SOPD - Farm Bureau

On September 24, we were fortunate enough to go to Minnesota Farm Bureau for a day of professional development. The six of us were joined by Raina Pederson, Hillary Kletscher, Olivia Kendall, and Sam Mellgren since they are serving as delegates for Minnesota FFA at the 83^rd National FFA Convention on October 18-23. The day was full of excitement including meeting the awesome people that work at Farm Bureau, hearing from a variety of commodity groups, and learning a great deal about Farm Bureau.

To start off the day, Kevin Paap, President of Minnesota Farm Bureau, gave us an introduction to Farm Bureau. They have been in existence for over 90 years and they have over 30,000 members in the state. Their mission is to be an advocate for agriculture driven by the beliefs and policies of their members. Next on the agenda was the Public Policy Director, Chris Radatz who spoke on local and state issues. He told us how they develop their policies based off the members and a voting process. Staci Martin, Public Policy Associate Director, gave us an update on national issues and her role in the organization. She assists the Public Policy Director in the direction and coordination of the public policy programs on national and state legislative and regulatory issues, working specifically on national issues. She talked about current issues including the possible changing of the estate tax and the implications it may have on inheriting or purchasing a farm.

Two hot topics in agriculture currently and will continue to be in the future are animal care and water quality. Jeremy Geske and Warren Formo spoke on their importance, what we should know, and what we can do as agriculturists. We now have a better understanding of what Farm Bureau does on a policy and regulation scale. Kristen Harner shared with us the function of the foundation and her responsibilities of the job in public relations. She invited the officer to Farm Bureaus Annual Meeting on November 18th-20th and of our role at the conference. Another great organization, similar to the FFA in promoting agriculture and farmers is Young Farmers and Ranchers through Farm Bureau. Bob Shepard, Chief Administrator, challenged us on our view of what a lobbyist does and dispelled some of the common misconceptions. All lobbyists have is there word so they must be straight forward and upfront in order to be effective. Kevin Paap lastly gave us a great set of resources in some "reminder" sheets for details for everyone to keep in mind to be professional, polite and respectful.

During lunch we had the chance to sit with some Ag Communicators from agriculture businesses and industries. Amanda Nolz, editor of BEEF Magazine, presented to the group in the morning before we sat down and had a round table discussion. The discussion was about our new initiative, the Agriculture Literacy Challenge, which will be rolling out on November 1st. Each group gave ideas and input on how they might be of assistance to our program. It is amazing to see the network and willingness we have to assist each other in the agriculture community.

To finish the day the state officers, delegates, and state staff discussed the National issues that will be coming up at this years national convention. We have 8 delegates with Sam and Oliva filling in for Erin and Maddie when they are competing in CDEs. After talking and bouncing thoughts off each other we have a better grasp on the issues and what would be in the best interest of Minnesota. We are pumped for National Convention and thankful for Farm Bureau's support of FFA and the agriculture lifestyle.

Stationed by the Rising Sun coming through the Open Door,

Jason Troendle and Justin Crowley