By Jenny Mills, NEAFA President
As we approach the end of the calendar year, it is a time for reflection, planning and gratitude. Many articles in this newsletter will focus on the reflection of NEAFA’s vision for advocacy, education and collaboration the past several months. Planning is in full swing for the Annual meeting – mark your calendars for February 4 and 5 in Albany! For the rest of this article, I would like to focus on gratitude.
Our membership is the heart and soul of what we do – as a member of NEAFA, you help guide what legislative priorities to focus on, coordinate our education efforts, raise thousands of dollars for youth in agriculture and collaborate with other agricultural organizations throughout the Northeast. The result of your efforts as a member has been the continued recognition of NEAFA as a key partner and “chamber of commerce for agriculture.” Thank you for your continued support of NEAFA. Your membership matters!
I am also thankful to our partners who have worked with us on important issues. In New York, a huge thank you to the Northeast Dairy Producers Association (NEDPA), NY Farm Bureau, Cornell CALS and PRO-Dairy at Cornell for navigating many issues important to agriculture, including transportation obstacles, offering solutions, and working together to brainstorm solutions for policy. Our partnership with Hinman Straub has opened legislative office doors (literally) that we haven’t visited with before. I appreciate their collaborative approach with our partners’ advocacy firms and the many hours of brainstorming as we navigate tough issues in Albany (thank you Julie Marlette for all the Friday night chats!). In Vermont, a huge thank you to the Vermont Dairy Producers Alliance for the collaboration in advocacy in Montpelier. We appreciate the work that Shouldice and Associates have completed on behalf of agricultural advocacy in Vermont. Our partnership in communications with Morning Ag Clips continues to result in higher open rates on our electronic newsletter. Thank you Kate Ziehm and Eric Jenks for the leadership on the newsletter. Eric – thank you for keeping our newsletter on time and increasing readership through strategic timing of our email blasts and the member profiles that you coordinate. You will be proud to know this article is only six hours late!
Lastly, I am grateful for the support we have from our board and staff. We made some tough choices two years ago to not have an Executive Director and rely on our active committee system, under the guidance of our Executive Administrator, Sue VanAmburgh. Our strategy has worked because Sue is detail oriented, an effective communicator and is passionate about our mission to support and grow a sustainable agribusiness industry in the Northeast. We appreciate all that Sue, joined now by Keith VanAmburgh, do to make our meetings, emails, social media, fundraising and communications seamless. Our board is comprised of volunteers. I cannot thank each of the board members enough, especially our committee chairs, for their commitment to making NEAFA a stronger brand and more active in the industry. A special shout out to our Executive Committee, including Charlie Elrod (Vice President), Matt Sheffer (Treasurer), Mike Thresher (Secretary) and Danielle Penney-Stroop (Past President) for taking extra time to approve and discuss issues to keep our organization fiscally strong. I really appreciate the time and miles that Charlie continues to put in as Vice President. His vision and enthusiasm to grow NEAFA gives me confidence in the future of our member-based organization. Thank you for being a great partner!
With gratitude and optimism for the future of NEAFA, I look forward to seeing you at our Annual Meeting February 4 and 5. Happy Holidays to each of you and your families!