Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA) today issued the following statement after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development announced a total of $84,720.00 in grant funds for the construction of a farmers' market building in Hillsville, Virginia: “These funds will go a long way toward supporting our local family farmers. The agriculture industry is an integral part of Southwest Virginia’s economy and heritage and farmers’ markets provide valuable economic opportunity and access to ...
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Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA) today issued the following statement after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development announced a total of $27,000.00 in grant funds for the improvement of a farmers' market facility in Dungannon, Virginia: “These funds will go a long way toward supporting our local family farmers. The agriculture industry is an integral part of Southwest Virginia’s economy and heritage and farmers’ markets provide valuable economic opportunity and access to lo...
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Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA) today issued the following statement after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development announced a total of $232,280.00 in grant funds for the construction of an open-air farmers' market facility in Chilhowie, Virginia: “These funds will go a long way toward supporting our local family farmers. The agriculture industry is an integral part of Southwest Virginia’s economy and heritage and farmers’ markets provide valuable economic opportunity and ...
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I recently enjoyed a stop at the Virginia State Peach Festival, held in Stuart on August 16. For 31 years, the festival has been celebrating peaches and all their uses, from eating them on their own to enjoying them in a homemade cobbler. Celebrating peaches is fun, but a lot of work goes into getting them to our tables, our lunchboxes, or even our festivals based around them. Producing all 6,500 tons of Virginia peaches (as reported in the last completed Census of Agriculture) requires selectin...
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Thursday, July 12, 2018 – The House Energy and Commerce Committee today advanced bills in a full committee markup, including measures to expand broadband access. Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA) is cosponsoring the two bills promoting broadband and supported them in markup today. He issued the following statement: “The Energy and Commerce Committee made progress in a bipartisan manner on our priorities today, including connecting more Americans to broadband. The Precision Agriculture Connectiv...
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Farm Bill Farming is essential to our way of life. Of course, we all rely on farmers to get food to our tables. Our economy also depends on agriculture, Virginia’s largest private industry and an important part of the Ninth District. We count on farmers, and farmers need stable, consistent policies from Washington. That’s why the farm bill recently passed by the House of Representatives is so important. I supported this year’s farm bill. It maintains programs vital to farmers and the rural commu...
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MLK “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’” – Martin Luther King, Jr., August 28, 1963 I agree with the sentiment of Mr. Joe Sheffey, former chairman of the Pulaksi County Board of Supervisors, in part of his remarks on Martin Luther King given to branches of the NAACP in Christiansburg Sunday, January 14, to paraphrase: America still has this dream. Rural Broadba...
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Foundations of Farming and Forestry Recently, I highlighted ways nations build wealth – make it, mine it, or grow it. This week, I highlight the third way to build wealth. The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) lists agriculture as our Commonwealth’s largest private industry. The economic impact of agriculture and forestry is $70 billion a year and provides 415,000 jobs in the state. Furthermore, these jobs each support another 1.6 jobs in the state economy. Accordi...
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Ninth District Agriculture and a Better Way to do Tax Reform Last week, among other visits to businesses and organizations in Virginia’s Ninth District, I had the opportunity to visit Hillwinds Farm, a local cow/calf operation in Dublin. Not only are agriculture and forestry an integral part of our region’s economy and heritage, but agriculture is the largest industry in the Ninth Congressional District. Hillwinds Farm is a cow/calf operation, and is also a bred heifer business. They take cattle...
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Must Do More to Rein In Spending and Overreach Last week, Congress passed comprehensive “omnibus” spending legislation that will fund the government for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2016. Meaning “for everything,” omnibus legislation is a vehicle for combining appropriations funding bills with other items commonly known as “riders,” which make the underlying legislation more palatable. Because omnibus bills are large in size and scope, last week’s legislation included both good and bad. If we we...
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