Farm Action News Roundup: Our 2023 Farm Bill Priorities March 31, 2023

 

FARM ACTION FOCUS: 2023 FARM BILL PRIORITIES   Every five years, Congress passes legislation through the farm bill that shapes the structure of and funding for our food and farm system. This week, Farm Action released our 2023 Farm Bill priorities for transforming our food system into one that pays farmers and workers a fair price for delivering nutritious, affordable food, including: Increasing funding for the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP), supporting local foods for healthier neighbors Passing the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming (OFF) Act, which would ensure checkoff programs are transparent, accountable, and out of the hands of lobbying organizations Increasing funding for technical assistance and grants directed toward farmers of color Increasing and improving access to risk management tools like crop insurance for diverse, organic, specialty crop, and limited-resource producers Fully funding voluntary programs that incentivize farmers to meet basic conservation standards “We’re putting this straightforward guide of concise, concrete, and actionable recommendations into the hands of every decision-maker in Washington,” said Joseph Van Wye, Farm Action’s policy and outreach director. “This is a blueprint for a pro-competition farm bill, one that empowers farmers to grow healthy food for their communities, treats people fairly, respects our land, and revitalizes rural America.”   Take action! Congress wants your farm bill feedback. Time is running out to get your farm bill feedback to the Senate Agriculture Committee before they start writing the bill. The deadline for congressional offices to submit priorities is today, so be sure to take a few minutes right now to submit your feedback! Not sure where to begin? You can pull out a few policies from Farm Action’s Fair Farm Bill Policy Handbook to help inform your feedback.    OUR PRIORITIES     FARM ACTION FUND AND ALLIES CALL FOR CHECKOFF PROGRAM REFORM   Farm Action Fund joined R-CALF USA and a coalition of 129 groups representing farmers, the food system, the environment, animal welfare, and antimonopoly advocacy to call on Congress to restore accountability and transparency to commodity checkoff programs by supporting the inclusion of the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming (OFF) Act in the 2023 Farm Bill.   Checkoff programs are funded through mandatory fees on farmers and ranchers producing milk, eggs, cattle, hogs, and many other commodities. These programs have well-documented histories of conflicts of interest and misuse of funding.    The OFF Act would empower and protect farmers by improving checkoff program transparency and reining in conflicts of interest and anti-competitive behavior.   “America's farmers and ranchers are tired of their checkoff tax dollars being funneled through the government and into the hands of trade and lobbying groups that work against fair competition and market transparency,” said Angela Huffman, vice president of Farm Action Fund. “It’s time to end the corruption running rampant through these programs.”    LEARN MORE     FARM ACTION MOVEMENT NEWS   Saul Elbein, The Hill Five Fights Brewing in the Crucial $1.4 Trillion Farm Bill Farm Action’s Joe Maxwell explains that decades of farm bill programs have driven family farmers out of business and enabled a handful of giant corporations to dominate our food system.   Willie Cade, Progressive Farmer Fact-Checking John Deere's Falsehoods: The Battle Over Right to Repair “These myths are put forth by corporations like John Deere to maintain a stranglehold on the lucrative repair market. This is to the detriment of farmers and independent repair shops, which are the backbone of many rural economies," writes Farm Action Local Leader Willie Cade.   Mark Huffman, Consumer Affairs Eggs Are So Expensive a Discount Chain Will No Longer Sell Them Farm Action notes that the leading firms in the egg industry have a history of engaging in “cartelistic conspiracies” to limit production, split markets, and increase prices for consumers.   Lisa Held, Civil Eats This Farm Bill Really Matters. We Explain Why. Farm Action hosted the Food Not Feed Summit to call attention to how commodity payments and insurance programs mainly subsidize crops that end up as animal feed.   Autumn Swiers, Tasting Table Cal-Maine Is Reporting Record Profits Despite Egg Shortage. Here's Why. In January, Farm Action asked the Federal Trade Commission to launch an investigation into Cal-Maine to determine whether the company is engaging in fair pricing practices.      SUPPORT FOR LABELING REFORM RAMPS UP   The USDA recently announced a proposed rule to ensure the “Product of U.S.A.” label is used only on meat, poultry, and eggs derived from animals born, raised, slaughtered, and processed in the U.S.   Under current policy, multinational corporations can use the “Product of U.S.A.” label on imported meat that’s been repackaged in the U.S., passing it off as a higher-quality product raised by U.S. farmers and ranchers. This fraudulent labeling deceives customers and puts U.S. farmers and ranchers out of business.   In support of the proposed rule — which would close this heavily exploited loophole — Farm Action joined American Grassfed Association’s #ProductofUSAChallenge on social media — and you should, too! Simply submit a comment to the USDA telling them to end fraudulent “Product of U.S.A.” labeling, then share our post and tag three others to do the same.   Check out our website for helpful sample comments, and watch White Oak Pastures’ Will Harris explain why labeling reform is so critical for independent farmers and ranchers.   LEARN MORE     UPCOMING EVENTS: FARM BILL WEBINAR SERIES   Join Farm Action and panels of farm and policy experts to learn how we can create a more fair food system that works for everyone in the 2023 Farm Bill. Our first webinar is on Tuesday! Justice for All: Centering Equity in the Farm Bill April 4, 5:00-6:30 p.m. EST Marginalized farmers and communities have long been denied participation in agriculture programs and policy development. Learn how we can reform our food and farm system to make it fair and inclusive from our panelists:     Our next two webinars will focus on building up local and regional food systems and supporting conservation and regenerative farming practices in the Farm Bill. Stay tuned for more details!    LEARN MORE     A COUNTRY WITH NO FARMERS   On the latest episode of Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s “Building Local Power” podcast, Farm Action’s Sarah Carden explains how the rapid consolidation of agriculture across the U.S. has posed monumental challenges for farmers and consumers alike.   As this consolidation hollows out rural America, “farmers are going extinct,” she says. We must shift our ideology away from misguided notions of “efficiency” and instead implement policies that support a decentralized farming system. Check out the podcast to hear more.   LEARN MORE     WHAT’S THE TALK?   Here’s what the Farm Action team has been reading:   Vox explains that corporate profits are so high — at a time when regular people feel increasingly strapped — because a small number of players have gobbled up most of the food chain.   The planned closure of a Virginia Tyson plant has left dozens of chicken growers scrambling to find new buyers in a region with few other options, reports Reuters. It could also expose Tyson to fines under the Packers and Stockyards Act. Almost 25% of American adults are food insecure as grocery prices have surged 20% over the last two years, reports CBS News. Adults whose grocery costs increased significantly were about twice as likely as other adults to be food insecure. CNN reports that Cal-Maine Foods, the largest egg producer in the U.S., doubled its revenue and profits surged 718% last quarter because of sharply higher egg prices. The company has had zero cases of avian flu at its facilities.     Written and edited by: Jessica Cusworth, Dee Laninga, and Angela Huffman     ABOUT US   Farm Action leverages its research, policy development, and advocacy campaigns to create a food and agriculture system that works for everyday people rather than a handful of powerful corporations. Our political partner organization, Farm Action Fund, is building the political muscle to take action in our state and federal capitols and at the ballot box.     Together, our two organizations represent a seamless chain of action from research and policy development, to the adoption of the policy through legislative action by elected officials who support our vision.

