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NFFC 2009 Executive Committee
Members at Large Ben Burkett, NFFC's President, is a former Indian Springs manager of 16 years and current director of the Mississippi Association of Cooperatives, the local arm of The Federation of Southern Cooperatives. Ben is a farmer and community activist. Ben represents NFFC on the Via Campesina Food Sovereignty Comission and is a board member of the Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC). The Federation, an umbrella organization now composed of 35 coops representing 12,000 African American farm families from Texas to North Carolina, assists farmers in land retention and the development of economically self-sufficient communities. Member coops purchase supplies and receive marketing, financial and technical assistance through the federation. Ben is involved in several coops, believing that that is the only way you can make it in the rural south. He has traveled to Senegal, South Africa, Kenya, Nicaragua, Lebanon, and Zimbabwe with FSC, exchanging knowledge and information with small-scale farmers. He in turn hosted West African honey, rice and vegetable producers who visited the United States to learn irrigation, marketing and packaging techniques from African American farmers. Ben Burkett, State Director Mississippi Association Of Cooperatives, (601) 354-2750, fax: (601) 354-2777, email: benburkett@earthlink.net or fscmiss@mindspring.com Dena Hoff is NFFC's Vice President. Dena represents the Northern Plains Resource Council on the NFFC Board and Chairs NFFC's Trade Task Force. She raises sheep, cattle, alfalfa, corn, and edible dry beans, among other crops, on their farm in Glendive, Montana since 1979. She is an active member of her rural community, serving on the Water Commission and the local food cooperative. She is also active with the Western Organization of Resource Councils. Dena is the co-chair or the North American region of Via Campesina (US/Canada/Mexico) and serves on the International Coordinating Council for Via Campesina. She has represented NFFC at international meetings - at Seattle, Cancun, Mexico City, Geneva, and most recently at the FAO meeting in Rome.Dena Hoff, Northern Plains Resource Council: phone/fax: (406) 687-3645, email: dena@midrivers.com John Kinsman, Secretary: John Kinsman is President of the Family Farm Defenders (FFD). John is a dairy farmer from Lime Ridge, Wisconsin who raises 36 cows on a 150-acre farm-80 acres devoted to hay and pasture, 70 acres devoted to woodland management. Through FFD, John works to forge new consumer-farmer direct marketing strategies for dairy products. His organization is now marketing Cedar Grove cheese, which carries a label that clearly identifies that the cheese is produced by family farmers and is free of genetically engineered products. John also advocated for efforts to ban use of recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) and educated farmers and consumers about its negative effects. As a result of his efforts, the Food and Drug Administration forestalled the rBGH approval for seven years and bovine growth hormone is now struggling in the marketplace. He traveled around the world to talk with farmers about the potential dangers of genetic engineering in agriculture and the need to change US dairy policy. John Kinsman, Family Farm Defenders: (608) 986-3815, fax: (608) 986-2502, email: n/a Bryan Wolfe, Treasurer: Currently milking 50 cows, Bryan is a dairy farmer in Ashtabula County in northeast Ohio. Bryan is the Vice President of the Ohio Farmers Union, Chairman of the Ohio Farmers Union Dairy Committee, the Ohio Director for Family Farm Defenders, a Board member of the American Raw Milk Producers Pricing Association, and a member of the NFFC Dairy Subcommittee, Progressive Agriculture, and the Ashtabula, Geauga, and Lake County organization of National Farmers Union. Bryan Wolfe, Maple Lane Farm: (440) 563-5473, fax: (440) 563-3406, email: n/a Tina Carlin, at-large: Tina Carlin: Tina Carlin was born and raised on a dairy farm in central Pennsylvania. Since 1988 she has lived on the northeastern Pennsylvania dairy farm (a Century Farm) that has been in her husband's family for 105 years. Tina and her husband Gerald own 145 acres, rent roughly 200 acres and have approximately 100 head of dairy cows and young stock. Tina represents the Progressive Agriculture Organization on NFFC's Board and Dairy Sub-Committee and serves as Secretary of American Raw Milk Producers Pricing Association and Secretary/Treasurer of Pennsylvania Family Farm Defenders. She is on the boards of Pennsylvania Family Farm Foundation and Susquehanna County Farmland Preservation and is as an active member of Family Farm Defenders and Pennsylvania Farmers Union. Tina enjoys working with others to fight for a pricing system and policy structure that is fair for all family farmers. Tina
Carlin, Progressive Agriculture Organization, phone: (570) 833-4592,
email: proagorg@yahoo.com Joel Greeno, at-large: Joel Greeno has been a Wisconsin Dairy Farmer for 15 years and is the current President of the American Raw Milk Producers Pricing Asssociation, an organization of dairy farmers dedicated to establishing a raw milk price which returns to dairy producers their cost of production plus a profit. ARMPPA is a milk-marketing agency that holds no allegiance to any existing milk handler, cooperative or corporation. Through ARMPPA, small and moderate-sized dairy producers can survive as independent businesses and avoid vertical integration. Joel Greeno, President of the American Raw Milk Producers Pricing Association, (608) 463-7634, fax: (608) 463-7370, email: n/a
Adam Barr, at-large: Along with his father, mother, uncle, aunt and cousin, Adam Barr is an owner-operator of Barr Farms, a seventh generation family farm. It is located in Rhodelia, Meade County, Kentucky. Recently designated as Certified Naturally Grown, the 2-acre garden supports numerous staple crops, including greens, beans, sweet corn and potatoes, which are sold at farmers market and through a 17-member CSA. The Barrs currently offer grass-finished beef, grass-fed chicken and shitake mushrooms. Adam is a board member with Community Farm Alliance, a statewide grassroots farmer/consumer organization, and he is also the President of Sustainable Agriculture of Louisville, an organization dedicated to training and nurturing the next generation of farmers.
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nffc@nffc.net ph (202) 543-5675 (c) 2008 National Family Farm Coalition |
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