The American Soybean Association (ASA) and representatives from 10 other national agricultural organizations met Monday with officials of the Donald Trump presidential campaign in Washington. ASA and the same groups met with the Hillary Clinton campaign in Brooklyn in June. The purpose of both meetings was to establish a dialogue between the campaign, the individual and collective ag groups on key policy matters that will emerge during the 2016 campaign.

The groups highlighted several big, broad policy areas as examples of matters deserving attention during the election, including agricultural trade, food safety, Farm Bill and crop insurance programs, ag labor, infrastructure and the importance of science based regulatory policy.

None of the groups participated in either meeting with the intent of any direct political engagement commitment —though each organization have representatives that are already, or plan to eventually, engage with both the Clinton and Trump campaigns. The issues discussion and further engagement opportunities exchange in the meetings were extremely open and constructive.

Groups in attendance also included, the American Farm Bureau Federation, American Seed Trade Association, CropLife America, National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, National Association of Wheat Growers, National Corn Growers Association, National Cotton Council, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, National Farmers Union and The Fertilizer Institute.