Family Farm Defenders

Increasing exports will not keep farmers in business. Legislators can help farmers by inserting policies that would help them into the Farm Bill.

By: Anthony Pahnke, Vice President of Family Farm Defenders and and Associate Professor of International Relations at San Francisco State University

Originally published by the Progressive, Jan. 19, 2024

“We had to. We feed the world.”

This is what my grandfather told me when describing why we made changes to our farm over the years, whether it was replacing horses with tractors, learning how to apply the latest pesticide technology to reduce weeds or buying more cows for our herd.

The mantra instilled into us by elites was to produce, produce, produce.

Farmers like us heeded the call as we increasingly sent our products to other countries. In 1990, just over $45 billion dollars in sales came from overseas, which soared to more than $196 billion in 2022— a record year.

But here’s the rub—increasing exports will not keep farmers in business.

Just look at the dairy sector. 

Wisconsin ranked second in the country—behind California—for most dairy farm bankruptcies from 2000 to 2019. The dairy state held the dubious distinction of being home to the greatest number of farm bankruptcies in 2019 and 2020 before leveling off in 2022. During roughly that same time from 2003 to 2021, according to the US Dairy Export Council, dairy exports steadily increased.

These facts should make our legislators rethink how their policies affect farmers.

A group of congressional representatives recently sent a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai denouncing the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) dispute settlement ruling that continues to allow the Canadian government to limit dairy imports into their market. 

Central to the USMCA, a product of former President Donald Trump’s efforts to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, involved ensuring increased access to Canadian markets for U.S. dairy exports. A 2022 decision by the same panel sided with the United States, ruling that Canada was unfairly protecting its dairy industry. As a result, our neighbors to the north made changes to improve market access for U.S. interests. The more recent ruling holds that such changes are sufficient.

Still, there are larger issues here.

Our legislators shouldn’t pit our country’s farmers against their counterparts on the other side of the border. In 2018, Wisconsin farmers showed considerable interest in partnering with Canadian producers to implement their supply management system, which stabilizes prices for dairy farmers by controlling production and coordinating supply with demand. And while Trump was renegotiating NAFTA, a coalition of farmer advocacy groups noted that the opening of Canadian markets to U.S. exports would have no significant positive economic impact on American dairies.  

Instead, rather than scapegoating Canadians, our lawmakers can actually help farmers by inserting policies that would help them into the Farm Bill.  This massive piece of legislation that governs most facets of our food system, including dairy, is set to expire in September of this year.   

One such policy is the National Family Farm Coalition’s Milk from Family Dairies Act, which has been endorsed by ninety-four food, farm, environmental, and labor organizations and includes provisions that would adjust the prices that farmers are paid based off of their cost of production, establish import and export controls and strengthen regional dairy infrastructure to balance supply with demand to create fair, competitive markets. 

My family changed our farm to increase production and feed the world. Our exports increased. But time has made clear that this approach doesn’t work for most farmers. Our legislators need to take this opportunity to get our own house in order by getting behind policies that could assure farmers fair prices rather than repeating past mistakes.

To: WI State Legislators and Gov. Tony Evers 1/16/2024

Family Farm Defenders strongly opposes AB 897. Sale of home-made baked goods should be promoted – not hindered- by the state.

As a national family farm organization with over 500 members alone across Wisconsin, Family Farm Defenders wishes to express its strong opposition to AB 897 and other efforts to curtail and restrict the ability of small scale rural producers to sell their home baked goods. In particular, we are against AB 897’s proposed gross sales threshold of $20,000. While many WI home bakers do not have that level of sales, others do – and this seems to be a crude attempt to marginalize small-scale rural entrepreneurs in favor of much larger and more profitable agribusiness operations.

Rural farm families are continuing to struggle to make ends meet across our state, and the ability to produce and market value-added baked goods is one critical survival option for households who are on edge as to whether they can remain on the land, serving their community, or have to go bankrupt.

We have hundreds of farmer members in WI who are now able to supplement their often quite humble income with sales of high quality home-made baked goods, many of which rely on fresh ingredients from their very own farms. We have heard from many folks that this economic opportunity is not only a financial benefit for their own family, but also helps to build a more vibrant local food/farm system with consumer dollars remaining and multiplying in our regional economy – rather than being exported out of state or even abroad. Furthermore, the ability of home bakers to persist and thrive in WI is an integral part of our culinary tradition and agro-tourism appeal.

Once again, we urge our elected officials to oppose AB 897. Instead, the legislature and the governor should be providing more support for expanded cottage production of baked goods and other home-made value-added products through the Buy Local Buy Wisconsin program and other DATCP efforts.

Here are links to contact your WI Legislators and the WI Governor:

https://legis.wisconsin.gov/

https://evers.wi.gov/Pages/Home.aspx

Family Farm Defenders is a member of the WI Cottage Food Association. For more info, visit https://www.wisconsincottagefood.com/

By Jim Goodman and Anthony Pahnke (NFFC president and FFD vice president)

Published in the Chicago Tribune, Dec 25, 2023

Food is sacred.

Regardless of one’s religious views, there is something special about people coming together at this time of year to share a meal with loved ones. We take the time and labor to enjoy some distinctive plates, whether it’s tamales and pozole, maybe roast turkey or perhaps baba ghanoush. Good food is hard to put a price on, especially when it’s reflective of our traditions and connections to the land.

But powerful actors often use food not for peace, but as a weapon of war.

Whether it’s Russia’s strategic disruption of Ukrainian grain shipments and covering farmland with landmines or Israel’s cutting of civilian access to food and water in Gaza and turning of farmland into settlements — depriving access to food is done for political objectives.

