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by Jack Fisher, executive vice president

The ultimate strength of Farm Bureau rests in your willingness to work side-by-side with your farming friends to get things done. This approach always has and always will serve us well. But in today’s complicated world, it makes sense for us to seek out a few new friends to work with. Friends outside our traditional agricultural circles. We need new allies with whom we share common goals. Your Farm Bureau is making those new friends, and maybe you should be, too.

One of the best places to find those friendships is within the business community. OFBF is actively creating stronger relationships with organizations such as the National Federation of Independent Business-Ohio, the Ohio Manufacturers Association, the Ohio Business Roundtable and the Ohio Chamber of Commerce. These and similar organizations often share our views on items such as tort reform, tax policy, labor issues and environmental regulation. Certainly, their goals and ours don’t always mesh, but when they do, this partnership of business, industry and agriculture is a powerful coalition.

We see it most often in the world of government. Frequently, it’s mutually beneficial to unite their members and ours to create an incredibly loud voice. That many people singing from the same hymnal is pretty hard to ignore in the Statehouse and Congress.

Beyond politics, another area in which cooperation makes sense is public relations. It’s in your best interest, and the businessperson’s too, when the public is made to understand that profit is not a dirty word. Consumers need to know that profitable enterprises create jobs, expand tax revenues and make countless other contributions to the community. Working along side our business friends, we’re able to spread the word that profitability and social responsibility are not exclusive of one another.

While Farm Bureau is engaged in building these relationships, you might want to consider doing the same thing yourself. How many important contacts could you make by joining the local Chamber of Commerce or other pro-business group? I think you’d find a good number of like-minded people who share your problems and opportunities. And while you’re at it, invite them to become a part of Farm Bureau. They need to see that farmers have interests in common with theirs.

You can be sure that the interests of farm families will always be represented by Farm Bureau. We will always remain the voice for agriculture. But in Columbus, Washington and your hometown, it never hurts to have friends, the kind of friends who see things the same way we do. Let’s reach out and forge those alliances that will benefit us and our fellow Ohioans.

Caption: Farm Bureau Executive Vice President Jack Fisher (right) makes a point with U.S. Senator George Voinovich during a recent meeing in Columbus.