VFB Women's Committe makes nearly 2,300 legislative contacts

VFBF President Wayne Pryor matched Women's Committee
Chair Janice Burton's $500 contribution to Agriculture in the
Classroom on behalf of the Southwest District, winners of the
legislative contacts challenge.

Last fall Virginia Farm Bureau Women's Committee Chair Janice Burton issued a challenge to each women's committee district to increase their activity during the 2012 General Assembly.

For the district that made the most legislative contacts, Janice would donate $500 to Agriculture in the Classroom. President Wayne Pryor offered to match Janice's contribution for a grand total of $1,000.

President Pryor and Janice made good on their promise at the 2012 VFB Women's Conference held last weekend at the Homestead.

Overall, members of the state women's committee made 2,292 legislative contacts this session. The Southwest District, which includes Smyth, Lee, Russell, Tazewell, Wythe, Washington, Bland and Wise-Dickinson counties, made the most contacts with 1,361. Great job, ladies! And thanks to Janice and President Pryor for their generous incentives!

We here in Governmental Relations can't stress enough the importance of contacting your legislators about bills or issues affecting Virginia agriculture, especially at crucial voting times. If you are a producer member and would like to receive our Action Alerts, please email kelly.pruitt@vafb.com.

Farm Bureau has 34 successes at General Assembly

Martha Moore
Vice President, Governmental Relations

As the General Assembly concluded without a budget, Farm Bureau policy positions prevailed on 34 out of 40 issues. This number will change once we know the outcome on the state budget.

A big thank you goes out to those of you who made legislative contacts when we asked you as well as those of you who participated in Legislative Day. We can't emphasize enough how crucial it is for legislators to hear the issues and how they affect agriculture straight from Virginia farmers like you. Your contacts made all the difference this year, and we can attribute our success to you.

If you are a producer member and would like to receive our action alerts, please email Kelly.Pruitt@vafb.com.

Below are some highlights from this year's session:

Animal Care

• Successful in defeating all legislation that place arbitrary and unscientific animal husbandry practice restrictions on farmers and prevented giving human rights to animals

Game Laws

• Made coyotes and feral hogs nuisance species so that this would allow some permanency beyond regulations for an open season on these nuisance species

• Defeated all bills that would have allowed Sunday hunting

Property Rights

• Passed a resolution placing a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot in November 2012 to permanently protect property owners from eminent domain takings for private benefit

• Ensured that landowners are fairly compensated for factors that impact the fair market value as “lost profits” and “lost access”

Please stay tuned on this issue as we are working on developing a statewide campaign on getting the ballot initiative passed. Look for more information on how your county Farm Bureau can help ensure that are successful in a major final piece of achieving our policy position on protecting your property rights from eminent domain abuse.

Virginia Cooperative Extension/ Agriculture Experiment Station

• Passed a commending resolution on the Agriculture Experiment Station’s 125th Anniversary to highlight the programs that have helped support farm profitability