Congresswoman Walorski Visits Milford Farm During Ag Tour
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Jennifer [email protected]
The stop was part of her two-day ag tour to meet with those in the farming industry.
The tour on Tuesday and Wednesday allowed her to hear from agriculture experts, business owners and constituents about ways to maximize agriculture opportunities in northern Indiana. Walorski serves on the House Committee on Agriculture.
Fred Beer and his sons, Jeff and Regg Beer, all co-owners of Beery Dairy Inc., gave Walorski a tour of their dairy farm that was founded in 1974.
The family farm gets most of its income from milk sales, selling its milk to a Prairie Farms coop in Fort Wayne, and has 900 adults cows and 700 calves.
“One of the most vulnerable farms is the dairy farm in Indiana and at the national level. I was on a five-generation farm Tuesday with little kids running around knowing if the government doesn’t back off federal regulations and bring balance back into this industry those kids will not have a future in this,” Walorski said.
Walorski said participating in the tour will allow her to be more informed.
“I wanted to reacquaint myself with every part of ag in Indiana so that I can stay a step ahead and fight more efficiently for agriculture because I know this industry is under attack,” Walorski said.
Walorski said when a person talks about the foundation of the country and feeding the globe and producing food, it is important the government does not put family farms out of business.
“I know how much regulations have already hampered what farmers do specifically in the last five to 10 years, and while I’m representing them I want to fight hard to make sure that their future is as strong as what their parents’ was,” Walorski said.
She said she has learned about the diversity of agriculture in her district.
“This is our third tour, and in the first tours we talked about corn and soybeans, but this tour we have looked at the hardwood industry, shrimp farms and the dairy farm,” Walorski said. “Being on the ag committee and being able to defend and better defend and fight for our family farms has been really important to me.”
She said all of the farms she has visited have been affected by overregulation by the Environmental Protection Agency.
“You look in the kid’s eyes who are on the farms and there is so much pride in family farms, and the only way those kids will see a business like they have here today is for someone to continue to fight for them and keep the government off their back,” Walorski said.
Regg said his family is thankful to share its business with others.
“The opportunity to have Congresswoman Walorski is a great chance to share the passion we have for our cows as well as our passion to give our community a quality, nutritious product,” Regg said. “Without a strong agriculture community our job would be more difficult, if not impossible. It is reassuring to know that our congresswoman is engaging in understating our agriculture industry as well as the challenges and joys that we find in our jobs.”
Doug Lehman, Indiana Dairy Producers, also attended the tour and said the organization advocates for dairy farmers.
There are a little over 1,100 dairy farms in Indiana, he said.
“Dairy farms, as well as all livestock operations, have a huge economic impact on the state through the use of feed. Livestock is the number one market for corn and soybeans in the state and creates jobs and tax implications,” Lehman said.
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The stop was part of her two-day ag tour to meet with those in the farming industry.
The tour on Tuesday and Wednesday allowed her to hear from agriculture experts, business owners and constituents about ways to maximize agriculture opportunities in northern Indiana. Walorski serves on the House Committee on Agriculture.
Fred Beer and his sons, Jeff and Regg Beer, all co-owners of Beery Dairy Inc., gave Walorski a tour of their dairy farm that was founded in 1974.
The family farm gets most of its income from milk sales, selling its milk to a Prairie Farms coop in Fort Wayne, and has 900 adults cows and 700 calves.
“One of the most vulnerable farms is the dairy farm in Indiana and at the national level. I was on a five-generation farm Tuesday with little kids running around knowing if the government doesn’t back off federal regulations and bring balance back into this industry those kids will not have a future in this,” Walorski said.
Walorski said participating in the tour will allow her to be more informed.
“I wanted to reacquaint myself with every part of ag in Indiana so that I can stay a step ahead and fight more efficiently for agriculture because I know this industry is under attack,” Walorski said.
Walorski said when a person talks about the foundation of the country and feeding the globe and producing food, it is important the government does not put family farms out of business.
“I know how much regulations have already hampered what farmers do specifically in the last five to 10 years, and while I’m representing them I want to fight hard to make sure that their future is as strong as what their parents’ was,” Walorski said.
She said she has learned about the diversity of agriculture in her district.
“This is our third tour, and in the first tours we talked about corn and soybeans, but this tour we have looked at the hardwood industry, shrimp farms and the dairy farm,” Walorski said. “Being on the ag committee and being able to defend and better defend and fight for our family farms has been really important to me.”
She said all of the farms she has visited have been affected by overregulation by the Environmental Protection Agency.
“You look in the kid’s eyes who are on the farms and there is so much pride in family farms, and the only way those kids will see a business like they have here today is for someone to continue to fight for them and keep the government off their back,” Walorski said.
Regg said his family is thankful to share its business with others.
“The opportunity to have Congresswoman Walorski is a great chance to share the passion we have for our cows as well as our passion to give our community a quality, nutritious product,” Regg said. “Without a strong agriculture community our job would be more difficult, if not impossible. It is reassuring to know that our congresswoman is engaging in understating our agriculture industry as well as the challenges and joys that we find in our jobs.”
Doug Lehman, Indiana Dairy Producers, also attended the tour and said the organization advocates for dairy farmers.
There are a little over 1,100 dairy farms in Indiana, he said.
“Dairy farms, as well as all livestock operations, have a huge economic impact on the state through the use of feed. Livestock is the number one market for corn and soybeans in the state and creates jobs and tax implications,” Lehman said.
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