Senate Resolution 113 and House Resolution 451, “Recognizing the need for greater access to rural and agricultural media programing”, are critical for all Americans. These resolutions are identical, contain ten “Whereas” statements, and only one “Resolved” statement. The intent is to get the support of both the Senate and the House of Representatives and then put something related to the resolution in the new Farm Bill now in Committee.

The obvious need for rural and agricultural media programing includes weather, markets, cutting edge technology, management methods, conservation practices, and other news that impacts the livelihood of America’s ranchers and farmers as well as the supporting agricultural and rural business community. But, the scope is much larger than this as it can be both educational and entertainment for all Americans. It will answer questions such as “Where does my food come from?” It will showcase the rural American way of life. It will showcase numerous farm and ranch organizations to include the Farm Bureau and the FFA. It will enhance a better connection within our geographically diverse country.

Both of these Resolutions have bipartisan support which together represents ten states from Pennsylvania to California and Mississippi to Minnesota. We need a federal legislator from Wisconsin to move these efforts along. Representative Glen G.T. Thompson (R-PA 15th), Chairman of the House Agricultural Committee is a co-sponsor. He was in La Crosse on August 16th for a Farm Bill Listening Session organized by Congressman Van Orden (R-WI 3rd). He had also visited Organic Valley in Cashton and a cranberry bog in Warrens.

It is believed the effort to initiate these resolutions started in 2016 when RFD-TV encouraged its viewers to write a personal and pertinent letter to the Federal Communications Commission and that effort generated over 202,000 individually written letters but no results were seen.

In January of 2020 a local newspaper published a Guest Opinion on this same topic. It noted that there was a multi-day rodeo scheduled for New York City, but there wasn’t a single network TV showing rodeos, horse shows, horse riding demonstrations, or anything related in the greater New York City media market. Imagine the frustration of the rodeo backers trying to sell tickets with no supporting information on any local television channel! The Guest Opinion was well received as Representative Ron Kind’s District Director reported that Representative Kind’s Washington office had received several communications concerning it.

Communicate with Senators Johnson (R-WI) and Baldwin (D-WI) as well as Representative Van Orden and encourage their support of these bi-partisan resolutions “Recognizing the need for greater access to rural and agricultural media programming”. Don’t just ask for support, but be sure to tell them why this is important to you and to the future of the country. Along with asking for their vote, ask them to consider being a co-sponsor.