PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
With 2012’s successes come 2013’s challenges
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I feel confident in saying that 2012 was a year in which we truly fulfilled the Farm Bureau mission. Our mission statement asserts, “We will enhance, primarily through advocacy, education and communication, the agricultural interests of Farm Bureau members through economic, political and social programs.” We’ve been doing that for more than 85 years, and the effort that generated the most headlines last year was our purchase of a half-interest in The Meadow Event Park and the State Fair of Virginia. Your board of directors agreed this was a wonderful opportunity to carry out our mission, particularly the education and communication parts. Entering into the fair partnership did not cost the Federation any more money than we were already committed to spending with the old fair. And now we have a piece of the action and a real say in all the activities that occur on this valuable property in Caroline County. I am very pleased to report that approximately 150,000 visitors came to the 158th State Fair—and we finished in the black! Our other great victory last year was the result of seven years of hard work. By a three-to-one margin Virginia voters said “Yes” on Election Day to amending Article 1 of the Virginia Constitution to enshrine stronger protections for private property rights. I firmly believe this will go down as one of the major political achievements of Farm Bureau for decades to come. Like so many Farm Bureau victories, it came from the grass roots. We distributed nearly 13,000 yard signs to members and the public. Seven radio stations ran ads in support of the amendment, including some ads purchased by county Farm Bureaus. At least 25 newspapers ran ads, again paid for by county Farm Bureaus. Every county Farm Bureau annual meeting had a presentation on the vote, and most county Farm Bureaus included the issue prominently in their member newsletters. Along the way to this victory, we’ve fine-tuned our political outreach efforts. Many of you now receive regular e-mails from our Plows and Politics blog, and we’ve developed a database for county Farm Bureaus to help them share ways they’ve addressed political issues. This will keep us from having to re-invent the wheel each time a local challenge to agriculture pops up. I want to congratulate the county Farm Bureau women’s committees across Virginia, who made more than 2,300 legislative contacts since last spring. VirginiaFarmBureau.com
Our volunteers also spread the good word about agriculture during National Agriculture Week, when 1,800 volunteers read to 61,000 schoolchildren across the state. Education is important to our members as well. Almost 3,000 producers attended one of our risk management Virginia Farm Bureau Federation and Universal Fairs LLC announced their State Fair partnership seminars last year. at a July reception. Two thousand farmers get our weekly Commodity Comments electronic newsletter. We helped 31 producer members receive financial grants for value-added agricultural businesses, and our grain marketing division helped members sell 2.3 million bushels. The excellence of all of our programs has not gone unnoticed. I recently learned that the American Farm Bureau Federation has awarded us five State Farm Bureau Awards of Excellence for our 2012 activities. Of course it wasn’t all good news in 2012. Our membership total was 146,810 members—down from almost 151,000 members in 2011. I know your county organizations have struggled with this as well, but we’re positioning ourselves to be a more financially stable organization and to pursue our public policy goals in addition to serving our members. Benjamin Franklin said, “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement and success have no meaning.” Last year, more than ever, I believe we saw growth and progress that set the stage for even greater achievement as the No. 1 advocacy group for agriculture in Virginia. I thank you for all your past and ongoing efforts toward that goal. Wayne F. Pryor, a Goochland County beef and grain producer, is president of Virginia Farm Bureau. january 2013
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