Mobilizing family farmers, fishers, and ranchers for fair prices, vibrant communities, and healthy foods free of corporate domination.

October Newsletter

News from the Field

The US-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA) mandatory review:

Farmers Across North America Demand Transparency and Justice in Trade Negotiations


We join a coalition of over 600 labor and civil society groups calling for significant changes to the USMCA that support human rights, sustainability, and fair and transparent markets. We urge the White House to abandon a decades-long neoliberal agenda that has harmed rural communities in the United States, and our neighbors in Mexico and Canada.


Since the days of NAFTA, NFFC has sounded the alarm on free trade agreements, which have increasingly favored billionaires and multinational corporations over the rights of working Americans. By flooding markets with cheap goods and industrialized food, these export-driven policies wreak havoc on the once-thriving communities that rely on small-scale agriculture. When institutions like the World Trade Organization are captured by agribusiness interests, companies are emboldened to ignore antitrust laws, labor laws, human rights, and fair and transparent practices.


There is nothing free about free trade agreements, except that they give corporations a free pass to exploit consumers, the planet, and the workers and farmers who are the backbone of our economy.


While the USMCA enters a mandatory review period, NFFC continues to warn against the unfair policies at the foundation of this far-reaching trade deal. In collaboration with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) and the Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC), we identified 3 key areas where USMCA renegotiation could support family farmers.


We urge our elected officials to advance trade justice for farmers and our allies - reform the USMCA and protect our communities from corporate domination!

Photo of DC capitol building

Farmers Need an Open Government and Affordable Healthcare


"The National Family Farm Coalition (NFFC) urges Congress to prioritize working peoples’ livelihoods and to swiftly end the ongoing government shutdown. As a non-partisan organization, we support our communities who deserve more than the partisan games being played behind the scenes. We join our farmer members in calling for an immediate resumption of government services and the extension of ACA tax credits.


"Farmers need a functioning USDA and affordable healthcare to make a living and support their families. These are not competing priorities. Congress must support family-scale farmers by both ending the shutdown and extending the Advanced Premium Tax Credit."


Read our full statement in response to the ongoing federal government shutdown.

40 Years of Farm Aid: Partnership, Determination, and Hope


For the past four decades, NFFC and Farm Aid have worked closely together to achieve a shared vision: a food and farm system that fairly and wholly supports the independent farmers who put food on our tables. The first Farm Aid concert launched in 1985, in the middle of a farm crisis that strained rural America to its breaking point. Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and John Mellencamp shared the bill with dozens of great musicians. As a result, $7 million was raised to benefit family farmers. We are honored to be among the first organizations to receive these funds. Thanks to Farm Aid, our farmer-led coalition was able to hit the ground running!

Member & Ally Updates

Powder River Basin Resource Council unveiled a new sign at their headquarters in Sheridan, WY.

Member Spotlight: Powder River Basin Resource Council


Not only are we loving Powder River Basin Resource Council's new sign, we are delighted to hear about the successful Harvest Celebration & Potluck they held last month.


Based in Wyoming, Powder River Basin Resource Council was founded in 1973 by rural landowners alarmed by the environmental ravages of coal strip mining. For 45 years their citizen-based organization has been dedicated to civil society and to the stewardship of their state's human and natural resources.


Learn more about Powder River Basin's commitment to community organizing, leadership development, and citizen empowerment on their website.


Free Webinars on Land Access


We highly recommend these webinars being offered by two of our members!


NOFA-VT

Alternative Land Access and Business Structures: Webinar Series


Humble Hands Harvest is a worker-owned cooperative vegetable farm in Decorah, Iowa, with a unique, community based land access story. With their commons model, they put land in the hands of those willing to steward it cooperatively, as a commons for future generations.


November 11, 2025

5:30pm-7:00pm ET




Women, Food and Ag Network

Handing Your Farm Off With Care: A Conversation About Land Transition and Access


Join us for a conversation about land transition as a form of land access and keeping land in ethical and caring hands. During this learning circle we will discuss what the process of land transition entails, how it helps new farmers gain land access, and what successful land transition can look like.


November 18th, 2025

6:00pm CT/7:00pm ET



NFFC staffer Jordan Treakle (left) traveled with NOFA-VT member and farmer Stephen Leslie (right).

Postcard from Rome!


NFFC's Coalition Program and Policy Director Jordan Treakle was in Rome last week with farmer and member Stephen Leslie (Rural Vermont, NOFA VT) for CFS 53, the United Nations' Committee on World Food Security. It was a great opportunity for NFFC to represent American family farmers and connect with policymakers about resilient food systems and farmland protection.

LVC North America Is Hiring!


After many years of rebuilding, La Via Campesina North America is once again hiring a part-time administrative staffer to support the region.


The position is for someone interested in being in a support role (it is not a political role), and will be managed by the three new Regional Coordinators. It is a remote, part-time position (15-20 hours weekly) paying $25-35 per hour. Applications are due November 10, 2025.

What We're R/W/L

What we're reading...


...watching...


...and listening to!

  • Agriculture of America: AOA recently featured FARFA member and farmer/rancher Marcella Juarez, who shared how the LOCAL Foods Act could benefit small livestock producers.
  • Tending: A podcast by Shirlette Ammons, a poet, storyteller, musician, and granddaughter of a Black farmer, who examines the historic Pigford case.

Photo credits: farmer and pigs, Zoe Richardson/Unsplash; US Capitol, Andy Feliciotti/Unsplash; sign, Courtesy of Powder River Basin Resource Council; Jordan and Stephen, Courtesy of NFFC; La Via Campesina graphic, Courtesy of LVC.

Donate 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

Follow Us on Social Media!

Facebook  Instagram  Web