News From the Field

Save the Dates for Our DC Fly-in!

Feb. 25-28, 2025 ✈️

NFFC's annual Washington, D.C. Fly-In is a critical part of our coalition's work to advance the policies outlined in our Farm Bill Platform. The Fly-in grants NFFC members a unique opportunity to shift policy discussions into concrete action on the Hill.

As representatives of their organization, Fly-in delegates will visit Congressional offices and network with other NFFC members from across the country. Our packed 3-day agenda gives delegates the chance to learn and hone strategies for direct advocacy.

This is also a chance to mobilize Americans who support family-scale farmers and share our vision for a fair, healthy, and vibrant food system. Follow NFFC on social media to learn ways you can be part of our collective action!

L-R: Stephanie Banks, Tiffany Bellfield El-Amin, Leonardo Wassilie, Niaz Dorry, Savi Horne, Sam Wagner, Jim Goodman, Edna Rodriguez, Megan EisenVos, and Ben Burkett. EC members not pictured: Dena Hoff, Graham Unangst-Rufenacht, and Betsy Garrold. Photo courtesy Meg Stratton.

Senate Hearing for Ag. Secretary Nominee Brooke Rollins

Last Thursday, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry held their confirmation hearing for Brooke Rollins, Trump's selection to head the USDA. Rollins fielded questions from senators about her qualifications and her vision for the department. In her opening remarks, she outlined three immediate priorities to disburse disaster assistance, to address the rising cases of animal diseases, and to modernize the USDA.

Several senators cited a number of NFFC's priorities in their round of questioning. Farmland acquisition, discrimination against Black farmers, and mandatory country-of-origin labeling were among these issues addressed. Sen. Grassley asked the potential new Secretary to maintain the Packers & Stockyards rules finalized under Biden, and to advance the rules now pending. However, few of the senators' arguments addressed the needs felt by the many small and medium-sized farmers who are now in crisis. While Rollins linked the trade deficit with rising food costs, she offered limited specifics on how she would tackle the multiple challenges faced not just at the USDA, but within the food system as a whole.

USDA Packers & Stockyards rules

Poultry Reform

On January 14, the USDA finalized a new rule under the Packers & Stockyards Act titled "Poultry Grower Payment Systems and Capital Improvement Systems" which will increase transparency in the poultry industry and improve fairness for poultry growers. As part of the Campaign for Contract Agriculture Reform (CCAR), we support this rule because it significantly reforms the payment system commonly used by poultry companies to pay contract poultry growers. Read CCAR's statement to learn more about why this rule is a necessary step forward for the fairness of our food system.

Price Discovery for Fed Cattle

NFFC submitted public comment for USDA's proposed P&S rule "Price Discovery and Competition in Markets for Fed Cattle" which would address unfair and deceptive procurement methods in the meatpacking industry. Eighty percent of the U.S. cattle/beef market is controlled by just four meatpacking corporations. This market concentration and lack of competition enables the economic exploitation of America's cattle ranchers and livestock producers. In alliance with Western Organization of Resource Councils, R-CALF USA, and the Campaign for Contract Agriculture Reform, we call upon the USDA to establish mechanisms that would significantly limit, if not prohibit, these unfair practices.

NFFC Policy Spotlight:

Milk from Family Dairies Act (MFDA)

Today's dairy policy is a disaster for farmers, rural communities, consumer welfare, the environment, farmworkers, and animal welfare.

There is a better way.

The Milk from Family Dairies Act would ensure dairy farmers a fair price for their product while protecting costs for consumers and revitalizing rural areas - all while saving taxpayers money.

Read the full proposal here.

Photo: Julissa Helmuth/PEXELS

News From Our Members & Allies

Protesting Aquabounty - Photo by Noël Lum 

Victory for NAMA and #BlockCorporateSalmon as

AquaBounty Shutters Its Last Facility

In December the biotech firm AquaBounty announced it would cease all salmon-farming activities, citing financial losses. The company's controversial genetically-engineered AquAdvantage® salmon was made with a growth hormone from Chinook salmon and genetic material from ocean pout. NAMA's campaign to Block Corporate Salmon worked with Indigenous tribal leaders and environmental justice groups to pressure grocery retailers, food service companies and major restaurants against buying AquAdvantage® salmon. The market failure of "frankenfish" is a victory for the environment, for consumers, and for food sovereignty. Read about this grassroots organizing success in NAMA's official statement.

