Farmers Have a Story To Tell

Tim and I are currently at the American Farm Bureau Federation in Atalanta, GA. Home of the peach trees, grits and snow. What? Yes,  snow, ice and other miserable weather. We thought we were escaping our terrible weather, but in fact it has followed us.

In-spite of the snow, we having a wonderful time networking, learning new things and laughing at all of Georgia who cannot drive in a measly one inch of snow (in a kind and loving way of course). The purpose of our trip was for I to sit on a panel and talk about our use of social media.  That was accomplished, but this is also a time to take in all that the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) Annual Meeting has to offer.

AFBF is the largest grassroots farmer lead organization in the nation. Tim and I are proud Farm Bureau members. Tomorrow we will be able to watch some of the policy setting session. This is where farmers from all across the nation will join to discuss issues that are relevant to agriculture.  They will set policy that will become what AFBF staff use when talking with elected officials.

As farmers, we don’t always have the time to be at our state and national capitols, put with Farm Bureau it is like we have extra set of eyes, ears and mouths.  Tim and I try as much as possible to meet directly with our elected officials to tell them how certain policy will affect us, but that is not always possible. AFBF (and the MN Farm Bureau) make it possible to tell our story even when we are working on our farms.

Hopefully, our flight will not be canceled tomorrow, but if it is we will be able to spend another glorious night in this awesome state. At least we brought our swim suits and we will be able to relax by the pool and dream of warm weather.

Emily