As farmers across the country sprint to finish up spring planting, the ag industry is busy on a different playing field this week – sowing seeds of understanding with policy makers in our nation’s capital.
Every spring a cross section of equipment and input manufacturers, advocacy groups, and even a handful of farmers descend on the National Mall for a few days of educational outreach with U.S. lawmakers and the public among the famous cherry blossoms and ivory monuments to our nation’s past.
It’s all in the name of education and advocacy on behalf of farmers and the food production system that feeds our country. And its especially important during this, a Presidential election year, to maintain and continue to foster that critical connection between The Corn Belt and The Beltway.
“Showcasing the sustainability of our food system on the National Mall is an unparalleled opportunity to influence regulations and legislation,” says Curt Blades, senior vice president, Association of Equipment Manufacturers.
“It is important for legislators to understand that precision ag technology and the vital work we’re all doing individually and jointly will enable sustainable future practices and policies,” adds Norbert Schlingmann, general manager, Agricultural Electronics Industry Foundation.
John Chase, vice president of marketing and shared services, John Deere, said the event provides a fun and relaxed setting for ag stakeholders to “advocate on behalf of our farmers ... the importance of what happens here in Washington.”
John Deere is featuring products like its fully autonomous 8RX tractor and See & Spray selective spraying technology, which Chase says is “probably the biggest example of sustainability” the company brought to D.C.
“The ability to reduce chemical and herbicide use by upwards of 70% – it’s such a strong story – the ability to be able to see weeds, distinguish them from plants and be able to go from broadcast spraying to (just spraying) individual plants,” he says. “That’s a huge story.”
John Deere’s shiny new autonomous 8RX tractor will also provide conversation starter material when it comes to tackling the long-simmering ag labor issue.
“Anything we can do in these times to reduced input costs for farmers, be it with inputs or from labor, or even variable rating fertilizer, is crucial to our farmers,” Chase says, adding John Deere also brought along an S Series combine to give event goers the full view of the row crop production cycle.
Some would argue that this year’s event is especially timely, from both an international and a domestic perspective.
Recently, many European capitals have been hit with several impromptu ag equipment “showcases” of their own, those being markedly different in that they were full on protests fueled by the unfortunate farmer-policy maker disconnects in those countries versus the more friendly, education-based meetings playing out on The Mall this week. There will be no dumping of symbolic piles of manure or stockpiled, unmarketable crops to hammer home a point in D.C. this week – just a healthy, productive back and forth between industry and lawmakers.
Hopefully that give and take highlights the need for cooperation and understanding between the farmers who produce our food and provide food security to our nation, the companies that work alongside those farmers every day to provide the solutions they need to produce a crop and maintain a healthy business, and the lawmakers who set farm policy within our country.
That’s exactly what participants like John Deere and many others are hoping to accomplish this week.
“The biggest thing that we can do is just help to educate and listen to different perspectives and come up with the best solutions, and that’s honestly why we’re here: to help educate our elected officials, to hear their perspectives and bring our perspectives, too, and make sure that we’re all based in fact and not perceptions,” Chase says. “That’s why we want to be here, face to face, to show how we’re trying to change the industry and drive sustainability for our customers, so that they can feed the world.”
