Congressman Jason Smith Visits Lowery Acres in Puxico
U.S. Representative Jason Smith visited Lowery Acres in Puxico, Missouri on Wednesday, August 30, 2023 as part of his annual farm tour.
Smith along with Missouri Secretary of State, John R. Ashcroft and Josh Speakman, Stoddard County Collector/Treasurer enjoyed some time on a four generation farm.
“This farm is a prime example of so many farm families in southeast and south central Missouri: a multi-generational farm family who just wants to grow their business without the government getting in their way,” commented Smith.
Lowery Acres was started by producing bedding plants, hanging baskets, mumns, apples, berries, cut flowers, pumpkins, Christmas Trees, alfalfa and row crops. The farm began in the late 1930s.
Smith said that is why the farm tour is so important. Missouri agriculture is extremely important to all of us.
“Agriculture is the number one economic driver in our entire state and definitely in our congressional district,” said Smith. “It is good to hear from farmers and agribusiness men and working families, the issues that they are having and how Washington could hopefully solve the problems they have created. It is usually what Washington has created, and make their lives better where they casn just farm and run their business and not worry about government interfering.”
“It concerns me that for the first time in decades that our agriculture imports to our nation was more than our exports,” said Smith. “That has to change so this is a way that we are trying to look at vehicles to help the products and the items that we are growing.”
Smith said he is chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. He said this committee is over all tax policy, trade, social security, healthcare and over site of the IRS. He said an economic tax bill came out of the committee in June that will help small businesses, farmers and working class Americans.
“I really enjoyed him (Smith), I enjoyed visiting with him I enjoyed hearing about what was going on up there a little bit,” said Logan Lowery. “I hope they come away with a little bit of understanding of what we are doing down here as far as speciality crops go. We are not just all corn, beans, rice and cotton. There is some other things happening here too that could be paid attention to.”
Smith said inflation has gone up 16.9 percent in the last two and a half years and they increased the standard deduction by $4,000 in this tax bill to help families cover the inflation they have seen. He said they also did things for small businesses in regards to expensing. Smith said they expanded expensing from the current $1,000,000 to $2,500,000. Smith explained that this extra money could cover the cost of one cotton picker as an example.
He also said taxing and preventing the Chinese from purchasing our farmland is included in the package. Smith said the committee also passed a U.S. Tiwain trade agreement, which he said was his piece of legislation. He said it was the most bipatrasin trade agreement. He said every Republican and Democrat in the house and senate voted for it and the president signed it into law a few weeks ago.
https://showmetimes.com/Blogpost/viuo/Congressman-Jason-Smith-Visits-Lowery-Acres-in-Puxico