December 10, 2012
State FB Links
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Final state quota, Navigator status Quota states Alaska, 354 member families Arizona, 22,140 member families California, 74,497 member families Colorado, 23,683 member families Connecticut, 7,239 member families Delaware, 8,324 member families Florida, 147,119 member families Hawaii, 1,952 member families Idaho, 68,311 member families Iowa, 154,424 member families Louisiana, 148,406 member families Maryland, 37,211 member families Massachusetts, 5,966 member families Michigan, 194,564 member families Minnesota, 27,537 member families Mississippi, 199,502 member families Missouri, 104,160 member families Montana, 17,077 member families Nebraska, 55,646 member families New Mexico, 16,805 member families North Carolina, 549,583 member families North Dakota, 27,287 member families Ohio, 214,400 member families Pennsylvania, 55,398 member families Puerto Rico, 715 member families South Carolina, 112,234 member families South Dakota, 13,072 member families Tennessee, 655,129 member families Texas, 483,887 member families Vermont, 3,336 member families Wisconsin, 44,169 member families Wyoming, 12,053 member families
Colorado, 23,683 member families Connecticut, 7,239 member families Delaware, 8,324 member families Florida, 147,119 member families Hawaii, 1,952 member families Idaho, 68,311 member families Massachusetts, 5,966 member families Montana, 17,077 member families New Mexico, 16,805 member families North Carolina, 549,583 member families Pennsylvania, 55,398 member families South Dakota, 13,072 member families Texas, 483,887 member families Wyoming, 12,053 member families
Navigator states Alaska, 354 member families
State Focus
PFB applauds new vehicle laws Pennsylvania Farm Bureau says farmers across the state have gained substantial relief from long-standing problems associated with locally operated agricultural vehicles now that Gov. Tom Corbett has signed legislation to update the state vehicle code. “The changes allow farmers to safely and legally move farm vehicles and equipment from field to field and field to farmstead, which should be especially helpful for farmers during planting and harvest seasons,” said Carl Shaffer, PFB president. Additional safety measures will also be required under certain conditions as part of the updated vehicle code. “Farmers strongly support enhancing safety measures on larger farm vehicles traveling on Pennsylvania roadways in order to protect drivers and passengers in other vehicles,” Shaffer said.
Newsmakers After serving nine years as the president of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, and another 15 years on its board, Bill Bruins has announced that he will not be seeking another term. Bruins was first elected to WIFB’s board in 1988. He was chosen as the board’s vice president in 1997 and served in that post until 2003. Matt Blubaugh has joined the staff of Ohio Farm Bureau Federation as web developer. Previously, Blubaugh was interactive designer and developer for the Navicor Group and was lead flash developer and digital media specialist for SOS Video Communications. The Iowa Farm Bureau Federation had several employees enter new roles this fall. Jim Gardner has been named chief financial officer and controller, following the retirement of Jim Christenson. Gardner has been a member of the IFBF family since 1996, serving as the finance and accounting manager. Jeremy Coyle has been named regional manager for region 11, which includes the counties of Boone, Dallas, Greene, Polk and Story. Coyle joined IFBF in 1997 and served as the senior producer/writer. Aaron Siskow
joins the marketing and communications staff as producer of digital multimedia services. Siskow was most recently the senior multimedia developer for Farm Bureau Financial Services. Colorado Farm Bureau announced that Troy Bredenkamp, executive vice president, will be leaving at the end of this year. Bredenkamp has been an administrative leader within the organization for the past seven years. Chad Vorthmann, current CFB vice president, has been named the new executive vice president, effective Jan.1. Vorthmann has more than 10 years of experience within the organization. Two new regional managers have been hired by Indiana Farm Bureau. Seth Harden will cover Crawford, Daviess, Martin, Lawrence, Orange and Perry counties in southwest Indiana. Chancey May will be in charge of Clark, Floyd, Harrison, Jackson, Scott and Washington counties in southeast Indiana. The American Farm Bureau Federation’s Mary Kay Thatcher was recently recognized by The Hill newspaper as one of the top lobbyists of 2012.
AFB, Inc. promotes Murphy Tiffany Murphy recently assumed the newly created position of assistant director of member benefits at American Farm Bureau, Inc. In this new role, Murphy will be responsible for the effective operation of member benefit programs and services to Farm Bureau members across the country. Of particular importance will be her management of AFB, Inc.’s soon-to-be-launched FB Member Advantage! website. Murphy joined AFB, Inc. in March 2011 as an administrative assistant. Prior to that, she worked as an account executive for Vovici, an enterprise feedback management company. In that role and her previous role at Oracle, Murphy managed all aspects of the sales cycle. Murphy graduated from American University in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in political science.
Here lies a family farm At the New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau’s recent annual meeting the organization displayed a “Death Tax Cemetery” in which headstones commemorated the death of several farms and ranches whose family owners were forced to sell off pieces of their operation or go out of business completely to pay federal estate taxes. In addition, NMFLB members wrote to their congressmen on RIP stationary explaining how estate taxes affect them personally. Unless Congress acts, as of Jan. 1, the estate tax exemption will drop from the current $5 million to $1 million per person. The rate will climb from the 35 percent in place now to 55 percent.