farmers we have all of them want organizations like here to represent our farmers i want to veins all the farmers full comes together we have been talking about healthy eating continue these conferences and we are open to the nation's farmers can join us here we are have built our role model to empowering o sustainable if you are interested we have a booth out there and we would be very happy to talk with you more about that i am thrilled today to see so many people here i'd really like to thank our sponsors all of you thank you very much for coming and all of you today i just want to proport trade the message that what lee was talking about is totally correct we do training we do production we do marketing we need to look more at land issues and one very important thing is in the depths of the off season we take a time out and we get together and we meet each other and we talk to each other and i think this is absolutely wonderful gathering and i appreciate all your support and i appreciate all of you coming from so far away we should move into  we're very honored to have senator font come to talk to us today center a fine was born in laos came through the refugee camps in thailand and has since then acquired two degrees in in  computers and video technology operates his own video technology business and has an avid love for good food and an avid love for the outdoors he sits on the board of a co op in town here in the city is here and so we're very happy to have senator farm come and talk to us this morning was very been a very very innovative non profits and brought all of you together i'm also honored that you invited me to to to be  whether whether you live in the scion whether you voted for me or not and live outside of my district you know i serve in three community that will want to book you will want to make me your senator economic and a culture division so whether you live in my district or not of your have voted for me i am your senator so do come we have a total of eight state legislator this year that are your translate differently when you translate even when i translate into mine i mean different something something totally different but mainly to bring the money home to you and to our district and also i want  and you know what make it even better is that i'm a i'm a d f l or soul if i combine that you know we are in the union hall the labor the former and the democrats all together apologize you know if i talk about myself it's about mainly about my roots and moan and i apologize for those of you who are immigrants but from a different country you know we all have an immigrant story and don't forget or don't forget to share that to your ranked number twenty one and in the country of total state and the farmland fifty three percent of the land in minnesota of far left and the top the  you go down the number a rand six as a top export you know to other countries sending food to other country and when i met so you know that this one i just wanted to hold and going up to back to number one you will see that there's a rural population that live in rule is twenty seven percent and urban somebody three percent only talk about people that live out there farm out there and people that live here in urban but who are the population that that live in the urban but for me so you know something that's important and i will make reference that later and i hope so i hope that the statistics will motivate you you know and don't feel bad if you or your interests are forming this is not the top one you know you know you know your interests better and you your you have to it has to be something that you enjoy doing it too so i hope that this the statistic will motivate you and you can get this to sustain the fact sheet from the department of agriculture as well as on their website so  you know i hope that this will motivate you and you know like i said one thing that i've heard about this country was there's a saying in this country that money doesn't grow on trees but i know as farmer you know how to turn train your tree for money you know anything that grow you can turn into money so you know i believe you can do that so now going back to my background i want to share a little bit with you about my background i'm not a farmer i'm a small business owner i run a video production company for fifteen years and now a service server at your legislator and just to give you a sense of that or let me know like it's part time as part time and still rely on my income as a video community and you know hear from the people or a good network and you know become keynote speaker like i'm doing here today so  but my sister my sister is a farmer she she raised chickens and the state of missouri and you know i know live in farming i know there's as you make money but it's very hard work you know and you know i mentioned that in missouri and arkansas even after i get elected people in arkansas are already felt that i'm representing done because among the what brought their issue to me you know and i see that mr i we have a better program here better program here you just have to know i'm glad that all of you are showing up today and looking at the resource you know back to my background my father my father's a soldier and both side my grandfather are off former were former us so as many of their generation and they're still there are very few of them left now in the in their late eighty's and  what i just told you a little bit about my family detail the transformation of my family and also the hmong people within the last fifty years in our transformation from no magic farmer was in in his teens at the age of sixteen they were poor farmers by the way they're not hungry they're poor and you know and you know a member a member of his his village all farmer but each of them they plan for them only enough for their family they are independent farmers but when the war of fact them and modernization caught up the soldier realize that they have to change  to move forward so that what happened was he caught everyone together and told one of the big they can they can move forward if they are in the opinion formers they have to start planning together the all and now that was that was fifteen years ago that was fifteen years ago and now we are in modern america today and we can go back to that fifteen years and fifty idea that we should come together and form which accompany form and that that change of that dynamic of there and now we live here and one being an immigrant there's always something that stick in your mind about america and you have a we have different perspective you have different perspective and one learned so much about america is that the effectiveness of teamwork their fact in a steamer if you want to be successful we also have to form as a team  member of any team we have to be counted and won when we're counted we had to push show off show off a little bit boost up our skill build up our energy just imagine if there's two soccer team play me play against each other eleven on each team and if you if you want to have a fair game yet to come there's eleven play on one side and you have to count the number of other team too but let's save the only counter fi a one two three four five we're just eleven would that be a fair competition you know this country there's really no free lunch there's a really no free lunch but it allowed fair competition and fair so for the most part and fair competition is what got me here as as as your representative you know it early on in when i first arrived here a few of us young men who got together analyze about america and we learned that you know if you're not in their team then that packer you real hard but if you're in the team and you fell down your knee they pick you up that it's all right come on let's let's let's fight together let's l came together and and that's that seem to be the dynamic of america is to be counted in the team and you know as i mentioned to the factory earlier you know i look at this and i don't be counted and so i encourage you that there's you know when the culture censors come around or i think there's some form of courage of you to be counted so that there's  a can represent we can get a resource for you and as your next as your stake center i will do whatever i can to make your progress more efficient and pass bill if necessary to help minority family like yourself  you know to support yourself and i really heard earlier mr graham schaefer brought up the program by michael wrong that was a bill that was passed in the state senate and i'm glad that that's available for you so do look at that before you leave and you know as i said earlier my my people the money more at one time were free world farmers were free on our own if  don't want to form this fine with freedom movement form a different day but we change modernization caught up with us and we change we form together now and now live in this country all of you contribute so much for this country so far and now we are going back to far form installer for this country and that's your sixth at stake center i want to do well and the better the better you are the better you do the better it will generate for the economy of the state solve i thank you and i will help you thank you very much thanks yes thank you very much that was it's really great guy i appreciate the words on the words on the census sometimes the census is hard to hard to understand it's hard to understand the purpose but like the senator said in america and we do have an opportunity to influence and contribute to policy and the beginning of that is to be counted for example if in the senator's district the census shows there is one hundred farmers hundred immigrant farmers and their farming on five hundred acres and five hundred acres could be two million to three million dollars worth of produce that's significant senator wants to know about that but if we don't fill out the form the senator doesn't know and then he says all we've got farmers in my district or the other way is say wow i have one hundred farmers producing two point five million dollars worth of product coming out of my district that's impressive i want to know about that and so that opens the door i encourage you to to fill out the census