Rep. Robert Hurt stopped by Saunders Brothers in Piney River last Tuesday as part of his farm tour. He met with about six farmers and constituents and discussed different legislation in the works concerning farms. Among them were the farm bill, the farm dust bill and the farm pond bill.

Hurt is running for re-election next month in the Fifth District of Virginia. His opponent is Democrat John Douglass.

The farm dust bill, which would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from issuing a new rule over the year to regulate coarse particulate matter, or “nuisance dust,” advanced out of the House to the Senate in December. The farm pond bill, which would allow landowners to build farm ponds without permits from the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers, is still in committee in the House.

“I’m hoping to take it up when we get back to Washington after the election,” Hurt told the group when asked about the status of the bills.

He said the farm pond bill would restore the agriculture exception to creating ponds in the Clean Water Act.

Some of the farmers said it was hard to pass farm legislation because a lot of people didn’t understand the importance of farms and where their food comes from.

“They still think it comes from Food Lion,” said Hughes Swain, president of the Nelson County Farm Bureau.

Swain said a lot of the American public tend to think of farms out west when they think of agriculture because the amount of federal assistance and production costs there are so tremendous.

The farm bill was also discussed. Some of the farmers gathered said the bill did not really affect them in Nelson County, other than helping them get into the schools, since apples and peaches are listed as specialty crops.

“Apples and peaches are a small part of agriculture even though we grow a couple million bushels of apples,” said Tommy Bruguiere, vice-president of the Nelson County Farm Bureau.

Hurt also thanked members of the Farm Bureau for awarding him with the Friend of the Farm Bureau Award.