In November, a group of GreenStone board members and staff traveled to Washington, D.C. to represent GreenStone and our 28,000 members as part of the nationwide Farm Credit Fly-In. The time in D.C. was filled by conversations and interactions all centered around creating dialogue, providing education, and raising awareness with legislators and their staff. Three of your directors share their perspective of some of those opportunities from throughout their time in D.C., and offer their thoughts how each provided a unique and important opportunity to advocate for our members!
Dale Wagner
Over a hundred years ago Congress had the foresight to charter the Farm Credit System with a mission to provide safe and consistent credit and financial services to American farmers and ranchers. There has been enormous change since then, but our mission remains as important as ever. Today there is a tremendous amount of political "noise" so I feel it's necessary to be a part of the conversation.
Farm Credit was in Washington, D.C. with farmers and ranchers from across the country and I was lucky enough to be a part of more than 800 participants. I had the opportunity to share some time with my senators and representatives or in many cases their congressional aides who have a significant impact on the information our lawmakers use when considering legislation. We had very candid conversation and discussion about many things affecting agriculture and rural America. Obviously much of the conversation was centered around the Farm Bill and the need to get it passed. Coincidently, while we were in D.C. the one-year extension did pass, but the message was still clearly conveyed for the importance of getting the five-year Farm Bill passed to give producers a better sense of security.
Other topics included crop insurance, the ability to finance young, beginning, and small farmers, and their concerns over impacts of increasing land values and interest rates. We voiced our concern about overreaching regulation and how those additional costs have to be absorbed by our member owners. Another topic we approached centered around the need to help finance rural infrastructure, including housing, healthcare facilities, utilities, etc. and the ability to partner with community banks for the improvement of small towns.
I have the realization that we were talking to politicians in Washington, D.C., yet somehow I feel our message was well received. I believe our attempts to educate and voice our concerns were, in some small way, successful! I think communication and building these relationships is vitally important to the strength of agriculture, our rural communities and our country, and am grateful to be a part of the GreenStone team advocating for and representing our members on the Hill!
Troy Sellen
Occasionally I find myself so wrapped up in micromanaging the details of our farming operation that I can control that I forget to consider the “big picture”. I suspect this can also be the case for the 600,000+ patrons Farm Credit serves nationally. Thankfully, opportunities like GreenStone’s Legislative Breakfast, which we held in D.C. in conjunction with the Farm Credit Fly-In, creates a chance for us to get one-on-one time with some of our Michigan and Wisconsin Congressional delegates to facilitate discussions about these big picture issues.
While Farm Credit has a strong presence on Capitol Hill, this event brought our representatives and their staff out of their high-paced offices and into a relaxed environment. With less concern for time and schedules, meaningful and in-depth conversations were had around legislative issues that impact the bigger picture fundamentals that hit home for all of us in some way.
What I really appreciated about this event was the sincerity of the conversations. Whether it was talking about the need for a comprehensive Farm Bill or asking for support to allow Farm Credit to partner with rural communities in building vital infrastructure, these discussions took on a much more personable tone than the usual legislative office visits. I feel a huge amount of credit needs to be given to our staff at GreenStone for being creative and unique to other Farm Credit institutions by planning this event. Feedback from those who attended has been very positive with many inquiring as to whether there will be another breakfast during the next Fly-In.
By leveraging the power in numbers of our patrons, you can be confident that GreenStone and Farm Credit are creating direct conduits to the Capitol by which our concerns and needs are being heard.
Terri Hawbaker
Possibly the most valuable follow up to our in-person meetings with our legislators was the Farm Credit Marketplace Reception held at the conclusion of the Fly-In. Using the theme and ambiance of a community farmers’ market, associations like GreenStone from around the country bring and share product from their region and their customers to be given to legislators and their staff as they “shop” as a representation of the broad and diverse industry we are a part of.
While the in-person visits with legislators are vital to encouraging things like a Farm Bill that benefits our customers, the Marketplace Reception brings our words to life as they shake hands with the growers, producers, and lenders that the Farm Bill will directly impact. The participants get to use, taste and enjoy both food and nonfood items from all regions of Farm Credit customers.
We all too often read of and discuss the current disconnect between consumers and farmers or ranchers -the Marketplace Reception helps bridge that gap with the very people who will decide how our customers will be impacted with upcoming legislation. For many of them, it might be the first time they meet an actual farmer. Even greater than that, it just might alter their buying decisions as they join family over the holidays or host winter gatherings.
Andy Hertzfeld is quoted saying, “You show me a great program and I’ll show you a passionate individual somewhere behind it.” While it’s certainly more than one person behind the success of the Farm Credit Fly-In and Marketplace Reception, the passion for American agriculture was hard to hide!
To view the article in the online 2024 Winter Partners Magazine, click here.