National Cesar Chavez Day and National Farmworker Awareness Week

 From a post by David Damian Figueroa

https://youtu.be/zmmm-XwJ7BM

Forgetting where we came from is denying who we are. On this National Cesar Chavez Day and National Farmworker Awareness Week, I’d also like to pay homage to my friend, Dolores Huerta and my mother, my family, and my ancestors who all worked in the fields. God bless them all and my gratitude for paving the way for all of us. Here are some treasured photos of my family in the fields of Arizona.

When I was a young boy, my mother repeated dichos, Mexican folk sayings, and American quotes as part of everyday life. My mother had been a child farmworker and only reached the sixth grade. What she may have been lacking in a formal education, she made up for with powerful words of wisdom. Dichos were her way of teaching me to become a better person. Some of my earliest memories are of being out in the agricultural fields of Buckeye, Arizona, with her, my aunts, and my cousins. Hardship was a part of life and some weeks we worked cleaning chicken coops to put food on the table. Mom would always say something positive to keep us going—something as simple and promising as “Life is not always going to be like this” or “This is only temporary”, and “Todo es possible” (Anything is possible).

My mom and aunts had early morning rituals. I remember waking up to the usual smells of beans cooking on the stove, coffee percolating in the pot, and bleach from the freshly mopped floors. Also, the comforting sounds of mom singing Spanish songs, eggs and potatoes hissing on the stove, and the rolling pin hitting the kitchen counter repeatedly as mom pounded out tortillas. Still dark outside, I remember we would make the trek out to the fields at LVL Ranch near Gila Bend, Arizona. 

