared to countries such as Great Britain or Canada, which have what is called socialized medicine. Quality is not a big issue, but the cost of it is.

The question of whether there is a right to healthcare is seemingly a moral and, perhaps, a legal question, rather than an economic issue. That this is a free country is a bedrock principle of American life. Even before our government was established, the Declaration of Independence, the core document of our democratic government, declared: We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

It is significant that happiness was not deemed an unalienable right, only the pursuit of happiness – the opportunity to seek it. By June 21, 1789, the required nine of 13 states had ratified the new Constitution, but not without controversy and not until the first 10 amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, were enacted in

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1791 did all states ratify it.

These amendments spelled out basic rights, including religion, speech, the press, to assemble, bear arms, be safe from unreasonable searches and seizures, not be deprived of life or liberty without due process of law, nor have property confiscated without just compensation, to a speedy trial by jury in criminal matters and confronting witnesses, and many more so well known but still subject of much litigation.

It is interesting to note that all of these fundamental rights are free and available to all American citizens except some convicted felons. They were expanded by later constitutional amendments adopted after the Civil War and in the early 20th century. Interestingly, none of these rights had to be purchased or were even available for purchase.

Often mentioned in the ongoing furor are Medicare, Medicaid and even Social Security. I am familiar with the first and last, and like others, I became eligible after decades of deductions from paychecks.

Medicaid is different. It is a government healthcare subsidy for people who qualify by being relatively poor, and is perhaps comparable to welfare, rent subsidies and food stamps, which help supply food and shelter but are generally considered to be a form of charity, not entitlement, the same as not being turned away from a hospital emergency room regardless of ability to pay. Healthcare as an entitlement is a recent issue.

If there is a right to healthcare, is it “unalienable,” is it free and should we compel healthcare givers to provide it to everyone? Government does set the rate of payment for Medicare and Medicaid, but healthcare providers are free to refuse to treat patients who pay for their care with these programs.

Should government force insurers to cover people they deem uninsurable? If so,

M I S S I S S I P P I FA R M C O U N T RY

We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. do they pass that cost on to their other insureds? Are healthcare providers free to determine what they charge for their services as do providers of shelter, food and gasoline?

No matter how one feels about whether this is a right or a privilege, the reality is that healthcare costs are not affordable to most citizens without some kind of insurance or subsidy, and unless significant changes are made, that will only get worse than the present 17% of our economy it costs.

It seems wrong for medical care to consume a life savings, but on the other hand, who would turn away a sick child whose parents cannot pay? Also, is it fair to charge a person who does not have health insurance more for the same services than someone who does have it?

There is no quick or easy solution.

Politics and emotion make answers more elusive and are natural enemies of logic, which seems to be on holiday.

Sam E. Scott is general counsel for Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation (MFBF) and practices law in the law firm of Samuel E. Scott, PLLC, in Jackson. The foregoing information is general in nature and is not intended as nor should be considered specific legal advice, nor to be considered as MFBF’s position or opinion.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER

2009 MFBF ANNUAL MEETING U.S. Senator Thad Cochran will address the opening General Session of the 88th Annual Meeting of the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation to be held Dec. 5-7 at the Hilton Hotel in Jackson. Dr. Samuel Marshall Gore, a noted Mississippi artist and adjunct professor of art at Mississippi College, will conduct the Sunday morning worship service.

Other highlights this year include the Farm Bureau General Store and Young Farmers and Ranchers Silent and Live auctions; State Talent and Miss Farm BureauMississippi contests; Safety, Environmental and Farm Bureau Issues conferences; Young Farmers and Ranchers State Discussion Meet and State Achievement Award activities; and the Women’s Recognition Breakfast and Business Session.

Annual meeting activities will close Monday with the Business Session, where policy will be determined for the coming year and elections will be held for directors

from odd-numbered districts.

Here is how the schedule looks at presstime: SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5 Registration - 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

YF&R Silent Auction - 7 a.m.-9 p.m.

Farm Bureau General Store - 7 a.m.- 9 p.m.

9 a.m. - Talent & Mississippi Farm BureauMississippi Barbie Bassett, MC 2 p.m.-2:30 p.m. - General Session Senator Thad Cochran 3:30-4:30 p.m. - Safety Conference Defensive Driving 4:30-5:30 p.m. - Invasive Species (Feral Hogs) Conference SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6 Registration - 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

YF&R Silent Auction - 7 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

Farm Bureau General Store - 9:30 a.m.- 9 p.m.

7 a.m. - Women’s Recognition Breakfast

9:30 a.m. - Women’s Business Session 10:45 a.m. -Worship Service, Dr. Sam Gore 2 p.m. - County Recognition Program 4 p.m. - Farm Bureau Issues Conference 6:30 p.m. - General Session YF&R Discussion Meet Finals YF&R Achievement Award Program MONDAY, DECEMBER 7 8 a.m. - Business Session Election of DirectorsDistricts 1, 3, 5,7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19 Election of State Women’s Chair & Vice Chair Election of Regional Women’s Chairs, Regions 2, 4, 6, 8 Announcement of Voting Delegates to AFBF Annual Meeting Announcement of Women’s Voting Delegates to AFBF Annual Meeting Recognition of Outgoing Directors Installation of 2010 Board of Directors

Make The Connection Long-distance state-to-state rates are only 4.9¢ per minute Local in-state calls are only 6.9¢ per minute (Save even more wth the EZDIAL plan-4.9¢ per minute) Calling Cards are only 8.9¢ a minute state-to-state Monthly Fee is only $1.50 Incremental Billing at 6 seconds Fill out the form below and start saving TODAY!

