FFD In The Media FFD In The Media

Snow Shoe Films 15 min. interview with FFD executive director, John Peck

Part 1 of 4 of the 2008 Midwest Renewable Energy Snowshoefilms Series.

We talked about the major labels, organic certification, corporate farming, contamination, food distribution, testing, E-coli, Mad Cow and other food/farm issues at the 2008 Midwest Renewable Energy fair. Quicktime filePlay winmedia file at: http://www.archive.org/details/mrea08johnpeck

More info: www.snowshoefilms.com/health.html

CAFO Consumers

By Jim Goodman, organic dairy farmer from Wonewoc, WI, and a 2008 Food and Society Policy Fellow

Originally posted 4/3/08 on www.FightingBob.com

I have farmed for 30 years, on land that has been in my family since 1848. Farming has gotten pretty intensive, and small farms with kids and dogs and sheep and chickens running around are mostly just a fond memory. Back in the 1970s, USDA Secretary Earl Butz urged farmers to plant commodity crops "fence row to fence row" and told us to "adapt or die.” It was bad enough when USDA Secretary Ezra Taft Benson told us (in the 1950s) to "get big or get out,” but adapt or die? read more

Corporate Greed is Harming Our Milk

By: Brenda Cochran, PA dairy farmer and member of the National Family Farm Coalition's Dairy Subcommittee

Published March 27th, 2008 in the Mountain Mail (Salida, CO) and on March 29th, 2008 in Citizen Times (Asheville, NC)

As a dairy farmer, I am proud to provide nutritious and quality products for "nature's most perfect food," milk. But now, I am gravely concerned that America's food sovereignty is in jeopardy thanks to the greed of a few corporations. Nowhere is this trend more apparent and rampant than in the dairy industry. As companies look for and encourage the cheapest, lowest quality product, consumers have responded with newfound concern for knowing what is in their food and how it is being made. Sadly, agribusiness is now targeting right-to-know labels in two egregious cases regarding milk: 1. banning "rBST- free" labels 2. redefining milk to allow "ultrafiltered milk" (UF) to be labeled as "milk" even though UF milk lacks so many vital nutrients that come from the real thing. read more

Coalition Meets on Food Sovereignty

La Crosse Tribune, published 8/1/06

By: Joe Orso

TOMAH, Wis. A rancher came from Montana. From Texas came an organizer for migrant farm workers. A woman from a church in St. Louis came to learn about developing an urban community garden. They and about 50 others gathered this weekend at Cranberry Country Lodge in Tomah for the summer meeting of the National Family Farm Coalition, a Washington, D.C.-based umbrella group for grassroots organizations that work on family farm issues. read more...

Donated tractors bring cheer to farmers hit hard by Katrina

Hattiesburg American Sat. April 1st, 2006
By Rachel Leifer

SHEEPLO - With a halting first belch from its exhaust pipe, a Wisconsin tractor prepared to take its first ride through Mississippi soil.

The McCormick Farmall was one of five dusty but working tractors unloaded Friday afternoon in front of the Indian Springs Farmers Cooperative in the Sheeplo community near Petal. Representatives of the national Family Farm Defenders had hauled them from southwestern Wisconsin to donate to the Mississippi Association of Cooperatives, a coalition of independent farming cooperatives in 11 counties- many of whose members lost equipment and crops to Hurricane Katrina.

At least two of the tractors are expected to stay at Indian Springs - where farmers like Donnie Pen-Travis said they are sorely needed.

"They might be worth $4,000 or $5,000 to you, but to me they're worth a million bucks," said Pen-Travis, 53, who works a plot of land he said has been in his family for five generations. He beamed as fellow farmers from Wisconsin backed the red and orange vehicles off the back of an 18-wheeler before a crowd of about 50 farmers and pro-organic farming activists.

For a full online version of this story, visit: http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060401/NEWS01/604010308/1002/NEWS17

Biotech Crops Will Hurt U.S. Family Farmers and Deepen the Energy Crisis

By: John E. Peck

A version of this article was published by Common Dreams on 3/29/06 and is found at: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0329-32.htm

As concerns about peak oil mount, the latest group to jump on the renewable energy bandwagon has been the biotech industry. In a March 13th 2006 press release building towards their national convention in early April in Chicago, Jim Greenwood, president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), proclaimed that a new wave of genetically engineered technologies “will end our national addiction to oil.” Nothing could be further from the truth. read more...

Bush Team Squeezes Farmers, Stifles Dissent

By: Jim Goodman
Sun. Feb. 26, 2006 Capital Times (Madison, WI)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts a drop of 23 percent in income for the farming sector this year, on the heels of last year's 12 percent drop. Proposed cuts in farm subsidy payments will account for a significant portion of the decrease in income, a fact farmers will have to get used to in a globalized free trade economy. Much like the rest of the nation's working class, we will be expected to live without a financial safety net. While subsidy programs are at best a very poor solution to a very big problem (low farm income), the real beneficiary of the subsidy program has always been the corporate grain buyers and the dairy and livestock processors. Farmers only want a fair price for what they produce, not government programs that encourage overproduction of low-priced commodities. read more...

