WV Farm Bureau Magazine February 2014 | Page 13

Stallman: Grassroots Strength, Strategy Drive Success With an appreciation for agriculture’s heritage, farmers and ranchers are focused on the opportunities and challenges of the present, keeping their eyes on the road ahead, according to American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman. “If we keep our commitment to learn from the past, look toward the future and never let go of the wheel, I know that Farm Bureau will have a bright future,” Stallman told about 7,000 Farm Bureau members who gathered in San Antonio for AFBF’s 95th Annual Convention. Stallman, a rice and cattle producer from Texas, also spoke about the example Farm Bureau members set during what was a bitterly divided Congress in 2013. “This very gathering is about people from different regions and backgrounds coming together to develop policy that benefits all of American agriculture,” he noted. While lawmakers are close to the finish line on the farm bill and the Water Resources Development Act, farmers and ranchers can’t wait any longer for effective, long-term solutions to the agricultural labor crisis, which has forced growers to leave millions of dollars’ worth of crops unharvested and threatens the country’s food security. “Farmers and ranchers have been waiting for Congress to take action and work for solutions, waiting for them to put the nation’s needs above politics,” Stallman said. Despite this time of congressional gridlock, few organizations have seen their key priorities passed by even one house of Congress, much less two, Stallman noted. see Stallman, page 25 West Virginia Farm Bureau News 13