Texas Farm Bureau successfully promotes national policy resolutions
(San Antonio, Texas)—Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) voting delegates secured passage of a wide range of national policy resolutions from Texas as new policy positions of the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) at the AFBF 106th annual meeting in San Antonio Jan. 28.
TFB was represented at the AFBF business session by 28 voting delegates, the third largest delegation among the 50 state Farm Bureaus and Puerto Rico. There was a total of 348 AFBF voting delegates.
“It was a successful business session for policy resolutions from Texas,” said TFB President Russell Boening, who was re-elected at the meeting to another two-year term representing the Southern Region as a member of the AFBF board of directors. “We come together every year at this point and go over national policy resolutions. There was some good debate on several of them, some robust debate. But at the end of the day, we come together, and we have a policy book that we can use and work with for the year.”
Delegates approved a Texas resolution that supports keeping the legislative filibuster in place.
AFBF delegates approved a Texas resolution supporting legislation to prevent railroads from closing crossings if the crossing is the only reasonable access a landowner or farmer has to the property or if closure affects the farm operations or emergency ingress or egress.
Railroad companies are closing crossings that have historically been used as access to parcels of property. These closures are made without consideration of whether or not the land operator and/or owner has reasonable access to conduct normal agricultural tasks. No consideration is given to first responders’ access to that property in case of an emergency.
Delegates approved a Texas resolution opposing any and all forms of diversity, equity and inclusion or wokeness being forced into public-school systems and publicly funded institutions or government agencies.
The issue is important in the administration of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs and how farmers and ranchers are impacted.
Delegates approved a Texas resolution supporting a continuous border barrier (fence) along the U.S.-Mexico border. The barrier needs to be impenetrable by not only persons, but also by livestock and wildlife.
A barrier that prohibits livestock and wildlife from entering the U.S. will help prohibit the introduction of additional fever ticks from Mexico. This barrier will facilitate the cooperative efforts between the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) and cattle producers in eradicating the fever tick in the United States.
Delegates approved a Texas resolution supporting USDA maintaining Farm Service Agency jurisdiction over the administration of the Conservation Reserve Program.
Delegates approved a Texas resolution supporting allowing landlords and tenants to independently elect ARC/PLC or STAX/SCO on a farm for their respective interests.
Requiring landlords and tenants to jointly elect STAX/SCO or ARC/PLC coverage under the farm bill can create conflict and hinder individual financial planning. Allowing independent election of coverage provides both parties the autonomy to make the most beneficial decisions for coverage of their respective interests.
Delegates approved a Texas resolution supporting reforms to the de minimis trade provision that would bolster U.S. industries that use agricultural goods in their production process.
The significant rise in clothing goods imported under the de minimis provision through online sales from foreign-based entities has reduced sales at domestic retail stores. Domestic retailers are required to pay duties on items they import, putting them at a disadvantage. This decline in domestic sales has had a negative impact on the U.S. textile industry, resulting in the closure of numerous textile plants. This, in turn, leads to reduced demand for cotton through domestic mill use, resulting in negative impacts to prices received by farmers in the market.
Delegates approved a Texas resolution supporting a study by land grant universities with knowledge of the poultry industry and no ties to poultry integrators that would determine the cost of broiler production by geographic region.
Delegates approved a Texas resolution opposing foreign adversary ownership, leasing or material investment in agricultural land and natural resources that would result in unequal and unfair trade advantages and pose a threat of any kind to national security.
Delegates approved Texas resolutions supporting adding caracara to the list of birds recommend for removal from protections under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and allowing that caracara preying on living livestock can be combated with lethal means by the livestock owner or his/her designee.
On other topics, AFBF delegates supported comprehensive immigration reform “provided agricultural employers and their existing workforce are taken into consideration to ensure that reforms do not disrupt agricultural production” and that “U.S. immigration policy must recognize that agriculture has become increasingly reliant on migrant and foreign-born workers to fill both seasonal and year-round labor needs.”
Another topic of interest was animal identification.
“We still kept it in our policy book that it should be voluntary, that any type of identification should be voluntary, which is what most of our Texas producers agree with, as well. And I think that was one very important discussion that probably took up as much time as any policy discussion during the business session,” Boening said.
The 2026 AFBF annual meeting is set for Jan. 9-14, 2026, in Anaheim, California.