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by Susie Taylor

Who doesn’t look at a New Year with anticipation and excitement?

When leaders of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation look ahead to 2005, they have those same feelings along with some high expectations.

OFBF President Bob Peterson and Executive Vice President Jack Fisher talked with Buckeye Farm News recently about what’s on tap for the organization, members and staff during 2005.

Fisher broke the opportunities into four areas – Ohio’s budget issues, development of a Roadmap for Ohio agriculture, opportunities with a more comprehensive Our Ohio brand for communications and greater emphasis on government affairs.

Being responsible
"Certainly one of our major activities will be the state of Ohio budget," Fisher said. Enhancing the business climate for small businesses while maintaining fiscal responsibility continues to be a mission for the organization. "All of this will be debated in the first part of 2005," Fisher said. "We know there will be a financial shortfall for the state of Ohio; the question is how to balance the budget in a responsible way."

Creating a Roadmap
When the Creating a Roadmap for Ohio Agriculture committee completes its work in June, the industry will have a focus for the next 25 years.

"The Roadmap will help set a direction for agriculture," Peterson said. "We brought a lot of people together – not just Farm Bureau and not just farmers – all of agriculture to get more input. The greater the buy-in throughout the entire industry, the greater success we’ll have."

The Roadmap "will lay out initiatives for the future – for the next 25 years," Fisher said. "The economy is changing in Ohio … That offers some awesome economic opportunities in the state. Our intent (with the Roadmap) is for agriculture to continue to be a key component in the state of Ohio."

Developing a ‘brand’
The organization’s Envisioned Future process is coming full circle with the implementation of goals established about five years ago for the organization’s communications efforts.

Our Ohio will embody a "brand" for the organization through publications, the Internet, radio and television. The brand will help the organization connect with nonfarm Ohioans and tell agriculture’s story.

"Through the Envisioned Future process, we were able to identify our strengths and weaknesses and develop a sense of direction and a strong commitment for our communications efforts," Fisher said. "We’ve been able to position ourselves in a way so we have the volunteer leadership in place and the staff resources to implement what our Envisioned Future committee told us was needed."

Fisher explained the process of developing a brand is an ongoing one that will involve the organization’s promotion and education programs as well as all aspects of technology, including the Internet and television.

"We’ll be taking agriculture’s message to an urban audience," Peterson said. "I think members are excited about that prospect. And I’m really looking forward to see what Farm Bureau leaders and a creative staff can accomplish."

In the long term, "We’ll help an urban public understand what we do and why we do it," Peterson said. "That will be a value to all of Ohio agriculture."

Information coordinators, Food Check-out Day, "to market, to market," Agriculture in the Classroom, the state fair exhibit and the American Farm Bureau effort at Epcot are all under the umbrella that will become Farm Bureau’s enhanced communications effort, Fisher said.

Implementing policy
Farm Bureau members consistently say the No. 1 reason they join the organization is because of its policy development process and implementation, Fisher said.

"These are things we’ve always done well. Now we’re poised to do them even better," Fisher said.

The organization is stepping up its political involvement, he said. And Farm Bureau’s government affairs programs will be even more active and more assertive with policy implementation.

"A key component of that will be the addition of a national affairs director who will coordinate even more with AFBF and will work with congressional offices in Washington and back in the home districts," Fisher said.

Another addition to the Government Affairs’ department’s activities will be an annual Key Leader trip to Washington, in addition to the Young Farmer and county presidents’ trips. "We’ll be taking key county leaders to D.C. so they can share their expertise with our elected officials," Fisher said.

Peterson’s comments echoed Fisher’s. "We’ve always done a good job in the political process," he said. "We’ve had great success in Congress and at the Statehouse with our county leaders. Imagine what we could accomplish if even more people worked on advancing agriculture’s public policy agenda."

Exciting times ahead
"There’s bound to be excitement for the members when we add more value to a Farm Bureau membership," Fisher said.

"We’ll continue to do what we’re known for – what we’ve done forever and what our members have expected that we do, but we’re raising the bar."

Caption: Ohio Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Peterson, left, discusses the organization's future with Executive Vice President Jack Fisher after a recent board of trustees meeting in Columbus.