News
AFBF President Duvall calls on farmers to connect with Congress
Zippy Duvall delivered his first address as American Farm Bureau President to members of that organization Sunday. Duvall’s call to action referred to the part rural America played in changing the Washington, D.C. landscape.
The high point in President Duvall’s speech came when he coaxed the 5,000 people in attendence to send text messages to their representatives about regulatory reform. A real time map showed pin drops for every message sent from the point in the country where that particular message sender was from. Within minutes, more than a thousand messages had been sent from those in the Phoenix Convention Center. That was followed by Duvall’s comments about the influence of farmers in the culmination of the 2016 presidential campaign.
“Rural America showed up in November; we played a big factor in the outcome of this last election,” said Duvall, during his speech. “This election should send a strong, loud and clear message to the politicians in Washington: You ignore rural America at your own risk.”
Duvall expressed confidence that the same influence that resulted in Donald Trump being sent to the White House will help the lobbying power of rural America.
“Now we expect Congress and the President to listen to us and to work to help us strengthen agriculture and rural communities, and we expect to make a real difference in a wide range of issues this year,” said Duvall, “(I’m) talking about tax reform, growing our trade and exports, regulatory reform and ag labor.”
He called on Congress to pass legislation to assure farm laborers can work without fear of deportation.
“Without a legal supply of labor, too many farmers face lost crops, and they can’t compete on the world market,” he said. “Mr. Trump says he wants to keep American jobs from going overseas. One way he can do that is by keeping America’s food production in America.”
Duvall concluded by reminding the audience that they need to be united in their message to Congress.
Add Comment