Louisville, KY (January 5, 2018) – Just a few weeks after concluding their own annual meeting, volunteer leaders from Kentucky Farm Bureau (KFB) are headed to the 99th Annual Convention of the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), January 5-10 in Nashville, Tenn.

Over 500 KFB members will be attending to help shape Farm Bureau’s national policy agenda for 2018. They will also attend the many special interest conferences held during the meeting and explore AFBF’s IDEAg Trade Show.

In addition, KFB state competition winners, including Young Farmer & Rancher Achievement Award winners Ben and Katie Furnish of Harrison County; the Excellence in Agriculture winners Jay and Trisha Campbell of Logan County; and Discussion Meet winner Miranda Chaplin of Bourbon County, will compete in their respective national events.

With the focus on advocacy, leadership, and education, AFBF’s annual convention is anticipated to draw approximately 5,000 attendees from the 50 state Farm Bureaus and Puerto Rico. Keynote speakers at the convention include AFBF President Zippy Duvall and country music legend Reba McIntyre.

Newly re-elected KFB President Mark Haney of Pulaski County will head Kentucky’s delegation, who will serve as voting delegates during the business session of the annual convention. They will join their counterparts from across the nation to discuss and adopt policies on key national issues. Kentucky’s priority issues include rural infrastructure and communications, water resource management, regulatory authority, taxation, wildlife management, forestry, and agricultural programs and services.

“Developing sound policy and priority issues for our organization is the most important thing we do all year. Bringing those issues to our peers for national consideration during the AFBF convention is the final step of the process,” said Haney. “We bring a full voting delegation to ensure the concerns of Kentucky’s farmers are heard and included in the development of national priorities for 2018.”

For additional information regarding the AFBF annual convention in Nashville, visit annualconvention.fb.org.