MFA Incorporated hosted a presidential visit at its Aurora feed mill. During a tour of the Midwestern agricultural sites, President Bush talked about terrorism, trade, agriculture and the farm bill. And he helped fill a bag of MFA Cattle Charge feed.

Aurora Mo., is as tidy of a town as the next rural community. So seeing a street sweeper might not be uncommon. But one Monday this January, the urgency with which a particular street sweeper operator moved down Olive Street told a larger story. Just west of the MFA feed mill, where the town begins to fade into highway, the sweeper made a U-turn that would draw envy from the best of dirt track racers. Then, with the twirl and dusty swish of its street brushes, it headed back down the street of old storefronts.

It's something you do when the president is coming to town, sweep the streets. And its something you have to do quickly when tight scheduling and tighter security keep details of the event obscure.

Several stores had stars and stripes bunting hanging and there were a few just-out-of-the-box American flags amass throughout the community--simple, if rushed, gestures of welcome.

For MFA's part, the honor was to host the president in its feed mill warehouse, an intimate venue, as presidential audiences go.

The president chose the feed mill with the help of Missouri Senator Kit Bond's office. The White House was looking for locations for President Bush to deliver a speech that focused on economic stimulus as it related to agriculture. Representatives from Bond's office immediately thought of MFA because it is a farmer-owned cooperative. The White House agreed on the mill because it is in a strong agricultural area.

MFA president and CEO, Don Copenhaver, said that getting the President of the United States to Missouri and to MFA is an important event regardless of party politics.

"The important thing is that the president and his administration understand that agriculture is a critical industry in the American economy," said Copenhaver. "While MFA isn't a political organization, we know how important sound agricultural policy is to our customer/owners. If the president wants to come to our trade territory to talk about agriculture and meet the farmers and ranchers who the policy affects, we'll take him up on it every time."

Questioned by e-mail just after the event, Senator Bond replied that getting agriculture to the forefront of the larger public's mind can't hurt during debate on a farm bill. With increasing focus on the funds spent on farm bills, the major media and groups critical of agriculture provide an outsider's view.

"Farmers take care of a majority of the nation's land and are subject to increasing regulatory demands from all levels of government," Bond replied.

"They do so largely at their own expense. Since environmental protection is a public good, it is appropriate that the public share in some of the cost to meet the public demands."

Bond pointed out that world agriculture still cleaves mightily to subsidizing farmers in Europe and other food producing regions.

"It is increasingly difficult for our farmers to compete. Until we can negotiate a dramatic reduction in what foreign governments subsidize their farmers, we should not be unilaterally disarming our farmers," replied Bond.

The message for agriculture
The president started his day in Moline, Ill. at a John Deere manufacturing plant. Upon arriving in Missouri, he delivered remarks in a hangar at the Springfield airport and from there made his way to Aurora.

Inside the MFA feed mill warehouse, Copenhaver introduced the president to a crowd of some 900 people. Aside from a few pretzel jokes, President Bush focused on agriculture and its economic underpinnings along with the ongoing need to defend against and fight terrorists.

"If we're talking about the economic health of the country, we've got to always understand it begins with a healthy farm economy," he said.

Acknowledging that the economy has suffered during his tenure as president, Bush called less for government stimulus than for a government that makes its citizenry and businesses feel safe and secure enough to invest and participate in commerce.

"If the goal of government is to create an environment in which people are willing to take risk, one of the things government must do is to work hard to create confidence in the people. And at this moment in history, the best thing I can do, along with my administration, in order to build the confidence of the American people, is to prevent the evil ones from hitting us again."

The president singled out a special section of the warehouse cordoned off for a group of FFA members.

"I see member of the FFA here," he said. "I want you to know that the cause that our military now wages is a just cause. It's an important cause. I long for peace, but I also understand that this nation must lead the war against terror if you and your children and your grandchildren are going to grow up and understand the freedoms that we so enjoy in America.

"If you and your children and grandchildren can grow up in a peaceful and hopeful world, now is the time for this country to lead. And lead we will."

