AFBF President Highlights Member Engagement, Policy Priorities

American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall kicked off his organization’s 106^th annual meeting by highlighting member engagement stories and policy priorities, including ensuring that Congress provided much needed disaster aid and financial support at the end of last year.

“We successfully led the charge to ensure Congress recognizes how tough it is right now for farmers,” Duvall said while noting that AFBF members flooded Congress with over 12,000 messages in 72 hours. “This led to $30 billion dollars to support farmers and ranchers at a critical time.”

Throughout last year, he said members sent nearly 50,000 calls, letters and texts to Congress and federal agencies – a new record during his presidency. The engagement led to a “huge win almost right out of the gate in 2024” as the Securities and Exchange Commission removed the Scope 3 reporting requirement from its climate disclosure rule.

The final rule does not require public companies to disclose greenhouse gas emissions from their supply chains, including farms and ranches.

“It was all but a done deal until thousands of you joined me to help the SEC understand that it would have been impossible for farmers to comply,” Duvall said. “I never expected to get a personal phone call from the SEC chairman. No one in Washington believed we could impact a SEC rule. But we sure did.”

Looking ahead, Duvall said AFBF is “focused on the finish line” for several other issues.

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