By Roger Johnson, president, National Farmers Union We’ve been here before. Two years ago, an early October blizzard – the Atlas storm – buried western South Dakota in three feet of snow, killing tens of thousands of cattle and wiping out entire herds. Ranchers, devastated, looked to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for help. … Read More
Blog
More Than $3 Million of Taxpayer Funds Spent to Clean Up Smithfield
By Barbara Patterson, government relations representative, National Farmers Union The town of Smithfield, Virginia, located in the southeast part of the state, has a long history of animal production. The famous Smithfield ham, a product with a geographical indicator that requires all of its production be done within the city limits, originated in the town … Read More
Thanks to USDA for Investing in Biofuels
By Tom Driscoll, government relations representative, National Farmers Union The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently took important steps in building climate resiliency, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) needs to pay attention. Climate change jeopardizes the security of the global food system and the viability of family farms and rural communities. Farmers and ranchers … Read More
As Crop Prices Drop, Producer Resiliency and Farm Programs to Be Tested
By Zack Clark, government relations representative, National Farmers Union The August release of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) World Supply and Demand (WASDE) report drove low crop prices lower on the news of higher than expected production after a particularly wet spring in parts of the Midwest. Sustained low prices are impacting the rural … Read More
Grassroots Activists Have Come to Washington For Generations To Make Things Happen
By Roger Johnson, president, National Farmers Union For generations, Farmers Union activists have come from across the land by bus, plane, automobile or train to bring the issues affecting the nation’s farm families directly to their members of Congress. And some of the participants have made several dozen trips to the nation’s capital over the … Read More
NFU Salutes Three Member States on 100-Year Anniversary; Commends A Century of Activism on Behalf of Family Farmers, Ranchers
By Roger Johnson, president, National Farmers Union NFU ‘s strength, as a federation of member states, relies largely on the activism, energy and commitment of its members, who are engaged in all aspects of policy making. Three Farmers Union states are observing their 100th year anniversary in 2015, and should all be commended for a … Read More
Growing Up in Farmers Union
By Rochelle Bitz, education intern, National Farmers Union To say that the National Farmers Union education program played a part in my “growing up,” is an understatement. The education program was a good chunk of my time spent on learning way more than I ever could have in a classroom. I started attending Farmers Union … Read More
America’s Farm Organizations Must Step Forward to Meet Demographic Challenges
By Roger Johnson, president, National Farmers Union Oftentimes, it’s not until life presents us with new obstacles that we reassess the situation, discover untapped resources, unused talent or new approaches that could be harnessed to meet the challenge. The lack of abundant rainfall for farming certain crops, for example, has led to the development of … Read More
The RFS Helped Light South Dakota’s Economy on Fire
By Doug Sombke, president, South Dakota Farmers Union For most of my life, making a living as a farmer meant trying to make ends meet knowing that commodity prices were almost always going to be relatively flat, while production costs rose yearly. The price of a bushel of corn was stuck in the $2.00 range … Read More
RFS: A Shot in the Arm to Rural America
By Jim Benham, president, Indiana Farmers Union It seems Indiana’s farmers are facing too much rain, or drought; or it’s too hot too early, or too cold to soon, or there’s the late spring freeze or the early fall freeze. It’s either feast or famine in farming, and we’ve developed tools and techniques for coping … Read More