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Texas
Agriculture Archive
January 3, 2003
2002 Year in Review
Farm Bureau:
Speaking with a unified voice
2002 was an outstanding year for Texas Farm Bureau. The organization finished the fiscal year (Oct. 31) with a record-setting 348,673 members! Moreover, every county reported a gain. That speaks to the success of Texas Farm Bureau, and the members and leaders who work hard to make it so.
Nearly 70 years ago, your fathers and grandfathers—farmers and ranchers—created Farm Bureau to be in the places you cannot always be. They created it to gather up the combined voices of agriculture to speak with one unified voice. That is the Texas Farm Bureau of today.
One thing we know—one thing we've learned over the years—is the importance of speaking out. We know from scientific polling data that the public respects farmers. We know that America wants to hear from the families who live and work on the land. Farm Bureau exists for this purpose. In a recent statewide poll, the Texas Farm Bureau was compared with the NRA, AFL-CIO, the Trial Lawyers Association, and the Christian Coalition. Farm Bureau had the overall highest favorable recognition rate, with high name recognition and low negative ratings. Clearly, Farm Bureau is doing something right!
Beyond unprecedented membership growth in 2002, we have a long list of accomplishments you can be proud of, with even more to be done in the coming year.
We have unfinished business remaining in the Congress. We still need to open up the potential of agricultural sales to Cuba. Because Texas is so close, geographically, to Cuba, we are one of the states that can benefit a great deal. After more than 40 years, the economic embargo on Cuba is clearly a failure. Support for it declines every day. A few members of Congress who oppose Fidel Castro, personally, are holding it together. And the president also opposes a change in Cuban policy. Still, major sales did take place this year, despite U.S. restrictions that made it difficult. It's time for this embargo to die—like all bad policy eventually must.
We achieved a 10-year phase out of the Death Tax in the last Congressional session, but permanent repeal requires one more vote. The tax-and-spend crowd in Washington wants to bring it back after 2010, but our policy calls for repeal. The Federal Estate Tax unfairly punishes small business owners, like farmers. It costs the federal government 65 cents of every dollar collected, and millions are spent each year to plan for it and minimize the impact. Abolishing the Death Tax is a top Farm Bureau priority.
Our planning for the 2003 session of the Texas Legislature began the day after the 2001 session ended. The session that begins in January will most likely be the most challenging our state has ever faced. Current projections indicate that Texas government will have a budget shortfall of at least $5 billion. It could be higher. State leaders are saying, "Everything is on the table." That "everything" means that we will have to defend the tax exemptions that agriculture now has. We will also have to protect the tax provisions that value agricultural lands on productive, rather than market value. These tax exemptions and provisions are, in many cases, the difference between surviving in farming, or going out of business. Agriculture cannot afford a new and heavy tax burden during this time of critically low commodity prices and severe weather problems.
Water will continue to be a controversial and painful issue. Many strides were made in the last session. Our job will be to defend the gains agriculture made on water and build on them.
State leaders will be looking to save money and cut programs wherever politically feasible. We intend to make certain that the state budget is not balanced on the backs of farm and ranch families.
