AFBF To Honor Oregon’s Barry Bushue At Convention

The former head of the Oregon Farm Bureau will be honored this weekend.  The American Farm Bureau Federation will present the Distinguished Service Award to Senator Pat Roberts and the Farm Bureau Founders Award to Oregon’s Barry Bushue during AFBF’s 101st Annual Convention this weekend.  In addition to serving as OFB President, Bushue served as the vice-president of AFBF from 2008-2016.

Throughout his career Bushue said he is a firm believer that farmers and ranchers should get involved in education and the policy making process.  “Activism needs to be a part of your business plan," Bushue said.  "You budget for fertilizer, you budget for your seed, you budget for maintenance, you budget for all these things you do, new tractors, whatever it is you need. But, if you don’t have a line item that somehow represents an activist piece of what it is you do and show your passion for agriculture, then I think you are missing something on your farm.”

Bushue and his wife, Helen, invite members of the public to their family farm outside Portland, Oregon, to pick various fruits, vegetables, and a fall favorite, pumpkins. Bushue says opening his farm to the public comes with its challenges but he has developed a customer base that recognizes the value of agriculture.

Bushue said his father told him if he was going to farm smart, he needed to be part of Farm Bureau, adding, “He said, ‘We’re going to go to the [Farm Bureau] meeting tonight, and you’re going with me. I embraced it and I loved it. I’ve always had a passion for it, I think I inherited that, it’s probably genetics in our family.”

Click Here to watch a video featuring Bushue's accomplishments in Farm Bureau.

The Farm Bureau Founders Award was established in January 2017 to recognize exemplary leadership, service or contributions to Farm Bureau by officers or employees of AFBF and state Farm Bureau organizations.

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