As we look forward to this new year, I’d like to reflect on our recent Kentucky Farm Bureau (KFB) annual meeting.

For the 106th time, KFB members gathered together to discuss issues, adopt policy, and set priorities for the coming months and beyond, as well as to celebrate county and individual accomplishments.

While we always enjoy the camaraderie and family atmosphere of this meeting, the importance of the business conducted during our time together can’t be overlooked.

With nearly 2,000 members in attendance, we continue to see a high level of involvement in this event, as well as in others held throughout the year. It is the commitment of those members that continues to drive this organization forward.

However, for KFB to remain relevant, we must continually enhance our efforts to support rural communities and farm families of this great state.

Just saying we serve as the Voice of Kentucky Agriculture doesn’t mean much unless we have the will to back it up. Fortunately, I see that fortitude everywhere I go, from one end of the state to the other. Nowhere is it more evident than during our annual meetings.

Our members are the strength of this organization. They are not afraid to stand up and speak out on issues they face on the farm and in the places where they live. They’re unshaken by the negative rhetoric that seems to surround the airwaves when it comes to our agriculture industry. No one knows better about the needs in the agricultural world than the farm families who live in it every day, every year.

As we always do during the annual meeting, KFB unveiled its yearly theme that will be used in our messaging throughout 2026: “United We Can.” For me, that defines how we operate as an organization. By coming together and staying together as we continue to be that voice, there is nothing we can’t accomplish working as one collective organization.

And we’ve been proving that for more than 100 years. However, it’s important to remember that as an organization, we didn’t come this far, to just come this far.

Our jobs as advocates will never cease. There will always be a need to keep our farms and our ag industry sustainable for the future. It’s not just a hope or a dream but a necessity for everyone because we all have skin in the game when it comes to the health of our farming communities.

Let’s continue to stand together, unified in our efforts as advocates, to ensure the future of agriculture, this year and all of the years to follow.

In closing, I can’t thank our members enough for putting their faith in our leadership team for another year. I’m humbled by the opportunity and determined to make every effort to ensure KFB remains what it is today, the best Farm Bureau anywhere.

Eddie Melton, President
Kentucky Farm Bureau