Kleckner Reflects on Farm Bureau Service

May 15, 2000

A ride on Air Force One, a town hall meeting on the breakup of the former Soviet Union and a worrisome address to a national farm crisis rally are some of the memories former American Farm Bureau Federation President Dean Kleckner takes into retirement. "It’s fun to be a farm leader when prices are good," he reflects. "It’s miserable to be a farm leader when prices are low."

The Air Force One ride came with then-President Reagan to tour drought-damaged crops in Illinois and Iowa. But the address to a national farm crisis rally remains equally as unforgettable.

In 1985, Kleckner was asked by AFBF President Robert Delano to attend the rally in Ames, IA. Kleckner then was president of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation and knew that AFBF’s market expansion-oriented farm policy was not supported by the rally organizers. But he agreed to speak.

When he walked to the podium to address the nearly 14,000 farmers from 16 states, he was booed as he was introduced. He used his allotted five minutes to explain AFBF’s short and long term plan to solve the farm economic crisis that included moving toward a more market responsive farm program.

As he finished, "I was quite surprised," he recalls. "There was a round of applause." That is a meeting "I will always remember," he says. "I understood why I was somewhat fearful of going, but at the same time I’m glad that I was there."

During the turbulent 1980s, Kleckner was a full-time state Farm Bureau president and spent most of his time on the road attending Farm Bureau meetings, "listening probably more than anything else," he says now.

"I’d listen, but I’d tell them: `I understand. I’m a farmer too and my prices are low too. However, I’m president of the Farm Bureau and here’s what we’re doing to alleviate the crisis at the state, national and international levels."

He was not favored to win when he sought the AFBF presidency in 1986. But win he did and took over just as farm prices were beginning to rebound. Kleckner said he would focus on expanding international trade and exports, "because we just produce a lot more than we can consume."

Nine months into his term, Kleckner was invited to Punte del Este, Uruguay, to attend the kickoff of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, now the World Trade Organization. That propelled him to take a greater interest agricultural trade issues; he would lead six to eight foreign trade missions a year as AFBF president.

His 42-year career as a Farm Bureau official ended in January when he was defeated for re-election by Bob Stallman, former Texas Farm Bureau president. "I knew this day could come," says Kleckner, and since January has been accepting speaking engagements. He has two speeches scheduled for Canada, Australia and a trip to Holland in June.