The Value of Your Membership
By John Moore
President, Kern County Farm Bureau
Like most non-profits in 2020, the Kern County Farm Bureau is being forced to reimagine revenue streams to maintain its operational capacity. The Governor’s limits on social events and gatherings, which serve a critical source of income for the advocacy group, is creating a vacuum for income generation. On top of these limitations, continued consolidation in the agricultural space contributes member attrition. KCFB membership is critical to the long-term well-being of the organization and we sincerely appreciate your time and consideration. It helps our group conduct the advocacy so needed in the modern age.
KCFB membership’s value goes beyond social events. Your officers, Board of Directors, and wonderful staff utilize membership dollars to attack issues directly at their core. Various committees including Education & Outreach, Land-Use, Membership, Labor-Safety-Trade, Political Strategy, Finance, and Executive spend their time reacting in real time to legislation, regulation, and the newly reinvigorated “executive order.” At each of our board meetings, committees will report on their findings and root out concerns that would adversely affect our members. Each committee is tasked with various action items and use their volunteer hours to better the industry within our productive county. The ability to act quickly and efficiently with a large board is unique to the KCFB and something of note.
The staff at KCFB works tirelessly to stay up to date with all items agricultural and must now begin considering pivoting away from fundraising events with large gatherings and concentrating on other member benefiting activities in the near term. The culture surrounding KCFB is made stronger with these types of events, but with the current COVID-19 situation redirection is necessary. Be on the lookout for member only Zoom sessions, partnerships with other local groups, and a local farm-tailgate or two. We invite our members to join our Zoom meetings to view the structure of a KCFB meeting and view the valuable information.
The takeaway: if you are reading this, and you are not a member of the Kern County Farm Bureau, I would strongly recommend you join. The “behind the scenes” work is worth every penny. If you are a member, thank you for your membership. Your membership dollars are put to use on numerous fronts and utilized efficiently and effectively. We appreciate you being a part of our organization and look forward to adding on a few new friends soon!
