A dairy good time: Many turn out for Stearns County’s event

The first ever Stearns County Dairy Month celebration turned out to be a success. Legislators, mayors, commissioners, state agency representatives, dairy princesses and leaders in the dairy industry all took part in the event Monday, June 23. Cliff Mitchell of KASM Radio did a live broadcast from the Administration Center. Numer-ous booths were set up to educate people about the dairy industry. Two of the Stearns County dairy princesses were on hand to give out free ice cream, cheese and milk. Stearns County held the day-long celebration in honor of Dairy Month because Stearns is the eleventh most productive dairy county in the nation and the largest Dairy County in the state. “We’re proud to have 20 percent of the state’s cows living in Stearns County,” said Stearns County Commissioner, Mark Sakry. “This is a major economic backbone for our families. To-day we celebrate getting back to the basics … food. We all eat well because of the dairy farmers’ hard work.” “Agriculture is the number one industry in the state,” said Senator Dean Johnson of Willmar. “It’s ahead of Northwest Airlines, the medical profession, even higher education; and dairy is an important part of it. It’s one of those industries we don’t recognize when we talk about the economy. Let’s continue to promote it. Congratulations to all dairy farmers, they work hard.” Each farmer in Minnesota feeds 94 people in the United States and 34 people in other countries. The Minnesota Dairy Industry employs over 53,395 people and earned $2.4 billion in income in 1998. The typical farm family in Stearns County spends over $367,604 annually, with most of these dollars spent locally. Representative Joe Opatz talked about the importance of dairy farmers to the St. Cloud area. “I essentially represent the urban area and it’s important for legislators like me to recognize how important the agricultural community is to the strength and vitality of cities like St. Cloud. They help build a strong community; they use our services, retailers and healthcare.” Commissioner Don Otte addressed some of the concerns facing farmers today, such as dairy prices, the economy, and the environment.    “Farmers are affected by the economy just like anyone else. It’s been years since farmers got a good price for their product and this economy makes it even tougher,” said Otte. An issue that’s often sensitive to farmers and their non-agricultural neighbors is the environment. “Farmers do try to keep the environment clean. They have to live off the land and drink the water so they want it to be healthy.” Numerous lawmakers at-tended to show their support for the dairy farmers; Sen. Dean Johnson of Willmar, Rep. Bud Heidgerken of Freeport, Rep. Joe Opatz of St. Cloud, Sen. Michelle Fischbach of Paynesville, Rep. Dan Severson of Sauk Rapids, Rep. Doug Stang of Cold Spring, Sen. Betsy Wergin of Princeton, and Gary Wertish, a representative from Mark Dayton’s office. St. Cloud Mayor, John Ellen-becker, as well as the county commissioners also attended. The Stearns County Dairy Advisory Committee, chaired by Dennis Ritter, along with the Stearns County Board of Commissioners sponsored the event.