A resolution recognizing the North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation on the occasion of its 70th anniversary and saluting the outstanding service of its members and staff on behalf of the agricultural community and the people of North Carolina.

Whereas the North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation was founded on March 2, 1936, in Greenville, North Carolina, during the Great Depression, a period of national frustration and economic disaster;

Whereas the North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation was established to organize North Carolina’s farm families and to maximize their ability to engage in national, State, and local policy debates that affect North Carolina agriculture;

Whereas at its first annual meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina, on July 30, 1936, the North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation had slightly over 2,000 members from 24 counties;

Whereas in 2005, the North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation was composed of approximately 490,000 member families from all 100 counties of North Carolina, making it the second largest State farm bureau in the United States;

Whereas the North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation created a Women’s Program in 1942 and a Young Farmer and Rancher Program in the 1970s to encourage leadership development among its members;

Whereas the North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation is committed to advancing agricultural education in North Carolina through its R. Flake Shaw Scholarship Fund, established in 1958, and the Institute for Future Agricultural Leaders, founded in 1984, which help ensure that the young men and women of North Carolina are well prepared for careers in agriculture;

Whereas the North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation created and continues to sponsor the Ag-In-The-Classroom initiative to introduce children to North Carolina agriculture and to improve the quality of teachers in North Carolina schools;

Whereas the North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation’s visionary Board of Directors developed numerous initiatives that enable farmers to effectively produce and sell their products, such as the organization’s marketing program, and that provide farmers with access to necessary farm resources, such as the tires, batteries, and accessories service;

Whereas in 1953, the North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation founded the North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation Mutual Insurance Company, which is North Carolina’s largest domestic insurance company;

Whereas the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation Mutual Insurance Company is composed entirely of farmers; and

Whereas the North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation is a true grassroots organization dedicated to ensuring that agriculture remains North Carolina’s number 1 industry through the organization's unique policy development process and active legislative and regulatory advocacy programs: Now, therefore, be it