As spring gets underway and this issue reaches your home, we’ve just passed an exciting North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation milestone: March 2 marked N.C. Farm Bureau celebrates 90 years since the first meeting! We’ve been touting this anniversary for a while, but what’s stayed on my mind this year is that the need for farmer-led advocacy hasn’t diminished since that first meeting was called to order in a Pitt County Cooperative Extension office.
While reflecting on the origins of our organization and the people who started it, I decided to do a little research to learn more about the “why” that led to our founding. As an avid lover of history, I picked up a fascinating book called 1929 by Andrew Sorkin, which, as you might imagine, chronicled the great stock market crash and subsequent Great Depression. What I found very interesting was the way these events affected the farmers who lived through them and spurred them to action to start this thing we call Farm Bureau. Times were tough – much tougher than they are today – for agriculture. The book really helped me to understand how desperate the times were back then for farmers to say, “We have to do something. We have to unite and make our voices heard.”
Commentary
Five Reasons to Feel Good About Farm Bureau Membership
North Carolina Farm Bureau wants its 498,834 members to rest easy with the knowledge that their association with NCFB is a good thing and something to state with pride.
I’m reminded of those farmers as I hear even now from so many who are dealing with difficult economic conditions. We still need a voice; we still need a Farm Bureau helping all of society to see the importance of agriculture. And I’m reminded that the farmers who made it through the Depression were tough, tenacious and wise as they persevered, just like our farmers today. Together, we will find a way.
N.C. Farm Bureau’s 90th Anniversary
Finding a new way through is what this edition of North Carolina Field & Family is all about. You’ll read about a traditional Johnston County tobacco farm that transitioned into specialty seed, cattle farmers finding new and exciting beef markets, as well as the next generation finding a way to stay on the farm.
Certainly, we all go through tough times, but we must keep finding the next opportunity. That’s what spring always reminds us – that there is hope, winter will end, and new life and new opportunities await. As always, thanks for your support of Farm Bureau and all the great farmers of this state, and rest assured that we will continue to be the “Voice of Agriculture.”
Commentary
Keeping Farm Bureau’s Voice Loud and Clear
North Carolina Farm Bureau meets different needs for a variety of people. For our hundreds of thousands of policyholders, we are their insurance company. To the tens of thousands of our farmer members, we are an advocate for agriculture in Raleigh and in Washington, D.C. And still for others, we help develop their leadership skills, […]
