Farm Bureau's 80th Annual Meeting kicks off in Coeur d'Alene

Coeur d'Alene--At the famed Coeur d’Alene resort, The 80th meeting of the Idaho Farm Bureau is underway this week.

Idaho Governor Brad Little, a lifelong member of the farm and ranch organization, kicked off the meeting with a progress report:

“I’ve talked to the President and the Vice President and their goal was 22 and we have eliminated more than 80 rules off the books in Idaho,” said Governor Little.

Farm Bureau President Bryan Searle says the meeting draws farm members from across the state. One of the highlights of the year is developing policies that protect and advance Agriculture.

“We have an opportunity to come together with all the counties represented to discuss our policy and that’s our marching orders for the next year. We will follow that policy we will advocate it, promote it and defend it,” said Searle.

The largest farm organization in the state is also the most organized with active county farm bureaus in just about every county. Executive Vice President Rick Keller says the primary focus of the meeting is to formulate policy:

“We do a good job bringing people in from all over the state to discuss the issues that are facing them and come to a conclusion on how best to resolve them. One of the secondary primary things is to help strengthen our leadership and prepare them for the year to come. We got some wonderful people that are dedicated to agriculture and to the state and they are very active and we will help strengthen them in the coming year,” said Keller.

More than 14-thousand farmers and Ranchers belong to the Idaho Farm Bureau,  with 1350 volunteers serving in leadership positions, all policies are grass-root mandates from those members…and when Farm Bureau speaks, lawmakers listen…From the Annual meeting in CDA, this is Jake Putnam reporting.