Members of the Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) board of directors have been in Washington DC this week taking their priorities to lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

The agribusiness company representatives were able to meet with many of their elected representatives and senators and/or their staff members, as well as officials from agencies such as OSHA.

“We do a February board meeting every year,” said ARA president and CEO Daren Coppock. “It’s an opportunity for us to really visit face-to-face with these folks.”

Coppock says the main reasons they schedule this meeting now, even though it’s just two months after their annual meeting, is because now is when members are available. “We learned to never bother retailers in the spring because they’re busy doing their job!” he said.

Listen to an interview with Coppock here: [wpaudio url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/zimmcomm/ara-winter-16-coppock.mp3″ text=”Daren Coppock, Agricultural Retailers Association”]