What's Wrong With Meat Industry Privatization of Livestock Identification

By: John E. Peck
Family Farm Defenders, executive director
An edited version of this letter appeared in the Wisconsin State Farmer (1/27/2006)

The current controversy over national livestock identification is not just of concern to the meat industry, and the recent opinion piece in the Wisconsin State Farmer (Dec. 30, 2005) by NCBA president-elect, Mike John, warrants a response. Contrary to his claim that NCBA critics do not have ideas of their own, there have been dozens of groups, including Family Farm Defenders, testifying at USDA hearings and presenting proposals. read more...

Frances Moore Lappé Visits Madison

On Wed. Nov. 16th, 2005 acclaimed author and activist, Frances Moore Lappé, visited Madison with her new book, Democracy's Edge, and hosted a well-attended fundraiser to benefit Family Farm Defenders and the Center for Media and Democracy. Since her 1971 groundbreaking book, Diet for a Small Planet, Lappé has become a tireless champion for local food, economic justice, and what she aptly calls "living democracy" read more...

Fair Trade/Dairy Cartel Milks Taxpayers And Farmers

Wisconsin State Journal, Nov. 17, 2005
By: John E. Peck

While I thoroughly agree with the need to eliminate costly agricultural subsidy programs such as the Milk Income Loss Contract, the State Journal editorial of Oct. 24 missed the crux of the dilemma facing dairy farmers in Wisconsin: The editorial failed to also call for strict enforcement of existing antitrust legislation to ensure a fair competitive marketplace. read more...

Our Cooperatives Are Doing Just Fine, Thank You

Wisconsin State Farmer, Nov. 4th, 2005
By Jim Goodman

Cooperatives have been a part of business in rural Wisconsin since they were incorporated under the Capper-Volstead Act of 1922. Cooperatives allowed farmers to join together to buy feed, seed and supplies; sell their milk, grain and livestock; protect their farms with fire, wind and crop insurance. read more...

Family Farm Defenders on WPR

On June 19th, 2005 John Kinsman, president of Family Farm Defenders joined Kevin Danaher, co-founder of Global Exchange, & Mark Kastel, founder of the Cornucopia Institute, for a look at "how the world's farmers are turning to fair trade to help put a human face on the food industry" with Jean Feraca.

Regulators Take Look At Deals In Mercantile's Cheese Market

Chicago Tribune, April 19, 2005
By: Andrew Martin

Amid allegations that the market is manipulated by a handful of powerful insiders, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has reportedly requested documents on trading in the cheddar cheese pit at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. read more...

CAFTA is a new Disaster

Capital Times (Madison, WI), Jan. 27, 2005
By John Kinsman

The Central America Free Trade Agreement will be up for congressional action soon. Winners would be giant transnational corporations such as Cargill, Monsanto, ADM and the like, which would reap huge profits at the expense of millions of farmers who may be starved off the land. read more...

Small-Scale Family Farms Work Best, But They Face Many Threats

Capital Times (Madison, WI), Dec. 16, 2004
By: John E. Peck
Being one of those Midwest children who grew up drinking fresh milk out of the bulk tank, I was bit surprised to read Mr. Oncken’s latest column (Wisconsin State Farmer 12/17/04). Not only does he echo questionable claims made by the food industry about the virtues of pasteurization, but he goes on to sing the praises of confinement livestock operations. On the other hand, most farmers, consumers, and even outgoing Bush Health Secretary, Tommy Thompson, realize there is something horribly wrong with our current system of industrialized agriculture. read more...

Complete Overhaul of Federal Order System Needed

Wisconsin State Farmer, Aug. 27th, 2004
By: John E. Peck

Only a handful of dairy farmers were able to attend the USDA depooling hearing in Bloomington, MN on Mon. Aug. 16th. The rest of the room was packed with attorneys and lobbyists for the dairy industry, including many on the tab of the corporate cooperatives such as Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), Land O’ Lakes, and Foremost Farms USA that have been selling family farmers down the river for decades now. read more...

Doyle’s Factory Farm Subsidies Are A Slap in the Face to WI Family Dairy Farmers

Wisconsin State Farmer Oct. 24, 2003
By: John E. Peck

Amid much fanfare, Gov. Doyle recently unveiled his “Grow Wisconsin” plan to jumpstart the state’s economy. Unfortunately, within days Doyle was also following the tiresome footsteps of Thompson, earmarking millions in taxpayer subsidies for factory farm expansion while smaller dairy operations go bankrupt in droves. This government collusion with corporate agribusiness to drive family farmers to the brink of extinction must stop. read more...

GMOs: Shown to be Destructive

Catholic Herald (Madison, WI), Dec. 25, 2003
By: John E. Peck

I was a bit surprised by the recent “Frankenfood” article by George Weigel in the Catholic Herald (12/4/03), especially since it contradicted so many of the concerns I have heard from farmers and consumers about genetically modified organisms (GM Os). Having done a lot of work with family farmers in Africa myself, I must also say that the description of the situation and motivation behind the continent’s recent rejection of U.S. offered GMO “food aid” is not at all correct. read more...