Farmers Prioritize Philanthropy Programs

ALABAMA FARMERS FEDERATION

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Giving Back:

Farmers Prioritize Philanthropy

In the ‘80s, the Federation began funding ag scholarships at Auburn University. Former Lee County Farmers Federation President Tom Ingram presented $1,000 scholarships to Alice Miller of Safford, Shae Wyatt of Linden, Cheryl Neuman of Auburn and Evelyn Love of Billingsley.

The Federation continues to award scholarships and support students through the Alabama Farmers Agriculture Foundation. In 2018, 78 Auburn students earned assistance, including Logan Chappell of Madison County, second from left. He’s pictured with Federation President Jimmy Parnell, Lamar County Farmers Federation President Will Gilmer and Auburn University College of Agriculture Dean Paul Patterson.

Since 2006, Alfa Health has supported UAB’s Rural Medicine Program (RMP) by giving $500 book stipends to first-year students committed to practicing medicine in rural areas. RMP first-year students for 2021 are, front row from left, Chandler Davis, Rehobeth; Nicole Tyler, Wetumpka; Sydney Whitt, Ardmore; Cameron Roddy, Sheffield; and Chandler Flanigan, Hanceville. Back row from left are Skyler Pavlou, Spanish Fort; Nolan Baker, Warrior; Wade Jones, Guntersville; and David Russo, Springville.

By Marlee Moore

It’s hard to quantify a hundred years of generosity from the Alabama Farmers Federation.

In 1944, Federation members helped fund a Red Cross Clubmobile to entertain servicemen.

In 1986, the group endowed an Auburn University (AU) eminent scholar.

Jump to 2015, and members donated $210,000 to the American Cancer Society.

Examples below continue to show how farmers give time, talents and resources to serve others on county, state and national levels.

The Ag Foundation

Although philanthropic giving was prevalent since the Federation’s inception in 1921, the Alabama Farmers Agriculture Foundation (AFAF) was founded in 2009. The AFAF primarily builds on the Federation’s history of providing college scholarships for students. In partnership with counties, the Foundation gives $1,750 scholarships annually to land-grant university agriculture and forestry students. The Alfa Foundation, a subset of Alfa Insurance, annually gives 100 students $1,000 scholarships.

The AFAF also supports Alabama Ag In The Classroom and raises funds through Ag Tag sales and events such as the AFAF Skeet Shoot.

Youth Development

Developing youths’ passion for agriculture is paramount for the Federation through donations such as its scholarship endowment at AU, which started in 1983 and has built continually since.

The Federation also sponsors FFA Career Development Events. County Federations support local students who compete statewide and nationally.

The same is true for Alabama 4-H. The Federation laid a foundation for its involvement in 1984, when counties helped fund the Alabama 4-H Center Alfa Dormitory. In 2016, the AFAF donated $50,000 to renovate the dorm. Another donation funded a cafeteria refresh in 2021.

The state organization, AFAF and county Federations support local livestock shows and host the Junior Beef Expo and new Junior Swine Expo, launchpads for young leaders to network, cultivate their work ethic and get experience in agriculture.

Additional gifts provide high-GPA athletes scholarships through the Bryant-Jordan Scholarship Foundation. In 2004, an Alfa donation helped revitalize SchoolFest, a school matinee program at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.

Serving Farmers

Donations improve quality of life for farmers. The Federation helped make AU’s Seed Lab a reality in 1979 and funded AU’s state-of-the-art ag testing lab in 1996, which provide accurate, helpful soil and plant diagnostic reports.

In 1984, a Federation-funded computer lab at AU’s Extension Hall helped farmers process information more quickly. Another donation maintains Mesonet Weather Stations installed by Alabama A&M University.

The Federation’s AU endowment has led both Alfa Eminent Scholars — Robert Taylor, hired in 1988, and Mykel Taylor, named in 2021 — to provide tangible solutions for Alabama farmers via agricultural economics work.

Gifts to the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology help with projects such as drought-tolerant soybeans and gene-mapping of peanuts.

Additionally, a $100,000 gift supported the National Poultry Technology Center; a $200,000 donation helped fund the AU Meats Lab; a $500,000 donation built the Alfa Pavilion at Ag Heritage Park; and $1 million built a new Tennessee Valley Research & Extension Center administrative office.

Community Support

Federation leaders are active community members. Local donations range from small, tangible gifts — angel tree donations, food drives and soy crayons given to schools — to sizable donations.

