(Hershey) – Pennsylvania Farm Bureau has named Bill Bayne of Susquehanna County the 2006 recipient of the Distinguished Local Affairs Leader Award during PFB’s annual meeting in Hershey.
     The award is designed to recognize an outstanding individual county Farm Bureau leader whose local affairs
program greatly benefits the county Farm Bureau and its members.
     “Bill has spent an extraordinary amount of time working to improve Farm Bureau programs in Susquehanna County.  He truly has energized farmer volunteers to be more active in the Susquehanna County Farm Bureau and has worked with local and state officials to help achieve positive results concerning projects impacting agriculture,” said PFB President Carl T. Shaffer.
Bayne is credited with spearheading the following improvements:

• Worked with PennDOT and local governments to achieve road and bridge improvements to resolve a long-standing issue where farmers were having difficulty moving farm trucks and products in and out of farms.
• Guided the county Local Affairs program through several tax and land use issues resulting in improvements to the Clean & Green program.  Also convinced all six school districts in the county to establish Tax Study Commissions.
• Worked in each township to receive total support for Farm Bureau position on illegal township ordinances known as the ACRE legislation.
• When Susquehanna County decided to start a recycling program, Bayne moved the effort toward recycling of agricultural tires and plastics, and started a newspaper-bedding program for farmers.
• Organized a “Game of Logging Program” that helps prevent chain-saw accidents and improves timber harvest safety on county farms.

             “I am honored to receive the award, but I certainly couldn’t have gotten anything done without the help of other people working inside and outside of Farm Bureau.  I think talking and listening to people to identify problems and work toward solutions is a key factor in our success.  I also believe my background as a township supervisor helped put a connection between agricultural and local government concerns, as each had similar issues, such as road problems,” said Bayne.
     Several hundred farmers from across the state attended Pennsylvania Farm Bureau’s 56th Annual Meeting at the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center on November 13-15, to set policy for the statewide organization on issues affecting farm and rural families.
     Pennsylvania Farm Bureau is a voluntary organization with a membership of more than 40,000 farm and rural families, representing farms of every size and commodity across the Keystone State.
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