Mobilizing family farmers, fishers, and ranchers for fair prices, vibrant communities, and healthy foods free of corporate domination. |
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NFFC's 2024 Fly-In to Washington, DC | | |
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NFFC staff and members have returned from our annual fly-in, this year on February 6th and 7th. Nearly 40 representatives and food producers from NFFC member organizations across the country attended. We met with 52 bipartisan House and Senate offices to promote our shared policy priorities.
NFFC's fly-in is an essential moment for our members to directly reach elected officials and to share their personal stories, experiences, and how public policy affects their livelihoods. Many legislators shared they were pleased to hear from food producers, not just the corporate lobbyists they typically meet.
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Antonio Tovar (NFFC) and Jim Goodman (Family Farm Defenders) | |
Lindsay Gonzales and Marty French (Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance) with staff at Representative Pat Fallon's office. | |
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Our full group split into 5 different teams, each focused on one policy topic. Topics included: Reforming credit access; protecting farmland from corporate investment and speculation; promoting long-term solutions to the ongoing dairy crisis; restoring Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (MCOOL); and revitalizing rural communities through local foods markets.
Legislative meetings were overall very positive and engaging, and we are eager to continue deepening relationships with legislators. Our members left feeling empowered and excited to keep pushing for change!
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We hope to have additional news to share soon from this fly-in. In the meantime, visit our website to read our full recap, with quotes from our enthusiastic participants.
On Facebook, you can also scroll through our collection of photos from the fly-in - it will be like you're right there with us!
We'd also like to share our immense gratitude for the legislators and their staff who took the time to meet with our group, and of course to all of our members who joined us!
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Megan EisenVos and Jamie Boyle, representing Dakota Rural Action. | |
Organizations at the 2024 Fly-In: | |
La Via Campesina Conference and WTO Mobilization | |
La Via Campesina (LVC), the world's largest international peasant movement, hosted its 8th International Conference from December 1st to 8th, 2023, in Colombia. Jordan Treakle and Mollie Wills attented on behalf of NFFC, and recently shared their reflections from the conference.
LVC also just held their Week of Mobilization against the World Trade Organization (WTO). The unlimited free trade model held up by the WTO protects the profits multinational agribusinesses, at the expense of people and planet. NFFC just joined LVC's call for a new trade alternative to the WTO, one rooted in democracy, food sovereignty, and environmental health.
(Graphic by La Via Campesina)
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US Food Sovereignty Prize Ceremony Now Online! | |
The US District Court of Arizona ruled earlier this month that the EPA violated legal requirements when it re-approved dicamba in 2020, failing to provide opportunities for public input. The ruling affects the over-the-top dicamba products XtendiMax (Bayer), Engenia (BASF) and Tavium (Syngenta), used on crops genetically engineered to withstand the spray. Dicamba is notorious for volatilizing during warm weather and can drift miles away to other farms, causing widespread damage to millions of acres of non-genetically engineered crops. Despite the federal ruling, the EPA has stated it will permit farmers to utilize existing stocks of dicamba-based weedkillers in 2024.
NFFC was a plaintiff in the lawsuit, joined by Center for Biological Diversity, Pesticide Action Network North America, and the Center for Food Safety (who litigated the case).
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Today’s Trade Agreements Put Profits Before People
In this op-ed published by The Progressive, Family Farm Defenders board member and NFFC president Jim Goodman outlines the harm that today's 'free trade' agreements do to farmers as well as consumers. He calls for a global food system and markets that "give peasant farmers, Indigenous farmers, and farmers of color the ability to farm their own land and feed their own communities."
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Tell Congress to Protect Packers and Stockyards Act Rules!
Over the past few years, the USDA has made progress on new rules that would strengthen and update the Packers & Stockyards Act.
Opponents of fair, competitive markets are attacking this important work and seeking to hamper future progress! The most recent version of the Fiscal Year 2024 House Agriculture, Rural Development, and Food and Drug Administration Appropriations bill includes dangerous language that would end these efforts for positive change.
Please take action today and ask your legislators to OPPOSE this language - click here to sign RAFI-USA's Action Alert!
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Give now to ensure farmers can
keep feeding us! | Help us push back against corporate domination in our food system! Your gift fuels the fight for policies that put farmers, family farming, and healthy land ahead of corporate profits. | |
National Family Farm Coalition
110 Maryland Ave NE #307
Washington, DC 20002
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