By Bob Stallman
President, American Farm Bureau Federation

What’s that old saying? "Be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it!"

Well, that has happened to me. It is starting to sink in now that I have been elected president of the American Farm Bureau Federation. My election was an achievement, in large part, due to the help of many wonderful people in Texas Farm Bureau. There is no way this goal could have been reached without all the support TFB members have given me.

The challenges of this new job seem almost staggering right now, but when I look back at what our "Team TFB" accomplished in Texas, I know that the entire Farm Bureau family is ready for the tasks that lie ahead.

I very much enjoyed being president of Texas Farm Bureau. The realization that I will no longer preside over our convention, or lead a delegation of TFB members to Washington, is more than a little bittersweet. I have a new role in Farm Bureau now, and your continued support, advice and counsel will be very much valued and appreciated.

The farmers and ranchers of Texas have always supported me in ways too numerous to list here. Suffice it to say, when all the chips are on the line, this is the group I want at my side. We faced adversity together and shared the fruits of many victories. Thank you for allowing me to serve as your president for six truly wonderful years.

I feel very good about the situation of TFB, even though I will no longer be directly involved. Financially and organizationally, things are in very good shape. Not only that, I know Texas Farm Bureau is in very good hands. Donald Patman will be a fine president, and I know that a very capable state board, staff and County Farm Bureau leadership will support him just as you did me.

Many thanks to Vernie Glasson, our TFB executive director, for his valuable advice and strong leadership of the staff during my time as president.

One of the accomplishments of which I am most proud is that Texas Farm Bureau is now a major player on the Texas political scene. This has happened because we learned how to work with other groups, reach across party lines and forge the alliances that would allow us to accomplish the goals of our farm and ranch families. What I learned in Texas, from being a part of this process, will help me a great deal as I begin my new duties as AFBF president.

My office may be in the suburbs of Chicago now, and undoubtedly, I will log many more air miles than before, but I will always be a Texan. I know that I will represent the American Farm Bureau Federation in Texas on many occasions, and I look forward to that. I will miss my almost daily contact with Texas Farm Bureau members a great deal, but this is not goodbye. Our paths will cross many times in the days ahead. We will have the opportunity to work together again to accomplish Farm Bureau’s goals.

In my days as president in Texas, we tried to build upon what other leaders of our organization had accomplished in the six and one-half decades of Texas Farm Bureau. I will work very hard as AFBF president to do the same. We will build on the work of those who have gone before to make our Farm Bureau not only bigger, but better, more responsive and more effective in serving the member families of our great organization.