Read NFFC's 2009 Winter Newsletter here & 2008 Summer Newsletter here and Newsletter Extras here

Family Farmers Applaud Urgently Needed TRADE Act to Help Fix Broken Food System (06.25.09) - NFFC applauded the introduction of the TRADE Act in the House which offers urgent and necessary reforms to trade agreements that have harmed family farmers around the world while allowing dangerous unsafe food into the United States. Trade agreements such as NAFTA and the Peru FTA are greatly responsible for our current broken industrial food system. The TRADE Act offers stricter standards for imported food and allows for countries to practice food sovereignty principles to ensure countries can have a thriving family farm sector.

Dairy Farmers Host Emergency Rally in Iowa (06.03.09) - Dairy farmers from the National Family Farm Coalition, along with Farm Aid, Iowa Farmers Union and other farm groups, participated in an urgent rally attended by nearly 200 farmers in Manchester, Iowa. With prices for milk collapsing by over 50% for farmers in one year, farm suicides are on the rise and many lifelong farmer's livelihoods are being threatened with extinction.

NFFC Signs Onto Trinational Statement Against Monsanto GM Wheat (06.01.09) - In response to a call from industry groups advocating for commercialization of genetically engineered wheat, NFFC signed onto a statement with groups from Canada and Australia reminding Monsanto consumers have already rejected GM wheat. Read the full counter statement here.

Dairy Farmers Press Congress for Emergency Action to Stem Economic Collapse (05.20.09). - NFFC held a press teleconference call urging Congress to set an emergency floor price, increase access to farm credit, and calling for a new dairy pricing system.

U.S. Dairy Farmers Applaud Introduction of New Bill to Fix Dairy Pricing System and Help Staunch Economic Crisis (05.08.09). - The Federal Milk Marketing Improvement Act of 2009, introduced by Senators Bob Casey and Arlen Specter as S.889, seeks to give dairy farmers a cost of production for their hard work.

U.S. Working Group on the Food Crisis Urges G8 to Reject Failed Green Revolution Policies for Africa (04.16.09). - The U.S. Working Group on the Food Crisis urged Agricultural Ministers at the G8 meeting in Treviso, Italy, to reject the approach of S. 384, the Global Food Security Act sponsored by Senators Specter and Casey, and the push for more chemical-intensive agriculture and genetic engineering. Instead, the G8 should listen to the recommendations of the recent UN/World Bank-backed report recommending more agro-ecological practices as the best way to solve global hunger.

Dairy Farmers Call Vilsack Dairy Measures Inadequate (03.26.09). - The NFFC Dairy Subcommittee today criticized Secretary Vilsack's plan to donate surplus nonfat dry milk for failing to adequately address the deepening crisis in the dairy sector that is the worst since the Great Depression. Farmers also criticized National Milk Producers Federation for failing to represent dairy farmers.

U.S. Working Group on the Food Crisis Criticizes Senate Hearing on Global Food Crisis (03.26.09). - The U.S. Working Group on the Food Crisis expressed deep disappointment with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on "Alleviating Global Hunger: Challenges and Opportunities for U.S. Leadership: held on March 24. The hearing relied primarily on testimonies from industrial agriculture and genetic engineering apologists.

U.S. Family Farmers, Ranchers and Consumers Criticize NAIS as Threat to Farmer Livelihoods and Local Food Systems (03.12.09) - The House Agriculture Subcommittee on Dairy, Livestock and Poultry held a hearing March 11 examining implementation of NAIS. Congressional representatives failed to understand that NAIS will neither address animal disease nor food safety. A coalition of groups also sent a letter to the U.S. Senate on March 4 to request funding for NAIS be dropped from the Omnibus Appropriations Bill. Read the letter here. A letter was also sent to Secretary Vilsack protesting the implementation of NAIS. That letter is here.

NFFC and 50-plus Groups Send Letter to Secretaries Vilsack and Geithner Urging Action on Farm Loans and Foreclosures (03.03.09) - Groups requested that President Obama's Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan and other emergency recovery efforts include farm/home loans.

America has lost over half its dairy farmers in the past sixteen years while prices for dairy farmers have crashed below 1970 prices! Dairy farmers are in crisis, largely due to a broken pricing system and rampant corruption in the dairy industry.

NFFC Dairy Subcommittee hosted a press teleconference call in March 2009 debunking the myth that overproduction is behind the recent devastating collapse in milk prices. Read the press release here.

Read New York dairy farmer John Bunting's revealing report “Dairy Farm Crisis 2009: A Look Beyond Conventional Analysis" here.

To learn more about the problems plaguing dairy farmers and their fight against increased consolidation and concentration in the industry, click here to hear the voices of NFFC's dairy farmers and what needs to be done to save America's dairy farmers.

NFFC has opposed for decades now the use of rBST bovine growth hormones in cows. We firmly support consumers' right to know what is in their milk!