Farm Bill Advocacy Toolkit
Visiting Your Congressional Member
- Schedule a Meeting
You can schedule a visit with your member of Congress in their D.C. or district office to discuss 2007 Farm Bill policy priorities. Congressional recesses are the best time to schedule an appointment in the local office because the congressional member returns to their district during that period. You can find the 2007 calendar for the U.S. Senate at this site and for the U.S. House of Representatives at this site. You can call the Capitol switchboard and ask for your Senator’s or Representative’s office by name. Once transferred, ask to speak with that member’s scheduler.
- Preparing for a Meeting
Fifteen minutes is a standard amount of time for a meeting with a Member (if the meeting is with legislative staff it could be longer).
- Know your member. You can find their biographical information, committee and subcommittee assignments, and past voting record by visiting www.house.org or www.senate.org.
- Identify the key issues that you want to discuss with your member and the particular requests that you are making of them. If you are visiting your member with a group of people, make sure that everyone is consistent with key messages and that each member of the group highlights a different policy issue. In addition to using the talking points provided by the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and other groups, be sure to be prepared to speak from your experience. For instance, if you are a farmer that has been enrolled in the Conservation Security Program, discuss the benefits of the program and how it can be improved.
- Holding a Meeting
- Present your views precisely, politely, and persuasively. Begin by telling your member that you are a constituent and what it is you’re asking them to do. Then follow up by giving them the reasons why (if you have any studies or reports to bolster your argument, bring copies that you can leave with them).
- If you do not know the answer to a question, assure your member that you will find the information and send it to them as soon as possible.
- Bring a notebook and pen to take notes so that you will remember what was said and what follow-up steps are necessary.
- Leave copies of information about your organization and the policy issues you have discussed with your member or their staff.
- Send Follow-up Letter or Email
Send a thank you letter to the member or their legislative staff. In your letter you can reiterate your central messages or clarify anything that was left out during your visit.
Phone Calls, Emails, and Faxes
A comprehensive legislative strategy should include phone calls, outreach to the media, lobby visits, faxed letters and email advocacy. Whichever channel of communication you choose, you should personalize your message. In particular, when using a mass email service or letter writing campaign, it is important to edit the message so that it reflects your views and personal experience with the issue. Studies have shown that identical letters or emails sent from constituents are less effective than a phone call, letter, or email that demonstrates the constituent’s individuality. Other tips when communicating via phone call, email, or letter to your Member:
- Be succinct – keep your message to your Member short and focused.
- Be specific about what it is you are asking the legislator to do (tie your message to a piece of legislation – e.g. put the bill number in the subject line of an email message).
- Back up your information with data our research summaries (if they are available), and illustrate why you care about the issue by including a short personal story or anecdote.
Writing an Effective Op-ed An Op-ed is short for “opposite the editorial page” and is an opinion piece written by a member of the public that is published in a newspaper. It is slightly different than a letter to the editor in that it is typically longer and is not necessarily in response to a previously published article.
Tips for writing a good op-ed:
- It’s all about timing: keep your eye on local news, as well as on action alerts and messages sent out by the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, its members and partners so that you can submit an op-ed that coincides with legislative action on Capitol Hill. Anniversaries and special events can also provide important hooks.
- Be succinct: most op-eds average between 600 and 750 words (or three double-spaced typewritten pages). Given the limited amount of words you can use to make your case, it is important to focus on a specific food or farm policy or issue.
- Answer “so what?”: show your readers how the issue impacts their life and why now is the time to act.
- Don’t be afraid of statistics: useful information and data used in a precise manner can advance your argument.
- Provide solutions: tell your reader how the situation can be resolved or advanced by providing them with key legislation or tools to hook onto.
- Be personal: it’s an opinion piece, so use your personal voice, i.e. “I live a mile downstream from a 5000-head dairy farm and it stinks…”
When submitting an op-ed, be sure to include a suggested headline, by-line, and a one-sentence identification that describes your expertise as the author. Always include your full name, address (or organization’s address), day and evening phone numbers, and email address. Look at the editorial page of your local newspaper for guidelines about op-ed length and the address to send your submission to.
For more tips on writing an effective op-ed, see the following presentation given by Brandi Dobbins of Vanguard Communications during SAC’s “Roots to Reform” farm bill summit March 6-8, 2007.
Running an Effective Legislative Campaign
Identifying “critical control points” in the legislative process is an important way to target your advocacy activities and make effective use of limited resources. For more information about the House and Senate legislative processes and using those processes to build your strategy and target your resources, please see the following presentation given by Jeanine Kenney of Consumer’s Union during SAC’s “Roots to Reform” farm bill summit March 6-8, 2007.
Framing Your Message
It is important when speaking about sustainable agriculture policy goals in the 2007 Farm Bill that your message contains words that are simple and easy to understand. You will also increase the effectiveness of your communication if you describe or “frame” food and farming issues in a way that resonates with the person with whom you are communicating. The Frameworks Institute in collaboration with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation has put a lot of time and energy into thinking about how to communicate about the food system in a way that will compel the average citizen to take action. The following are some of the resources they have made available to aid food systems advocates in their work.
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