One of the most important parts of the Annual Meeting of the American Farm Bureau Federation is the annual meeting of the voting delegates. These folks got down to business early this morning and will hopefully conclude this afternoon with a new policy book. This is grassroots policy making in action!
The leadership is at the head table with all the voting delegates in front of them. There are multiple screens showing the policies being debated and corrections or changes are made live. After votes are cast the final version goes to the staff who will prepare a final book of the new policies.
We’re supposed to get a summary of what got passed and a look to the future for AFBF policy in the coming year at a press conference following today’s meetings. We’ll have that for you later in the day.
When you’re in Georgia at a farm show you know you’re going to be talking peanuts. That’s what I did with Don Koehler, 
An exhibitor at AG CONNECT Expo that you may not expect to see is 
When asked if he would consider being a “spokesperson” for agriculture, Mike “Dirty Jobs” Rowe said, “I don’t think American agriculture needs a spokesman, I think they need an advocate. And the advocates I believe they need are people like me who have shown a long term addiction to chewing and swallowing.”
The organization’s highest honor, the 
The 
Colin Johnson of Iowa was the top winner in this year’s Discussion Meet. The three runners-up are Daniel Martin of Mississippi, Charlee Doom of New York and Loni H. Rikard of South Carolina. Each runner-up received a $6,000 Savings Bond and a STIHL Farm Boss chainsaw, both courtesy of STIHL.
Chris and Jennie Simms of Virginia won the Excellence in Agriculture Award, which recognizes young farmers and ranchers who do not derive the majority of their income from an agricultural operation, but who actively contribute and grow through their involvement in agriculture, their leadership ability and participation in Farm Bureau and other organizations. The three runners-up in the competition are Brian and Dacia Brown of Illinois, Ken and Malissa Schentzel of Minnesota and Shawn and Vanessa Duren of Tennessee, who also received a savings bond and chainsaw from STIHL.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack addressed the 2011 American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Meeting this afternoon. He made a couple of comments that drew applause from the audience. One of those dealt with concerns over USDA’s pending decision on regulating GM alfalfa. He said, “We’re trying to figure out, as difficult as it might be, is there a way in which we can assure that we have less interference with the capacity for folks to do what they want to do on their land? If you want to grow GMO crops you ought to be able to do that. If you want to grow identity preserved conventional you ought to be able to do that. If you want to be an organic farmer you ought to be able to do that.”
