"Elections are won by men and women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than for somebody." This pessimistic view of our election process is credited to author Franklin P. Adams. At Texas Farm Bureau AGFUND, we approach things a bit more positively.

You will find the recommendations of the Texas Farm Bureau Friends of Agriculture Fund (AGFUND) on these web pages. In each endorsement, AGFUND is definitely for the candidate and not necessarily against his or her opponent. Each of the endorsed candidates has demonstrated they understand and appreciate agricultural and rural issues to Farm Bureau leaders and the AGFUND board of directors.

Let me make one thing clear. No one involved with AGFUND is telling you how to vote. I hope you regard your vote as a sacred trust.

Through our AGFUND process, each race is thoroughly vetted and researched. We can endorse one of the candidates in the race or we can choose not to make an endorsement and stay out of that race.

Each time a decision is made, it's done with all the information we can gather, recommendation of CFB leaders and, sometimes, with direct questioning of the candidate. I hope you'll regard our efforts as research that will help you cast an informed ballot.

We have a "friendly incumbent" rule. When an incumbent supports agriculture and Farm Bureau policy a significant number of times, then that candidate is worthy of AGFUND support. In open races, we dig even deeper, to see how that candidate might vote when issues important to agriculture arise.

In Congress, as always, we'll have many issues important to us. The 2011 session of the Texas Legislature will be the time to take the final step toward true eminent domain reform in the Lone Star State. AGFUND has endorsed a candidate we can "trust"—Kay Bailey Hutchison—for governor. We enter this new decade with an ever shrinking rural population and legislative representation which reflects that. It's more important than ever that we identify those candidates, rural and urban alike, who share our values and support our positions on these critical issues.

A significant number of both Democrats and Republicans have been endorsed. AGFUND has been, is and I hope will forever be, non-partisan. As someone who has been involved in this process for many years, I can assure you that AGFUND is party blind. We base these decisions on issues.

As we move closer to the March 2 primaries, and early voting, I hope you will join with me in this celebration of our freedom. Vote for the candidates of your choice and together we will work with all of the winners for a better agriculture, a better Texas and a better America.

Sincerely,

Kenneth Dierschke, President
Texas Farm Bureau AGFUND