Good and Bad Things from 2012

Good and bad things from 2012

By Bruce Fry, SJFB President

Happy 2013 Everyone! I hope everyone had a joyous and relaxing Christmas and New Year’s with your family and friends and Santa Claus was kind to all that were kind to us farmers and ranchers. It is that time again to sit back and reflect back on the last 12 months on all that went well and not so well in your business, in politics, in Farm Bureau and of course your family. That is what CFBF President Paul Wenger did last month at the 94th CFBF Annual meeting in Pasadena.

First, what went well from my perspective:

• Jack Hamm SJFB’s first vice president, graduated from the 2012 Leadership Farm Bureau Class with a new class theme of “Planting Seeds, Strengthening Roots, Branching out, Bearing Fruit.” To read about the 2012 LFB Class journey, go to and click on programs.

• Joe Valente, SJFB past president, was elected to CFBF board of directors for District 12 [San Joaquin and CalaverasCounties].

• The San Joaquin Farm Bureau is getting recognized this year at the AFBF Annual Meeting for our Rural Health and Safety program headed up by SJFB staff member Kory Campbell.

• I will be an AFBF Delegate. As I mentioned last month, I put my name in for the nomination for CFBF delegate [2 year term] at the AFBF Annual meeting in Nashville, Tenn. This year, the vote came out different. I am very honored and humbled to say I received the most votes [by all 53 counties] and get the privilege to be a delegate for the next two years for the CFBF.

• “TBR’s” [tentative basic resolutions] passed. The delegates attending the CFBF annual meeting from the 53 counties had a thorough discussion on over 20 different policy changes. I am very proud to say that our county was successful getting the Food Safety and Food Quality policies passed. I am also very excited the Estate Tax Policy change passed unanimously. This policy change to the California and American Farm Bureau policy was based off of my family’s experience over the last five years. This even makes my experience in Nashville even more exciting. As a delegate I will be able to stand and tell my family’s story in front of all the 50 state Farm Bureaus. Amazing how all things turn out. I’ll be at the American Farm Bureau Annual Meeting in Nashville, Tenn., Jan. 13 through 16, 2013.

• I am blessed to have a supportive, loving, healthy and happy family and “circle of friends.”

Now, what went not so well:

• Politics: The Fiscal Cliff.

• Politics: No immigration reform since 1986, isolated labor shortages.

•Politics: A super majority now make the rules in Sacramento.

•Politics: The peripheral canal.

• Politics: The 2012 presidential election.

• Politics: Over-regulated businesses.

If we could just get the politics out of our everyday lives, all of us level-headed people of California could negotiate and solve all these issues. Wishful thinking, eh!?

And finally, some trivia for you… 2013 is the year of the snake. So watch out for that snake in the grass! Happy New Year!