Discussing politics in polite company

Mark Twain once said, “Never discuss politics or religion in polite company.” While it’s been 115 years since Twain’s passing, that advice seems as relevant now as it was then. The country has become more and more politically polarized. (Maybe a more accurate way of putting it would be extreme.) I’ve always been more of a ‘screw around and find out’ than an advice follower, so I’m going to ignore his advice. This month, let’s talk politics.

We are members of Organic Valley Cooperative and have been active in the coop, helping where we can since joining it when we switched to being certified organic 17 years ago. Over those years, we’ve had opportunities to talk farming with news organizations, attend a food and beverage trade show, host farm tours for both families and industry people, fence a giant advertisement to be seen from planes in our pasture and many, many more strange and wonderful opportunities.

The most recent opportunity to come our way was an ask for a couple of Organic Valley farmers to travel to Washington, D.C. with the Organic Trade Association to talk farming with our representatives and senators. My wife, Emily, and our son, Jonnie, jumped on the opportunity and booked a flight to D.C. right away. Not only was it an opportunity to have our voice heard in the federal government but also one to teach the next generation how our government works and see some of the sights in our nation’s capital.

A funny coincidence was that our eldest son, Erik, was flying to D.C. on the same flight as Emily and Jonnie, heading to Vermont to visit his girlfriend he met at the National 4-H Dairy Conference last fall. That saved me from having to make two trips to the airport to drop people off, and they got to hang out at the airport together while waiting for their flight.

Emily has a passion for politics or maybe I should say effective leadership and governance. We both share a dislike of the partisan nonsense politics often seems to consist of today. She worked for the Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation after college, running the young farmers program, and spent a lot of time focused on agriculture and politics. After we had our first child, she stepped away from working full time at Farm Bureau but not from following local and national politics. She happily will talk about agriculture policy all day with respectful people. All that is to say, she knows how the government works and the importance of participation in it.

Emily and Jonnie were in D.C. for three days and had a busy schedule of meetings with senators and representatives from Minnesota and Wisconsin, such as Amy Klobuchar, Ron Johnson, Angie Craig, Brad Finstad and many more. They discussed what we would like to see happen in agriculture policy on a federal level, mainly that existing programs be fully funded. The legislative assistants to our senators and representatives are often as or more important to talk to than the politicians themselves as they are trusted to do the research and advise the politician on how to vote on issues. The group spent plenty of time talking with aides and discussing with them how vital a strong agricultural sector is to our country.

No agricultural lobbying trip is complete without meals and conversation at restaurants in D.C. that showcase the bounty our country’s produce. Jonnie was unimpressed with the quantities of food the restaurants served, as he’s used to meals sized for people who work hard all day outside vs. indoor office work, but he said the meals were tasty if not especially filling. They planned to tour the capitol building with Brad Finstad, but he was called to vote on a spending bill, so they missed out on that but did get to walk the National Mall and see many of the national monuments like the Lincoln Memorial, which are neat to see lit up at night.

Until next time, keep living the dream and remember that, in order for a democracy like ours to function properly, the voice of its citizens need to be heard in more ways than just voting for who will be the president.

Tim Zweber farms with his wife, Emily, their three children and his parents, Jon and Lisa, near Elko, Minnesota.