HOME
About Us    Events    Newsletters    Members    History    Links    Contact Us

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

May 2008

by Howie Feaga, President - Howard County Farm Bureau

I hope everyone had a great Easter. It certainly came early this year. And how about that time change coming so early?. We are soon going to be in the fields at full go. I hope that we will all be careful. It’s so easy to get in a rush. That’s when accidents happen.

This spring has been a dry one, but maybe by the time this newsletter goes to print we will have caught up on spring rains. We definitely do not need another drought this year.

Our membership committee, Susan Baker and Shelly Buhlman, are doing a great job with trying to recruit new members to keep our organization strong and in an effort to help make our laws work for us. It was gratifying to have a good turnout at our Annual Legislative Dinner on April 10. I hope that everyone present got a chance to ask the questions that they wanted to ask – and got the answers too.

It has been one year on the job for me now as your president. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for all they have done to help me with the responsibilities that the office entails. I especially want to thank Merhlyn Barnes, our County Farm Bureau Secretary. She is always right on top of things. And your Farm Bureau Board of Directors has been very willing to quickly step up to each task. For their enthusiasm, I am very grateful. And last, but not least, I want to thank you, the members, for your great interest in this organization. It has meant a lot and has ultimately been what has kept us all going.

Well that’s it for now. I hope everyone has a wonderful spring and like always, "Keep your plow in the ground. We’re all pulling for you."

MARCH 08 MESSAGE

The winter has been pretty good so far this year. I hope everyone is doing well. The dry summer is still plaguing us with a shortage of winter feed. Thankfully we are past Ground Hog Day now and that is about the half-way point of the winter feeding season, although most of us have been winter feeding since September or earlier. So, we are two thirds through the winter feeding time. Let’s hope the rest of the winter will be mild.

This time of year our Membership committee is hard at work to get our membership up to meet the state’s expectations and that is not an easy task. Our committee is reaching out to many new potential members with the hopes of getting some more new innovative thinkers into our organization. I hope all of you will try to encourage your neighbors that may not be familiar with the Farm Bureau to join, so that we can have the support to carry on with our job, to guide the governing powers to help us to keep the laws working for agriculture.

As we do enroll our neighbors, I would encourage all of us, traditional dairy, beef, swine, and crop farmers, that have dwindled in numbers but not in importance to the farm bureau, to welcome these new members and their idea’s so that we can include those horse, sheep, goat, beekeepers, landscapers and other agriculture related business’s into our organization.

With springtime fast approaching we will all be anxious to get out and start our field work. We need to take time now to get our machinery and our bodies ready to work all summer. So start slow and work up to those heavy loads and try not to over-do it the first good day. And like always, don’t forget to "keep your plow in the ground, we’re all pulling for you."

JANUARY 08 MESSAGE

I hope that all of you had a great Thanksgiving, a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to a healthy and prosperous New Year!

This past December, I had the privilege of attending the 92nd Annual Maryland Farm Bureau Meeting in Ocean City. There was a lot of time spent working on Farm Bureau policy and we all worked hard to see that they were the way you all would like to have them written I was really impressed with the process and must admit that I learned, and am still learning, how this process works. If you don’t think your dues are worth the $60.00 you pay, you need to experience these meetings. The Farm Bureau is our voice when it comes to having valuable input in the policies of our State and County laws.

We heard several very good speakers, one being Chad Hymas a young paraplegic farmer who had a terrible accident with a round bale that rolled over him while on the tractor. His message of encouragement was that you should be ready and able to change your life when things change, and that you should be thankful for what you have whether it is good or bad, it is what you make it.

Gov. Martin O’Malley spoke on making agriculture profitable to our family farms and promised to help make that happen. Dr.Cheng-I Wei, Dean and Director of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Maryland, was also there to update us on the college’s latest improvements and programs.

Your Board of Directors, after taking a much needed break for the Holidays, is ready to go back to work for all of you. Thank you for all of your support during the past year. I would also like to thank the Board and your Secretary Merhlyn Barnes for all their help during my first year as your President and like always don’t forget – keep your plow in the ground we’re all pulling for you!

NOVEMBER 07 MESSAGE

I would like to welcome on board the new members of the Board of Directors; David Patrick, Mike Clark, and Shelly Buhlman. David is a well known dairy farmer and breeder of champion Ayrshire and Holstein dairy cattle as well as an artificial inseminator. Mike is a beef, hogs and crops farmer. Shelly boards horses, trains them and works with the Pony Club. Mickey Day is your new Vice President and I will be back for another year as President.

Will it ever rain? How many times have we thought, said, or been asked that question this year. I can say that we have made it this far and we will be wet before you know it. I have always thought that God steps on us until he steps on someone else so I guess we will just have to take our turn. Hang in there. You can do it!

We will soon be entering into the fall and winter seasons and along with that comes the Holidays. Halloween is a fun night, so be patient with all the knocks on the door. Remember, when was the last time you had that many people wanting to visit you.

Then comes Thanksgiving, a holiday that helps us get started on bringing our winter weight up. Soon afterwards, Christmas encourages us all to get into the spirit of giving. And then with the start of the New Year, we resolve once more that we are going to change our bad habits.

Hopefully we can enjoy all the things we’ve been given and stop dwelling on what we don’t have. We are all ready for another year of hard work, so don’t forget … Keep your plow in the ground we’re all pulling for you.