Charlie Mitchell in the Sun Herald on the Ag. Race

The Sun Herald:

It's not about the beef plant, or at least it's not all about the failed facility at Oakland that cost Mississippi taxpayers at least $50 million.

That's a point on which the party nominees for commissioner of agriculture and commerce - Dr. Lester Spell for the Republicans and Rickey Cole for the Democrats - agree.

It's kind of surprising that they do because Spell, in office for 12 years, has been taking a lot of hits in the state's press about the implosion at Mississippi Beef Processors along with myriad jabs from Cole.

But until election day, Cole said in an interview, his focus will be on two questions: "Is your food safe?" and "Do you know where your food comes from?"

It's about the beef plant, the goat meat processing facility, the new Jackson farmers market and a half dozen smaller failures. We need someone with vision who won't simply sign the check without asking the necessary questions.

Before becoming a mover and a shaker in state Democratic politics and to a large degree since, Cole has been involved with his family's vegetable, timber, livestock, grain and hay production at Ovett in Jones County. He now lives in Utica in Hinds County, but says his experience in direct farm-to-market operations is a recipe for rural Mississippi.

"Everybody wants a Nissan factory," he said, "but it's the little businesses that make the economy grow." He told of a dairyman telling him he was selling his herd because he couldn't break even. On his way home, Cole said, he paid a record price for a gallon of milk.

Cole believes it's entirely possible for the Department of Agriculture and Commerce to foster food-crop operations in Mississippi that could operate year-round jobs and pay workers in the $14-per-hour range plus benefits. Cole said networking local growers with local buyers could save energy, keep shipping costs down and super-boost profits because consumers would pay premium prices for commodities that were fresh and wholesome.

Amen!

Small businesses create far more jobs than huge ones, but because they are spread out and gradual politicians don't usually focus on them. As Cole says you won't see the governor there when a farmer gets a bigger order and plants another row of his crop or when the barber adds a chair for his son to have a job for 40 years, but those are the jobs that build and sustain communities. We should value them and do all we can to support them. We don't generally have to bribe those folks to create jobs here.

The Sun Herald: