About 100 Missouri soybean and corn growers traveled to Jefferson City Thursday morning, as Governor Eric Greitens (R) announced he’s releasing the $4 million budget restriction on biodiesel.
Missouri Governor Eric Greitens delivers his 2018 State of the State Address in January (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)
Dozens of mid-Missouri FFA members also attended.
“And the kind of investment that we’re making today is going to make sure that agriculture is also a number one growth industry in Missouri and that you’ve got a bright future in agriculture here in Missouri,” Greitens says. “That’s what we’re going to do for you.”
Greitens made Thursday’s announcement in the Carnahan Memorial Garden, which is about a block from the Statehouse. He was surrounded by two tractors and two trucks.
Greitens tells the audience that “rural Missouri is coming back.”
“We’ve got a steel mill in Sedalia, we’ve got an aluminum smelter in New Madrid. The state of Missouri is moving forward with good, quality jobs throughout rural Missouri,” says Greitens.
Farmers stood in the rain, as the governor made the announcement. Greitens also says rural Missouri “has been forgotten for too long.”
“For too long our small towns have been overlooked,” Greitens says. “Well that’s changed and that’s why today we’re keeping our promise to farmers and biodiesel workers across the state of Missouri. That’s what they deserve.”
Greitens says Missouri produces about 200 million gallons of biodiesel, in eight production facilities.
He says biodiesel has supported about 2,500 Missouri jobs, since 2007.
Missouri and Texas are tied as the second-largest biodiesel producers in the nation, behind Iowa.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Brian Munzlinger, R-Williamstown, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Dan Brown, R-Rolla, and House Subcommittee on Appropriations for Agriculture, Conservation, Natural Resources, and Economic Development Chairman Craig Redmon, R-Canton, joined Greitens for the announcement.
Governor Greitens did not specifically mention the upcoming special session, but he did talk about not quitting during Navy SEAL training. A man in the audience yelled “We got your back,” to Greitens.
The governor also did not take questions from reporters at Thursday’s announcement. Greitens faces a possible impeachment in the special session.
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