Occurring after the harvest season and prior to the state legislative session, the Utah Farm Bureau’s annual convention serves as an important time for farmers and ranchers.

The three-day event took place last week at the Utah County Convention Center in Provo, and bureau members took time identifying the industry’s collective needs and connecting with one another.

Chris Riley, the owner of a Genola fruit farm and vice president of the Utah County Farm Bureau, said that while he loves the agricultural lifestyle, it’s not always the easiest occupation, and the week served as a chance to draw strength from one another.

“I feel very close to a lot of them, even though this might be the only time I see them throughout the year,” Riley said. “We really catch up and connect and celebrate each other’s victories and cry on each other’s shoulders and kind of get each other geared up for another year.”

Contributing to that sense of community at the convention is its family-friendly nature, as many bureau members bring their children along, and social activities are built into the schedule.

But the event also involves a lot of administrative business.

According to Riley, the No. 1 purpose of the bureau is to serve as a watchdog for farmers and ranchers when lawmakers gather for the state legislative session and advocate for the agricultural community.

At the convention, bureau delegates and members work with the bureau’s lobbyists to update their policy book and communicate with them.

“They spend a lot of time with us,” Riley said. “They’ve been on a lot of our farms because they really want to understand how our farms work, and what our challenges are.”

Farmers and ranchers face a number of challenges in the 21st century. Two main topics discussed at this year’s convention were water and public lands.

Riley said farmers want to be good stewards of a limited commodity, and have invested a lot to make water use more efficient on farms. Amid winds of political change, they want to protect public land that ranchers rely on for their cattle to graze.

“That’s a huge part of their business. And so that’s something that we really watch and try to protect,” he said.

A challenge more specific to Utah County farmers and ranchers is the growing population of a region that serves as a substantial agricultural hub.

Because Utah County is one of the few areas in the state where fruit can grow successfully, Riley said he considers it vital to protect its farmland.

“It’s not like we can just keep going to the next vacant land, the next county over, as the growth kind of encroaches around us,” he said.