Last week, the USHBC Promotion Committee met in Dallas. This week, it was the NABC Legislative Committee meeting virtually by videoconference to discuss the current state of play in today’s political environment and the issues that need to be addressed on behalf of the blueberry industry.
Convening the first meeting of the year, committee chair Ken Patterson outlined a vision of increasing activity for the committee and overall engagement by NABC going forward. Ken highlighted the need for NABC to:
- Develop a plan
- Unite as an industry
- Understand the priorities and issues
- Get organized
It was a great call to action for the NABC to be more visible in its efforts and engaged on the priorities of its membership.
A number of action items and next steps were discussed, including the chance to provide the industry and NABC members opportunities to engage politically while in Washington, D.C., this March during our scheduled Spring Meetings. Registration for our Spring Meetings will be opening soon, so please be sure to mark your calendars for March 3-6.
One small but important step coming out of this week’s meeting was the creation of an advocacy page on the NABC website that will serve as a source of information for our members and the industry to see the organization’s issue priorities and the members of the committee. There will be more to come as we continue to work on behalf of our growers to address the issues and opportunities ahead.
As efforts like these move forward, I welcome your thoughts, feelings and suggestions.
With Thanksgiving around the corner, my family is preparing to host our annual “Friendsgiving” at our house. Neither Tarah or I have any immediate family that lives in California, so years ago we started the tradition of hosting Friendsgiving to welcome others who find themselves in similar circumstances. It’s become a wonderful tradition and the older I get, the more gratitude I seem to feel at this time of year.
What are some of the traditions you have during the Thanksgiving season? Any blueberry-themed ones I should know about? Drop me a note. I’d love to hear from you.
Have a great weekend!
My best,
Kasey
