The Zipline: Agriculture on the ballot

The policies that impact our daily lives are often shaped at the local level. Yes, state and national policies are very important, but I cannot help but notice that sometimes we lose sight of what’s right in front of us in our communities.

Take ballot initiatives, for example. We have seen a rising number of efforts to dictate what we can and cannot do on our farms through the ballot initiative process.

Across Farm Bureau, we have seen some great victories and some painful defeats. We don’t always know where or when the next initiative will pop up, but there is no question that engaging with our communities and sharing agriculture’s story is critical to keeping agriculture and our food supply secure.

While agricultural policy is top of mind for farmers and ranchers, most voters probably don’t give much thought to how policy impacts our farms. This is where engagement across Farm Bureau, starting at the county level, is critical.

A recent rise in local ballot initiatives crafted by activists who tout policies that ignore science and years of agricultural research serve as a warning. In the most concerning cases, activists use ballot initiatives to take complex issues, like how to care for sows, for example, and boil the issue down to an emotional sound bite.

They bank on the fact that most folks are not familiar with the ins and outs of farming or the varying injury rates among piglets in different housing environments. Sound familiar?

Prop 12, a state ballot measure in California, is now dictating how farmers across the country care for certain animals. We’re working to help lawmakers understand the unintended consequences for both animal care and interstate commerce, but reversing ballot initiatives is challenging.

On the other hand, agriculture has successfully stopped several misguided initiatives. Just this November, back in California again, we saw a tremendous victory for animal agriculture.

Let’s look at a couple of lessons as we continue to engage.

Grassroots Matter

Ballot initiatives come through a democratic process in more than half of the states in this country. This is where the people’s voice can directly impact policy, and that means it’s that much more important for voters to have the information they need when they enter the polling booth.

And bringing key information and stories right to the people is just what Sonoma County Farm Bureau did. But they didn’t do that alone.

When they got word that signatures were being collected to put forth a ballot initiative, Measure J, to outlaw large farms focused on raising livestock, they immediately got to work. They didn’t panic. They strategized.

A year before the election, they built a coalition to raise funds to counter the measure. They conducted public opinion polling to ensure their messaging addressed concerns and knowledge gaps in the community, and they advocated for a key change in language on the ballot initiative to make it more clear to voters what was being proposed.

Sonoma County Farm Bureau and the coalition they formed found ways to engage the public on how this measure would impact their daily lives. They worked to build trust and understanding on animal care.

And they succeeded. More than that, they won in a big way. They defeated Measure J with 85% of voters saying “no” to this policy, which was bad for local agriculture and the business community.

Building Empathy

Although some ballot initiatives have gotten more aggressively anti-agriculture in recent years, we also have seen a number of successful pro-agriculture measures across the country over the last decade.

Several state Farm Bureaus have advocated for right to farming measures and other initiatives supporting the economic sustainability of farms. There’s no sign of the ballot initiative trend slowing down, and whether the goal is to defeat an anti-agriculture measure or support pro-farming initiatives, the keys to success are the same.

• Start early.

• Build strong coalitions.

• Understand public concerns and values at stake.

• Share your story.

• Engage grassroots.

Our Farm Bureaus can lead the way — and we have — but none of us can do it alone. We need to engage across agriculture and the local business community.

We need every grassroots member stepping up. Taking action on ballot initiatives and succeeding means everyone joining in from making calls, knocking on doors, showing up at local town hall meetings and posting on social media.

And even if there’s not a ballot initiative on the horizon in your county or state, sharing your story helps to build public trust and good will.

The best person to share the story of American agriculture is the American farmer — and it can make all the difference.

Our research shows that the already high trust consumers have in farmers goes up about 20% when they have the opportunity to engage with a farmer. It’s pretty powerful to learn how impactful it is to the public to simply meet a farmer.

So, how can you help bridge the gap and share agriculture’s story? From your neighbor down the road to your lawmakers on Capitol Hill, we need to keep reaching outside our fencerows to help folks understand the work that farmers and ranchers do every day to take care of our animals and the environment while keeping nutritious food on our tables and in our pantries.