The phone rang the other day from a member who had just returned from an
extended layover in Florida. He said he was catching up on all the farm bureau papers and wondered why I hadn’t said anything about the tariffs. Since he’s enjoyed
raising fancy chickens, the first thing I did was thank him for not taking the paper
straight to the coop for bedding. He assured me he only did that after he’d gathered
all the news. But when it came to the tariff question, I said it would be useless to
address that because the tariff “rules” or “talk” would change before I got done
typing the article. And then, they would change 10 more times before you actually
got to read it. On top of all that, my personal beliefs on the topic may or may not
align with others personal beliefs so the best thing for me to do is to sit back and
not overreact to every tweet or knee jerk reaction like the news commentators in
the media do. That’s pretty much what Farm Bureau management has done as
well. Try not to overreact and let the noise settle out. American and Illinois farm
bureau leaders have both been in meetings with Secretary Rollins on the subject
to express concern and worry about the consequences we might face. Personally,
I know it’s going to take just as much pain to get out of the financial crisis we are
in as it did recklessness that put us there. It’s certainly going to be a bumpy ride so
we all better keep our buckles tight, but let’s not jump overboard is my opinion.
It’s been mentioned that a rural broadband project should be underway. It’s
behind schedule, and part of that delay is due to easement failures. If you get anything from a utility company in the mail, and it looks the slightest bit suspicious,
please call our office. It’s been said that some utilities are trying to skirt the easement process by claiming that no response is granting permission to the utility.
Please be vigilant.
There is a lot going on in the background at the state and federal levels, and
it’s hard to keep up on all the events and even harder to report about. Enjoy the
rest of the spring everyone and be safe.
Doug Downs
CCFB President