Call toll-free 1-800-362-FARM Contact your state office or visit www.countryconnect.us for more information

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M I S S I S S I P P I FA R M C O U N T RY

MAKE THE CONNECTION 1-800-362-FARM

27

RECIPES CATFISH BREAD

IRON SKILLET CHOCOLATE PIE

1 loaf French bread 4-5 catfish fillets ½ c. margarine, melted ½ c. mayonnaise 6 green onions, chopped 1 (4-oz.) can chopped black olives ½ tsp. garlic powder 1 c. mozzarella cheese, grated 1 c. cheddar cheese, grated

2 c. sugar 4 T. cocoa ½ c. flour 4 egg yolks 2 c. milk 1 stick butter, softened 1 T vanilla

Season fish with liquid smoke, salt, pepper, soy sauce and Creole seasoning and broil until fish flakes. Mix all other ingredients in a bowl and stir in chopped fish. Cut French bread lengthwise and spread the fish mixture over bread. Put on a cookie sheet and cover with a foil tent. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Slice in strips and serve.

Mix sugar, cocoa and flour. Add milk, beaten eggs and butter. Cook in iron skillet on top of stove until thick. Stir non-stop. Remove from heat once thick and stir in vanilla. Pour into baked pie shell and add meringue if desired.

Melanie Wood Itawamba County

Wanda Hill Humphreys County these recipes were taken from “country cooking, Volume iV,” which is available at most county Farm bureau offices. the cost is $15. if you order from the state office, it will cost you $15 plus postage.

For more information, contact Women’s Program coordinator clara bilbo at 1.800.227.8244, ext. 4245.

SPINACH MADELEINE 2 (10-oz) pkgs. frozen chopped spinach 4 T. margarine 2 T chopped onion 2 T. flour ½ c. evaporated milk ½ c. liquid from spinach 6 oz. jalapeno cheese 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce 1/4 tsp. black pepper ¾ tsp. garlic salt ¾ tsp. celery salt Dash of red pepper ½ tube Ritz crackers, crushed 1 T. margarine, melted

FLEET VEHICLES FOR SALE

Cook spinach according to package directions. Drain and reserve cooking liquid. Melt margarine over low heat. Add onions to margarine and sauté until soft. Stir in flour. Cook until smooth and thick. Add liquids slowly, stirring to avoid lumps. Add cut-up cheese and seasonings, stirring until cheese melts. Fold in spinach. Place in casserole dish and sprinkle topping with Ritz crackers mixed with melted margarine. Heat at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until bubbly.

Pauline McMahan Forrest County 28

If you are interested in a used federation vehicle, please visit our Web site at www.msfb.com for more information. Click on the About Us link, then click the Fleet Vehicles for Sale on the drop down menu or contact Merlene Partridge at 1.800.227.8244, ext. 4233. These vehicles are late model, usually one - two years old. NADA retail, wholesale, and loan values are used to calculate price.

M I S S I S S I P P I FA R M C O U N T RY

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER

USE YOUR BRAIN. GET THE BRAWN. L>C 6 C:L 9D9<: G6B 6I I=: NDJC< ;6GB:G G6C8=:G 8DBE:I>I>DCH# Most accolades come in the form of flimsy ribbons or cheap pieces of plastic. The American Farm Bureau FederationÂŽ Young Farmer & Rancher competitions give you the chance to win a legendary Dodge truck. Show off your agricultural know-how at the National Convention in Seattle, WA, January 10â&#x20AC;&#x201C;13, 2010, and you could win a brand new 2010 Dodge Ram. The contest is open to all Young Farmer & Rancher members, so contact your local Farm Bureau for all entry details. For more information about Dodge Ram trucks, visit dodge.com or call 800-4ADODGE. Farm Bureau is a federally registered collective membership and a registered service mark of the American Farm Bureau Federation.

Dodge is a registered trademark of Chrysler Group LLC.

FARM BUREAU

EVENTS

Members of the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation Young Farmers and Ranchers State Committee spent the weekend touring Mississippi State University research activities at the Coastal Research and Extension Center in Biloxi. Part of the tour included a visit to Rocky Creek Nursery.

The 2009 Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation Youth Safety Seminar was held in July at Timber Creek Camp in Scott County.

Approximately 47 students from across the state participated in training sessions that included CPR, Electrical Safety, ATV Safety, Fatal Vision and Tractor Safety. Students also enjoyed the Ropes Challenge Course and other fun activities. Make plans now for next year’s seminar to be held June 14-17.

Soybean grading clinics were held this summer in four locations across the state. The clinics provided hands-on training and education about the grading process for Mississippi soybeans and were sponsored by the Mississippi Soybean Promotion Board, Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce, Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation, Delta Council, Mississippi Soybean Association and Mississippi State University Extension Service.