Gifts of time and expertise are prevalent, as members and employees serve on local boards or through other organizations. For example, Alfa Insurance employees coordinate Meals on Wheels deliveries to address senior hunger and isolation in Montgomery, while Women’s Leadership committees collect pop tabs for Ronald McDonald House Charities.

When communities are in need, local Federations are ready to help. For example, the Walker County Farmers Federation donated $500 to all volunteer fire departments in the county after 2016’s rampant wildfires exhausted local resources. In 1987, Mobile County Farmers Federation donated $25,000 to purchase a helicopter for the University of South Alabama Medical Center.

Peanut butter donations are common following hurricanes and other natural disasters. So is boots-on-the ground assistance after events like the April 27, 2011, tornadoes.

Federation members serve farmers outside Alabama, too. For example, they gave over $80,000 to help farmers in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Colorado recover from wildfires in 2017.

Helping Rural Alabama

In 2004, the Federation and Alfa presented the University of Alabama’s Rural Medical Scholars Program $1.8 million to fund scholarships for students who will practice medicine in rural areas. Since 2006, Alfa Health has supported UAB’s Rural Medicine Program by giving $500 book stipends to first-year students.

On the state level, donations include $120,000 to Children’s of Alabama; $60,000 to help construct greenhouses at Rainbow Omega, a home for people with disabilities; $250,000 for a dorm at Helen Keller School; and multiple gifts over the years to Camp ASCCA, most recently a $45,000 donation in 2005 to renovate a pavilion at the camp for people with disabilities.

Additionally, Alfa supports rodeo associations and Master Gardener programs and funds the People Against A Littered State (PALS) program.

Plus, thousands of tourists from across the U.S. have discovered the importance of agriculture at The American Village thanks to a $250,000 donation to renovate a historic barn at the park in Montevallo.

Donations

Gifts to the Alabama Farmers Agriculture Foundation are tax deductible. To donate, visit AlabamaFarmersFoundation.org or contact Amanda Butts at (334) 612-5525 or abutts@alfafarmers.org.

The state organization, local Federations and partner agencies often coordinate food donations, such as shelf-stable and protein-rich peanut butter, to help communities following natural disasters.

The Alabama Farmers Federation invests in youth livestock programs, such as the Junior Beef Expo, to encourage and motivate the next generation of Alabama agriculture leaders.

1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1916 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 19 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 19 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1916 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 19 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 19 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Legislative Victories Of The Alabama Farmers Federation 1 9 2 1 2 0 2 1 ALABAMA FARMERS FEDERATION ALABAMA FARM BUREAU By John Allen Nichols 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

February 1931 Legislators attempted to weaken the structure of the Alabama Farm Bureau. In response, through its grassroots efforts, the Alabama Farm Bureau mobilized over 10,000 farmers. The crowd descended on Montgomery to attend a legislative hearing on the proposal. The crowd was so large, the hearing was moved to the Cramton Bowl. This effort was successful in defeating the legislation.

Cramton Bowl circa 1930.

Photo: Alabama.gov

March 1935 In the early ‘30s, farmers recognized the burden that property taxes placed on landowners, especially on those who depended on the land for their livelihoods. Therefore, the early Alabama Farm Bureau supported implementation of a state income tax, with the understanding that the income tax would eventually replace property taxes. The income tax was implemented in 1935.

May 1937 The Alabama Farm Bureau supported Bibb Graves in his effort to obtain what would come to be known as a “homestead exemption” on property taxes. The legislation, which was at first widely unpopular, helped farmers secure ownership of their property by reducing the financial burden placed by a 6.5 mill ad valorem tax on their properties.

Bibb Graves speaks to a crowd during a picnic at a Montgomery park.

Photo: Alabama.gov A McCormick Farmall tractor in a field.

Photo: Alabama.gov

June After nearly a decade-long battle, the Alabama Farm 1949 Bureau achieved one of its first hard-fought victories — a gas tax rebate for farm tractor gasoline. Up to that point, farmers were forced to pay either a 6-cent tax per gallon for efficient highway gasoline or were relegated to using the less efficient farm gasoline at a low cost. The farm tractor gas rebate allowed farmers to purchase gas for their tractors free of the 6-cent tax, allowing them to purchase the more efficient gasoline at a lower cost.

July 1959 The Alabama Farm Bureau continued working for farmers across the state in the 1950s, culminating in the passage of a bill that exempted many agricultural inputs from sales taxation. The bill primarily exempted fertilizer from sales tax, but it additionally exempted insecticides, fungicides, livestock feed, chicks and poults, and livestock. This established the initial tax exemptions, which have been added to over the years.

