Dedication to community, education and agriculture has earned the Lynn-Garza County Farm Bureau one of the most coveted awards presented by Texas Farm Bureau (TFB).
The organization was named the 2016 Most Outstanding County Farm Bureau (CFB) at TFB’s Annual Meeting in San Antonio.
“We just believe in the message and the mission of Texas Farm Bureau,” Walt Hagood, president of Lynn-Garza CFB, said. “When you look at it, we were already doing about 75 percent of what qualifies you for the award.”
Hosting community activities and engaging, educational events throughout the year earned the county points toward the award as did meetings with state and national lawmakers.
The county is also active in the grassroots policy development process, which gave it a leg up in the competition.
“We’ve got some key resolutions that were actually birthed in our county,” Hagood said.
Lynn-Garza CFB members crafted and passed a resolution asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Risk Management Agency to extend its beginning farmer and rancher discount from five years to 10, which is when the USDA Farm Service Agency ends its new farmer discount.
The resolution was important, according to Hagood, because if it’s implemented, it would allow beginning farmers and ranchers more time to build a solid foundation in agriculture.
The resolution made it all the way to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual meeting.
The CFB also hosted an Ag Issues Summit this year. Organizers invited lawmakers and agribusiness representatives from across the area to meet and discuss issues important to both rural Texas and agriculture.
“The proximity that we are to Lubbock, we felt it is important to get some leaders from the larger cities involved with agriculture,” Hagood said. “We had a good, diverse group of people. We put all these people around the table and just had a conversation going back and forth discussing these issues that we’re involved with in agriculture. That went really well.”
As the Most Outstanding CFB in the state, Lynn-Garza CFB leaders don’t plan to rest on their laurels. They will continue to work on behalf of agriculture and their more than 1,300 members.
“We will just continue to do what we do and hope for the best,” Hagood said.