30

Jan Holley of Itawamba County participated in the 2009 Farm Bureau Women’s Communications Boot Camp held in Washington, D.C. this summer. Women took part in media training exercises and a mock testimony before lawmakers. They also learned how to master the preparation and presentation of public speaking.

She is pictured with MFBF President David Waide and MFBF State Women’s Committee Chair Dott Arthur.

M I S S I S S I P P I FA R M C O U N T RY

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER

2009-2010 Young Farmers & Ranchers Foundation Recipients

Christopher Baker of Calhoun County $1,000 Hugh Arant Scholarship

Jason Camp of Calhoun County $2,000 YF&R Scholarship

Tyler Flowers of Oktibbeha County $2,000 YF&R Scholarship

Emily Irwin of Carroll County $2,000 YF&R Scholarship

Ben Ruscoe of Lafayette County $2,000 YF&R Scholarship

Kaleb Smith of Greene County $1,000 Don Waller Scholarship

2009-2010 Berta Lee White Scholarship Recipients

Kristy Mayo of Neshoba County $2,000 Berta Lee White Scholarship NOVEMBER/DECEMBER

Jennifer Kelly Williams of Hinds County $2,000 Berta Lee White Scholarship M I S S I S S I P P I FA R M C O U N T RY

31

Give Students a Gift that Keeps Giving Christmas is a time of giving.

At the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation Annual Meeting in December, you will have several great opportunities to do your Christmas shopping, while helping a good cause. The Young Farmers and Ranchers Program will again host silent and live auctions and the Women’s Program will host the Farm Bureau General Store.

Proceeds from these events will help students with tuition costs.

This year, the Young Farmers and Ranchers Scholarship Foundation awarded $10,000 in scholarships to deserving college students. The Women’s Program awarded the $2,000 Berta White Scholarship to two female college students (See page 31).

Remember to bring your checkbook to annual meeting. Do your Christmas shopping and give our ag students a gift that keeps on giving.

For more information, contact Young Farmers and Ranchers Coordinator Greg Shows at 601.977.4277 or Women’s Program Coordinator Clara Bilbo at 601.977.4245.

32

M I S S I S S I P P I FA R M C O U N T RY

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER

ADDING VALUE TO YOUR MEMBERSHIP

By Greg Gibson/Director, MFBF Member Services If I told you that you could save hundreds of dollars on products and services that you use every day, would you be interested to find out how? Of course you would! Your membership in Farm Bureau costs you only a few dollars each year, but that fee allows you to participate in many Member Benefit programs that can save you hundreds, perhaps thousands, of dollars.

Farm Bureau has signed agreements with many partner companies to provide products and services to Farm Bureau members at a discount. All of these services are available to you as a member, and all you have to do is provide your membership number or the special Farm Bureau code that is associated with that particular program.

Rental Cars: Farm Bureau has agreements with six major car rental companies to save you money when you need to rent a car. Enterprise, Alamo, National, Hertz, Avis, and Budget all provide Farm Bureau members with certain discounts. Each company has certain restrictions so check out the Farm Bureau Web site to find out contact information for each company.

Industrial Supplies: Grainger, Inc., America's largest supplier of industrial supplies, offers more than 500,000 parts and supplies at a discounted rate to Mississippi Farm Bureau members. Grainger offers an efficient solution to the need for a speedy and consistent supply of electric motors and other electrical equipment as well as painting, cleaning and other supplies. Members may order supplies online, by phone, fax, or by visiting your local Grainger branch.

Child Safety Seats: According to Mississippi law, all children under the age of 4 must be protected by a child passenger restraint device or system. All children who are between the ages of 4 and 7 and are less than 4 feet 9 inches tall or weigh less than 65 pounds must be protected by properly using a belt positioning booster seat system. Farm Bureau offers a child safety seat for $25 and a booster seat for $15.

For more information on these and all of the other Member Benefit programs, visit our Web site at www.msfb.com and click on the Member Benefits link. Or you can call Farm Bureau’s Member Benefits Coordinator Dedra Luke at 601.977.4169.

Win a New Dodge Ram at the YF&R Competitions Most accolades come in the form of flimsy ribbons or cheap pieces of plastic…but the American Farm Bureau Federation’s® Young Farmer and Rancher competitions give you the chance to win a legendary Dodge truck.

Show off your agricultural know-how at the National Convention in Seattle, WA, Jan.10-13, 2010, and you could win a brand new Dodge Ram. The contest is open to all Young Farmer & Rancher members, so contact your local Farm Bureau® for all entry details.

For more information about Dodge Ram trucks, visit dodge.com or call 800-4ADODGE. For information about the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation Young Farmers and Ranchers (YF&R) contests, which also offer great prizes, contact YF&R Coordinator Greg Shows at 1.800.227.8244, ext. 4277.

Farm Bureau is a federally registered collective membership and a registered service mark of the American Farm Bureau Federation. Dodge is a registered trademark of Chrysler LLC. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER

M I S S I S S I P P I FA R M C O U N T RY

33

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