A fertilizer plant at Muscle Shoals.

Photo: Alabama.gov

August In perhaps one of the most controversial legislative 1972 battles in organization’s history, the Alabama Farm Bureau championed legislation known as the “Lid Bill.” After several federal court rulings, Alabama’s property tax system was deemed unconstitutional. Reform became necessary, but there were widely varying ideas about how to fix the problem. The “Lid Bill” established that land would be classified into various categories, each taxed at a specific rate. Farmland was set at 15% and was later lowered to 10%.

1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1916 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1916 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Legislative Victories Of The Alabama Farmers Federation 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 September 1978 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 To finalize the property tax system in Alabama, the Alabama Farm Bureau championed the “current use” tax valuation system. Through the current use system, agricultural land is valued at its current use instead of the speculative market value. This classification helps many farmers remain in production even today, when they farm in fringe suburban areas where speculative land value would make property taxes prohibitively costly. A family farm in Montgomery County.

Photo: Alabama.gov

October 1984 The boll weevil had established itself as a formidable opponent to cotton farmers across the Southeast, including Alabama. There were several ideas of how to best deal with the pest. A popular one included growing peanuts instead of cotton. In the late 1970s, USDA launched the Boll Weevil Eradication Program. The program consisted of grower referenda (similar to the checkoff programs) where producers voluntarily paid into a fund dedicated to research geared at eradicating or at least suppressing the boll weevil. In 1984, at the encouragement of the Federation, farmers passed the Alabama component of the Boll Weevil Eradication Program into law. It made the voluntary contributions mandatory, to ensure the boll weevil would never again cause widespread destruction. November 2010 Several decades in the making, the Alabama Family Farm Preservation Act represented a monumental modern accomplishment of the Alabama Farmers Federation. In the late ‘90s and early 2000s, farms across the country were seeing a surge in nuisance actions brought against them to stop their operation. Though there was supposed to be reliable “case law” that would prevent these types of actions, courts were finding new ways to skirt around established judicial precedent. In an effort to protect Alabama farm families from potentially losing their farms, the Alabama Farmers Federation helped draft the Family Farm Preservation Act. The act prevents an individual from bringing a nuisance lawsuit against a farm so long as they conform to generally accepted agricultural practices. Also known as a “right-to-farm law” Alabama’s has been reviewed as one of the stronger “right-to-farm” laws in the nation.

The Boll Weevil Monument in downtown Enterprise.

Photo: Alabama.gov

October 2009 By 2009, the catfish industry was well established in Alabama, making the state the second-largest producer of catfish in the nation. However, Alabama catfish producers were losing market shares to /2015 cheaper, imported fish products. The Federation State Catfish Committee encouraged the Alabama Farmers Federation to find a way to distinguish U.S. FarmRaised Catfish from its foreign competitors. Thus, in 2009, the Alabama Legislature enacted a labeling bill requiring restaurants to clearly signify the origin of their catfish. In 2015, the Legislature strengthened the bill by including all catfish species in the labeling requirement. December 2012 With a consumer base growing further removed from agricultural production, and with a growing effort in the farming community to be more transparent, many farmers in Alabama have opened their operations in various forms to the public. These operations became “agritourism” locations and gave the public a chance to get back to the farm and see where their food comes from. Though commendable, this effort put farmers at risk. If someone was injured while on the farmer’s property, the farmer could be liable for medical bills and expenses that could put the entire operation in jeopardy. In an attempt to protect both the public and farmers, the Alabama Farmers Federation helped draft legislation that resulted in a limitation of liability for Alabama farmers. Under this law, an Alabama farmer who wishes to open his operation to the public can put the public on notice with a sign in specific language warning the public of the dangers in entering a farm operation. The public is then given the choice whether to assume the risk of entering or to “watch from afar.” This results in clear communication and risk acceptance.

Pumpkins ready for fall activities on an Alabama farm.

Etched above the two original entryways to Samford Hall are two words: agriculture and mechanics, the foundational programs of Auburn University. For nearly 150 years, the College of Agriculture has fueled the infrastructure, economy and quality of life for the citizens of Alabama.

This is our heritage, and it is still our purpose. Today, our natural resources are dwindling, our global population is exploding, and our world is experiencing unprecedented demand for food, fuel and fiber. We are meeting these challenges head-on. Through highimpact research and innovation, we are strengthening the agricultural landscape with new developments in precision technology, digital and biotechnology, urban growing systems and more. We are doing this not just for tomorrow, but for generations we’ll never know. We are a part of this world, and we’d like to leave it a little better than we found it.