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Farm Bureau Advocacy Represented and Praised at National Advocacy Conference

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Advocacy

Erin Anthony

Director, Communications

photo credit: AFBF Photo, Philip Gerlach

By Jordan Craig

Last week, the Farm Bureau advocacy and political affairs team attended the Public Affairs Council’s national Advocacy Conference and I had the chance to be a speaker at this high-caliber gathering.

The conference was a great opportunity to connect with professionals in the advocacy and grassroots space from all over the world. Two separate speakers highlighted Farm Bureau’s grassroots successes. Finally, and most importantly, we learned about best practices to continue to grow the FB Advocacy program.

As a speaker I shared some of the unique things we do at Farm Bureau to engage farmers and ranchers. Here are two key takeaways from my presentation on grasstops advocates and engaging CEOs in the grassroots space:

Training Advocates

One of the things I couldn’t talk enough about is how you, our advocates, go above and beyond for agriculture. Farm Bureau advocates are willing to engage for agriculture because of the training we provide. You excel because you are empowered to train other advocates and to take initiative to advocate for our cause.

Sharing Your Personal Stories

In today’s busy, fast-paced world it’s easy to feel lost, so how do you stand apart? With the story you tell. Good stories stay on our minds, and how you tell your story makes all the difference when trying to convince your legislator why an issue is important. You do a great job at this, because you tell legislators what is happening on the farms and in the fields, barns, ranches and rural communities.

Grassroots advocacy is happening across the country and Farm Bureau is activating farmers and ranchers from all 50 states better than ever before.

To learn more about Farm Bureau’s advocacy program, click here: https://www.fb.org/advocacy/

Jordan Craig is Director of Grassroots Program Development for the American Farm Bureau Federation.