Washington Farm Bureau Mission Pt 2

From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. If you’re involved in Washington agriculture, the Washington Farm Bureau is there to help you set YOUR priorities and make sure lawmakers hear you.

WFB CEO Ron Saacke says the Farm Bureau is for EVERYONE in agriculture no matter what you produce and no matter what your needs are …

SAACKE … “And we are an umbrella organization. So, you know, it’s important for people to be a part of their commodity organization, but at the same time their single commodity organization can’t address things that an umbrella organization like ours can.”

And, Saack says it sounds like legislators are listening …

SAACKE … “We had legislative leaders on both sides of the aisle come to us and say, we need to focus more on agriculture. We need to do more to help agriculture move forward. And we’ve seen tremendous growth in the last year and, you know, heard from long-time legislators that have told us, we need to be focused on agriculture in a way that brings together both sides of the aisle.”

Saacke gives much of the credit to Farm Bureau leadership who’ve been facilitating many of these connections …

SAACKE … “The legislators that have reached out to me and just said, thank you, we’re looking forward to putting agriculture first and making a difference in agriculture. And that’s been leaders on both sides of the aisle.”

Saacke says if they’re going to represent the ag industry, they still need more of the industry involved across the board.