Midwest Farm Bureau Leaders Meet in DC

Farm Bureau state administrators for the 12 Upper Midwest states met this past week in Washington, D.C to discuss policy issues. NDFB Executive Vice President and CEO Jeff Missling was the host of this gathering. Missling came out of the meetings optimistic about potential changes to perpetual easements. There is legislation in Congress that would be “an opportunity for folks to potentially renegotiate terms with some of these easements, renew these easements or even buy back these easements at fair market value.” In the Midwest states, Missling said there is concern about the property tax burden shifting to agriculture. The growth of solar farms on productive farmland was also on the radar. “My counterpart from Iowa was discussing the fact that 25 counties in Iowa now have moratoriums on wind and solar projects. There was a rush down in the ‘I’ states with solar projects, and now the counties are trying to play catch-up.”