Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman touring Temme Dairy Farm.WAYNE, Neb. (KTIV) -
National Ag Week is underway. It's held to celebrate the importance of farming in the U.S.
Farming is one of the biggest industries in the Midwest. It's also what drives other key industries such as manufacturing and technology.
And in conjunction with National Ag Week, Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman launched a statewide tour talking about agricultural growth in the state. One of his stops was a dairy farm in Wayne, Nebraska on Tuesday.
Governor Heineman started off his visit to Wayne by addressing a crowd of a few dozen people at the Temme Dairy Farm.
"When agriculture does well, main street Nebraska does well," said Governor Heineman.
He says it's an exciting time for the agriculture industry, and farmers will need to be ready to feed more than two billion more people over the next 30 years. One of the ways to do that, he believes, is to build connections across the globe. That includes the opening of the state's international trade office in Shanghai, China.
"Ninety percent of the world's population growth is going to occur in Africa and Asia. Well, China is the biggest market of all, and we want to be selling our products over there," Governor Heineman said.
But while the governor points to growth, the owner of Temme's Dairy Farm says there are challenges ahead.
"Some of the current regulations on inheritance taxes and all that, it becomes extremely difficult to pass on a family farm, because of the large tax burden," Temme said.
The tax issue is something the governor says he's pushing the federal government to change.
"Give farmers and ranchers the opportunity to do what they do best, that farm and ranch, lower regulation, keep taxes low, and let us do our job," Heineman said.
But Temme says, at the end of the day, farmers also have to be more active to keep agriculture thriving.
"As dairymen, if we want to see a change we have to go out, and try to enact that change," Temme said.
The governor also announced the state's launching of Nebraska Agriculture and You, a magazine aimed at educating consumers about how farms and ranches impact people across the state.
