He’s a straight-shootin’, tough-talkin’ Texan, a fourth-generation rice farmer and cattle rancher. He wears the kid gloves of a diplomat, the boxing gloves of a fighter, weighs policy and molds opinion. He has thick skin to withstand those who criticize, and thin patience for those who deceive.He’s Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation. And with 5.7 million members backing him, he’s a force to be reckoned with. “You have to have a tough skin because a lot of people will say things about you that aren’t too kind,” said Stallman, now in his seventh year as the leader of America’s largest farm organization. “You have to be able to stand up for what you believe in. If you let other people set the stage, set the agenda, define the structure of the debate, and you sit back and take it, you’re not going to be very successful.”What impresses me about Farm Bureau all across the country is the willingness of the state presidents and the board members to stand up and be as forceful as necessary,” he continued. “This job as president of American Farm Bureau Federation may be looked at as sort of being the person who has to carry the load, but that’s not how it works. The beauty of the Farm Bureau organizational structure is that we have all these dedicated leaders for agriculture down at the state level, and that’s really what makes a difference.”That’s the kind of “grassroots” message he’ll bring to the Alabama Farmers Federation’s 85th annual meeting in Mobile on Dec. 2-4. For Stallman, whose wife Stacey Lynn is from Montgomery, it’ll be an historic event he’s long dreamed about — the Federation’s first annual conference since rejoining the AFBF last January.”After 25 years, we corrected a mistake that occurred in 1981,” said Stallman, referring to the break in relations. “That’s not to say who made the mistake because there are two sides to every issue. The point is it was bad for agriculture in the United States when Alabama left in 1981. So having Alabama come back in with such a strong organization with a large membership and outstanding programs on the ground really makes us stronger.”In return, he says, the Alabama Farmers Federation will benefit from AFBF’s policy specialists, leadership training and technical expertise, and interaction with peers all across the country.”They may be from a different part of the country, may grow different crops, and may have a different accent,” said Stallman, “but the bottom line is that they’re farmers and ranchers who have the same concerns as the farmers and ranchers in Alabama. So it’s a win-win for everybody.”Stallman, who describes himself as a “rubber-boot-wearin’, shovel-carryin’ rice farmer,” doesn’t get back to his own 1,000-acre spread 85 miles from the Texas gulf coast as often as he’d like — only one or two weekends a month. When he does, he prefers to spend time with his family that includes two daughters, three grandchildren and another one on the way this month.Occasionally, he’ll stop by the local farmer’s co-op and get an earful. “Sometimes I almost have to cringe because I know if we get to talking about anything, we’re going to get what I call the coffee shop talk about how bad trade is,” Stallman said. “Well, trade is not necessarily bad. It can be if you’re not careful about the agreements, but it’s important for agriculture.”That’s why you’ll find Stallman as likely to meet with the U.S. Trade Representative as he is with a group of poultry farmers in Alabama or corn farmers in Nebraska. “You can make a lot of passionate emotional statements about how bad trade is and how it’s destroying the world, and that tends to be received fairly well at the local coffee shop or down at the livestock market,” said Stallman. “So we figure it’s important for us as an organization to not oversell, but objectively talk to our grassroots about the importance of trade and why we are involved in these trade negotiations.”He admits it’s not always easy to explain why things like the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization trade negotiations should interest farmers on a local level. “I’ve gone out to the countryside and done it so I know how difficult it can be,” he said. “But the reality is it’s our job to communicate and educate, and then, after our grassroots get the facts, if they have an opinion one way or another, then it’s up to them to express that through our policy process.”Still, Stallman believes that you must “take care of things at home first.” He says American farmers face numerous challenges at home. The rapidity of technological and market changes, the expectations of society, energy concerns, disaster programs and the consolidation of markets are all very real issues that affect farmers almost daily.In dealing with Congress, the White House and government agencies on these issues, Stallman has become known as a fighter, willing to tackle almost anything — a trait he jokingly ascribes to his “Texan and stubborn German heritage.””I wouldn’t have taken this job if I wasn’t willing to stand up on behalf of agriculture and take on all comers,” he says, adding that he’s only able to do so because 5.7 million members means a lot of muscle. And, in Washington, muscle is everything.To illustrate his point, Stallman tells about a staffer recently “ambushed” by ABC News during an interview in which, he says, it was inferred that AFBF was opposing ammonium nitrate legislation that would prevent terrorists from “blowing up D.C.””The reality is that we were working with a committee on the bill to make it less burdensome from a regulatory standpoint on farmers and ranchers. That’s all we were doing,” said Stallman. “But the point I want to make is, they called us ‘The powerful agricultural lobby.’ As long as they get our names spelled right and call us powerful, in this town that gives the perception that we’re out there working on behalf of America’s farmers and ranchers. That’s good even if the story was negative and incorrect.”With recognition as a “powerful agricultural lobby,” American Farm Bureau Federation has been able to assume a more active role in advancing farm-friendly legislation on a variety of issues. Stallman had only been in office a couple of years when one national magazine noted that AFBF’s clout was growing as it assumed a more activist stance.”Whether it’s from the media, members of Congress, the White House or the agencies, as long as that perception is there and we can back it up with the grassroots and prove to them that it’s not just a perception, that it’s a reality, we’re going to be strong and be an activist organization,” Stallman said. “That’s my goal for the organization — to be as much of an activist as we need to be to accomplish what we need on behalf of American agriculture.” Even so, working in the nation’s capital does have drawbacks.”Part of being a Texan is you hate people who lie,” Stallman said. “So, working in Washington, I stay mad a whole lot. I don’t like direct lying, but I also don’t like intellectual dishonesty — spin, if you will — which is practiced extensively here in D.C. I love people. If somebody disagrees with me 100 percent of the time, that’s not going to make me mad if they’re up front about it. I respect them for their position, and they respect me for mine. That’s fine. I have no problem with that. But don’t tell me one thing in my office, and then walk right out and do something opposite. That will really get me boiling. That’s probably the Texan in me.”