FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 4, 2017 Contact: Andrew Jerome, 202-314-3106 [email protected] SAN DIEGO – Building on a strong history of providing women in agriculture with important leadership and risk management skills, National Farmers Union (NFU) kicked off its annual Women’s Conference today in San Diego, California. This year’s conference, with a theme of “Shaping the Future,” … Read More
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 28, 2017 Contact: Andrew Jerome, 202-314-3106 [email protected] WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump addressed a joint session of Congress tonight, offering a blueprint of his vision for the future of the country. NFU President Roger Johnson issued the following statement in response: “President Trump’s agenda must begin to consider and prioritize the … Read More
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 28, 2017 Contact: Andrew Jerome, 202-314-3106 [email protected] WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump addressed a joint session of Congress tonight, offering a blueprint of his vision for the future of the country. NFU President Roger Johnson issued the following statement in response: “President Trump’s agenda must begin to consider and prioritize the … Read More
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 28, 2017 Contact: Andrew Jerome, 202-314-3106 [email protected] WASHINGTON (February 28, 2017) – Amidst reports of a pending executive order to change the point of obligation for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), National Farmers Union (NFU) is urging the Trump Administration to avoid changes to the RFS that would undermine the success … Read More
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 28, 2017 Contact: Andrew Jerome, 202-314-3106 [email protected] WASHINGTON (February 28, 2017) – Amidst reports of a pending executive order to change the point of obligation for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), National Farmers Union (NFU) is urging the Trump Administration to avoid changes to the RFS that would undermine the success … Read More
By Thomas Driscoll, Director of Conservation Policy and NFU Foundation Whether growing grain and hauling it to the same elevator your grandparents did, raising vegetables to sell to your neighbors, managing a small herd or a big one, beginning producers seek greater efficiencies for their farms and ranches. Running an operation efficiently is critical for … Read More
By Laura Lengnick, founder of Cultivating Resilience, LLC This story is excerpted from Resilient Agriculture: Cultivating Food Systems for a Changing Climate (New Society Publishers, 2015). Resilient Agriculture explores climate risk, resilience, and the future of food through the adaptation stories of 25 award-winning sustainable farmers and ranchers growing fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, and livestock across … Read More
By Lura Roti, South Dakota Farmers Union While some ranchers are nervous about what will happen to their operation when they are ready to retire, David and Brenda Reis are not too worried. “All of our kids want to take over the ranch. That would not be sustainable, but the one thing about having a … Read More
By Lura Roti, South Dakota Farmers Union While some ranchers are nervous about what will happen to their operation when they are ready to retire, David and Brenda Reis are not too worried. “All of our kids want to take over the ranch. That would not be sustainable, but the one thing about having a … Read More
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 23, 2017 Contact: Andrew Jerome, 202-314-3106 [email protected] WASHINGTON (February 23, 2017) – Stressing the need for certainty around the administration’s support for the renewable fuels industry, National Farmers Union (NFU) recognizes the Trump Administration’s growing positive record in support of renewable fuels as a means to spur economic growth, provide good-paying … Read More
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 23, 2017 Contact: Andrew Jerome, 202-314-3106 [email protected] WASHINGTON (February 23, 2017) – Stressing the need for certainty around the administration’s support for the renewable fuels industry, National Farmers Union (NFU) recognizes the Trump Administration’s growing positive record in support of renewable fuels as a means to spur economic growth, provide good-paying … Read More
By Del Ficke, Owner and Operator of Ficke Cattle Company This letter was originally published in The Future of Family Farms: Practical Farmers’ Legacy Letter Project To my future generations: In 1860, Johann Ficke made the trip from Germany to settle in the United States. Just nine years later, after first arriving in Wisconsin, he found a … Read More
