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NFFC 2010 Executive Committee
Members at Large Ben Burkett, NFFC President: Ben 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, NFFC 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 Bob St. Peter, Treasurer: Bob is the Executive Director of Food for Maine's Future and serves as NFFC's new Board Treasurer. As an activist and farmer living near East Penobscot Bay, Bob identifies with peasant and indigenous people worldwide who struggle to maintain access to land on which to grow their food. In his food sovereignty advocacy he has initiated a seedsaving campaign and writes frequently on the need to oppose the patenting of seeds and other life forms. Bob St. Peter, Food for Maine's Future: (207) 359-2128, email, bobstpeter@gmail.com Niaz
Dorry, at-large: Prior
to her position as executive director with NAMA, Niaz Dorry was with
Greenpeace for 11 years and in Ohio for two years, fighting alongside
her community against the Waste Technologies Industries hazardous waste
incinerator in East Liverpool. She has also worked with the Healthy
Building Network, helping to rebuild communities in the Gulf region
after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and is well aware of the problems
facing rural communities through concentration, lost markets and diminished
health care. Niaz Dorry, Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance: email, niaz@namanet.org 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
Margot
McMillen, at-large: Margot represents the Missouri Rural Crisis
Center on NFFC's board and Margot McMillen, Missouri Rural Crisis Center: email, margotmcm@socket.net Brad Wilson, at-large: Brad Wilson represents Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, where he previously served on staff. He is the owner of Fireweed Farm, raising crops in organic rotation and marketing locally his pasture poultry, lamb, and other livestock. Brad is an active blogger at several sites, featuring a “Farm Bill Primer,” a “Food Crisis Primer,” “Issue Organizing” “Movement Reviews,” and other topics: http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/bradwilson. He also creates and features farm issue movies on his YouTube channel, “A Regeneration of Culture,” http://www.youtube.com/user/FireweedFarm#p/p. Brad Wilson, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement: email, fireweed@netins.net |
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nffc@nffc.net ph (202) 543-5675 (c) 2008 National Family Farm Coalition |
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