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January 11, 2018

Recap of AFBF Convention

Topic: Events

This week's Dialogue with Daryl provides you with highlights from the American Farm Bureau Federation Convention, held in Nashville, Tenn., Jan. 5-9.

Download the AFBF Convention recap mp3

Read the transcript:

A successful week, at American Farm Bureau convention, highlighted by Reba McEntire, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and of course, the address to American farmers and ranchers by President Donald J. Trump. A great speech. In fact, great presentations to by all three of those wonderful individuals who joined us at the 2018 American Farm Bureau Convention.

One of the things highlighted, was of course, the tax reform. Another: regulatory reform and reduction, and another was that, no apologies needed for being the greatest nation on this earth.

What a refreshing thing to hear not only from the president, but also from Secretary Sonny Perdue.

Although, that’s not the main reason we go to the American Farm Bureau Convention. The main reason is the policy. And we had success in getting policy passed and adopted for the American Farm Bureau policy book that is going to assist many farmers in North Dakota and South Dakota. And that’s dealing with wetland policy.

Secretary Perdue, I think, said it best: “We’ve figured out that sometimes mud puddles are just mud puddles and they don’t need to be regulated by the government.”

What a great statement.

We passed some reform policy regarding sodbuster and swampbuster, and tied to that, if there isn’t sufficient progress in reform, that we should decouple crop insurance from conservation compliance, especially in light of the USDA taking away the 10 percent buy-up in prevent plant coverage.

We’re willing, as farmers, to do our part, and save the federal government money. But, if you’re going to change our protections, then you must let farmers farm and ranchers ranch and manage their land to the best of their ability.

Another highlight? We got into policy that there should be a buy-out program for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service easements. These are all big wins, importance strides for the Northern Plains farmer and rancher.

And we, at NDFB, had over 20 members – board members, staff – present at the 2018 convention, and we feel that we delivered for the NDFB members across our great state.  


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