Maryland Farm Bureau held it’s 104th annual state convention on December 7-10 in Ocean City. Nearly 200 voting delegates and more than 450 total attended the convention to review, discuss, and vote on state and national policy resolutions.
National Policy Resolutions
Here are some highlights of national policy resolutions that were sent to the American Farm Bureau Federation for policy review and potential discussion at AFBF Convention in January:
Training for Commercial Truck Drivers
Policy: We oppose the federal Department of Transportation requiring professional truck driving schools as the only certified training for new commercial truck drivers. The private in-business training programs that have been approved for many years should be recognized as well.
Rationale: Starting in February 2020, Department of Transportation is going to require all new commercial truck drivers go through professional truck driving schools. Many of these schools train the drivers on automatic transmission vehicles, which is not the type of transmission primarily used in agriculture. This requirement will generate new CDL drivers that aren’t qualified to drive standard transmission trucks.
Federal Milk Marketing Order Reform
Policy: We support federal milk marketing order reform. Specifically, the following initiatives:
- All dairy farmers should have a voice and a vote on changes to milk pricing regulations;
- Improved risk sharing among farmers, cooperatives, and processors to facilitate innovation, as well as grow domestic and foreign demand for dairy production;
- Improved price discovery for milk prices; and
- Simplified pricing and pooling provisions with an emphasis on uniform pooling provisions in the Southeastern Federal Milk Marketing Orders (FMMOs).