Preparation is essential for farmers, both in the field and with lawmakers 

By Joe Stoller, Chair of Indiana Soybean Alliance Membership & Policy Committee 

Harvest 2024 is underway. The long days and late nights of bringing in a crop are important. This is a rewarding time of year. 

They say planting is a sprint, but harvest is a marathon. Either way, you need to prepare for the season. Preparation is the key to success in anything. 

Preparation is essential to our policy and checkoff. If you don’t talk to potential customers overseas, and if you don’t listen to what they want, then your ability to improve export markets will not be successful. When customers know who you are, when they visit your farm, when they see how you grow your crops, the odds of shipping more in exports increase significantly. 

The same applies to our elected officials in government. 

The Indiana Soybean Alliance’s Membership and Policy Committee (M&P) just wrapped up its August Shop Talk season. Shop Talks are a part of the preparation that I mentioned earlier. 

I had the pleasure of hosting U.S. Rep. Rudy Yakym (R-Dist. 2) at my farm for his Shop Talk in late August. These Shop Talk meetings give us the opportunity to talk to members of Congress on our farms. We are able to explain our priorities to them, and the legislators can see our farms to better understand our issues. 

We had more than 40 farmers attend the Yakym Shop Talk, and we were able to dig into real issues including our need for a federal farm bill … yet again. 

The farm bill, as we know, is long overdue. The bill was supposed to be updated last September, but Congress kicked the can down the road and extended the previous farm bill for another year. Our hope is that Congress will not choose to do that again. 

Congressman Yakym took many questions. He listened to our opinions on the farm bill programs that we believe are necessary, and he gave us his assessment of the politics involved in getting a new farm bill adopted. This event is one of many examples of how we prepare for legislative success. 

When Congress appears ready to vote on a new farm bill, we know that Congressman Yakym and other Indiana legislators will be well informed of our issues. We have talked to them while visiting their offices in Washington, D.C.; we have talked to them at our farms or small-town coffee shops, and we have talked to them by phone. 

Indiana’s congressional delegation is as informed on farm issues as any other state in the country due to the work of our members and staff. 

For this work – this preparation – to continue, we need as many farmers as possible to step up and join our team. The more voices we have in support of our goals, the more impact we can have when talking to federal and state lawmakers. 

If you haven’t yet, become a member of our policy organization. Please reach out to ISA Industry Affairs Outreach Manager Khyla Goodman at kgoodman@indianasoybean.com. We have a variety of options for you to consider. We want your voice helping prepare our legislative efforts for success.