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