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The Washington State Farm Bureau is an affiliate of the American Farm Bureau Federation, representing twenty-five smaller farm bureaus throughout the state, most organized by county. As a national organization the Farm Bureau is a sort of rural chamber of commerce, which aims to "make the business of farming more profitable, and the community a better place to live." As a national organization, the Farm Bureau provides access to farm families, and pools buying power for services such as insurance, and to Most county-level bureaus sponsor safety classes around such issues as machinery and pesticides, and some may sponsor social events as well.

As a lobbying group, the Farm Bureau is headquartered in Washington DC, and issues recommendations on a variety of legislative issues, such as opposition to legislation regarding global warming and abolition of the federal estate tax. The Washington State Farm Bureau legislative "report card" gave governor Christine Gregoire a 50% rating, with a clear split for most legislators along party lines. For the state legislative session ending in 2008, Washington Democrats averaged 51.3% agreement with WSFB, while Republicans averaged 97.9%.

Other Farm Bureau programs include promoting awareness of agriculture among gradeschool children, a women's bureau, a young farmer and rancher program, and education around employment law. The Farm Bureua is a major player in America's Second Harvest, now known as Feeding America. This program aims to divert groceries nearing their "pull dates" to food banks as a humanitarian tax strategy.

Contact Information

Washington Farm Bureau

975 Carpenter Rd NE, Suite 301
Lacey WA 98516

(800) 331-3276, (800) 331-FARM
https://www.wsfb.com/contact

For Further Information

• Bill Zimmerman of BiZi Farms is president of the Clark/Cowlitz Farm Bureau
• Classroom resources from the Washington State Farm Bureau.
• Neighbors is the newsletter of the Washington State Farm Bureau
• The FB.org web site includes podcasts and other resources
• FeedingAmerica.org
• One young, local farmer's take on their first Farm Bureau meeting.