I’m Don Steinbeisser Jr. from Sidney. I’ve been farming with my brothers and cousin since 1980, when I got out of high school. We then formed VS INC. We’ve operated alongside my dad and uncle all this time as two separate, but intertwined, farms.
I have been involved with Richland County Farm Bureau for years as a director, then as president. I have been on the Montana Farm Bureau Commodity Advisory Committees for sugar and water and have also testified at the Legislature in Helena several times over the years.
I serve on the American Farm Bureau Environmental Issues Advisory Committee, which met in Washington D.C. in early March. There is a very large range of farmers with different backgrounds on the committee, so we have a lot of different points of view. The one thing we all seemed to have in common is the Endangered Species Act. This act has the potential for countless adverse effects on our farms, now and in the future.
I hope the committee will be able to help direct Farm Bureau policy in ways that change the Endangered Species Act to make it easier to work with and still do its job in Montana. Farm Bureau members can always write to their Congressmen, as well as other departments of the government, in support of changes we would like to make in both national and state government policy.
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