President’s Podium: Fall’s Around the Corner

Just as fall is a busy time on most farms and ranches, fall is a busy time for RMFU. In this e-newsletter, you will find the results of the work that our staff is doing for our members. The fall convention season is approaching, with many of our county chapters having their dates set and more coming every day. RMFU Convention is quickly approaching as well, with the speakers and programs coming together. I look forward to November in Cheyenne, where I am sure everyone will find something that interests them. As always, convention will include the policy debate and adoption that sets the path for our legislative advocacy across our three states and federally, along with elections for three board positions and the election of President, for which I am running again this year.

Unfortunately, this year we are once again reminded why AgAssist was created last year, with communities across our three states dealing with disasters, from large fires to  too much rain and flooding. Currently, AgAssist is small and can only assist in small expenses for our members and communities in need. With everyone’s help in making donations, we hope to see it continue to grow in size so it can help in bigger ways.

Nationally, we will again take our current Fellows class, RMFU members, and staff to Washington, D.C., to participate in the NFU Fly-In, bringing true experience and knowledge from our states to our legislators who represent us. This work sets the stage for influencing decisions on legislation such as the long-overdue Food and Farm Bill.  The relationships and reputation built by our members attending this event have a real impact.

Also at the national level, registration is open for the NFU Women’s Conference, bringing women producers from across the country together for a learning and relationship-building experience.

We also have a lot of work going on with our staff, as you may have heard the Board of Directors selected a new CEO to fill the role as Ben Rainbolt transitions to retirement after a long and rewarding career, being a positive influence on agriculture. With the selection of our current Director of Government Relations Tyler Garrett, we now have two government relations jobs available.

It has been my honor to serve for the last decade on the Board of Directors, first as Vice President and currently (and hopefully into the future) as your president. Seeing the organization from my perspective, both the work it does and the influence it has, makes me appreciate it even more. I have been in the position where I was less active in RMFU than I would have liked because pigs were out, a sow was farrowing, or fences needed fixed, but I now understand how important active members in RMFU are. The future of a farm or ranch relies largely on getting tasks completed, usually with a deadline. However, I believe the future of agriculture relies on the few of us in the United States with farm and ranch experience being active, telling our stories, and influencing the public and legislators. RMFU staff does a great job of providing a variety of ways to participate, so I ask each of you, even during the busy times on farms and ranches, to find one of the activities RMFU offers and participate. I also ask each of you to bring a friend and help us build our active membership. You never know if the one person you ask will get something great out of the activity, they may have some contact that can help us influence the future of agriculture, or they may become a future leader for RMFU.

As I begin my travels to as many county meetings as I can, I hope to see a lot of you there, and I hope to see many more in November in Cheyenne!