Menu

By Jack Fisher, OFBF executive vice president

First chance you get, I’d like you to visit with your county Farm Bureau president about his or her recent trip to Washington D.C. Our Page One story in this issue of Buckeye Farm News gives you an overview of the three-day lobbying event, but to get a real sense of what took place, you need to get it straight from your local leader. I can just about guarantee that one thing your president will say is that he or she came away from the capital with a sense of frustration.

The frustration centers on the fact that regardless of the issue being discussed – trade, ethanol, tax reform, farm labor and numerous others – nearly every lawmaker, nearly every bureaucrat and even our AFBF staff members all shared the same message: Don’t expect much progress this year on agriculture’s agenda. The reason Washington doesn’t anticipate much action? Because it’s an election year.

That full dose of political reality was hard to swallow for a lot of your county presidents. They didn’t like repeatedly hearing that important business will be delayed because neither side wants to give the other a political advantage heading into a contentious election. On the farm, the work gets done and it gets done now; there isn’t time for excuses. And farmers feel it’s not too much to ask their government to approach the nation’s business with the same attitude.

In spite of their frustration, I want your county presidents, and you, to be absolutely clear about one thing: They got their job done. Our volunteer leaders turned the "election excuse" to agriculture’s advantage. Every lawmaker and every administration official that met with an Ohio Farm Bureau member knows exactly where we stand on the issues. While the business of government may be delayed another eight or nine months, the politicians know what Farm Bureau’s expectations are. And they know that how well they meet our expectations will determine the farm vote in November.

One other thought I’d like to share, not to eliminate the frustration but maybe to ease it a bit, is that sometimes, moving slowly isn’t necessarily all bad. One thing that was made very clear throughout our three days in Washington is that agriculture is at the forefront of some very complex issues. Every topic important to farmers is important to every American. The public – which agriculture needs to partner with – may not be as tuned into the issues as farmers are, but they have a lot at stake. Farm exports affect jobs. Animal identification relates to food safety. Ethanol provisions in the highway and energy bills impact the federal budget and are central to environmental and energy policy. While we in agriculture may be a bit impatient to have our priorities addressed, I believe that over the long haul, we’re better served if government is concerned more about doing things right than doing things fast.

Sen. Mike DeWine, who spoke with our group during the trip, reminded us of something we’ve often heard. He said democracy may not be pretty, but it’s still the best system in the world. After watching our county presidents working the system for three days in Washington, I’d say he’s right. I’m inspired by and proud of what our volunteers accomplished in the nation’s capital. The payoff may be slow to come, but it will come.