Montana Farm Bureau members traveled to Washington, D.C. last week to participate in the American Farm Bureau Issue Advisory Committee meetings. Selected state Farm Bureau members are appointed to committees to discuss agricultural issues of concern and surface ideas to be presented to their county Farm Bureaus. MFBF members this year included Greg Gabel—Technology, Jess Bandel—Market Structures, and Gary Heibertshausen—Federal Lands. Leading the group was MFBF Senior Director of Governmental Affairs Nicole Rolf.

“Agriculture is diverse across our massive country. Even within certain issues, farmers and ranchers might have differing viewpoints,” said Rolf. “It's essential that we have a Montana voice at the table during these discussions so they can share our unique perspective with peers from other parts of the U.S. and also learn from them.”

Greg Gabel, a sugar beet and malt barley farmer from Huntley, said the Technology Committee opened his eyes to new challenges coming down the pike.

“We focused on artificial intelligence, rural broadband and the advent of data centers. Apparently because of AI there is a need to build huge data centers that consume a huge amount of electricity,” said Gabel.  “The discussions included the challenges of generating enough electricity, including alternative sources.”

The committee realized that AI changes quickly, and Farm Bureau needs to align its policies with the future of high tech. They also had speakers and a discussion on biotechnology.

“Having Montana’s voice heard and being able to represent Farm Bureau in these meetings was fantastic,” Gabel said. “We were able to offer a state perspective as well as learn about other states and their issues. For instance, I don't think anyone in Montana is thinking about data centers, but they could be coming.  If it works well for our rural electric co-ops, it might help people, but the co-ops must decide what’s best for their communities.” 

Floweree wheat farmer Jess Bandel, who serves on the Market Structures Committee, noted their meeting started briskly with a presentation on global agricultural markets, including concerns over potential tariffs. Bandel added that another discussion of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) campaign, which could affect modern agriculture, means farmers need to tell their story immediately.

“Eighty-three million people have discussed MAHA in the past two months. We’re concerned that the MAHA movement may not have a complete picture of advances modern agriculture have made to growing a safe and abundant food supply. We need clear definitions for words like regenerative and sustainable, and farmers need ownership of those.  It’s going to be more important than ever to visit with your Congressional delegation and talk to moms at your kid’s sporting events to explain what we do as farmers.”

Bandel said being on IAC committees is extremely valuable. “It’s exciting to share ideas and see our directives from this meeting advance.  As for our Congressional visits, it was a wonderful meeting with Senator Sheehy. We heard positive news from our Congressional visits regarding the 2017 tax cuts which are expiring but it seems we could see extension on those with some permanency, especially with the estate tax.”

Gary Heibertshausen, a sheep rancher from Alzada, noted, "It is amazing what change a new administration can bring. One of the positives our committee agreed on is President Trump getting his cabinet established quickly. One of our concerns, however, was cutbacks in the Department of the Interior staff. The good news is we have a competent Secretary of the Interior who is reviewing the feasibility of their programs, how to save money, and how to carry programs out with potentially less staff.”

The committee received insights from former Department of the Interior officials as well as an update from the House Natural Resources Committee. “President Zippy Duvall spoke to us and his message was to interact with the new faces in federal offices. Many employees are new to their jobs, and they may not yet fully appreciate the importance and benefits of grazing on federal lands.  We need to tell them our story, so they understand the important role agriculture plays in maintaining public lands.”

Heibertshausen praised AFBF for forming a new IAC—Wildlife Damage—with a goal to look at every animal that does damage to agriculture, from black-headed turkey vultures to feral hogs and even Canadian geese.

Rolf led the members to meet with Senator Tim Sheehy and with the staff of Senator Steve Daines, Representative Ryan Zinke and Representative Troy Downing.

The group visited about MFBF’s priorities for the upcoming Congress which included renewing and making permanent expiring provisions from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act such as the increased estate tax exemption and 199A, the passage of a five-year farm bill with a focus on important programmatic areas, trade, and regulatory reform.

“In addition, we included a request for grasshopper control cost share, keeping the Lower Snake River Dams in place, and much more,” Rolf said. “Our elected officials need to see real farmers and ranchers in D.C. and for their constituents from home to deliver important messages about priority agriculture issues. When we travel across the country for meetings with AFBF, you can bet that we are also going to make plenty of Hill visits.”