Insight: The legislative season

Glenn Brunkow, Pottawatomie County farmer and rancher

The circle of life is moving from one season to the next. For instance, we are moving from the holiday season to the legislative season. OK, that is a bit of a stretch but it does the job to illustrate my point.

January starts a new session in both our state legislature in Topeka and our national legislature in Washington, D.C. In both cases we have a lot of new faces filling seats in both the statehouse and Congress. We also know on the federal side the balance of power has shifted to the Republicans.

What does that mean? Your guess is as good as mine, but regardless of who is in power Kansas Farm Bureau (KFB) will be working to help guide future legislation to improve the lives of farmers and ranchers.

This is where the policy we carefully crafted over the past year comes into play. Our policy book at the state and national levels is the playbook our staff use as a guide. The policy members brought forward at issue surfacing meetings, then honed at the listening post meetings and finally adopted at both the KFB and American Farm Bureau Federation annual meetings. This process informs those who are lobbying on your behalf.

However, just because we have our policy fine tuned that doesn’t mean our work, as members, is done. No, our work has just started. Kansas Farm Bureau has an incredible staff working for us in Topeka and Washington, D.C., but the real strength of our organization is the grassroots muscle we can flex.

The most important thing I have learned over the years is that as good as our staff is, the opinions that carry the most weight are those of the voters. Our lobby team is very well respected and they carry a great deal of influence but when it gets really critical nothing moves the needle like our members’ voices.

That is why it is so important for each of us to create relationships with our elected officials. We need attend events in the districts and our county Farm Bureaus need to host legislative events. It is important when critical votes come up, our elected officials know their constituents back home and seek out their opinions.

It is also important for each of us to be informed about the current issues and legislation being proposed. We need to understand how it fits into Farm Bureau policy. We also need to be signed up for action alerts and be ready to respond when a call is sent out. Nothing is more powerful than a loud response from Farm Bureau members. Never underestimate how much influence your voice has especially when it is magnified by the grassroots nature of Farm Bureau.

Yes, we are entering the legislative season. I know it is not nearly as much fun as the holiday season but it is not one we can ignore either. Please make sure you take an active role in Kansas Farm Bureau’s efforts and have a Merry or at least a Happy Legislative Season.

"Insight" is a weekly column published by Kansas Farm Bureau, the state's largest farm organization whose mission is to strengthen agriculture and the lives of Kansans through advocacy, education and service.