IARN — Traveling the countryside, American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall is hearing from farmers and ranchers about the top issues facing their operations.
Duvall says farmers and ranchers have concerns regarding the proposed changes in stepped-up basis.
“They’re very concerned about the conversation that’s being had around taxes and how we will move forward on the stepped-up basis. They have contacted their Congressmen and Senators. So, we’ve had tremendous support, even to the point that we’ve had some Congressmen and Senators write letters from both sides of the aisle to leadership and to the President about how important it was to not to change stepped-up basis, and how important it was to us to be able to continue to pass our family farms on to the next generation.”
He says farmers and ranchers are also telling the Environmental Protection Agency what they need from the Waters of the U.S. Rule rewrite effort.
“EPA has been holding listening sessions about rewriting the rule and taking comments, and we’re very proud that about 75 percent of them sessions were farmers and ranchers that volunteered. I think that was a great showing, so we’re real proud of the way agriculture stepped up to let EPA know that we want clean water, but we also have to have clear rules.”
Duval says farmers and ranchers need to be engaged in these issues.
“I know our farmers and ranchers are busy, but I’m telling you, we need to make sure that our farmers and ranchers stay engaged on what’s going on in Washington, D.C. We encourage them to be part of an organization like Farm Bureau, and alongside of Farm Bureau be part of their commodity organizations, so that we can work in tandem, working for the same outcome. If you’re not part of an organization, you might be like that lone wolf howling in the night. You join up with organization like ours, we put together a pack of voices that cannot be ignored.”
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(Story by NAFB)
