AFBF Vice President Scott VanderWal
American Farm Bureau Federation Vice President Scott VanderWal and Texas Farm Bureau President Russell Boening today warned Congress that many farms will lose money and even go out of business entirely if the growing trade war continues. Each called for a resumption of talks and removal of tariffs that are undoing decades of progress in trade.
Kevin Paap, president of the Minnesota Farm Bureau, testified separately for his state’s organization. “Agriculture has been and continues to be the tip of the spear,” the corn and soybean farmer told the committee. “Once you lose a market, it is really tough to get it back. We cannot afford to lose our place as a leader in the agricultural global marketplace.”
On July 10-12, a group of Farm Bureau Young Farmers from Southwest Virginia took on Washington, D.C. to meet with Congressmen and organizations such as National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, Animal Ag Alliance, and BIO. We spent July 11th on Capitol Hill, meeting with Congressman Garrett and Congressman Griffith.
National grain supplies are stockpiled, which means lower profits for Virginia grain producers.
The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) Regional Animal Health Laboratory in Harrisonburg recently was certified to perform screening testing for the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) virus in animals. Because of this new capability, the lab, which is part of a network operated by VDACS, will perform a valuable early warning function for the detection of Foreign Animal Diseases, including FMD.
Below are two Action Alerts concerning FDA proposals, which if ever enacted, would have major negative implications on tobacco production here. At the very least, the manner in which tobacco is grown and marketed would change significantly.
With passage last week of the Senate farm bill, the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (S. 3042), congressional lawmakers are expected to soon head to conference to iron out the differences between the House and Senate legislation. The House passed its version of the bill, the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 (H.R. 2), on June 21.
I am pleased to announce that Emily Dunne joined our department on June 4th. Emily is a recent graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University with a degree in political science. During her academic career, she gained some valuable experience through internships with a non-profit group lobbying on behalf of college students as well as the Richmond office of Senator Mark Warner. In addition, she provided administrative support at the Federal Aviation Administration during some of her breaks. She will be serving as the Administrative Assistant supporting the Governmental Relations team and taking on numerous projects such as providing support for the Resolutions process.
On July 9th, Ben Rowe will be joining our department as National Affairs Coordinator/Legislative Specialist. He will be coordinating our efforts at the national level with Virginia’s congressional offices. In fact, his first day he will be heading to the AFBF Public Policy Conference in Washington D.C. and provide support to other Farm Bureau staff bringing a group of young farmers visiting D.C. that week. In addition, he will handle issues surrounding labor, energy, plant-based commodities and providing back-up to me on environmental issues. Ben has a degree in Biology and Environmental Studies from Randolph Macon College. Ben is currently finishing up his duties as Vice President of Association Management with the Alliance Group. In this role, he served several agricultural and forestry clients including Executive Director for the Virginia Grain Producers Association, President of Virginia Forest Products Association and previously as Assistant Director to the Virginia Wine Council.
The following statement regarding Senate passage of the 2018 Farm Bill may be attributed to American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall.
Plows and Politics 