EMERSON PRAISES FARMERS AT ANNUAL RURAL CONFERENCE

SIKESTON -- Because of the nation's farmers, Americans are the best fed, best clothed people on Earth, U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson told the annual Rural Restoration Conference Monday.

An American farmer produces enough for himself and 130 other people, and his story isn't told enough, said Emerson, a Republican who represents Missouri's 8th District.

U.S. consumers spend less than 11 cents of every dollar of disposable income on food, less than any other people in the world, said Emerson. Japanese and Europeans spend twice that, and in the former Soviet Union many citizens spend half of their income on food, she said.

Many people at the conference are farmers. The three-day meeting is designed to provide farmers with marketing and spiritual information.

Emerson was one of a number of speakers or performers at the three-day event. It ends today following a luncheon and address by Derry Brownfield of Centertown, a radio personality and founder of the Brownfield Network. More than 200 people attended sessions on Saturday and Sunday.

Adopt A Farm Family of America, one of the sponsors, already is planning for the eighth annual conference next year. It will be held at the Ramada Inn in Sikeston for a third straight year, said Peter C. and Mary Myers of Myers Land Management Co., a sponsor of the conference.

Farmers are present from a number of states, including Illinois, Missouri, North Dakota, Virginia and Indiana.

The Myerses presented Emerson with a plaque honoring her late husband, U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson, for his work with rural America and feeding the hungry.

"I succeeded my late husband with a campaign dedicated to putting people before politics," said Emerson. "I won on issues that I felt strongly about and a pledge to work for this district and its people."

Southeast Missouri contains only six cities with populations over 10,000 people, and agriculture is the main business, she said.

With only 2 percent of the population directly involved in food and fiber production, "it is a tribute to the tremendous dedication of those of you in this room today," said Emerson, a member of the House Agriculture Committee.

Farmers were the first conservationists in the world, she said. There are people who won't tell that story -- the Sierra Club, Audubon Society, Wilderness Society or other preservationist organizations, said Emerson.

"We must let the Sierra Club and national news media crowd know that it is important to put people before the pallid sturgeon, to put people before the spotted owl, and that preserving endangered species includes the human species as well," she said.

Protecting the environment and providing for families must be done by working together, not pulling apart, she said.

Somewhere along the way it became OK to take parents and prayers out of the schools, she said. The country has failed to recognize the need to acknowledge a creator, she said. Between Thomas Jefferson and William Jefferson Clinton, moral values and being responsible, were thrown out of the window and replaced by a "what's-in-it-for-me" philosophy.

"We must demand of ourselves and those who represent us that we restore and return our country to its faith foundations, to strong family values, because only then can we achieve greatness as a nation," said Emerson.