WFBF Emphasizes Partnerships at Annual Meeting

By Joan Sanstadt, News Editor
Thursday, December 6, 2007 4:58 PM CST

Roger Cliff, chief administrative officer (CAO), for the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation (WFBF), addressed members earlier this week at the annual meeting held in Middleton.

“It’s been a good year for most farmers and I think most would agree,” Cliff said.

One of the highlights of the Farm Bureau year, as detailed by Cliff, included graduating the first class from the new Leadership Institute. “Rural gave counties some grants to help fund the leadership school,” he noted. “We would not be the same organization without Rural Mutual Insurance Company n the working relationship between Rural and Farm Bureau is the best I’ve seen in my tenure,” Cliff acknowledged.

Other major partners in WFBF and WFB Foundation programs included GROWMARK FS and Frontier.

Other highlights included:

- Second straight year of gain in voting membership;

- Paid out $65,000 to county Farm Bureaus for membership rebates;

- Established first membership growth plan with Rural Mutual;

- Continue to host the Ag Coalition, “a key element of our legislative programming;”

- Intervened, with the Ag Coalition, in stray voltage and right to farm lawsuits;

- From WFBF contributions and DATCP grants in last 10 years were able to provide more than $1 million to Ag in the Classroom program;

- Provide $65,000 to FFA last year.

Cliff, noting he was beginning his 35th year with WFBF, emphasized the continued importance of use value assessment of farmland. Back in his days as a WFBF lobbyist, Cliff devoted a lot of his time to working with legislators and other farm groups in the Ag Coalition to get use value enacted by the legislature and then protected in the courts.

“Use value is still there and it is still important,” Cliff said.

Since Tom Thieding has moved over to become director of marketing services for Rural Mutual Insurance Company, the communications and governmental relations departments at WFBF have been merged. Paul Zimmerman is now the director of the new public affairs division. He is assisted by Casey Langan as director of public relations. Jeff Lyon is director of public affairs, Paul Ketring is director of communications and Tracy Larson is the staff assistant.

Darlene Arneson will take Thieding’s place as a director on the WFBF Foundation board.

A new program that WFBF expects to offer is a Carbon Tracking Program.

A pilot project first tried in District 5 will now be put in a permanent place, with WFBF providing administrative and financial services to districts. This will be phased in over time with the new services being offered to Districts 8 and 9 in the spring of 2008. Staff in the past that had the title of field supervisors will now be called district coordinators.

In 2008, the WFBF Annual Meeting will move to Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells. It will overlap with the Young Farmer Leadership Conference and this will result in shifting the starting day of the conference. It will still be held the first weekend in December.

Finances

Jeff Fuller, executive director of operations, reported WFBF had income of $2,371,113 in FY that ended on Oct. 31, 2007. This compares to $2,170,371 during the same period a year earlier. Adding in other income items (depreciation and assets released from program restrictions, total income as of Oct. 31, 2007 amounted to $2,557,678 compared to $2,434,849 the year before.

Expenses for the fiscal year totaled $2,242,730, compared to $2,550,579 the prior year.

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