Governor speaks on importance of agriculture

WORLAND — Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon visited Worland Saturday speaking at the Wyoming Sugar annual community barbecue during the Harvest Festival on the importance of agriculture.

He said ag is one of the top three industries in the state, but added that agriculture is “the real backbone of Wyoming, always has been.”

He said one of the reasons he says that is because his wife, first lady Jennie Gordon, was in the LEAD program last year and everywhere she went she came back and said “do you realize all the things ag is doing around this state.”

Gordon added, “In agriculture we feed the nation. We’re No. 5 in barley production in the country right now; we have some of the best barley for brewing.”

He said there is about a billion dollars in annual cash receipts for livestock and about a half a billion dollars in crops.

Wyoming is 10th in production of beans, ninth in sugar beets, fourth in sheep and second highest in lamb crop, 18th in honey, 28th in hogs, 27th in oats, 34th in grain corn and 32nd in winter wheat.

He said agriculture also teaches a strong work ethic and instills in young people the benefits of hard work.

“That’s what you do, that’s what the success story of this factory is,” Gordon said. “You came together as a community and said, ‘let’s make sure we have Wyoming Sugar and let’s make sure we do it right. Let’s have our growers be a part of this coop.’ You’ve made a real success story.”

He added that when they think about where they are going in this state, a large part of it will be doing a better job in promoting agriculture.

“And, I don’t have to tell you we have some big challenges. In my industry, which is the beef industry, suddenly we have these things called Impossible Burgers, which are grown in a petri dish. What I don’t understand about Impossible Foods is how can people be upset about GMO (genetically modified organism) crops and at the same time want a test-tube burger. It doesn’t make sense to me. (According to the Impossible Foods website, the meat is genetically engineered starting with heme-containing protein from the roots of soy plants.)

“So I think it is up to this industry and to us in Wyoming to make sure people understand where their food comes from, make sure they understand the kind of care and effort, and genuine love we have for our land, for our country and for the products we produce, and for our families.”

Gordon and his wife Jennie also went on a brief tour with Vince Salzman and then the governor judged the Wyoming Sugar sugar cookie contest.

WINNERS

The winners of the sugar cookie contest are, in 12 and under, BriLee and Paisley Bryngelson; ages 13-18, Aubrie Carlisle; and over the age of 18, Mark Hinkel.

Wyoming Sugar also had coloring contest and sugar beet decorating contest. Fifth-grader Allie Stamatakos won the sugar-beet decorating contest.

Kindergarten and first-grade students colored the Wyoming Sugar Company logo. Jada Young was the kindergarten winner. There was a tie in first grade between Wynifred Ysebaert and Brayson Bilodeau.

Second and third-graders colored and drew pictures of “What Does Harvest Mean to Me.” Fowler Cochran was the second-grade winner, Jack Hoopes the third-grade winner. Fourth-graders colored scarecrows with Bella Beamer taking the top prize.

A YouTube video of all of the entries can be found on the Northern Wyoming News YouTube channel.