State of the Union Starts a New Year for Agriculture Advocates

By Cody Lyon

The calendar has flipped to the second month of 2018, but the political year kicked off Tuesday night when President Trump delivered his State of the Union address to a Joint Session of Congress.

In a crowded House of Representatives chamber, Trump focused on several key Farm Bureau issues.

“From regulatory reform and trade to immigration reform and infrastructure upgrades, President Trump tonight unveiled a policy roadmap that aims to unify and strengthen our nation. Many of the provisions he outlined will continue the theme of renewing rural America. Now, we must work to secure those policy provisions,” American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall said in a statement.

And work, Farm Bureau advocates will. Over the next 10 months, more than 4,000 Farm Bureau members will come to Washington, D.C., to meet with their representatives and senators on these issues and others. During these meetings, farmers and ranchers will lay out the needs of rural America, express their concerns on pending federal legislation and deliver the ask to their elected officials.

The same interactions will happen across the country, at town hall meetings, fairs and other in-district events. At the core of Farm Bureau’s purpose and mission, advocacy, like agriculture, does not take holidays or weekends off.

While the State of the Union gets the headlines, and deservedly so, it’s when farmers and ranchers come together with their lawmakers—whether in Washington, D.C, on the farm, or at the local diner or in-district office—that we see influence turn into action with the implementation of agriculture’s policy priorities.

For more information on farmers’ and ranchers’ top policy issues for 2018, go to https://www.fb.org/issues/.

Cody Lyon is Director of Advocacy & Political Affairs for the American Farm Bureau Federation.