By Donn Teske
Policy drafting preceding the Dec 1st & 2nd KFU state convention will be held via Zoom over three consecutive Thursdays, October 7th, 14th, & 21st at 7:00 PM.
Last year we pretty much just moved the existing policy forward and focused on special orders. We really should give policy some serious attention this year, especially with some of the news coming out of Washington about some progressive efforts to deal with several of our key issues in FU. Three sessions will allow us to really dig into the policy without getting blurry-eyed in a marathon session.
A rough schedule for the evenings is:
October 7th:
Agriculture Policy (A consolidation of 17 issues we have kept in policy as supporting for years), Farm Service Agency, International Trade Agreements, Food For Peace, Insurance and Disaster Programs, Food Safety, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), Imported Foods, Dairy Imports, Livestock and Poultry Imports, Horse Slaughter, Inter-state Marketing of Processed Meats, Regenerative Sustainable Agriculture, Agricultural Research Funding Accountability, Corporate Vertical and Horizontal Integration and Price Fixing, Federal Anti-Corporation Farming Law, Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act, Kansas Corporate Farming Law, United State Postal Service, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Federal Grain Inspection Service, Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA). Begin discussion on Special Orders.
October 14th:
Federal Taxation, State Taxation, Social Security, Campaign Finance Reform, Federal Commodity Check-Offs, State Commodity Check-offs, Bankruptcy, Energy, Hydraulic Fracturing Operations, Rural Electrification Administration (REA), Telecommunication, Health Care, Transportation, Farm Cooperatives, Community Development, Foreign Investment in Agricultural Land and Enterprises, State Banking, Federal Banking, Interstate Branch Banking, Continued discussion of Special Orders.
October 21st:
Elevator Bankruptcy, Voting and Democracy, Kansas Department of Agriculture, Pharmaceutical Genetically Modified Organism Production, Specialty Crops, Patent Laws, Kansas Seed Law, Brand Laws, Dairy, State Meat and Poultry Inspection, Noxious Weed Law, Industrial Water Use, Irrigation, Water Transfer, Water and Wind Rights, Water Retention Structures, State Funding for Conservation Practices, Construction Work in Progress (CWIP), Property Rights, Pollinators, Climate Change, Efficient Access to & Just Treatment of Immigrant Labor.
Continued discussion of Special Orders.
This is a rough draft, we will be flexible and give each issue the time it needs. Stay tuned to our website for updates as the drafting develops.
And go to our website to register for your access to participate.
You, our members, have a unique opportunity through these zoom sessions to make your voice heard and to participate in the drafting discussion and to take this proposed policy draft to your chapter meetings.
Thank you, Donn
Preamble
Kansas Farmers Union empowers and engages family farmers, ranchers, and communities through organization, education, cooperation and legislation.
The Kansas Farmers Union takes pride in defining our policy. We believe policy should address the needs of people. The moral and ethical decisions made by individuals and governments have an impact on our daily lives, and on the lives of future generations. Recognizing that fact, our policy strives to assure those decisions maintain a just and ethical basis.
Our policy also addresses the use of our natural resources and environment with the same fervor. We must not allow greed, ignorance, or carelessness to bring about exploitation of our natural resources, or of our fellow man.
We believe family ownership and maintaining family farms will preserve natural and human resources, and contribute to climate stability.
