This year was the 106th Wyoming Farm Bureau annual meeting where members gathered from all across the state. This was my first year going to annual meetings as a YF&R committee member.  

Wednesday morning I drove up to Gillette to begin with the YF&R Committee meeting where we discussed the work that had been done so far and what our plans for the coming year. After the meeting was done, we prepared the books for ag books for kids for distribution to counties with stickers promoting Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation. Once the stickers were done, we sorted them by county. These books will be distributed to local elementary schools to help promoted ag literacy across the state. We also organized cards for our annual raffle benefiting harvest for all. 

On Thursday morning I went to the mine tour. After getting a little turned around we arrived at the Caballo mine. Our tour guide thoroughly explained the mining process and how they remove the soil in layers. They make shelves by clearing the ground layer by layer digging down until they get to coal. They sort all of the cleared earth into different piles for reclamation. To clear the rock and coal, they have blasting crews they use explosives to loosen them up. We got to see a coal layer that was around 70 feet tall which I was told was on the smaller side for the coal seams that they go for in the mines around Gillette. They take the coal from these coal seams and take it to a crusher to get it to a more manageable size. Then it goes on to a conveyor to be put up into storage. 

Thursday I also went on to participate in the State Government Affairs standing committee. In this committee we discussed the resolutions that were brought up from each district to the state level. We discussed the wording, meaning, and effects of the resolutions. Some were just passed as is, but most had debate on the wording and if they conflicted or overlapped on any existing policy. All in all it was exciting to have engaging debate with the members from all over the state.  

Thursday still had more in store for me because there was a trivia night at the Railyard. We had the pleasure of having Andy Schwab as the host. Members had their agricultural knowledge put to the test. From Saddle terminology to statistics of American agriculture our knowledge was put to the test with Jimmy John’s gift cards on the line. My team did not win, but we had a great time competing. 

Friday was an extremely busy day between the guest speakers and the start of the general session. Our first guest speaker was Danny Munch. He is an economist from the AFBF. He talked about the recent changes in the economy with the tariffs and how the economy has changed overall. He also talked about how America's market share in ag commodities has changed over the course of history. That night was wrapped up with Music from Tris and Sam Munsick. They played great country music and members danced to their hearts content. 

Saturday the whole thing came to a close. We really started to hammer out the resolutions that came from the committees. We discussed the resolution that passed from the committees. Members were also able to bring resolutions back to the floor that didn't make it through committees by getting a majority vote at the general session. Then on Saturday we had Heather Maude come and speak on her victory against the U.S. government. She talked about the tribulations that her family had to go through over a fence dispute with the US Forest Service. Through her speech she also informed us on how we needed to get in contact with our representatives at the state level to help ensure that what happened to the Maude family never happens again.  

The 106th annual Farm Bureau meeting was an exciting event to go to. I got to experience perspectives from members all over the state. Learning what difficulties they are experiencing and what their thoughts are on how to improve agriculture and daily life. I heard from some great speakers on some important topics. However, the best part was catching up with friends from all over the state.