'Takin' Care Of Business'

"Takin' care of business, every day,

Takin' care of business, every way"

Bachman-Turner Overdrive's 1974 hit could have been the theme song of the business session at the recent American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) convention. More than 355 voting delegates representing every crop and livestock sector in the U.S. wasted no time discussing, debating and approving policy resolutions to guide the organization in 2015.

Missouri Farm Bureau's (MFB) delegates at the national convention, led by President Blake Hurst, were successful in getting several resolutions adopted by farmers and ranchers at our state annual meeting included in AFBF's policy book. They include support for:

• Prohibiting states from imposing production standards or practices onto other states' agricultural products (California's new egg law is a case-in-point);

• Producer-led and -approved checkoff programs like the existing national beef checkoff program;

• Allowing rural electric cooperatives and other entities to qualify for the federal Connect America funding program to improve high speed internet availability;

• The Aggie Bond program used by state agencies to help beginning farmers; and

• More thorough consideration of landowner concerns when recreational trails are proposed under the federal railbanking program.

On other policy matters, delegates:

• Reaffirmed that a farmer's proprietary data remain strictly the property of the farmer when submitted to third parties for processing and analysis;

• Emphasized the need for common-sense Endangered Species Act reform;

• Reaffirmed support for country-of-origin labeling provisions consistent with international trade rules; and

• Called for an end to the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) attempts to require permits for farmers to repair erosion damage on their property.

These are only a few of the resolutions approved. In total, delegates approved 300 pages of policies spanning agricultural credit to wilderness areas and everything in-between.

The job of setting state and national Farm Bureau policies is finished, but our work has only begun. Blocking EPA's "Waters of the U.S." proposal, protecting farmers' abilities to use biotech plant varieties and other innovative technologies, and reforming endangered species regulations top our "to do" list. Congress better be ready to take care of business, because we are.