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by OFBF Staff

The Ohio Farm Bureau Federation took a long, hard look at itself and its purpose as it entered a new century. Ohio Farm Bureau began an "Envisioning Future" process to determine how or if the purpose of the organization has changed.

Ohio Farm Bureau has periodically participated in long-term, strategic planning to establish specific goals. But the "Envisioning" process was different. Rather than looking externally at issues and then determining how Farm Bureau should react to them, the envisioning process looked internally to determine the organization's core purpose, core beliefs and an ultimate goal for which members, leaders and staff should strive.

"We need a firm understanding of who we are and what we stand for so we know what we want to become and how we will recognize success when we get there," said OFBF Executive Vice President Jack Fisher.

The process involved more than 20 focus groups and nearly every county Farm Bureau board of trustees, totaling nearly 1,000 individuals who provided comments to questions such as: Why do you believe OFBF exists? What do you believe the fundamental purpose of OFBF is? What trends do you see emerging that will significantly impact agriculture and the role of the Farm Bureau during the next five to 10 years? What would you like to see the Farm Bureau do to serve you in the future?

These questions and more were asked of groups such as county Farm Bureau leaders, legislators, media, Nationwide representatives, agribusinesses, academia, environmental groups and employees. The largest group heard from, however, was the nearly 500 members who serve on county Farm Bureau boards of trustees.

The focus groups' comments were summarized into a several hundred page document that a steering committee, composed of state board, county members and staff, distilled into a few concise statements.

"What the committee has created is really a sort of constitution and vision of who we are as an organization, what principles we stand for no matter what, and what we would like the future of our organization to look like," Fisher said.

"The "Envisioning the Future Process" identified three concepts:

• Core Purpose: This is the reason for existence and reflects the importance people attach to their work for an organization. The Core Purpose, that rang loud and clear for the Ohio Farm Bureau is "Working Together for Ohio's Farmers."
• Core Values: These are the guiding principles of the organization that should inspire others to be involved. These values are who we are and where we are today.
• BHAG (stands for Big Hairy Audacious Goal): This is the mother of all goals, and the compelling goal for the Ohio Farm Bureau organization, for the next 30 years.

"The final component of the process was to identify ‘Indicators of Success.' Essentially we don't know what the future holds, or how we're going to get there, but we do know what we would like it to look like," Fisher said. "At the Ohio Farm Bureau…We want strong relationships. We want a viable future for agriculture. We want to be a strong organization. And we want a balanced ecology."