My brother Jimmy, the cousins, and I would pile up in the back seat of the Impala and we’d fall asleep using each other as pillows. As soon as we arrived, I’d place all the lunch burritos on the car dashboard so they would keep warm. I used to sharpen all the hoes that we’d used to chop the weeds that would grow between cotton plants in the fields. One day I sliced my right pointing finger up pretty good. 

My mom and aunts were always consulting with each another on what to wear to the upcoming dance at the American Legion. They’d always tease each other and burst into laughter as they each proclaimed who would be the prettiest and get the most attention on the dance floor. When they were young girls and through their adolescent years, they used to pick cotton and carry huge burlap bags on their backs all day. Later in life, mom and her sisters all lived in constant back pain. 

They all walked hunched back and with a limp. For me, working in the fields was an education you cannot learn from books or in school. My mother taught me to have faith, pray, sew, cook, clean house, wash clothes, iron, change a tire, run a lawn mower, and even do arts and crafts. She’d tell me, “You have to learn how do to all of these things because one day I will not be here.” She was right. Mom passed away tragically when she was still young. When a parent passes away, the loudest voice we hear is theirs. The dicho that has probably stood out most in my life is “Con dinero se puede comprar libros pero no la educación.” “You can purchase books with money, but money will not buy you an education or proper manners.”

The most important thing I learned from mom was from one of her dichos, “Forgetting where you came from is denying who you are.” She’d always remind me that although we were poor, we were happy, and that God was not forgetting us.

My mother will live forever with me through the love and wisdom she gave to me through her dichos. They have left an indelible impression in my mind, and I am her grateful son.

#farmworkersrights

#LaborRights

#Farmworkers

#CesarChavezDay

#nationalfarmworkwerawarenessweek

#storytellers

#ourstoriesmatter

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Rudy Arredondo

President/CEO/Founder

Latino Farmers & Ranchers International, Inc.

1231-B Good Hope Road, S. E.

Washington, DC 20020

Water Harvesting. April 2023.

 https://www.harvestingrainwater.com/2022/08/where-rocks-have-made-the-water-flow-a-water-harvesting-arizona-ranch/

 

Simply put, the Austins and their ranch hands slowed and spread the water flow in a way that allowed water to linger longer in the land’s living soils, which then grew more vegetation that enhanced the lingering further still.

There are many ways one can do this, each suited to different unique site conditions, as the new full-color editions of my books Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond show.

For more on different water harvesting strategies in the ranch/farm/rural context see:

Shifting dehydrating, degrading ephemeral water channels to better-vegetated, rehydrating, agrading channels with Bill Zeedyk-directed efforts in Altar Valley, Arizona

Harvesting Rainwater for Hikers, Wildlife, Livestock, Oases, and More

Evolutions on Mr. Phiri’s Water-Harvesting Plantation, 1995–2016

The Abundance Growing from the Water-, Soil-, and Fertility-Harvesting of Bouwas Mawara in Zimbabwe

Rudy Arredondo
President/CEO/Founder
Latino Farmers & Ranchers International, Inc. 1231-B Good Hope Road, SE
Washington, DC 20020

A New Beginning. Latino Farmers and Ranchers International. University of the District of Columbia (UDC) University of the District of Columbia’s College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability and Environmental Sciences (CAUSES)

The NEW....

Latino Farmers & Ranchers International, Inc.

1231-B Good Hope Road, S. E.

Washington, DC 20020

2023 and Beyond [Rudy Arredondo is no longer associated with NLFRTA]  UDC CAUSES: National Latino Farmers and Ranchers Trade Association  https://youtu.be/CSWotL627VE Washington DC might not be the first place that comes to mind when people talk about agriculture, but our nation’s capital is becoming a leader in urban agriculture, community gardens, the local foods movement, and other green initiatives. One of the groups on the cutting edge of agriculture and green initiatives is The National Latino Farmers and Ranchers Trade Association, whose mission is to organize, engage and empower Latino farm and ranching advocacy groups, farmworkers transitioning into farm ownership, and small agricultural producers, throughout the United States. Joining to talk more about the organization’s advocacy, training, and technical assistance is Rudy Arredondo, president of the National Latino Farmers and Ranchers Trade Association (NLFRTA). --------------------------------------------------------------  Rudy Arredondo President/CEO/Founder Latino Farmers & Ranchers International, Inc. 1231-B Good Hope Road, S. E. Washington, DC 20020

Black Emergency Managers Association International Washington, D.C.
bEMA International Cooperation, Collaboration, Communication, Coordination, Community engagement, and  Partnering (C5&P)   A 501 (c) 3 organization   The unwillingness to try is worse than any failure.   Nikki Giovanni