Delta Grassroots Caucus Events

Credit Michael Hibblen/ KUAR News, Arkansas Public Radio; Former President Bill Clinton speaking to the Delta Grassroots Caucus on May 2, 2013, at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, Little Rock

U. S. Senator John Boozman, Arkansas, at a Delta Grassroots Caucus meeting at the US Capitol

Brad Cole, Executive Director of the Municipal League of Illinois; previously a senior aide to former Republican US Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois, earlier Mayor of Carbondale, Illinois, veteran Delta regional advocate, speaking at the Delta regional conference in West Memphis, Arkansas on April 26, 2019.

President Bill Clinton makes a comment to Delta Caucus Director Lee Powell at a meeting in Blytheville, Arkansas (in the northeast Arkansas Delta) on Nov. 2, 2014

The Delta Caucus would like to pay tribute to the late, great U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, a powerful force in the US Senate for decades and a champion for the Delta. Sen. Cochran passed away on May 30, 2019. He spoke to the Delta Caucus on many occasions over the years (he is pictured above speaking to a Caucus event on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC) and his thoughtful, courteous and bipartisan leadership will be sorely missed.

Marcie Lawson, Executive Director, Sikeston, Missouri Regional Chamber and Area Economic Development Corporation, speaking at the Delta regional conference in West Memphis, Arkansas on April 26, 2019.

Alan Gumbel, Greater Memphis Alliance for a Competitive Workforce, Memphis, Tennessee, speaking at the Delta regional conference in West Memphis, Arkansas on April 26, 2019.

Mayor Shirley Washington of Pine Bluff, AR, speaking to the Delta Caucus at the Arkansas Capitol Rotunda in 2017.

House Ag Committee Hearing on New Farm Bill Set for March 30 in Jonesboro, Arkansas

Posted on March 26, 2012 at 12:20 PM

This Friday, March 30, 2012, the US House of Representatives Agriculture Committee is hosting a Congressional field hearing in Jonesboro, Arkansas. This is one of only four such hearings the Committee is holding outside Washington, DC as they write a new Farm Bill.

We encourage Delta Grassroots Caucus partners to go to this hearing. Congressman Rick Crawford will be one of the main speakers, and we certainly give a lot of credit here to the fact that one of the four field hearings is being held in the heart of our region in northeast Arkansas.

Our partners will certainly be interested in hearing what Rep. Crawford and other key participants have to say about the new farm bill and hopefully having dialogue with them. The farm bill is tremendously important for our region.

Here are the details:

Friday, March 30th at 9:00 AM Arkansas State University, Riceland Hall, Fowler Center 201 Olympic Drive State University (Jonesboro), AR 72467

Jim Worstell, Coordinator for the Delta Enterprise Network based in Almyra, Arkansas, and other grassroots partners are doing a great job of keeping us posted about this hearing, and we greatly appreciate their input as always.

The USDA Rural Development, agriculture, nutrition, broadband, telemedicine, diversity, aid to farmers’ markets, rural housing, infrastructure, small business and other initiatives are tremendously important for the Greater Delta Region. Please come and soak up information and give feedback as the new farm bill is developed.

The House Agriculture Committee has a means of collecting testimony on line. Whatever ideas you have about the farm bill will be entered in the official record if you type them into a comment box at this site: http://agriculture.house.gov/farmbill_feedback.html

Jim Worstell and the Delta Enterprise Network emphasize that two major priorities for Arkansas are the Value-Added Producer Grant Program and the Farmers Market Promotion Program. Each of these programs helps farmers develop new marketing outlets for healthy food.

Mr. Worstell has worked on Delta regional issues for many years and plans to be at this hearing so we wanted to relay his comments; he pointed out that “We all recognize that government spending needs to be cut, but some programs create jobs and improve health and help expand economic opportunity for all Americans–increasing tax revenues because they are a good return on investment for the American people. These two programs do that and will help us recover America’s greatest days.”

We are not sure whether there will be question and answer at the hearing. Many people feel it would be beneficial to open the discussion up to at least a few questions, in addition to listening to the testimony and providing testimony on line. In any event, this is an important event and we encourage everybody to turn out for the March 30 field hearing in Jonesboro.

Thanks very much–Lee Powell, Delta Grassroots Caucus (202) 360-6347