Stallman Elected AFBF President Over Kleckner

January 14, 2000

The 14-year tenure of American Farm Bureau Federation President Dean Kleckner came to an end in Houston Thursday when delegates elected Bob Stallman, Texas rice farmer and president of the Texas Farm Bureau, to head the nation's 5 million-member farm group.

Stallman will lead the organization into the farm policy debate this year that is poised to focus on "countercyclical" income support payments, a concept the AFBF delegates support and that is being proposed by President Clinton in his 2001 budget request to Congress.

He becomes AFBF's 11^th president and has served on the board of directors since 1994. He is a past chairman of the AFBF Audit Committee, chaired the 1998 Farm Economy Committee and has served on the International Trade Advisory Committee.

In 1996, Stallman was named by Texas Gov. George W. Bush to the Citizens' Committee on Property Tax Relief. Also in that year he was named to the Commission on 21^st Century Production Agriculture, a panel charged with developing farm policy alternatives when the 1996 farm law expires in 2002.

Stallman, 47, also was elected chairman of the board of FB BanCorp, a new company that began providing financial services last year to AFBF members in 39 states.

Kleckner, 67, steps down after being one of the most visible and vocal advocates for AFBF positions on Capitol Hill and at USDA. Stallman comes to the position at a time when both the chairman, Rep. Larry Combest (R), and ranking Democrat, Rep. Charles Stenholm, of the House Agriculture Committee represent their respective Texas districts.

AFBF delegates handed Stallman their list of priorities for congressional consideration when House and Senate return to work later this month to finish up the 106^th Congress. They want a countercyclical income support program that will supplement current farm program payments, based on revenue history and that doesn't "jeopardize the concepts of current farm law" or bring about a return to supply management. Delegates still called for a "complete re-examination" of the current farm law to make sure adequate financial support is available for all farmers.

Delegates also said they would support continued "market loss assistance payments for all commodities, including livestock," until Congress approves fast-track trade negotiation authority for the Clinton Administration and until agricultural trade improves.

They also expressed support for "investigating a national loan deficiency rate," improving the corp insurance program and developing a revenue insurance plan for livestock producers. They called on Congress to review existing laws and develop legislation to strengthen antitrust enforcement and asked for creation of a high level Justice Department official who would focus on agricultural mergers and acquisitions.

Language that would have called for a moratorium on agribusiness mergers was struck down, and delegates voted to oppose a prohibition on packer ownership of livestock. However, the Justice Department must "ensure that proposed cooperative and vertical integration arrangements" continue to provide independent producers access to markets.