Farm Bureau Managers Travel to Washington D.C.

Nearly 20 county Farm Bureau Managers made the trip out to Washington, D.C. last week to learn more about how our nation’s capital functions.  The group met with government affairs professionals from companies leading the charge on sustainability, and staff from the following: the British Embassy, House and Senate Agriculture Committees, the GOP Whip’s office, a legislative office, and AFBF (the national Farm Bureau organization).

Both companies we met with expressed the same mentality that farmers are incredibly important to their bottom lines.  They need to source the products farmers bring to the market and leaving agriculture out of the picture is not a sustainable solution in their minds.  This is particularly a challenge in Europe, which is a theme heard ever since the IFB’s 2022 Market Study Tour.  It was further emphasized by the embassy that sustainability is a real challenge facing the entire world right now, but the need to figure out how farmers can play a role in solving some of the problems is critical.

One of the biggest highlights of the trip was a tour of the Capitol building given by staff from Congressman LaHood’s office.  The amount of history that lies within that building is truly incredible. And speaking of history making moments – the group was “this” close to getting a seat in the House gallery to watch the final vote for Speaker.  Unfortunately, the line started moving at a much slower pace once the vote kicked off and we had to head back over to the Senate side for another meeting.  At least we can still say we were in the Capitol complex when the 56^th Speaker of the U.S. House was elected.