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Highlights from OFBF Executive Vice President Jack Fisher’s address to the 2002 annual meeting participants.

". . .as Farm Bureau works to maintain and grow its effectiveness for members, its important to recognize that the world we operate in is changing – changing dramatically and rapidly."

And as that change occurs, it is our duty to assess what it means for Farm Bureau as an organization and for our members as individuals.

I’m sure you’re aware of our recent major exercise to assess the impacts of change and to map out how to deal with those impacts. It was all accomplished through last year’s ‘Envisioned Future Project.’

With your input, and that of literally thousands of other knowledgeable people, we put together a plan of action that will assure Farm Bureau’s continued success for decades to come.

The results of our efforts are described in our brief vision statement: 'To create a partnership between farmers and consumers that meets consumers needs and ensures agricultural prosperity in a global marketplace.’

But how well we travel that road to success will depend in large part on exactly how we go about forging that partnership between producers and consumers.

Already, your board of trustees and staff have begun exploring exciting and innovative ways to bring about new partnerships and deepen existing relationships.

Let me just throw our a few ideas:

Picture Farm Bureau developing new uses of media – using mass communications to reach urban Ohioans to make agriculture relevant in their daily lives with television programs, print advertising campaigns, interactive video into classrooms across the state, radio commercials and entertaining Web sites.

Imagine Farm Bureau becoming even more influential in the world of politics and government. Concentrating on the regulatory agencies that have so much sway over your business and lifestyle, intensifying our contact with federal government officials, better preparing our field staff and you to work effectively with local public officials.

Envision Farm Bureau as not only the producer’s advocate but the consumers as well – assuring their confidence in the safety of food, verifying agriculture’s positive impact on the environment and being a source of advice and services associated with their homes, their pets, their lifestyles.

Consider a Farm Bureau that interacts with business, consumers, educators, activists, public agencies and special interest groups – interrelating with them not as customers or competitors but as our partners.

This is the Farm Bureau envisioned for the future, and it’s the Farm Bureau we’re beginning to build today.

". . . I encourage you to think not only about the Farm Bureau of this year or next, but the Farm Bureau of your children and grandkids. It is your job to envision, lead and succeed. And it is your job to repeat what Farm Bureau leaders like you did 84 years ago – take bold and courageous steps down the road to success."