Upcoming Webinars: Three Opportunities to Connect

How times have changed.

I just finished attending the RMFU staff meeting while sitting in my house 350 miles away. Technology has made it much easier to interact over long distances, and we are capitalizing on that benefit to better share information with our members.

The last six months have been quite busy with legislative sessions in all three of our states, numerous federal rules proposals by the administration, and of course US House passing a version of the Food and Farm Bill. At RMFU, we have actively been explaining our position on that farm bill via our communications outlets and media interviews, and we are now expanding on that message with our Farm Bill Webinar on June 11. This webinar will provide an opportunity for our members to hear a thorough analysis and our estimation of what is good, and what is woefully inadequate in this will. We will also have a question and answer session.

On a more local governance note, those who follow this column know that RMFU Bylaws will be a topic of discussion at the 2026 RMFU Convention. We have completed an initial review of our bylaws with our general counsel and are now ready to present that review to our members during a webinar on June 9^th at 6 PM.

The first part of this presentation will be a legal review.  RMFU Legal Council has notified the Board that the current Bylaws lack some language that is needed to be compliant with current laws and best practices.  Jeni Lamb Rogers will be discussing those needs on the webinar, explaining what changes are recommended in her legal opinion.  Our Bylaws also define what we are as an organization, a topic we will be tackling in the second part of the bylaws discussion. We have heard from a few chapters that they would like to discuss some organizational changes to the bylaws around elections and the board of directors. As a grassroots organization we welcome these discussions and this webinar will be a chance to ask questions about the current bylaws and propose additional changes.  Topics raised will be noted, consolidated, put through legal review, then presented in a follow-up webinar.

All of this work will be completed throughout the summer, as the current bylaws require proposal be submitted no later than September 21^st, 2026. We want to ensure that members understand the proposed changes and have a chance to add their voice to the proposals. If you would like to share thoughts or ask questions outside of this webinar, please feel free to email me at pr*******@**fu.org.

In addition  we are in the process of scheduling a third webinar about RMFU policy. Our members set our policy through our policy adoption process, which begins with the policy committee’s initial work to review policy, incorporate last year’s Special Orders of Business, and offer suggestions for topics that have either been satisfied, or where policy was found to be lacking. It then continues at the county level at the fall meetings, leading up to the RMFU Annual Convention where delegates debate and adopt policy.  Each fall at convention we explain how policy is used, however we do get questions from members, legislators, and their staff about the process of taking a position. This summer webinar will be a chance for us to show with real examples how the process works, and some of the complexities created by having a very in-depth policy and how that interacts with complex legislation.  We tackle this by using current real-life examples. Look for more information to come on the date and time.

I still believe that being together and sharing in-person conversations is a very important activity, but we are going to embrace technology tools to help us get timely information and discussions with members across our three-state region. While technology will never replace the value of a face-to-face conversation, it can help us reach more members, hear more voices, and strengthen our grassroots organization.