Tennessee lawmakers celebrated Ag Day on the Hill April 13. The day highlighted the importance of farming and forestry to the state of Tennessee and created awareness of an industry that contributes more than $60 billion a year to the state’s economy and employs nearly half a million residents. Ag Day on the Hill featured a variety of events and exhibits, including special presentations to the House Agriculture Committee, livestock displays, a milking contest and many representatives from the agriculture and forest industries.
For the second year in a row, Rep. Dale Ford of Jonesborough won the milking champion award after defeating Senator Charlotte Burks of Monterey in the milking of two Jersey cows provided by UT’s Dairy Research and Education Center in Lewisburg. This year for the first time, a goat milking contest was held, where Representative Ty Cobb of Columbia defeated Representative Mike Turner of Nashville. Both milking champions were given milk pail trophies which stated they were a person with a lot of “pull” on Capitol Hill. This year, Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee also had collection bins available at Legislative Plaza throughout the day. In addition to collecting canned and non-perishable food items, Second Harvest received a check from the Farm and Forest Families of TN for $750.
A great turnout and day for celebrating the state’s most important industry, agriculture!
