GFB News Magazine
GFB YF&R Conference focuses on ag advocacy
Posted on September 9, 2021 12:00 AM
By Jennifer Whittaker
Young farmers and ranchers from across the state met on Jekyll Island July 14-17, for Georgia Farm Bureau’s YF&R Leadership Conference. 会议教导18至35岁的农民和农业专业人士如何倡导农业，并深入了解农业局如何倡导农民.
gff主席Tom McCall分享了他和他的妻子Jane作为YF成员的经历&R计划，并鼓励参加会议的年轻农民把他们在活动中学到的东西带回家，为县农业局服务.
“The Young Farmers and Ranchers Program means a lot to me and Jane. Y’all are the lifeblood of this organization,” McCall said. “我希望你们每个人都学到了一些东西，可以带回家和大家分享. 我希望看到你们中的一些人在你们县农场局董事会、GFB董事会和州立法机构任职.”
GFB领导力发展协调员Breanna Berry鼓励与会者与县农业局分享他们在活动中学到的知识，并与当地农业局建立联系. Conference attendees were surveyed at the event to get input for future YF&R events.
Don’t react defensively
South Dakota cattle rancher, Beef Daily blogger, and children's book author Amanda Radke encouraged farmers to engage with
consumers to share the positive things about how their food is grown. 在过去的15年里，拉德克一直在抵制动物权利和环境活动人士对畜牧业的攻击, 但她说，她认为农民和牧场主可以通过在社交媒体上发布他们在农场为照顾动物所做的积极事情来更好地吸引人们消除对年龄的误解.
“当消费者询问他们听到的有关农业的负面消息时，不要做出防御反应,” Radke said. “如果你告诉别人你是奶农或饲养肉牛，消费者会问, ‘So you raise cows that produce methane that is destroying the ozone layer?’ – Don’t respond defensively! 请记住，我们都只了解我们经常接触到的东西，大多数消费者对牲畜生产没有基本的了解.”
Amanda Radke
Using Radke’s advice, a good response to this scenario might be to answer, “Did you know animal agriculture contributes less than 3% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions? 牛津大学和加州大学戴维斯分校的研究表明，只要美国.S. 奶牛和牛生产者的畜群总数保持不变，甚至畜群总数在减少, they are not adding additional methane to the atmosphere.”
拉德克分享了2012年在机场与一位华尔街股票经纪人的谈话，几周后，ABC新闻报道了“粉色粘液”的故事，他联系了她，从一位牧场主的角度了解了细瘦牛肉的纹理. 去年COVID-19大流行期间，她的纽约朋友再次联系了她，当时很难找到牛肉，向她学习如何从养牛场直接购买牛肉.
Don’t berate others’ views
Nelson Powell, a North Carolina hog farmer and relations manager with Rabobank, 鼓励农民关注他们与非农业朋友的日常互动, neighbors and family members as an opportunity to share what, 农民如何以及为什么要做他们所做的事情来饲养牲畜和种植庄稼.
Nelson Powell
“我们必须停止认为倡导农业是别人的责任. It’s not always fun, but it’s beneficial to us as farmers,” Powell said.
To increase the chances that people will ask him questions about farming, 鲍威尔在他的房车后面贴了一个猪贴纸，上面写着北卡罗来纳州农民，并戴了一个猪领章.
When talking with people who have an opposing view of agriculture, 鲍威尔鼓励农民抵制谴责他们信仰的诱惑，因为这会疏远他们，让他们听不到你对农业的看法.
“You’ve got to realize that you are both on the same level playground, like a balanced seesaw,” Powell said. “If you berate someone’s value’s or elevate your beliefs, 它把它们像跷跷板一样降低到你们对角线相对的地步.”
鲍威尔还鼓励农民们记住，你认为自己在说什么，别人可能不会听到. Powell shared an entertaining story of traveling in Australia with a co-worker.
Their Uber driver asked them what brought them to Australia. The co-worker said they were there with Rabobank, but the driver heard, “We’re here to rob a bank,” and stopped the car to leave them.
想想你用来描述你在农场做什么的短语，是否有更好的方式向消费者解释.
Ag policy updates
GFB公共政策小组的成员分享了他们是如何倡导格鲁吉亚农业的.
GFB国家政策顾问Tripp Cofield讨论了基础设施投资 & Jobs Act (H.R. 3684). After the conference, the Senate passed the bill on Aug. 10 with a bipartisan vote of 69- 30. The Senate bill provides $1.8年内2万亿美元用于基础设施项目，未来5年将有近5500亿美元的新支出. It invests $110 billion in U.S. roads and bridges, $65 billion for broadband, and $17.3 billion for ports and inland waterways.
参议院的一揽子计划不会通过增税或改变决定继承资产如何为税收目的估值的递进基础来支付基础设施项目. 参议院的法案已经提交给众议院，众议院的时间表和前景都不太明朗.
众议院议长南希·佩洛西(Nancy Pelosi)表示，在参议院考虑3美元的法案之前，众议院不会考虑参议院的基础设施法案.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill that includes President Biden's childcare, education and healthcare priorities. The bill includes proposed tax law changes to finance it.
众议院和参议院委员会在9月初起草的党派和解法案包括对加强基础的修改. Visit www.gfb.ag/AFBFstepupbasisanalysis 学习如何让美国农场和小企业主在不强迫他们出售土地或其他资产来缴税的情况下，将业务移交给继承人.
GFB Advocacy & 政策发展协调员Katie Duvall通过一些令人大开眼界的投票统计数据，为GFB成员支持该组织的立法活动提供了理由:1)截至2019年, 60% of Georgia’s then 10.6 million population lived in Metro Atlanta. 2) The following counties have the highest number of registered voters: Fulton, Gwinnett, DeKalb, Cobb, Chatham & Clayton – all counties where voters have little understanding of agriculture.
Duvall encouraged the young farmers to subscribe to GFB’s Legislative Reports, listen to the Growing On Podcast and participate in future “I Farm. I Vote.” campaigns designed to educate candidates and voters about ag issues.
If I Can...
Canadian farmer and motivational speaker Chris Koch, who was born without arms or legs, encouraged the group to have a positive mindset. 他认为是在农场长大的，他的家庭给了他“我能做任何事”的信念,” attitude for life. 科赫鼓励父母和农民给他们的孩子和员工空间，让他们学会如何自己做事情.
“Push yourself outside your comfort zone,” Koch said. “All those things you dream about doing - DO them.”
Chris Koch
Koch says our minds and attitude are the biggest obstacles we have to overcome.
“我最大的困难是我让两耳之间的6英寸空间挡住了我的去路, not because I don’t have arms and legs,” Koch said. “We’re all battling something. 对你已经拥有的东西心存感激，而不是专注于你没有的东西.”
-GFB-