Texas Farm Bureau president highlights successes in year of agricultural hardships

(WACO, Texas)—Texas farmers and ranchers battled the hardships of drought, inflation and high input costs but still led the state’s largest general farm organization to many successes this year, according to Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) President Russell Boening.

Boening, a full-time farmer and rancher from Wilson County, highlighted several of TFB’s 2022 accomplishments during his annual address to about 1,000 farmers and ranchers gathered in Waco at the organization’s 89th Annual Meeting.

“We persisted and promoted Farm Bureau policy goals in Austin, Washington, D.C., and in the courts. We never stopped fighting,” Boening said. “I use the word ‘we’ when I talk about Farm Bureau. We must focus on our mission. We must focus on what we are about, and we are about being the Voice of Texas Agriculture.”

Boening grows feed grains, cotton and wheat, as well as operates a dairy and a beef cattle operation with his brother and father near Floresville. The fourth-generation farmer was first elected president of Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) and Affiliated Companies in December 2014.

Boening thanked county Farm Bureaus and leaders for helping TFB achieve its 22nd consecutive year of membership growth. TFB completed the membership year with 538,064 member-families.

He said TFB has been actively advocating that the current safety next for U.S. agriculture must be strengthened.

TFB is promoting the American Farm Bureau Federation’s four overarching priorities for the 2023 Farm Bill, Boening noted. The priorities are maintaining a robust farm bill, maintaining a unified farm bill that includes nutrition programs and farm programs together, prioritizing risk management tools that include federal crop insurance and commodity programs, and ensuring adequate USDA staffing and resources to provide technical assistance.

He said farmers and ranchers helped elect members of Congress in November who will support Farm Bureau’s farm bill positions.

“I am proud that Texas Farm Bureau stands apart. We believe in dialogue and conversation, rather than anger and controversy,” Boening said. “We have to be smart as a community of farmers and ranchers. We must have a sense of purpose.”

For more information about TFB’s 89th annual meeting, visit texasfarmbureau.org/annualmeeting.