Raising the awareness and increasing the level of agricultural understanding is the focus of the New York Farm Bureau Foundation.

Because this work requires all types of resources, the Foundation is kicking off its annual Executive Club campaign to harness the investment of county Farm Bureaus.

To gain Executive Club status, individual directors of the county Farm Bureaus are being asked to invest a minimum of $25. If all directors of a county Farm Bureau participate, the board will earn Executive Club status and will be publicly recognized by the Foundation. To kick off the 2007 campaign, the NYFB Foundation Board and the NYFB Board of Directors committed dollars to the campaign to become the first members of the annual Executive Club.

The Foundation is working to protect the agricultural industry from misconceptions and misinformation. A few of the Foundation’s programs include distribution of 320,000 agricultural activity books to elementary age students, a 30-minute program that matrixes with the NYS educational standards and takes you on a “Journey from Orchard to Table”, the Little Red Barns of ag literacy, and a school calendar containing an agricultural fact per day which has been distributed to more than 350 third grade classrooms.

The growth and success of the Foundation is a direct result of active Farm Bureau members who have chosen to support the Foundation, and the future of agriculture, through their Executive Club membership. Appreciation is extended for the generosity of all members throughout the Foundation’s history and everyone is urged to lend financial support by becoming members of the Executive Club.

For more information about the Foundation, visit www.nyfbfoundation.org.