By Laura Lengnick, founder of Cultivating Resilience, LLC Some of America’s forward-thinking farmers and ranchers are innovating more flexible crop rotations that allow them to fine-tune crop choices in response to increasing weather variability. This kind of crop rotation strategy is called “dynamic cropping.” Dynamic cropping is an ecologically-based management strategy that optimizes production through the … Read More
By Teresa Opheim, Editor of The Future of Family Farms: Practical Farmers’ Legacy Letter Project About five years ago, a farmer stopped during a farm tour and confided that he worried that his son would not be able to continue farming. The farmer’s land-owning mother had just died, and her farmland was being divided among her children. … Read More
By Lura Roti, South Dakota Farmers Union Shadowing an engineer for a few days his sophomore year of college was all the exposure Scott Kolousek needed to realize he would be happier building a career on his family’s Wessington Springs cattle and crop farm. “That experience saved me a lot of time pursuing the wrong … Read More
By Lura Roti, South Dakota Farmers Union Shadowing an engineer for a few days his sophomore year of college was all the exposure Scott Kolousek needed to realize he would be happier building a career on his family’s Wessington Springs cattle and crop farm. “That experience saved me a lot of time pursuing the wrong … Read More
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 16, 2017 Contact: Andrew Jerome, 202-314-3106 [email protected] MINNEAPOLIS (February 16, 2017) – Drawing on nearly 115 years of leadership in cooperative leadership and education, National Farmers Union (NFU) will host 100 students from 20 colleges and universities here this weekend for its annual College Conference on Cooperatives (CCOC). The three-day conference … Read More
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 16, 2017 Contact: Andrew Jerome, 202-314-3106 [email protected] MINNEAPOLIS (February 16, 2017) – Drawing on nearly 115 years of leadership in cooperative leadership and education, National Farmers Union (NFU) will host 100 students from 20 colleges and universities here this weekend for its annual College Conference on Cooperatives (CCOC). The three-day conference … Read More
By Karyn Williams, owner of Red Dog Farm I didn’t grow up in a farming family. In fact, I grew up in the suburbs of Seattle. My great-grandparents were farmers, back in Missouri, during the Dust Bowl years. When they moved out west with my then-6-year-old grandmother, I suspect they wished for a non-farming life for their … Read More
By Karyn Williams, owner of Red Dog Farm I didn’t grow up in a farming family. In fact, I grew up in the suburbs of Seattle. My great-grandparents were farmers, back in Missouri, during the Dust Bowl years. When they moved out west with my then-6-year-old grandmother, I suspect they wished for a non-farming life for their … Read More
By Jimmy Dula, NFU Intern In previous weeks, the Beginning Farm Forum’s has presented several ways that beginning farmers and ranchers can access capital, including the Farm Service Agency and crowdfunding. Today, we’re examining Farm Credit, a national organization made up of over 70, member-owned cooperative associations that provide financial services to farmers, ranchers and rural business across the U.S. Farm Credit … Read More
By Lura Roti, South Dakota Farmers Union Ask Marlow Christensen and his three sons, Dale, Don and Doug, why they chose farming as a career and their responses are similar. “It’s all we’ve ever known,” explains Dale, who, like his younger brothers, joined the family operation full-time right out of high school. His brother, Don, … Read More
By Lura Roti, South Dakota Farmers Union Ask Marlow Christensen and his three sons, Dale, Don and Doug, why they chose farming as a career and their responses are similar. “It’s all we’ve ever known,” explains Dale, who, like his younger brothers, joined the family operation full-time right out of high school. His brother, Don, … Read More
By Kristen Ford, Program Manager for Farmer Veteran Coalition Relatively few range or pasture land projects are producing marketable greenhouse gas (GHG) credits, and producer awareness of environmental markets is extremely low. Through a U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG), Farmer Veteran Coalition, a national nonprofit organization that … Read More
By Lisa Kivirist, Endowed Chair at the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, author of Soil Sisters Just as we farmers need to care for our soil, we also need to nurture our minds and plant new idea seeds to shape a healthy business vision. That’s exactly what’s on the menu for women farmers at this year’s … Read More