GFB SETS PRIORITIES
As I was growing up on the farm, I learned you must have a goal or plan for the day, the week and for life. The price you pay for not having goals is that you wander from one task to another responding reactively, not proactively. As Bonnie and I began to participate in Farm Bureau’s young farmer programs, we began to hear the same message about setting goals that reaffirmed the lessons my parents had taught me from an early age.
As Georgia Farm Bureau prepares for another year, your state board of directors has set priority issues for the coming year, as we do each year. The 2012 list consists of water, taxes and budget, defense of animal agriculture, metal theft and farm labor.
Georgia Farm Bureau will not limit our agricultural advocacy work to only these issues. Our organization will continue to be involved with any issues that affect farmers as outlined by our official policy, but these priority issues have particular interest within our membership. As always, involvement at the local level is the key to Farm Bureau’s legislative success.
On issues related to water, GFB will work cooperatively with all aspects of agriculture to make sure agricultural water rights are protected. Your organization will support efforts to conserve water while working to augment water supplies. GFB will also be engaged in efforts to resolve the ongoing water dispute between Georgia, Alabama and Florida while working to ensure that contingency plans do not adversely affect agriculture. GFB will also continue to be involved with Georgia’s regional water councils and the Metro North Georgia Water Planning District.
On taxes and budget, GFB will work to achieve meaningful tax reform in Georgia that will protect current agricultural sales tax exemptions and broaden the scope of exemptions to cover all farm input costs, protect the Conservation Use Value Assessment (CUVA) program and preserve funding for agricultural institutions, agencies and youth development programs.
On animal agriculture, GFB will work to block efforts to regulate animal agriculture at the farm level, defend against attacks from groups opposed to animal agriculture, continue to educate consumers about how we care for our animals and work with other animal agriculture organizations.
The GFB Board has also resolved to continue the work we have done in recent years to curb the growing trend of metal theft, including working cooperatively with coalitions to combat metal thieves and educating the public about how to fight it.
GFB will continue to push for reform of farm labor regulations at the federal level to ensure our farmers can obtain a stable, legal workforce, and GFB will remain engaged on the issue at the state level.
Another labor issue facing agriculture are changes to federal child labor regulations the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is considering. Last year the DOL proposed rules that would narrow the parental exemption for child labor and prevent kids from working on farms jointly owned by several members of the same family or incorporated farms owned by a parent. The DOL would allow youth to work for relatives during summer vacation or when residing with the relatives, but not in situations where the youth commutes to the relative’s farm on a daily or weekend basis.
GFB maintains there is no reason for these limitations. Young people have worked on relatives’ farms for decades, learning valuable skills and ethics. On behalf of Georgia Farm Bureau, I submitted comments to the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division last November emphasizing that the DOL’s proposed child labor rule is inconsistent with Congressional intent. I stressed that GFB has neither an interest nor desire in putting young people at risk on a farm. Our farm children are our future, and while it is true that some jobs are not appropriate for youth, it must not be forgotten that age appropriate employment can be a positive experience.
The original DOL proposal would also limit opportunities for students to learn safe farm work practices through programs like those offered by FFA. Agricultural educators are tasked with supervising students and delivering safety instructions, and they take this responsibility seriously. I suggested the proposed rules should be revised to allow students to continue learning through programs like FFA.
After receiving comments from ag groups and legislators across the country similar to GFB’s, U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis issued a statement Feb. 1 saying her agency would re-propose the portion of its proposed rule changes interpreting the parental exemption. The DOL says it will publish the re-proposed portion of the rule for public comment by early summer.
We will continue to monitor the revisions the DOL makes to the rules and voice concerns if the changes don’t allow us as farmers to teach our children how to farm and care for the land and animals with which God has blessed us.
Georgia Farm Bureau has priorities and programs of work that focus on what’s important to our farms and our members for each department within our organization. Goals and priorities are important, but can be useless without passion. Our passion for agriculture runs deep within our organization and it shows from our grassroots all the way to me, Bonnie, and the state board of directors.
I am reminded of Moses’ plea to the Israelites as they prepared to enter into the Promised Land. He passionately taught them that God is the source of life, and we would have nothing if not for His blessings. As the Bible says in Deuteronomy 6:5 & 7, let us never forget to start every day by loving the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our souls, and with all our strength and to teach this to our children.
(From the January / February 2012 issue of the Georgia Farm Bureau News)