The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) is helping to support the future of agriculture by assisting in the creation of an information clearinghouse for beginning farmers.
AFBF has teamed up with the Agriculture Department’s National Agricultural Library to create the National Curriculum and Training Clearinghouse for Beginning Farmers and Ranchers. The program will help those who have decided to pursue a career in agriculture and will help support Farm Bureau’s commitment to rural development.
“This is a great opportunity for Farm Bureau to provide information to beginning farmers on how to start and stay in farming and ranching,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman. “We are providing in-kind support to the National Ag Library with outreach, publicity, educational seminars and our annual conference where other project grants will be highlighted.”
The clearinghouse will use the grant money to develop a Web site and databases to serve beginning farmers and ranchers, with particular focus on those categorized as underserved. The clearinghouse will provide education, training, outreach and mentoring materials to beginning farmers and ranchers across the United States. AFBF will serve as a conduit for distribution of the information.
Read more here.
This week, Senators Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) debuted the “Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act,” an 821-page bill designed to “create clean energy jobs, reduce pollution, and protect American security by enhancing domestic energy production and combating global climate change,” as well as creating millions of green energy jobs. Part of that includes reducing carbon emissions by 20 percent by the year 2020 and 80 percent by 2050 compared to 2005 levels.
The American Farm Bureau Federation isn’t buying it.
“America’s farmers and ranchers did not fare that well in the House-passed climate change bill and they fare even worse in the Senate bill,” said American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman. “There are few benefits and even greater costs to agriculture and the American public.”
Stallman says the 20 percent target, which is higher than the House bill by three percent, is unrealistic and will lead to higher energy bills for all consumers. “The Waxman-Markey bill, passed narrowly by the House this summer, did at least include credits to farmers for carbon-storing or carbon management practices. The Senate bill does not guarantee any benefits to agriculture for carbon sequestration,” Stallman said.
Another major concern for Farm Bureau is that the Boxer-Kerry bill would not prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from continuing to move forward to fully regulate all greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. The bill also does nothing to provide alternative sources of energy to fill the energy deficit left by the reduction in fossil fuels, nor does it prevent the EPA from using controversial indirect land use principles that penalize ethanol, according to Stallman.
“Both the Senate and House bills would bring higher fuel and fertilizer costs to American farmers and ranchers, which puts us at a competitive disadvantage in international markets with other countries that do not have similar carbon emission restrictions,” Stallman said. “For the future prosperity of the U.S. economy and American agriculture, climate change legislation must be defeated by Congress.”
It became official today that Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa will become chairman of the Senate health committee, replacing the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. The move means that Harkin will no longer be chairman of the agriculture committee, but says he will remain as a member of the committee which he has been on since 1985. “My dedication to the Agriculture Committee dates back to my first year in Congress when I served on the House Agriculture Committee in 1975,” Harkin said.
The new chairman of the ag committee is Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, who has served on the committee since 1998. “As a seventh-generation Arkansan and farmer’s daughter, I know my father is smiling down on me today,” Lincoln said. “I thank Senator Harkin for his tremendous leadership. As Chairman, I will work with my colleagues to build upon the Committee’s strong record and devote my full energy to producing forward-looking, balanced priorities on behalf of all families and communities. I will continue to fight for the hardworking farm families and rural communities who provide the safest, most abundant and affordable supply of food and fiber in the world.” Lincoln is the first woman ever to chair the committee.
American Farm Bureau Federation president Bob Stallman commented on the committee chair changes in a statement. “Sen. Lincoln has been a long-time friend of Farm Bureau. She received the Golden Plow Award in 2008, the highest honor the American Farm Bureau Federation presents to members of Congress, for her steadfast support of America’s farmers and ranchers,” said Stallman. “Farm Bureau is also pleased that Sen. Harkin has agreed to continue to serve on the Senate Agriculture Committee. Sen. Harkin has always been deeply committed to the nation’s farmers and ranchers, and we are confident he will continue to represent and hear the concerns of agriculture as he helps set the tone for important issues such as healthcare, education and labor in his new chairmanship.”
The American Farm Bureau Federation is having its annual Council of Presidents meeting in Boston, MA and I’m on location to do a presentation about social media this afternoon. During the lunch break I spoke with AFBF President, Bob Stallman, to get his perspective on the use of social media for an organization like his.
Bob says, “We’ve always been involved in the public domain. We’ve always tried to make our case to citizens and the public. Communications mechanisms have changed. It’s become very evident that this new concept and implementation of social media is going to influence people and that’s our goal, to influence people so we have to be involved. Now it does involve changing a lot of old mindset but it’s clear that we have to be engaged.” In my interview with Bob I also got an update on their current priorities which include regulation and in particular those surrounding the climate.
You can listen to my interview with Bob here:
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Earlier today I solicited some comments from the Twitterverse with the request, “If anybody has anything they’d like #AFBF Council of Presidents to know today please use the hashtag in your tweet. Thanks.” Thank you to everyone who has already posted a comment. You can find them by searching the #AFBF hashtag. Here are a few of them:
skinnyhorse: @AgriBlogger I found it helpful to follow people like lobbyists at the State Cap. for breaking news on legislation, amendments etc. #AFBF
RayLinDairy: .@AgriBlogger #AFBF Time to join SM was yesterday don’t waste anymore time thinking about it.
AFBFMace: @AgriBlogger #AFBF Farm Bureau and ag are well represented in SM and we are growing the army every day. Sevrl state FBs are taking the lead
mpaynknoper: My comments for #AFBF are on FB – it’s critical more in #ag engage. Some producers prefer SM to give #farm facts vs. speaking to groups.
whitwallace: @AgriBlogger SM is influencing perceptions as we speak. When we aren’t part of the convo, our story is told for us, minus the facts. #AFBF
This request and response from a widespread audience is a perfect example of the power of a social media channel like Twitter. Literally within moments of my posting that request, responses were coming in and as I post this I’m seeing more pop up so please feel free to see how today’s Twitter “chat” turns out.
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President of the American Farm Bureau Federation, Bob Stallman, just finished up his part of a panel discussion at World Agricultural Forum, entitled Strategies, Actions & Policies for Long-Term Security in Agriculture & Food Production.
Right at the outset, Stallman stressed the American farmers’ commitment to making sure that not only people in the U.S. are fed but that the entire world has enough to eat.
“Any hungry person should be great cause for concern to all of us.”
Stallman says agriculture needs to figure out how it will feed the 9 billion people who will live on the planet by the year 2050… on basically the same amount of land used to feed about 6 billion today (including the nearly 3 billion who now don’t get enough to eat). But, he says global hunger has less to do with production than it does with infrastructure and politics. “Hunger in the world today is not a lack of calories. It’s a problem of distribution,” he said.
Stallman says policies, in particular, the trade protections that too many developing countries insist upon, are some of the political decisions that are having a tremendous impact on world food supplies. He also defended biofuels, which had been a bit maligned during this session, as not being to blame for the spike in food prices the world has seen. Stallman pointed out that American farmers are getting better at sustainability practices.
Stallman tells the group in St. Louis that there are some solutions to the daunting tasks world agriculture will face over the next couple of decades.
“We must continue to seek out new production technology, adapt new production technology and not fear new production technology. Those countries that choose to turn their backs on tech will be left behind.”
Stallman says open borders and open trade are also part of the solution to how to feed those 9 billion people by 2050.
You can hear more of Bob’s comments during the session here:
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Flickr Photo Album for World Ag Forum
AgWired coverage of the 2009 World Agricultural Forum World Congress is sponsored by:
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It's time to thank our farmers and ranchers for all their hard work to feed us.
