Filed under: Ag education, Ag promotion, Farm, Farm Bureau, food, food safety, Minnesota, Politicians, Politics | Tags: Ag. Education, Agriculture education, farm, Farm Bureau, Food, Minnesota, politicians, politics
Yesterday was National Ag Day, and I celebrated it by making a trip to S. Paul with other farm folks to remind our legislators of who we are.
Farm Bureau encourages its members to be in contact with lawmakers. If you are going to send then a letter, e-mail or make a phone call it is nice if they can put a face on the contact. This was that contact.
Our day started out at the MN Department of Agriculture where we were briefed on the issues. Right now the budget is the big issue. We accept that Agriculture is going to have to get trimmed a bit, we just don’t want to be completely bald when the job is done. We requested that we receive no more of a cut than anyone else.
After the briefing we had appointments with Senator Magnus and Representative Hamilton who are from our district, as well as Senator Hall and Representative Thissen whom we have adopted. We adopt senators and representatives from urban districts so that they can have someone they know to call when rural issues come up. If they can put a name on a face from rural Minnesota, and associate a story with that name, they will at least be better informed. We do not expect them to vote with us all of the time, but at least if they listen we will have done something. It also helps our Farm Bureau staff and officers when they testify about a bill to have a personal relationship with members of your group.
With the importance of the food industry in our lives, we are proud to be the face that government sees and thinks about when agricultural issues are talked about. Have you done your part to represent agriculture in a good way this year?
Michael
