At its 109th State Convention held at the Marriott Cornhusker Hotel in Lincoln, Nebraska Farmers Union (NeFU) filmed five of the sessions and now have them available on YouTube and its website: www.nebraskafarmersunion.org.
NeFU President John Hansen said, “All five sessions videoed underscored this year’s convention theme: ‘Building Rural Communities Since 1913.’ Our organization’s mission is to improve the economic well-being and quality of life for family farmers, ranchers, and our rural communities. We take on the tougher issues through education and advocacy. We had an excellent set of speakers this year that gave us much food for thought.”
National Farmers Union (NFU) Government Relations Report with Layla Soberanis. Layla’s power point presentation recapped the many issues NFU worked on last year, is actively engaged in currently, and examined changes ahead as the House Majority changes, and its impact on the House Ag Committee and the 2023 Farm Bill. NFU engages on about 25 issues per year that impacts farmers. Here is the link: https://youtu.be/Gh7iccDuLvs
NeFU member Julie Hindmarsh moderated the “NeFU Foundation Poultry Litter and Stream Health Report” session with researcher Matt Sutton from the University of Nebraska Omaha and Graham Christensen, President GC Resolve and NeFU Board of Directors. This ground breaking water research with power point presentations took a strategic look at the potential water quality impacts from the Costco litter land applications. The preliminary research data showed there enough linkage between poultry-based contamination and stream water denigration that additional water quality research is warranted. Here is the link: https://youtu.be/D3CzWvIIwHo Jonathan Leo moderated the “Identifying, Quantifying, and Addressing Risks of water Quality Contamination in Nebraska” panel discussion with Dr. Eleanor Rogan, Interim Chair of the UNMC Departments of Health Promotion and Environmental, Agricultural & Health, and Dr. Jesse Bell, Director of the Water, Climate & Health Program at UNMC and Director of Water, Climate and Health UNL’s Daugherty Water for food Global Institute. These two experts detailed their recently released research into the links between nitrogen, Atrazine, and pediatric cancer in Nebraska. These were powerful power point presentations that raises serious questions about the safety of our rural drinking water. Here is the link: https://youtu.be/huAV9t0FVEk NeFU President’s Award Winner Bryce Anderson, retired DTN Senior Meteorologist and nationally known weather expert’s “Making Sense of Extremes” power point used NOAA data to show that since 1980, the U.S. has had 332 extreme weather events in excess of $1 billion in damages amounting to $2.275 trillion, and Nebraska has had 54 extreme weather events in excess of $1 billion. His graphs showed the frequency of such extreme storms is dramatically increasing in recent years. Anderson said practices that build healthy soils that increases moisture storage capacity was common sense “no brainer” thing to do as well as use more renewable energy to reduce carbon emissions that fuel extreme weather. Here is the link: https://youtu.be/3hna94zOekQ NFU Historian Tom Giessel from Larned, Kansas’s power point mixed history and humor to owed how Farmers Union at the state and national levels uses all three sides of its Farmers Union triangle: education, cooperation, and legislation to build strong rural communities, including organizing more cooperatives than any other organization in America. He stressed Farmers Union’s “can do” approach. Here is the link: https://youtu.be/eYP4AozZzws
Categories: Nebraska, Government & Policy