Farmers encouraged to share their stories

By Sean Ellis

Idaho Farm Bureau Federation

KELLOG – During Idaho Farm Bureau Federation’s annual summer meeting, farmers and ranchers were encouraged to share their stories with a public that is hungry to know more about where their food comes from.

They were also urged to help educate Idaho’s fast-growing population about how important agriculture is to the state’s economy and way of life.

Since 2000, Idaho’s population has grown more than 50 percent, Sen. Kelly Anthon, the president pro tempore of the Idaho Legislature, told Farm Bureau members during IFBF’s Summer Leadership Conference.

“Idaho is changing,” said Anthon, who introduced himself as a Declo farm boy. “When I look out on the sugar beet fields or the wheat fields around my house, they look much the same as they did 50 years ago. But the issues have changed and the politics of Idaho have changed.”

Anthon said farmers like him used to dominate the legislature. But now, “I’m the unicorn,” he said.

He addressed several issues facing Idaho that he said are especially important to the state’s rural areas, including water, infrastructure and property rights.

“We have to be involved in these issues,” Anthon said. “Our future is worth your involvement. Now, more than ever, we have to be involved.”

The leadership conference took place July 20-22 in Kellog. About 200 Farm Bureau members and their families from around the state attended. All of them are farmers or ranchers who volunteer for the state’s various county Farm Bureau organizations.

During the conference, members were encouraged to share their stories with the public through the use of social media. Several speakers offered tips on how to best do this.

Matt Todd, creator and host of the Ranch Podcast, which is produced from a home in the Boise area, told Farm Bureau members that the public is hungry to find out more about how their food is produced.

Social media offers them an opportunity to just that, Todd added.

“People want to know about eggs; people want to know about potatoes,” he said. “Get out your phone and show them. You guys have never been more empowered than you are now.”

Todd recounted a real-life example of people getting excited about a post showing someone growing 3,000 pounds of potatoes on a single acre.

Imagine how excited people would be, he said, about a post showing a typical Idaho farmer producing up to 50,000 pounds of spuds per acre. 

“People want to know,” Todd said. “Help them understand who you are (and) what you are doing. The American people want to hear from you. You have a shot. Get out there.”

Downey farmer Karen Brady said later she really enjoyed the presentations on how farmers can use social media to share their stories.

“It’s cheap, it’s effective and it’s a tremendous way to tell our story,” she said.

During the conference, representatives from Idaho’s county Farm Bureau organizations discussed some of the policy issues they are working on, some of which the group may be asked to vote on during IFBF’s annual meeting in December.

Those policy issues included: improving rural roads, respecting property lines, educating drivers about farm equipment, creating more farm-to-table events, grazing allotments, data centers, grizzly bear depredation, controlling cricket infestations, the payment of crop depredation claims, direct to consumer sales, and vole control.

IFBF President and Canyon County farmer Matt Dorsey encouraged county Farm Bureau representatives to discuss these ideas and decide how to best move forward on them to ensure they result in sound policy.

He also thanked the volunteers from the county Farm Bureaus for the work they are doing to benefit agriculture and the organization.

Farm Bureau members may sometimes think they are not doing enough, but that’s not the case and they are making a difference, Dorsey said.

“Thank you for what you’re doing in the counties,” he said. “You ARE doing enough and thank you for everything you’re doing to move Idaho Farm Bureau forward.”

Idaho Farm Bureau Federation CEO Zak Miller echoed those thoughts as he shared the high-level results of a peer review of the IFBF organization performed earlier this year by officials from American Farm Bureau Federation as well as people from other state Farm Bureaus.

The report said that Idaho Farm Bureau Federation is a foundationally strong organization.

“Foundationally, Idaho Farm Bureau is strong,” Miller said. “There are reasons for why we do things; it’s not haphazard. That really jumped out to them.”

He credited this positive report to the strength of the state’s county Farm Bureaus.

“As good as (IFBF) strives to be, it’s built upon the strength of the counties,” Miller said. “Our No. 1 goal (at IFBF) is how do we help the counties? How do we help you? What do you need and how do we facilitate that?”

“I hope you understand the impact you have each day, in Farm Bureau and within your community,” Cam Hammond, an IFBF regional manager in East Idaho, told members later.

Miller also shared a quote from the peer review report to emphasize that IFBF would not rest on its laurels: “A strong organization is strong enough to keep improving.”

Twin Falls County President Deb Easterday Reeves took a moment during the conference to address the high suicide rate among U.S. farmers and ranchers. Her husband, Timothy Reeves, committed suicide earlier this year.

“I would ask that you would always take time to check on others and when you need help, please ask for it,” she said.

Idaho Farm Bureau Insurance Co. CEO Todd Argall reported that the organization now has almost 98,0000 members.

He also said the insurance company’s relationship with Idaho Farm Bureau Federation is strong.

“Our most critical relationship is with the federation; we’re in this together,” he said, adding that one of the company’s main goals is to “support the federation’s mission of advocating for the rural folks and the farmers and ranchers in the state of Idaho.”

IFBF Project Manager Ott Clark gave a preview of the organization’s upcoming annual meeting, which will take place Dec. 2-4 in Boise.

For the first time, this year’s annual meeting will be a tri-state convention also featuring the Washington and Oregon Farm Bureaus.

Clark encouraged counties to send people to the convention. “We’d love to have a huge showing from Idaho.”