On goalPublished on 02/13/2006OFBF sets direction for 2006 By Lynn Snyder 2005 was a great year. Farm Bureau members accomplished a lot of great things, as the organization’s awards at the American Farm Bureau annual meeting attest. Looking at 2006, there’s even more to do. This is the thinking behind the state board of trustees as the board set the goals for the organization this year. "There are challenges facing agriculture. We wanted to focus our energies on some specific items," said Bob Peterson, OFBF president. At its January meeting, the OFBF board decided the following goals: Build membership -- today and tomorrow Farm Bureau is a membership organization, and this goal involves creating a membership plan to reach the 500,000-member mark. Enhance leader teamwork at all levels in Farm Bureau This goal looks at county Farm Bureau and state Farm Bureau cooperation in light of organization goals, county incentives, leadership/member goals and how Farm Bureau can do a better job of meshing all of them. Informed voting for effective government in 2006 OFBF Executive Vice President Jack Fisher said this goal is to encourage member participation in voting as well as encouraging effective government and careful use of taxpayer dollars at the local, state and federal levels. Not only do we want members to register to vote and vote, but also to be more engaged in campaigns. "We are all about supporting effective democracy. Democracy is only successful with participation," he said. Promote Nationwide relationship to better serve members and policyholders "We will be focusing more on reaching out to members and policyholders to determine their wants and needs," Fisher said. Influence farm bill, trade and energy policy This relates to OFBF’s national policy relative to the industry of agriculture as directed by the farm bill. "Trade and farm policy are now inter-linked," Fisher said. Also, farmers are users of energy and producers of energy. This goal is a focus on how Farm Bureau will move forward in policy on all three areas. Protect and grow the agbioresource industry Agbioresource was a new term coined in the Ohio Agricultural Roadmap report. Agbioresource is "an essential and innovative industry comprised of food, agricultural, green environment/landscape and bio-based industrial products." With the completion of the Ohio roadmap, and American Farm Bureau’s national "Making American Agriculture Productive and Profitable" report, OFBF has a goal of implementing ideas from those reports as well as continuing to protect property rights, curtail eminent domain and strengthen Ohio’s livestock industry. "The goals are something the board takes seriously and puts personal time and effort into, to review the issues and their priority," Fisher said "Input is taken from members at county annual meetings, our annual meeting and the Farm Bureau national meeting to determine where programs are headed and what we should emphasize," he said. The goals have already been shared with county presidents, staff members and field staff members. Members who have comments or suggestions about the goals should share them with their county president. "I am adamant that for Farm Bureau to be successful we have to define what success is and decide what our goals are. We’ve been successful in the past because people know what needs to be done. Every member no matter what the role in Farm Bureau should find a way to achieve these goals," Fisher said.
AFBF board picks priority issues At the January meeting of the American Farm Bureau Federation board of directors, board members selected 14 issues on which AFBF should focus the bulk of its lobbying and public relations efforts this year. Animal Agriculture
Energy and Transportation
Environment and Land Use
Farm Policy
Immigration and Farm Labor
Trade
Taxes
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