State officers from the National FFA spent 16 July on Capitol Hill as part of the organisation’s annual State Officer Summit, meeting with more than a dozen senators and representatives from major farm states. Lawmakers including Sens. Steve Daines and Cindy Hyde-Smith and Reps. David Valadao, Randy Feenstra and Mariannette Miller-Meeks praised the students as the next generation of agricultural leaders and discussed policy priorities ranging from commodity markets to rural education. Several members used the meetings to spotlight the recently enacted budget-reconciliation measure dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” They told the delegations that the law permanently repeals the federal estate—or “death”—tax for family farms, locks in the Section 199A income-tax deduction for agricultural pass-through entities and directs billions of dollars toward conservation programmes. House Agriculture Committee Republicans described the package as a major win for Midwestern producers. In separate sessions with groups such as the Iowa Farm Bureau, Iowa Corn Growers and the American Soybean Association, lawmakers also promoted forthcoming legislative goals, including authorising year-round sales of E15 ethanol and expanding export markets for corn and soy. They argued that the tax changes and planned biofuels measures will help the FFA students they hosted to keep multigenerational operations competitive and to pursue careers in farming.