A low-key policy session of American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) delegates this week opted to raise annual national dues for members to $5, from $4.
The Hagstrom report points out that delegates voted 298 to 50 in favor of the dues increase, but only after rejecting an amendment to limit the increase to 50 cents. The dues increase required a two-thirds vote of the delegates, but it won by 85.6 percent. It’s been many years since AFBF has raised national dues, and President Zippy Duvall said the organization has a $1.5 million deficit because it has lost income from “benefit programs.”
Duvall was also re-elected to a two-year term Tuesday by delegates in Nashville, Tennessee, following the AFBF annual convention.
After the policy deliberations, the membership passed a recommendation to the board that Farm Bureau explore creating a national health insurance program. Duvall says a health insurance program could both be a benefit to members and an income generator for the organization.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.