Amidst this now ubiquitous talk of terrorism, President Bush also outlined what kind of farm bill his administration sees as favorable: One that is "generous and affordable," but "will fit into our budget."

"A farm bill must provide a safety net for the American farmer, without encouraging over-production and thereby depressing prices," said President Bush. He said farm savings accounts, which would help farmers manage financial risks, would be beneficial to the economics of farming.

The president also called for a commitment to agricultural trade, with more nimble trade authority and by boosting exports. He referred to the recent acceptance of China into the World Trade Organization.

"We've opened the Chinese markets to U.S. farmers. It's good for China and, more importantly, it's good for the U.S. farmers to have that market available."

Bush said American farmers shouldn't suffer from weak exports; that our advanced agriculture system should be free to churn unfettered by protectionism abroad.

"The way you do that is to find other places to sell crops," he said. "If you're the best in the world at what you do--which we are in farming--then it seems like to me we ought to encourage that product to be sold not only here in America, but level the playing field so it can be sold across the world."

Administrations throughout this republic's history have thrown praise on agriculture and promised that they would support it. Plenty of the agriculturists in the crowd were old enough to know that the best intentions sometimes are foiled. Plenty remembered politics getting in the way of farm policy--wheat embargoes to the Soviet Union, poor tariff reconciliation in Europe and the rest of the world.

President Bush tried to assuage those memories and the anxieties brought on by agriculture's traditional role of being a tool of policy rather than a focus of policy.

"I know there's a lot of farmers who say, 'You know, we've heard that before. Every trade agreement trades out the farmer. Here comes Bush from Texas and he says he's for the farmer, yet, you watch--they'll worry more about other products and when it comes time to argue for the agricultural sector, they'll just leave us out,'" he said.

"But that's not the way it's going to be, folks," said Bush, in retort to his own speech.

"Because I understand how important agriculture is, not only for America, but how important it is for international trade for our country."

Art of the last-minute host
The Friday before the president's Monday visit, the MFA mill was abuzz. News of the visit had reached employees and preparations were underway to accommodate not only the president and the crowd that would come to see him, but the strict security requirements of the Secret Service advance team.

"There was plenty of excitement and a lot of work, and it was interesting. We did not have to spend a lot of time figuring out what to do. That, we were told," said Joe Powell, vice president of MFA's feed division. "We just had to figure out how to get it done while still making feed for our customers. Our employees all pitched in with great enthusiasm and pride, working extra shifts over the weekend to get ready for the president's visit. We all felt honored. We also felt both pride and relief that this event came off so smoothly," he said.

The mill, which was originally built in 1956, was upgraded in 1998. It can produce all lines of MFA feeds. But making feed was a challenge in the face of securing such a large facility.

A makeshift barricade of freight trailers essentially sealed the perimeter of the mill. Windows were blacked. Inside the warehouse, pallets of MFA sacked feed made a barricaded maze behind the stage and podium.

The crew at the mill put in some work to get ready, that much was evident by the barricades and a few well-placed MFA signs. Yet, from the almost palatable excitement of the day, one got the sense it was considered worthwhile.

Copenhaver said he appreciated the efforts of everyone who helped prepare for the visit.

"Due to security restrictions from the White House, we didn't have much advanced notice of the president's visit," he said. "There are some involved logistics to make a mill secure and to prepare for handling a crowd of the size we had.

"But I think the work is worth it if we can help focus on farming. From the crew at the mill to our managers in the area, I commend our MFA employees for the time and effort they offered."

A whirlwind's end
When a president is on tour, there is no lingering for small talk. When the president finished his remarks, he left quickly, en route to Louisiana and another speech.

Not long after the motorcade left the mill, the crowd dissipated. A mass of people that had taken several hours to build was thinned to a few straggling bunches. Inside a small tent that had housed the now-disassembled metal detector stood a folding table. On that table, where all spectators had disgorged their pockets, several small and harmless pocketknives and a lonely set of nail clippers lay abandoned--a sign of our times.

No one can doubt that security, homeland protection and prosecution of terrorism is at the top of President Bush's agenda. His stop at Aurora was a signal that along with these priorities, the administration considers agriculture an important domestic issue.