Farm Bureau is Protecting Your American Food Supply
by John Wortman, Executive Vice President, NM Farm Bureau
In Farm Bureau we work hard to protect your American food supply. There are many things that Farm Bureau does toward that goal through education, lobbying, and networking, but overall protecting American food production, by promoting American agriculture and rural economies is the majority of what Farm Bureau does for you.
As we work to keep your American food supply viable and safe, protecting your private property rights, which includes water rights, is the biggest issue for Farm Bureau. There is no question that private property rights are important to every citizen. All of us want to be protected from loss of land, water, or property due to government actions. For that reason belonging to Farm Bureau is not an endeavor for farmers and ranchers only. Farm Bureau also works to help protect the rights of those people living in urban areas as well. Everyone that values their Constitutional rights should be part of Farm Bureau. Undoubtedly the work that we do toward protecting individual rights is a tremendous benefit to all citizens and our work on that is from the local, to the county, to the state, all the way to the national level.
Farm Bureau was formed as a result of the movement in the late 1800's to inform farmers and ranchers of the new technologies and better practices that were being developed by the land grant colleges at the time. The Morrill Act of 1867 and the Hatch Act of 1887 were pivotal in the forming our land grant colleges and the development of agricultural research and experimentation at those institutions that was intended to improve farm production. However, there needed to be a means of communicating that information to the farmers. The Cooperative Extension Service was being formed to provide that means for spreading new ideas and educating our nation's producers, but there was a need for more channels than the extension service could provide in its early days. In Broome County New York, a local chamber of commerce formed a "bureau" for farmers to help facilitate that flow. Thus, the "farm bureau" was a division of that chamber. That "bureau" was used as means to organize and direct information to the farmers in the area. In 1914, the bureau separated from the chamber to become the first county farm bureau. Yes, they kept the name "bureau" from the first days as part of the chamber and we still use it today.
The first farm bureau in New Mexico was formed in Dona Ana County in 1917. Our New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau was incorporated in 1947. Today, we have thirty county farm bureau organizations and about 14,000 members in New Mexico. Nationwide there are over 6 million Farm Bureau families that make up our membership. We are the world's largest organization of farmers, ranchers, and people interested keeping American agriculture viable.
Our state farm bureau works closely with the American Farm Bureau Federation on the wide variety of things that we do. We have training sessions that help our volunteer leaders improve their skills; we have seminars that go to the heart of the reason Farm Bureau was formed in the first place: to provide our agriculturalists with state of the art information and technologies to help improve their production and thus, enhance our national security by ensuring our food independence. Think about being dependent on foreign oil and what dependence on foreign food supplies would mean to our country.
Farm Bureau is definitely not all work and no play. We have many functions that are a wonderful opportunity for our members to have some fun. Our meetings always have time for people to share thoughts and ideas, or just talk about the weather. That friendly spirit is found at all levels, whether it is at a county meeting that is the foundation of Farm Bureau, or at a national conference. Visiting with the grassroots people of our organization provides members a great chance to learn new things about better ways to make businesses more successful or it can simply be the pleasure of talking about family and community news.
The New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau is funded mainly by membership dues, but also by royalties for the use of the FB logo and Farm Bureau name on the insurance products that our affiliated companies offer. Membership in NM Farm Bureau is $60 per year. $13.00 of the dues is sent to the county Farm Bureau to help fund their operation, $4 is sent to American Farm Bureau Federation for membership at the national level, and $41.00 is retained by the state office for operation of the state Farm Bureau. $2 of the state dues goes to fund an Accidental Death and Dismemberment policy that each member automatically has in the amount of $2000. Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company and Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company are the main two entities that provide insurance and financial services under the Farm Bureau name as part of our organization.
Farm Bureau is a grassroots organization. The county farm bureau is the foundation of all that we do from the local groups all the way up to the national level at American Farm Bureau. Our policies and beliefs are generated by the people in those local and county farm bureaus. Members take their ideas to the county meeting where resolutions lead to policies. Then the county takes resolutions to the state farm bureau, where the voting delegates decide what the state policies will be. After that, when applicable, the state policies are taken by our president and vice president to the American Farm Bureau delegate session where national policy is set. So, you can see Farm Bureau policy is a product of the people in the country, who are working the land and livestock, not a board of directors at the top of the organization. One of Farm Bureau's greatest strengths is that our policy is a product of grassroots action.
We have a number of people on staff to assist our volunteer members in the work of running our Farm Bureau. Those staff members have a wide variety of responsibilities and tasks. You will see articles in this edition by our four Regional Directors, our Director of Agriculture in the Classroom, our Director of Membership, our Director of Communications and Media, and our Director of Administrative Operations. Each of them has a critical role in keeping our Farm Bureau on top of the issues and services that our members receive, not to mention the things that we do for those outside of Farm Bureau to help them understand and appreciate the importance of agriculture in everyone's life. Remember, if you eat, you're involved in agriculture. In our business that saying is fairly cliché, but many people take their food for granted and don't think about the fact that what we produce in America is the safest and most reliable in the world. And again, that is the main reason Farm Bureau exists: to help protect your American food supply...the best in the world.
