IFB leaders advocate in D.C.

By Lyndsay Jones

The American Farm Bureau Federation's Council of Presidents event last week in Washington, D.C., provided Illinois Farm Bureau leaders an opportunity to continue ongoing advocacy related to the farm bill, the Make America Healthy Again [MAHA] report and more. 

IFB President Brian Duncan and Director of National Legislation Ryan Whitehouse attended the AFBF event, which includes meetings between state Farm Bureau presidents and federal agency personnel. 

Also in D.C. last week was IFB Associate Director of Industry Affairs Jenny Webb who, along with Whitehouse, aided IFB's advocacy efforts on a number of "issues such as MAHA, the tax issues and some skinny farm bill possibilities." 

"[We're] just trying to build those relationships and those networks out even further. [We're] not always in agreement with everybody, but ... agriculture is a family, so we should all try to be on the same page and defend one another when it comes to this stuff," Whitehouse said in an interview with RFD Radio's Rita Frazer. 

Whitehouse said he and Duncan spoke with Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, and Surgeon General Dr. Casey Means, who played a key role in the MAHA report released in May. 

"We talked about MAHA and the necessity for pesticides and herbicides and the tools that farmers need to provide these crops," Whitehouse said. "We talked about cover crops; those are an essential tool. Glyphosate is an essential tool. So, there's a lot going on in D.C., but we're trying to stay above water and trying to make sure that the perspectives of our members are heard each time around." 

To Zeldin, Whitehouse said IFB delivered a two-fold message regarding standards for renewable volume obligations [RVOs] and biofuels.

"We were really, really happy with that. Good numbers for us, obviously, with prices down [and] trade commotion, we think think this can maybe help with commodity prices going up," he said. "In the past, [small refinery exemptions] have been given out like candy and if you start giving those out, then those obligations aren't met or it's harder to meet those numbers. President Duncan did a good job of delivering the message that [EPA] hit a home run with numbers on the RVOs — now our ask is, 'Let's not give out those exemptions.'" 

"Our position has always been we don't like blanket tariffs. We're continuing to say that we need deals signed, not deals announced," he said.

Whitehouse pointed to a trade deal between the U.S. and U.K. as an example: While a deal has been made, it involved a significant amount of work and trade barriers between the two countries remain. 

"The U.K. deal — yeah, they're going to take more beef, but there's still those non-tariff barriers that they refuse to take down that limit our farmers' ability to sell their beef into the United Kingdom. So, [we're] optimistic, but there's still a lot of work to be done and we'd like to get it done sooner rather than later," he said. "You hear it all the time: The fear of the unknown is worse than than the unknown is worse than the unknown. So, the message was, let's get them signed and get them done sooner." 

Whitehouse said ag groups are also optimistic regarding various iterations of a "skinny" farm bill or "Farm Bill 2.0." 

"Washington loves to call them things. We need a farm bill that addresses policy changes; under the 'Big Beautiful Bill,' under reconciliation, you could change [certain] things — either increased or decreased revenues or expenditures, but you couldn't do policy changes," Whitehouse said. "We do need a second farm bill." 

Click to listen to the full interview with Frazer.

 

Content for this story was provided by FarmWeekNow.com.

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