From the Field: County Farm Bureaus- the Foundation of Farm Bureau

If you have been involved in Farm Bureau for any amount of time, you have probably heard someone say that Farm Bureau is a grassroots organization. Our policies all start at the county level. Our state and national leaders all started at a county Farm Bureau. This county structure has been in place for decades and is still the mainstay of Farm Bureau.

Last week, I helped with the Open House at the new Appomattox County Farm Bureau office. VFBF President, Wayne Pryor; Appomattox County Farm Bureau President, Earl Pickett; and Appomattox Young Farmer chair and incoming county Farm Bureau President, Joanne Jones kicked off the event with remarks to the audience. A great lunch with dessert was enjoyed by many. They had a steady flow of people at the office throughout the day. I enjoyed talking to all of the people that visited. Visitors included VFB staff from the home office, the largest cattleman in the county who is a young farmer, a livestock auctioneer who is also a young farmer, members just visiting and some conducting business, and some potential new members.

 

Even the kids enjoyed the open house. Some of the young farmer parents had their toddler-aged kids there, and there were balloons on hand. Balloons and kids. It’s a classic combination where you can’t go wrong. The cutest part of the day was when a little girl took two balloons. One was for her. The other one she took out to the parking lot, released it into the air, and then told her parents that it was for Jesus. This open house, like many we have had in Farm Bureau, was a great blend of county Farm Bureau volunteer leaders and Farm Bureau staff all working together in preparing for and hosting the event.

 

County Farm Bureaus recognized for participation in Stand Our Ground: Critical Issues campaign

Channing Snoddy, president of Fluvanna County
Farm Bureau, received an American flag from the
U.S. Capital on behalf of his county reaching the goal
for the Stand Our Ground: Critical Issues campaign. 

In 2010, Farm Bureau members responded to Action Alerts regarding federal legislation that would unfairly blame farmers and overestimate their impact on the Chesapeake Bay. Their efforts resulted in 28,000 contacts made to U.S. Sens. Warner and Web and Virginia’s delegation in the House of Representatives, including personal visits, emails, phone calls and more than 18,000 letters. These contacts played a huge role in the defeat of the legislation

With the success of our Stand Our Ground: Chesapeake Bay campaign in 2010, we wanted to keep the momentum going in 2011 with other critical federal issues. We began the Stand Our Ground: Critical Issues campaign in July, and challenged county Farm Bureaus to make as many legislative contacts as possible on these four of our federal critical issues with Virginia’s congressional delegation by November 15, 2011. Those four issues were the 2012 Farm Bill, ag labor, air quality and water quality.

These issues along with a specific contact goal were recommended by the VFBF Legislative and National Affairs Advisory Committees and approved by the VFBF Board. These issues are aligned with American Farm Bureau priority issues.

The goal for each county Farm Bureau was to get a minimum of 2 percent of its producer membership to make contacts for each issue. Members from counties that achieved this goal were recognized at the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation Annual Convention last week by wearing purple ribbons. We had 75 counties reach and exceed their 2 percent goal, which is wonderful accomplishment!  The county that made the lost contacts in each district received an American flag from the U.S. Capital, and were recognized at the Leadership Breakfast during the convention. Click below to see what counties reached their goal.