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VFBF leader outlines challenges in 2006 at convention in Norfolk

12.06.05

Virginia farmers are squaring their shoulders to tackle some tough policy and regulatory challenges in 2006, said Bruce L. Hiatt, president of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation.
“The growing need for eminent domain reform is probably (the challenge) most familiar to you,” Hiatt told voting delegates to the 2005 VFBF Annual Convention in Norfolk on Nov. 28.
“We need to protect landowners from unnecessary government seizure of their property,” he said.
The veteran Farm Bureau leader warned that funding will be tight in the upcoming Virginia General Assembly for agriculture programs. Farmers also will be asking for financial help to do their part to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, Hiatt said. And with higher energy costs and a growing federal deficit, he’s concerned budget cuts could be on the way for agriculture. Plus, debate on the 2007 Farm Bill will begin next year.
“Look for strong efforts to redirect farm programs and help other interest groups besides farmers. We will need your help to lobby Congress to make sure we have a new farm bill that serves our needs,” Hiatt warned. And he repeated Farm Bureau’s long-standing goal to work toward elimination of federal and state estate taxes.
Virginia AgPAC, Farm Bureau’s state political action committee, endorsed 71 candidates for local and state political races, Hiatt said. In addition, all three candidates for governor endorsed the 2005 Virginia Ag and Forestry Initiative. That’s a platform of policy recommendations designed to strengthen farming and forestry, Virginia’s rural economic engines.
Hiatt also noted that Farm Bureau members and employees have responded generously to help their fellow farmers on the Gulf Coast and in Florida, contributing $52,000 to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Hurricane Ag Fund. The Virginia Farm Bureau reached another record membership level of 147,847 member households in 2005. And the Virginia Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co., one of the federation’s subsidiaries, reported record profits.