Executive Director Column
By Colleen Cecil
Butte County Farm Bureau News
January/February 2019
It’s a New Year and we are excited to be bringing you a new Butte County Farm Bureau level of membership that will help to make navigating the regulatory framework easier.
As of January 1st, the Butte County Farm Bureau will offer a new level of membership that gives you all the benefits of being a Farm Bureau member and an AgSafe member for one annual price.
You’re probably asking, “who is AgSafe and why should I consider this level of membership?”
If you have taken one of the many education courses we offer here at BCFB over the last three years, you have already interacted with AgSafe. Since 1991 AgSafe has worked alongside food and farming enterprises to help in creating a safe, sustainable workforce and food supply, by providing practical education and resources.
The non-profit organization, AgSafe is headquartered in Modesto and has a “boots on the ground” approach to teaching both the why and how of worker safety, human resources, pesticide safety and food safety. They are your partner in protecting workers in the field, as well as packing, processing and food manufacturing facilities.
The new level of BCFB membership is the Agriculture Safe Membership and it will be $325 a year. Agriculture Safe Members receive all the benefits of a BCFB Agriculture Member plus the benefits of being an AgSafe Micro Member. BCFB Agriculture Safe Members will have access to a 1-800 BCFB Hotline to get answers to any questions or concerns regarding worker safety, HR, pesticide compliance and food safety plus you’ll receive a 15% discount on any AgSafe Workplace Compliance Package.
Do you have an Injury Illness Prevention Plan? How about a Food Safety Plan? Maybe you don’t have an Employee Handbook but know you need one? AgSafe can work with you to create these items that are specific to your operation and your agricultural commodity. Did I mention you get a discount on these additional services because you’re a BCFB Agriculture Safe Member? (I did; just making sure you read it.)
Maybe you still want to learn more? I don’t blame you. First I would encourage you to visit www.AgSafe.org and review what AgSafe offers. As a BCFB Agriculture Safe Member you are going to get a username and password for the AgSafe website that will give you the ability to use and download the hundreds of free resources, webinars and templates that you can put into work on your operation immediately.
Next, you need to attend Grower Day on Wednesday, January 9th at the CSU Chico University Farm and hear from AgSafe CEO Amy Wolfe who will be our keynote speaker. Amy is going to speak to the realities of agricultural compliance and why you need to care about it.
Look for more about Grower Day on page _ of this newspaper. Please make note of our new location for Grower Day, the CSU Chico University Farm. Doors open at 7:30 AM. The coffee will be hot, the donuts will be fresh and our sold out tradeshow of local ag companies will be on hand. I want to give a big thanks to Grower Day Presenting Sponsor Nationwide. We are thankful to Nationwide and all of our sponsors and vendors who help make Grower Day possible and have been incredibly flexible and understanding with our change in date and venue for Grower Day.
Lastly, on behalf of the Butte County Farm Bureau and the Butte Ag Foundation, I want to thank the many who supported the Camp Fire Animal Agriculture Fund. We continue to pray for all who have impacted by the fire and are looking forward to a new year and new beginnings.
THE FARM SHOVEL 