Gov. Parson opens 34th annual Ag Expo, Stresses importance of youth in farming

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson stopped by the Ag Expo on Friday afternoon to celebrate the importance of agriculture.

Parson especially emphasized the younger groups in attendance, such as Future Farmers of America and 4-H. Southeast Missouri, he said, is deep in agriculture.

“One of the things I noticed as I walked in the door is how many young kids are here,” he said. “When you really look at farming, what it means to our state, what it means to our country and for me — with a little gray hair — how important it is to pass that down with that next generation and make sure they understand how important agriculture is with taking care of the land, taking care of the crops and taking care of the animals.”

As a farmer, Parson said he enjoys coming ag expos and lamented about not getting much time at any.

“You really get the opportunity to expose that younger generation to agriculture and I think that’s always a positive,” he said.

With the legislative session ongoing, Parson said there’s several areas he wants to see work in. These include the workforce development and infrastructure.

“We’re still trying to figure out how we take high school students and get them ready for the workforce,” he said. “We’re trying to expand that work ready program for them. That will factor about 1,200 students across the state. We’re excited about that.”

Parson also brought up concerns over community safety and ways to ensure people are safe. He brought up the importance of cost share programs for infrastructure.

He said there’s “a lot of things out there that we’d like to see get done.” However, at the end of the day, he said, the government needs to stay focused on what’s working.

Some examples he gave include 40,000 new jobs in the state over the past year, 42,000 people in apprenticeship programs, seventh in the country in small business wage earnings and historically low unemployment rates, especially for the African American population.

“Those are all positive things for the economy and where we’re going,” he said. “As you go through this facility, you see lots of opportunities. People selling things, trying to make sure people are aware of agriculture and making the economy go.”