NFFC ACCOMPLISHMENTS
NFFC members have worked on a range of issues and campaigns since
1987, promoting food security, access to USDA programs, environmental
protection, and economic security for family farmers and their
communities. Below are some of NFFC's significant accomplishments:
* Support For a Fair Trade Policy - NFFC continues to be the
primary family farm voice in the fight to secure fair trade policy.
NFFC leadership provided a strong family farmer presence at international
meetings since the WTO in Seattle by participating in and organizing
meetings, rallies, and press conferences. NFFC continues to play
an important and growing role in the work of Via Campesina, both
on a regional level with NFU-Canada and with Mexican farm groups.
In fall 2003, NFFC encompassed a major presence in both Cancun
and Miami. Agriculture subsidies became the main debate at these
negotiations therefore other interest groups, including NFFC partner
organizations, paid increasing attention to alternative agriculture
solutions like those posed by NFFC. NFFC’s position is that
reducing U.S. subsidies alone is not the answer but that a new
farm policy is needed, one based on Food Soverignty and international
coopoeration to place a price floor under commodities along with
shared reserves and supply management..
* Community Food Security – NFFC’s work with the
Community Food Security Coalition in 1996 helped achieve enactment
of a new program providing $15 million in USDA matching grants
for community food projects in the 1996 Farm Bill. This program
was extended in the 2002 Farm Bill and the government doubled
its annual funding to $5 million per year. These projects enable
communities to better provide for their food and nutrition needs,
through mechanisms such as processing facilities, marketing strategies,
farmers' markets, and community gardens. There is an increasing
focus on rural food security policies within the Community Food
Security Coalition, due in large part to NFFC’s leadership
role within the Coalition.
* Fighting against a Vision of Increasing Corporate Concentration
in Agriculture - The NFFC and member organization Iowa CCI led
a successful two-year campaign to defeat Bush nominee Thomas Dorr
for USDA Under Secretary of Rural Development. The NFFC used the
Dorr nomination as a vehicle to highlight the damaging nature
of Dorr's vision for agriculture’s future: increased corporate
concentration in agriculture, mega-farms, and opposition to sustainable
agricultural initiatives. The NFFC contrasted its vision and policy
alternatives and used the campaign to expand and strengthen its
network of allied organizations.
The NFFC coordinated the nationwide grassroots opposition to
Dorr's nomination, circulating sign-on letters endorsed by 190
different organizations, as well as action alerts that generated
constituent calls, letters and email to Senators at key moments.
NFFC Executive Committee members testified at the 2002 Senate
Agriculture Committee confirmation hearing. To avoid a Senate
floor nomination defeat, President Bush appointed Dorr to the
USDA during the 2002 summer recess. The Senate finally defeated
the Dorr nomination on November 18, 2003 when it voted against
bringing the nomination to a floor vote. Despite this rejection
by the Senate, USDA appointed him to a Special Adviser position
on December 11, 2003 that did not require confirmation.
* Equity in USDA Credit Programs - NFFC acted as the main force
in securing reform of federal farm lending practices through the
1987 Agricultural Credit Act enactment. This law gave 70,000 farmers,
many of whom faced foreclosure, the opportunity to refinance their
debt and remain on their land. NFFC, in coordination with the
Farmers Legal Action Group, Inc. (FLAG), conducted a series of
training sessions for farm leaders and advocates, provided tools
to assist farmers with credit problems, and helped them secure
their rights under the 1987 law. NFFC’s work in 1998 meant
that tens of thousands of borrowers had their eligibility restored
for Farm Service Agency (FSA) loans and enabled more minority
farmers to file discrimination claims against USDA due to the
historic congressional waiver of the statute of limitations. The
Coalition has worked over the past fifteen years to retain important
provisions won in legislation and to force accountability of USDA
at the national and field level in their implementation of credit
laws; both access and servicing of the programs to all.
* Campaign On Genetic Engineering - During the past seven years
NFFC dramatically increased its activity in coordinating farm
groups in actions and activities that advocate against genetic
engineering. The broad-based campaign against Monsanto's herbicide-resistant
Roundup Ready Soybean and other agricultural biotechnology products
focused on gaining media attention for the farmers’ concerns
about genetic engineering and spreading information about the
risks of these products. The Farmer-to-Farmer Campaign is continuing
this work, directly engaging more local groups and developing
action plans to halt the introduction of GMO wheat and rice in
the US among other priority issues.
