Duvall highlights challenges, opportunities for AFBF

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — In a speech that had tones of inspiration and celebration, the president of the American Farm Bureau Federation reminded Farm Bureau members, as well as lawmakers and regulators, of the power of the nation’s largest farmer membership organization.

“Buckle up,” said Duvall to the members gathered in San Juan as he concluded his annual address as president of the organization.

He recalled the words of his grandfather when Duvall signed the papers to purchase his grandfather’s dairy business.

“When I bought him out of the dairy business and I signed those papers, he said, ‘Buckle up, son, because it’s like a roller-coaster ride,’” Duvall said.

In his speech, he shared the peaks and valleys of the past year in American agriculture and outlined the AFBF’s priorities for the coming year.

At the top of that list is the renewal of the farm bill. With a projected cost of $1.3 trillion over the next 10 years, the 2023 farm bill is expected to be the most expensive in history.

One of the major challenges, Duvall said, is Congress itself.

“Do you realize that 81 members of Congress are brand new? We must engage with them and help them understand the issues that we are facing,” he said.

In addition to the new members of Congress, farm bill negotiations will be undertaken in part by many members of Congress who have never negotiated nor debated a farm bill.

“The other challenge that we will have will be engaging with those members of Congress who have never worked on a farm bill before. In addition to the new members, there are 179 others who weren’t in Congress during the 2018 farm bill debate,” Duvall said.

“That makes 260 that may not understand the importance of the farm bill programs. That is nearly half of our Congress. We have got to show them why we need them to pass a farm bill this year.”

He emphasized that the farm bill should be kept as-is when it keeping the commodity and nutrition titles together.

“We must keep policy, farm policy, united with nutrition policy. When ag groups and hunger advocates lock arms together, we have the best chance of success, which we should never take for granted,” he said.

Among the Farm Bureau’s other priorities for the farm bill are keeping conservation programs that are related to farm programs voluntary and expanding crop insurance.

“We must protect and expand crop insurance. We need to insure that conservation programs remain voluntary and science-based,” Duvall said.

“There’s a lot of discussion going on about climate-smart farming practices as part of the farm bill renewal. We are at the table for that discussion and providing leadership through the Food and Ag Climate Alliance. It is important to insure that any additional resources go to voluntary, market-based programs.”

The other priority issue for AFBF and its members is labor.

“It’s a political lightning rod,” Duvall said.

AFBF has repeatedly called for immigration reform to address the lack of available labor in U.S. agriculture.

On the AFBF website, under its “Issues” section, the organization lists its position that “Congress needs to pass responsible immigration reform that addresses agriculture’s current experienced workforce and creates a new flexible guest worker program. Instability in the agricultural workforce places domestic food production at risk — increasing immigration enforcement without also reforming our worker visa program could cost America $70 billion in agricultural production.”

At the convention, Duvall called on lawmakers to forego political posturing and take the issue seriously.

“We need legislators to put aside all their political games and come to the table ready to find a solution. The lack of workers, it’s holding American agriculture back, it’s holding back American businesses and it’s holding back our rural communities. It’s time, it’s past time, for us to get this done,” he said.

Sustainability is the third priority issue that Duvall listed among the three priority issues he heard from states’ Farm Bureaus across the country in 2022.

He cited examples of Farm Bureau members working to make their farms more environmentally sustainable, as well as the efforts that AFBF has made to share those stories with the non-farming public.

“We are taking back the narrative. We are demonstrating our commitment to our soil, to our water and, yes, the air that we breathe,” he said.

Duvall added that AFBF has invested resources in its own publishing company, in providing resources to teachers, including virtual games and facilitating opportunities for teachers to meet with and talk to farmers.

“Sustainability isn’t new to farmers and it’s not just a buzzword to us,” he said.

The Georgia native reminded those attending the meeting in Puerto Rico that action and advocacy aren’t just buzzwords, either.

Duvall reminded Farm Bureau members of their efforts communicating with lawmakers on issues ranging from a proposal that would require companies to report greenhouse gas emissions in their supply chains to efforts to change the stepped-up basis rule and the waters of the U.S. rule.

In 2022, grassroots advocacy efforts sent a total of 38,000 messages to lawmakers through Farm Bureau, Duvall said.

He issued a reminder to Farm Bureau members and, perhaps more subtly, to lawmakers and regulators, of the power of the Farm Bureau voice.

“We have a mighty force of Farm Bureau advocates and when you combine these advocates with a team of expert lobbyists we have, we are a force to be reckoned with,” he said.