The nation is mourning the death of President George Herbert Walker Bush this week at the Capitol and around the country. On multiple occasions, the 41st President took a great interest in farmers and rural America during his presidency. He disapproved President Jimmy Carter’s 1980 Russian grain embargo, pushed for lower interest rates at the tail end of the 1980s farm financial crisis, and weathered the drought of 1988. Advocating to eliminate trade barriers, he also shepherded the first North American Free Trade Agreement. Prior to President Donald Trump’s speech last October, Bush was the last sitting president to address the National FFA Organization in 1991. Many colleagues, friends, and family continue to share memories of the former leader. One of them, the newly appointed Natural Resources Conservation Service Chief Matt Lohr, was a National FFA Vice President when Bush gave his speech at the organization's annual convention. Lohr met the president four separate times, but specifically remembers the time Bush tossed a commemorative item to him and the rest of his officer team after their visit to the Oval Office. Bush died Friday November 30, 2018 at the age of 94.
