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January Legislative Update

RMFU Meeting on Kroger-Albertsons Merger

On 1/5/23, RMFU President Chad Franke, Director of RMFU Dan Waldvogle, and Director of Government Relations Tyler Garrett had a productive meeting with attorneys from the Colorado Attorney General’s Office and the Federal Trade Commission to discuss the merger of Kroger and Albertsons. This was a follow-up to the letter that RMFU sent to Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser late last month thanking him for putting a call out to other states to join him in investigating this merger and urging him and his office to do everything within their power to stop this merger. You can read the letter here.

The Colorado Attorney General’s Office and the Federal Trade Commission would like to meet with producers that would be willing to share their experiences with negotiating fair prices with these grocery store chains and your concerns with this merger. If you are interested in meeting with these offices, please contact Dan Waldvogle at daniel.waldvogle@rmfu.org.

Beginning of Legislative Sessions and Drive-ins

The legislative sessions throughout our region and at the federal level are about to start. We are excited to be at the capitols in Denver, Santa Fe, Cheyenne, and DC to advocate for you! With the start of the legislative sessions comes the opportunity for you to join your fellow RMFU members at your respective state capitol for a legislative drive-in. Members will have the opportunity to participate in advocacy training, hear from RMFU staff about the legislation we are monitoring for you, meet with state leaders in agriculture, and participate in meetings with legislators.

The Colorado Drive-In this year will be held on Monday, February 6th. After the morning sessions of updates and speakers as well as lunch with legislators, members will be put into teams to either participate in the House Agriculture, Livestock, and Water Committee or to meet with state senators to discuss important legislation. We will also be facilitating tours of the capitol. If you are interested in attending this year’s Drive-In, please contact Tyler Garrett at tyler.garrett@rmfu.org by Monday, January 30th.

The New Mexico Drive-In will take place on Thursday, February 16th. Members in New Mexico will have the opportunity to take part in either the House Agriculture, Acequias, and Water Resources Committee or the Senate Conservation Committee as well as meet with legislators and tour the Roundhouse before heading to the Hotel Santa Fe for lunch and an afternoon of speakers. Since we will start our morning with legislator meetings and committee hearings, we will host a virtual session with members a few days before Drive-In to discuss legislative updates and provide advocacy training. If you are interested in attending this year’s Drive-In, please contact Tyler Garrett at tyler.garrett@rmfu.org by Wednesday, February 8th.

In Wyoming, we hope to host a legislative in-district with US Representative Harriet Hageman during Congress’s August recess. This will provide members the opportunity to meet their newly elected Congresswoman and discuss important legislative updates that will have big impacts on agriculture in Wyoming, such as the 2023 Farm Bill. Prior to the meeting with Representative Hageman, we plan on hosting an advocacy training and providing updates on the Wyoming legislative session that will have wrapped up earlier in the year. We will put out a call for members to sign-up for this meeting later this year.

This is just a snapshot of what the Government Relations team has coming up in the next couple of months. Make sure you check the RMFU website and social media pages for announcements about upcoming events.

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