By Glenn Brunkow, Pottawatomie County farmer and rancher
Kansas Farm Bureau is fully engaged in the process of developing policy for members’ consideration at our annual meeting in December. The Resolutions Committee has received your ideas from issue surfacing and we have started developing proposals for the full delegation to consider.
We all know that we live in interesting times, and it is even more critical that we hear from all of our members and gather as many opinions as we can. The policy in our book reflects the direction our members want Kansas Farm Bureau staff to engage with legislators and other leaders as they make decisions that affect your farm or ranch.
The grassroots nature of our policy book is what gives Kansas Farm Bureau and the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) their clout in Topeka and Washington D.C. Each one of those policies came from a member and were developed with the help of other members until they were adopted by Kansas Farm Bureau and, in the case of national policy, (AFBF).
I hope you had an opportunity to attend an issue surfacing meeting, but if you did not and want to submit an idea or an issue for the Resolutions Committee, you can do so at www.kfb.org/advocacy. Again, I remind you that our policy and our organization are strong because of members and their ability to have a voice in the direction of the organization.
This fall we will have 10 listening posts all across the state, and it will be your opportunity to voice your opinion on any of the proposed policy changes. The more members who weigh in on policy changes, the stronger those changes are. Each of our 10 districts are represented on the Resolutions Committee, and I encourage you to reach out to yours with ideas or questions. Every member has the right to voice their opinion and we are stronger because of the varied ideas.
In December at the Kansas Farm Bureau Annual Meeting we will finalize the proposed changes in policy and that policy book will be our marching orders when it comes to working with legislators at the state and federal level. Those are your words and your ideas and that is why it is so important that we have as much input as possible.
Will we always agree with the policy? Probably not, but it is in the book because a majority of the delegates from all 105 counties voted for it. You know what? If you don’t agree with the policy you have the ability to lead the charge to change it. Everything we do is member driven, which means what we do can be changed by, you, the member.
I hope you will engage in the policy development process. Yes, we have already started the wheels in motion, but there is still time for each member to weigh in with their ideas. If you are not a member, there is still time to join and jump in.
I believe in our process, and I truly believe it is because we are a grassroots organization who has a seat at the table for everyone involved in agriculture its up to you to be involved.
“Insight” is a weekly column published by Kansas Farm Bureau, the state’s largest farm organization whose mission is to strengthen agriculture and the lives of Kansans through advocacy, education and service.
