Leaders from Missouri’s primary commodity teams will testify earlier than the Joint Committee on Agriculture Tuesday afternoon in Jefferson Metropolis. The listening to Shall start at 1 On the Statehouse.

Joint Committee on Agriculture Chairman State Rep. Mike Haffner (R-Nice Hill) speaks on the Missouri House flooring in Jefferson Metropolis on April 28, 2021 (file photograph courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Committee Chairman State Rep. Mike Haffner (R-Nice Hill) says the committee Shall be taking a “30,000 foot view” of the financial influence of Missouri agriculture, and on The drawback of environmental stewardship.

“President Garrett Hawkins from the Missouri Farm Bureau Shall be tright here, Casey Wasser for the Missouri Soybeans, Mike Deering from the (Missouri) Cattlemen (Affiliation), Don Nikodim from Missouri Pork Assocation,” Haffner says.

Missouri Farm Bureau is the state’s largest widespread farm group. Wasser, Deering and Nikodim Shall be recurrenting their associations, and the Missouri Hemp Affiliation Can additionally testify.

Haffner says the committee Shall be discussing conventional agricultural factors on Tuesday.

“We’re going To primarytain Completely on this meeting, this committee listening to, on coverage. After which We’ll get down into (proposed) legal guidelines Afterward Inside the summertime,” says Haffner.

Further listening tos will Happen this yr, wright here the joint committee will set priorities for the 2022 legislative session.

Chairman Haffner is optimistic about wright here Missouri’s agricultural enterprise is heading. Wright hereas the $88 billion enterprise is the state’s largest enterprise, it has Pretty A pair of challenges. Climate is On A daily basis An factor for farmers, whether or not it’s a drought or the current flooding.

One other primary problem includes rural broadband. The joint committee will hear testimony on Tuesday on The drawback. State broadband office enhancement director Tim Arbeiter has testified thOn tright here are A minimal of 392,000 Missourians who lack extreme-velocity internet, both as a Outcome of it’s not out tright here or They will’t afford it. They recurrent Greater than 147,000 households.

Chairman Haffner, who operates a Christmas tree farm in rural Nice Hill, tells Missouriinternet that broadband safety is lacking all by way of Missouri.

“If we’re going to proceed to push forward with Missouri agriculture, we’ve acquired To have The power To current that not Solely for that precision agriculture However in addition for our agritourism,” Haffner says.

Agritourism includes actions that convey visitors to farms or ranches, Similar to pumpkin patches and berry farms.

Director Arbeiter has testified that while Missouri is making progress on broadband, “Tright here is An prolonged Method to go.” Solely 55 % of Missourians have entry to a low-value internet plan, and the state ranks Thirty second nationwide for broadband entry. That’s An enhance of 9 slots.

Director Arbeiter says 23 % of Missouri’s college students lack entry to extreme-velocity internet, and most of these college students stay in rural spaces.

The broadband problem influences every area in rural Missouri, collectively with a key member of the Joint Committee on Agriculture: state Division of Agriculture (MDA) director Chris Chinn. Director Chinn is a constituent of House Particular Interim Committee on Broadband Development Committee Chairman Rep. Louis Riggs (R-Hannibal).

“She has a hog manufacturing facility in the Clarence space. She has been going to McDonald’s in Macon, WiFi hotspot, to acquire medical data, vet data on sick hogs,” Chairman Riggs informed Missouriinternet in June.

Missouri’s broadband enhancement office was created in 2018 by MDA and by the state Division of Economic Development (DED). The office’s purpose is to velocity up deployment of broadband in Missouri.

The office’s creation was a prime precedence for Missouri Farm Bureau.

Click on right here to Take heed to Brian Hauswirth’s 4-minute interview with Joint Committee on Agriculture Chairman Rep. Mike Haffner (R-Nice Hill), which was recorded on July 2, 2021:

https://cdn.missouriinternet.com/wp-content material/uploads/2021/07/bh-chairmanhaffnerJuly2021.mp3

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