American Farm Bureau Sets Policy Priorities for 2021

WASHINGTON, DC – The nation’s largest farm and ranch organization capped off its recent annual meeting by adopting policies that will guide the organization through 2021.

Meeting virtually for the first time in their 102 years of existence, the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) set guidelines ranging from farm diversity and farm labor to dairy policy and livestock marketing.

This “work not only sets policy for 2021, (but) it will also serve as a guide for AFBF as we prepare to work with a new president and a new Congress to ensure we continue to lead the world in producing healthy and safe food, fiber and fuel” explained AFBF President Zippy Duvall.

Delegates voted to encourage increased racial diversity in farming and emphasizing the importance of reforming the H-2A guest worker program.

Delegates also voted to provide stability in markets by supporting efforts to increase negotiated sales in fed cattle markets and called for increased transparency in livestock pricing.

AFBF also updated dairy policy to call for re-examining the 2018 farm bill’s modification to the milk price formula and improving equity in USDA’s Federal Milk Marketing Order revenue sharing pools.

There are new policies on crop insurance as well calling on the Risk Management Agency to improve hurricane protection coverage and to modify specialty crop insurance options to minimize food waste.
(SOURCE: All Ag News)