Among the American Farm Bureau Federation’s priorities for the 117th Congress will be getting to know the new faces in Congress, trade, ag labor and getting ready for the new farm bill.
Dale Moore, AFBF executive vice president, said in an interview with Newsline, which is the organization’s podcast, that establishing a relationship with the new people in ag leadership positions is another priority for the organization.
“We’ve been working with our state Farm Bureaus to put together information packets, so that we can come to a new congressman or congresswoman and say, ‘Here’s who we are and here’s some of our key issues that we’ll be working on,’” Moore said.
Among Congress’ big issues, Moore added, is trade.
Moore says a couple of the biggest priorities the Farm Bureau will work on include trade and getting ready for the new farm bill.
“Trade has been a front and center issue, whether we’re looking across the Pacific at China and the Pacific Rim countries – Japan, South Korea and so forth,” he said. “And as we look across the Atlantic Ocean, we’re seeing that Great Britain and Europe have finally got their Brexit agreement put together. We look forward to hopefully making some progress with the European Union.”
He added that the new farm bill is going to be an interesting one, given all that farmers and ranchers have been through with trade wars and the impact of COVID-19.
Ensuring farmers have a steady supply of guestworker labor will be another key priority in the new session, he added, describing it as an “ongoing challenge.”
AFBF has put together a briefing book on issues facing the 117th Congress, which can be found on the AFBF website.