The U.S. is by no means above the fray in such matters.

Our government’s Food for Peace program, which became part of the Farm Bill beginning in 1954, drives indigenous farmers in developing countries out of business as they cannot compete with our cheap, overproduced commodity crops that flood their markets.

It doesn’t have to be this way. We can promote policies to ensure that everyone has access to culturally appropriate food and the necessary means to grow it for themselves and their communities.

Global movements, such as La Via Campesina, demand as much in calling for food sovereignty. Central to food sovereignty is the idea that food neither should be used as a weapon nor a commodity. Moreover, the best way to respect our distinct food traditions is to democratize our food system by empowering people to grow their own food, push back against corporate power and support historically marginalized people of color.

There is no better way for us to begin to make such changes than by getting involved in our ongoing Farm Bill discussions. We have almost a year to do so, as congressional dysfunction has led lawmakers to delay passing new legislation until September.

In terms of details, first, we should push our lawmakers to increase Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) accessibility. They can do this by including bipartisan bills within the Farm Bill that would dedicate more resources for people to purchase locally sourced produce at farmers markets and support local governments with the means to teach consumers how to prepare food on their own by scaling up programs such as SNAP-Ed.

There’s also the need to make sure that as our population changes, we support our next, diverse generation of small farmers.

The Fair Credit for Farmers Act would do just that, making important reforms at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Specifically, the bill addresses the history of racist discrimination that farmers of color have experienced by mandating that USDA officials provide specific reasons when loans are denied and empowering farmers to sue the government in the event of wrongdoing.

To ensure that people who grow our food can earn a living, Vermont U.S. Sen. Peter Welch’s Fairness for Small-Scale Farmers and Ranches Act would begin to make a powerful change.

This legislation would halt mergers of large-scale agribusiness firms while requiring a review of recent large-scale acquisitions. Increasing concentrated markets, according to Mary Hendrickson of the University of Missouri at Columbia, subjects farmers to whatever processors will pay for their produce and consumers to inflated prices at the grocery store. While giving farmers a fighting chance by making markets more competitive, Welch’s bill also dedicates $100 million more to the Local Agriculture Market Program, which helps producers promote their products at farmers markets and that revitalizes local food chains.

The unifying, life-giving properties of food are put on display this time of year as we build and celebrate community. Ongoing military conflicts betray this principle by using food as a weapon. We can do better, and the Farm Bill gives us one chance to do so. This next year, let’s work on policies that truly let us honor the food that makes us who we are.

Jim Goodman is a retired dairy farmer from Wonewoc, Wisconsin, and board president of the National Family Farm Coalition. Anthony Pahnke is an associate professor of international relations at San Francisco State University and vice president of the Family Farm Defenders, an advocacy group for farmers and consumers.

Hannah Frank & Justin Thomas – Rue de Bungaloo Farm (WI)

Nia Nyamweya – Beauty Blooms Farm (MD)

Honorable Mention – Bad River Food Sovereignty Initiative (WI)

For those who were not able to join us in person on Sat. Nov. 11th in Spring Green for the award ceremony, the whole event was also recorded and can be watched on YouTube – including the inspiring keynote address “Food, Land, and Justice: Lessons from the Driftless Area to the World” – by Curt Meine, Senior Fellow, Aldo Leopold Foundation and the Center for Humans and Nature: https://youtu.be/KUkYMvKDBWM

In memory of legendary organic pioneer and food sovereignty advocate, John Kinsman, Family Farm Defenders is proud to celebrate beginning farmers each year with a prize in his honor!

Sat. Nov. 11th Round Barn Lodge in Spring Green, WI (E4830 US-14) 5:00 pm Reception and Socializing; 5:30 pm Welcome and Local Harvest Dinner (catered by Lisa Buttenow & the Branding Iron in Lime Ridge)

6:00 pm Keynote Address: “Food, Land, and Justice: Lessons from the Driftless Area to the World” – with Curt Meine, Senior Fellow, Aldo Leopold Foundation and the Center for Humans and Nature

Followed at 6:45 pm by the John Kinsman Prize Award Ceremony!

Congratulations to this year’s prize winners:

Hannah Frank and Justin Thomas – Rue de Bungaloo Farm (Athens, WI)

Nia Nyamweya – Beauty Blooms Farm (Montgomery County, MD)

Honorable Mention – Bad River Food Sovereignty Initiative (Odanah, WI)

Suggested donation for the award dinner – $35 per person (children are free!)

To RSVP and purchase advance tickets send a check to: FFD, P.O. Box 1772, Madison, WI 53701 or make an online donation through this website. Family Farm Defenders also welcomes sponsors of the John Kinsman Prize! Sponsors will be thanked in the evening program and prize sponsors of $100+ will also receive two free complimentary tickets to the event. More info? #608-260-0900 or email: [email protected]

For those who can’t join us in person, it is possible to participate virtually – via Zoom and GoToMeeting. Here are the details:

John Kinsman Food Sovereignty Prize Event – Sat. 11/11 from 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm CST

Join Zoom Meeting  https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89136169225

Meeting ID: 891 3616 9225

One tap mobile

+13126266799,,89136169225# US (Chicago)
+13092053325,,89136169225# US

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FFD Annual Meeting – Sun. 11/12 from 9 am – Noon CST

Please join from your computer, tablet or smartphone. 

https://meet.goto.com/646585045

You can also dial in using your phone.

Access Code: 646-585-045

United States:+1 (646) 749-3122

Thanks for your support of food sovereignty and please spread the word!