Farm Advocates Featured in Civil Eats

Earlier this month Civil Eats published an article featuring the work of RAFI's lead farm advocate, Benny Bunting. According to RAFI's policy director Margaret Krome-Lukens, Benny is a "national treasure” who can "quote the Code of Federal Regulations to you, chapter and verse." She added, "He also just brings so much compassion.” The article also highlighted the partnership between USDA's Farm Service Agency and a handful of organizations, including our ally Farm Aid and member RAFI, to establish the Distressed Borrowers Assistance Network (DBAN) and provide personalized support to financially distressed farmers and ranchers across the country.

'Tis the Season for Winter Conferences

This is a busy time of year for our member, Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA). Six of their 7 state chapters hold a winter conference each year. See NOFA's 2025 conference schedule here.

Vermont folks! Make sure to catch NOFA VT's joint keynote address by two awesome members of our coalition, Dãnia Davy, Esq. and Tim Gibbons. Dãnia is the founder of Land and Liberation LLC, and she has recently joined the board at Agrarian Trust. Tim is the Communication Director at Missouri Rural Crisis Center.

Elsewhere in the conference-sphere, we were delighted to see the OAK Conference feature speakers from our member orgs, Community Farm Alliance and Kentucky Black Farmers Association.

NFFC also had a presence at this year's Virginia Biological Conference in Roanoke where NFFC/NAMA Executive Director, Niaz Dorry, gave a keynote address.

Honoring the Leadership of Jules Salinas at WFAN

Our member Women, Food, and Agriculture Network (WFAN) announced the departure of Executive Director Juliann "Jules" Salinas who leaves her role at the end of this month. Over the past four years, Jules led the WFAN community through a period of growth, partnership, and coalition-building, while fighting tenaciously for racial and gender justice. Jules brought to her role her deep understanding of the ties between agriculture and climate change, public health, and women's equity. We commend Jules for her service and wish her the best in her next phase. Visit WFAN's website to learn more about their diverse membership and their mission to engage women and non-binary food growers and land stewards in building an ecological and just food system.

The WFAN Transition Team has also announced their job opening for an Interim Executive Director. Visit their website for details: wfan.org/careers.

Photo: wfan.org

Nyéléni Global Forum 2025

The Nyéléni process is an international mobilization for food sovereignty that will culminate in a global forum to be held this September in Karnataka, India.

As a member of the U.S. Food Sovereignty Alliance, NFFC sits on the North America Nyéléni Coordination Committee. This new and informal partnership brings together the USFSA, the National Black Food Justice Alliance, Food Chain Workers Alliance, and National Farmers Union (Canada), to advance the Nyéléni process in the North America region.

The North America region will be represented by 45 delegates from the U.S., Canada, and sovereign indigenous nations of North America/Turtle Island. We are proud to announce that 7 of these delegates are members of our coalition. NFFC's Policy & Programs Director, Jordan Treakle, will also be present as a member of the Global Steering Committee.

Delegates from NFFC's Membership

George Naylor - Family Farm Defenders

Mollie Wills - Rural Vermont

Sarah Gilliat - NOFA NH

Melanie Brown - NAMA

Jason Jarvis - NAMA

Shley Suarez Burgos - NAMA

Carolina Alzate Gouzy - RAFI

Stay tuned for updates about the 2025 Nyéléni forum and our role in this global solidarity movement!

Call for Artists! Deadline: Feb. 28, 2025

Artists from all backgrounds are invited to submit their works in various formats by February 28, 2025, for the “Call: Artists for Food Sovereignty – Nyéléni Edition.” This year, our goal is to broaden the call to encompass interconnected struggles for global justice and systemic transformation, emphasizing that art and culture are vital forms of resistance and activism.

More information is on Instagram and Nyéléni 2025's official website.

What We're R/W/L

What we're reading...

• Farm Aid blog | Immigration and the food system
• IATP | Trade Basics: Tariffs 101
• High Plains Reader | Two contrasting visions of agriculture
• Inside Climate News | A shrimper's crusade pays big dividends on a remote stretch of Texas coastline

...watching...

• Niaz Dorry @ VABF | Celebrating Our Inter-Dependence
• USFSA | 2024 Food Sovereignty Prize Ceremony
• WI Farmers Union | Supply management & how it can save our rural economy

...and listening to!

• DRC | Don Morrison on the Power of Dakota Resource Council
• Agriculture of America radio | NFFC's senior policy analyst Antonio Tovar and Sarah Lloyd of Family Farm Defenders discussed the dairy crisis
• Tom Petty (RIP!) - Refugee - Live at Farm Aid 1985

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