NFU Blog

NFU believes that enacting a permanent disaster assistance program is one of the most important pieces of the farm bill. As we can all see by Mother Nature’s devastating effect across the country just in recent weeks – the west coast is on fire while the southeast is drying up – farmers and ranchers would greatly benefit from a permanent program. With the political and economic climate today, ad hoc programs are just not going to cut it.

The current structure of providing disaster assistance on an ad hoc basis often leaves producers waiting for years for relief. Since 1998, Congress has approved 23 ad hoc disaster assistance bills and with each bill, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has to develop and implement a different program.

A permanent disaster program was approved in the Senate Ag Committee bill passed last week, but as the farm bill heads to the Senate floor, many have indicated they will oppose this vital program. It is important to contact your Senators and tell them to support this legislation as the bill goes to the floor the week of Nov. 5. Visit NFU’s Take Action! page to call or email your Senators today.

Last Thursday night, Frank and Laura Jones attended a special dinner hosted by chef Roger Bowser of Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor. Bowser hosts these gourmet dinners every few months to promote local producers and products in his restaurant, and this time around the Joneses were the featured guests. Bowser says of the Joneses’ poultry, “Every time I get a hold of a bird from Earth Shine Farm, I roast it in nothing but salt and pepper, then share it with as many friends as I can.”

Frank and Laura Jones have been raising pastured poultry for 10 years. Together, they run Earth Shine Farm, a ten-acre organic poultry farm outside Durand, Mich., that annually processes and supplies 1,500 table birds directly to consumers and to high-end restaurants mostly within a 45 mile radius of Durand. The Joneses’ birds often make it to the tables of nationally-recognized restaurants and the chefs have nothing but praise for the poultry. (more…)

Last week, John Ellis sold an acorn squash to James Taylor. Yes, the gold, platinum, multi-platinum and Grammy award-winning musical artist James Taylor. But for this tractor collecting, local food promoting, kinetic machine racing, Boulder, Colo. farmer, it was just another day.

Growing up in a rural area and acting as a “shadow” to several farmers when he was younger, John was well prepared to begin his own operation in 1970 after returning from serving in the Army. On his farm outside the town of Niwot, Colo. in Boulder County, John grows irrigated hay and wheat, pumpkins, winter squash, rhubarb and dry beans. He also owns a certified organic peach orchard in Palisade, Colo. on the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains. The orchard is about 250 miles west of Boulder.

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Today is World Food Day, a worldwide event designed to increase awareness and action to alleviate hunger.

On this day, as a World Food Day sponsor, National Farmers Union recognizes the contributions that family agriculture producers make to the availability, affordability and quality of America’s food supply.

Americans spend less on food than anywhere else in the world! Of every dollar Americans spend, just 9.9 cents is spent on food.

Farmers receive only a portion of the food dollar, with the large majority going into marketing, processing, wholesaling, distribution and retailing. For example, an 18-ounce box of Corn Flakes is priced at $3.70 in Washington, D.C. grocery stores. The farmer’s share of that total? Five cents.

Recognize World Food Day — and the farmers who produce our food — today by:

1) Visiting NFU’s MySpace and leave a message thanking family farmers for their contribution to our nation’s food supply.

2) Subscribing to the NFU MySpace blog and reading the latest entry: “Food vs. Fuel.”

3) Visit World Food USA Today for events and ideas for fighting hunger. Share ideas of your own.

4) Becoming a “Friend of the Family Farmer.” More information is available here.

5) Reposting this so that your friends can recognize the day as well.

Growing up on his family farm, Scott Magneson was well prepared to enter into the business himself when he came of age. Scott now manages his family’s dairy farm in Cressey, Calif., that his great grandfather started in 1890, with his wife and two children, Kate and Jake, who are all integral parts of the farm operation. A photo of the Magneson farm is to the right.

Scott entered into the dairy business because he couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Even his earliest childhood memories are of playing and working on the farm. For Scott, the smell of corn silage still brings back memories of helping his dad put fresh silage into feed bunks one winter many years ago, while watching the steam rising up, seemingly like magic, into the sky.

Today, Scott manages 450 acres of rich river bottom soil along the Merced River at the foot of the Sierra Nevadas and 800 Holstein milk cows which he recently began to convert to organic.

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By Tom Buis, National Farmers Union President

It’s only natural that consumers want to know why prices are increasing at their neighborhood grocery. The big oil lobby and a host of special interest groups have begun promulgating the myth that increased ethanol production, and its demand for corn crops, is responsible for increased food costs. It’s a gross oversimplification and in fact, its plain wrong.

According the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), non-farm costs including marketing, processing, wholesaling, distribution and retailing account for 80 cents of every food dollar spent in the United States. For example, an 18-ounce box of Corn Flakes is priced at $3.70 in Washington, D.C. grocery stores. The farmer’s share of that total? Five cents. There is a lot more at play than corn prices. Furthermore, Americans spend less on food than anywhere else in the world. Of every dollar Americans spend, just 9.9 cents is spent on food.

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