NFU Blog

From NFU DC Summer Intern Mike Stranz

Bee-ing a National Farmers Union intern calls for plenty of buzzing around Capitol Hill - literally.

June 22 – 28 is National Pollinator Week. Bee keepers, honey producers and representatives from companies that utilize honey swarmed on Washington to raise awareness about their unique role in agriculture. Hearings were held regarding the challenges pollinators face and those who rely upon them.

On Wednesday, the Pollinator Partnership hosted a reception and press event to promote pollinator awareness, especially in light of the onset of Colony Collapse Disorder. There were posters, speakers, free honey ice cream and chapstick, informational packets… and a guy running around in a bee suit. You guessed it… that was me.

I must admit that I rather enjoyed playing the role of a giant bug. The bee was the guest of honor. There were hundreds of photos, smiles, handshakes, high-fives and fist bumps. I couldn’t help but feel cool, even if the twenty-pound costume was oppressively hot.

Honestly, I think everyone should spend a little time each day dressed in a mascot outfit. It’s good for the soul.

There was a little disappointment, however, when I came back into the room after changing out of the bee costume. The automatic smiles, the spontaneous friendly gestures and the photo ops were all gone.

Kale, Tyler and I learned more about the importance of pollinators in agriculture – and that you can never bee sure what the next assignment will bring when interning for the National Farmers Union.
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The National Farmers Union Foundation is awarding $500 scholarships to six recipients of the 2008 Stanley Moore Scholarship.

For the next six weeks the 2008 scholarship recipients will be the weekly member profile.

Leonard Polzin is the son of George and Marie Polzin, who have been involved with Farmers Union for more than 50 years. Leonard has served on the Wisconsin Farmers Union Resolutions and Bylaws Committees, has participated in a NFU Washington Fly-In, has been a delegate to the NFU Convention and has served as a WFU camp counselor.

Polzin is working on his bachelor’s degree in dairy science with a management emphasis and a minor in agricultural business at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. He is also involved in several campus groups including the Agricultural Education Society, in which he has served as an officer and on its collegiate debate team. He is an active member of the UWRF Dairy Club, Poultry Club and the honorary agricultural fraternity Alpha Zeta

The National Farmers Union Foundation is awarding $500 scholarships to six recipients of the 2008 Stanley Moore Scholarship.

For the next six weeks the 2008 scholarship recipients will be the weekly member profile.

Kyle Danzinger grew up working on his family dairy farm with his parents Donald and Jackie, who have been involved with Farmers Union for 40 years. He currently serves on the Wisconsin Farmers Union Senior Youth Advisory Council as well as the National Farmers Union Youth Advisory Council.

Danzinger is also very involved with FFA, Student Council, choir, mentoring, Pep-Club, his church youth group and various community service projects.

He will use the NFU Foundation scholarship for tuition and books as he studies agricultural education and dairy science at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls this fall. He plans to become an agricultural teacher at an area high school while operating a small dairy or beef operation on or near his family’s farm.

Kyle is from Durand, Wis.

From NFU DC Summer Intern Tyler Fischer

Last Wednesday we had the opportunity to attend a benefit dinner for the Food Research and Action Center. As interns, Kale and I didn’t know many people at the event but kept perfectly satisfied indulging in mushroom tarts, deep fried artichoke hearts, and my personal favorite, roast beef and crackers. Kale was even brave enough to sample the caviar on a cucumber chip, but judging his reaction I decided to pass.

We then heard a great speech by the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. She was followed by three panelists that helped start the fight against world hunger; Daniel Schorr, Roger Wilkins and George McGovern.

I was extremely excited to hear from Mr. McGovern. Being from South Dakota myself, I was familiar with his name and some of his accomplishments including his 1972 presidential run against Richard Nixon.

Following the dinner events, Mr. McGovern was doing a book signing for both he and his wife’s books. I went and introduced myself telling him I was from South Dakota as well. He was happy to see a young face from the state and asked me to stay around to help collect money for his books while he signed them, I agreed. Kale and I spent the next hour or so collecting money and taking pictures of him with buyers. At the end, we gathered his leftover books and carried them to his limo.

I believe I can speak for Kale as well when I say it was a fun-filled, interesting night that really added to our D.C. experience. I don’t foresee soon forgetting the night we got to hang with the Honorable George McGovern.

By Kale Van Bruggen, NFU DC Summer Intern

“Change” is a word being used a lot in this year’s presidential campaigns, but North Dakota Farmers Union member Ellen Linderman doesn’t talk about change, she embraces it.

Ellen began farming with her husband Charles, who had been an active Farmers Union member his entire life, in 1976. As their 3 children grew up in the NDFU youth program, Ellen began serving as a Foster county youth leader, which she continued to do for nearly for nearly 20 years.

She continued her involvement on NDFU’s policy and action committee. “I enjoy the policy discussions. These are so important to the family farmers out here,” she said. “Farmers Union is the ultimate in grassroots organizations.”

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From NFU DC Summer Intern Kale Van Bruggen

Today I had the opportunity to visit the Senate Gallery and personally watch the Senate consider the farm bill (again) and re-pass it 77-15.  For anyone who has not been to the Senate Gallery, I highly encourage you to go.  I believe it should be on every citizen’s “bucket list.”  Watching the governmental process in that room, I can’t help but think of all the great debates and legislation that has been heard there.  As I was listening to farm bill debate, I found myself thinking back to what the debate was years ago, perhaps in the time of my Grandparents, farming back home in Litchville.

One of the best parts about being a member of this organization is watching how our grassroots efforts operate.  The experience begins on our family farm and hardships faced by my parents. It continues with watching them, along with other members, bring those issues to the county and state conventions, participating in the policy debate with members on both state and the national level, and now working with that policy in the D.C. office.  Today I saw that process go one step further and heard U.S. Senators discussing those same issues that Tyler and I, as interns, have been researching this week.  Experiencing each of those steps has been a powerful motivator for me and I am thankful that I have been granted this opportunity.

Chuck Groth grew up in “the big white house on the hill” northwest of Grand Forks, N.D. A lifelong Farmers Union member, Chuck recently retired from South Dakota Farmers Union after 34 years of service, having served as the director of the SDFU Foundation’s Cooperative Legacy Project, an oral history analysis of the development of cooperatives and of those individuals behind them. He was previously the organization’s communications director and under his leadership wrote and published more than 300 issues of SDFU’s monthly Union Farmer. Chuck was recently profiled in the Huron Daily Plainsman.

Groth retires from South Dakota Farmers Union after 34 years

Chuck Groth vividly remembers the sea of faces on the Pierre hill between Riggs High School and the state Capitol during a rally over a crisis in farm country.

“That was in the midst of the last collapse in farmland values which resulted in a lot of people facing the loss of their farms,” he said.

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