New Teammate, National Impact, and Meet the Policy Committee

Please Welcome J Burow as the New Associate Director of Government Relations!

J Burow is the Associate Director of Government Relations for the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union. Born in Boulder, J has lived in a variety of places both nationwide and internationally. Upon returning to Colorado, J attended the University of Denver and earned a Master’s Degree in International Security, then worked as a Constituent Advocate for U.S. Representative Jason Crow. Outside of work, J enjoys hiking, skiing, and any other excuse to get outside.

RMFU Takes Lead Nationally in Shaping the Future of Relationship Between Clean Energy and Agriculture

On Tuesday, August 6^th, Tyler Garrett, Director of Government Relations, was invited to the White House to speak on a panel for their event “New ERA, Good Jobs and Farmer Benefits: White House Convening on Community Benefit Planning for Rural Electric Coops.” While there, Tyler met with representatives from the White House Climate Policy Office, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Energy, leaders from electric cooperatives, leading labor unions, and others to discuss how rural electric cooperatives can better work with the agricultural community as we move to an expansion of clean energy. These rural electric coops are asked to provide a community benefit plan that demonstrates what beneficial impact they will bring to communities that they move into other than just the production of clean energy. One of many ideas that Tyler brought to the group was that these rural electric coops should consider leasing back land to beginning farmers and ranchers at a discounted rate after they have acquired land and before they are able to install their clean energy project and on the land that they have acquired but may not need the entirety of the property. Rocky Mountain Farmers Union is excited to be taking an active role in helping define the future of clean energy in America and striving for positive impacts in our rural communities.

The RMFU Policy Committee Met and Worked on the 2024 Redline Policy Manual

The RMFU Policy Committee met on Saturday, August 3^rd to take the first initial look at our policy manual and created the 2024 Redline Policy Manual. This will be used at our county conventions and at the 2024 RMFU Convention in Colorado Springs as we work to create a finalized policy manual for the upcoming year. The policy manual that is finalized through our democratic process at the Convention, where members can add, delete, or alter policy before all taking a vote on the policies we support, will guide our Government Relations team as they advocate for family farmers and ranchers around our three-state region and across the country.

The members of this year’s Policy Committee were:

• Gordon Westhoff—District I Representative
• Theresa Schuller—District II Representative
• Hanne Wellborn—District III Representative
• Sarah Cole Lewis (At-Large) —At-Large Representative
• Sam Schmidt—District V Representative
• Amanda Weaver—District VI Representative
• Zach Withers—District VII Representative
• Emily Brown—Board of Directors Representative
• Nick Perchess—RMFU Vice President and Chair of the Policy Committee

You can find the 2024 Redline Policy Manual here: https://rmfu.org/legislation/.