NFU Blog

If there is a group or organization that represents local agriculture, Gretel Norgeot is probably a member. Gretel and her family live in Orleans, Cape Cod, Mass., and are deeply involved in promoting local agriculture every single day, either through farmers’ markets, local garden clubs, school groups or community gardens.

Gretel and her husband, Jeff, became members of the New England Farmers Union chapter when it joined the Farmers Union family last December. For several years before NEFU was formed, NFU was working closely with the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen’s Association (CCCHFA). The Norgeots became involved with the new chapter because Jeff was on the Policy Committee of CCCHFA last year when NEFU formed.

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By Maria Miller Gordon, Ohio Farmers Union

Americans are able to enjoy quality, affordable food over the holidays, thanks to farmers like Jim Zumbrink from Darke County, Ohio. Jim along with his wife Diana, son Scott, son-in-law Bryan and brother John, raise around seven batches of tom turkeys per year.

In the 1990s, the Zumbrink family looked to diversify. “The agricultural economy was depressed and we looked for another source of income from our farm,” explains Jim. He found the answer by diversifying with poultry. Ohio’s turkey industry ranks 11th in the nation, has a production value of more than $510 million and is the fastest growing sector of animal agriculture.

For nearly two decades, Jim has raised tukeys for Cooper Farms in his family’s 40 x 320 foot barn. Cooper Farms, headquartered in northwest Ohio, is one of the largest family-owned turkey processing companies in the nation.

The young turkeys arrive at the Zumbrink farm from Cooper’s hatchery when they are only 24 hours old. Jim and his crew are known as “starter” farmers; the birds are raised from birth to 5 weeks of age. They are then finished, or raised to market, by another producer.

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By Tom Buis, National Farmers Union President

The farm bill unanimously approved Oct. 25 by the Senate Agriculture Committee is a good, fiscally responsible bill that includes record investments in conservation, nutrition, renewable energy development and specialty crop programs. America’s family farmers, ranchers, rural residents and consumers stand to benefit.

The Senate farm bill also contains a permanent disaster assistance program to aid producers affected by devastating weather conditions out of their control; allows for interstate shipment of state-inspected meat so producers can sell their high-quality products to their neighbors across state lines; and, after repeated delays, includes a means to implement mandatory country-of-origin labeling, giving our nation’s consumers the right to know where their food comes from.

Continue reading Tom’s Op-Ed that appeared the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel on Nov. 30.

Some college students live in dorms, some live in luxurious apartments and some live in dirty, messy, “Animal House” houses. Kale Van Bruggen, along with his two roommates Josh and Jason, live in what has been nicknamed, the “Co-op House.”

Kale is a junior at North Dakota State University and is the President of NDSU’s Farmers Union Collegiate Chapter. Kale helped organize the group’s third Annual Charity Dodgeball Tournament last year, which raised more than $1,300 for Farm Rescue, a regional organization committed to helping farmers in times of need. Kale also enjoys attending NDFU’s summer camp, where he has been a counselor for the past two years.

“Serving as a summer staffer was a great opportunity for me to give back to the youth of Farmers Union what I was given as a child,” Kale said. “It’s an entirely new perspective, being on the opposite side of the fence. It was great to give back to Farmers Union by helping the youth of your state grow.”

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Watching the crowds surrounding the presidential candidates made me wonder. What are some of them so afraid of? 

By Richard Oswald, Missouri Farmers Union Member

I just got back from another [2] Presidential Summit in Iowa. I heard some new things, some old things, and I remembered a couple of lessons learned. I take my hat off to the people of Iowa. Your capacity for this stuff is remarkable.

Last year, for eight months, I was a politician. I saw myself as a populist: a man who lives and works among the people while seeking to better their lot in life. Too many times, though, I was more like a stranger in a strange land. I had trouble with that, but I learned something from my opposition.

Standing out in the crowd is one way to gain recognition and votes, and one way to identify a winner is by the number of followers that person has. Last year I called it the Republican Mafia.

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Like any other 25 year-old, Paul Schroeder likes to hang out with his friends, go to the movies, watch football games and attend live concerts, particularly J.B. Beverley and the Wayward Drifters. But unlike most people his age, Paul has a Masters degree in Range Science from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has written a thesis entitled “Grazing System Effects on Cattle Diets in the Nebraska Sandhills” and is heavily involved in his family’s farm operation as well as Nebraska Farmers Union.

Paul was born and raised in Ulysses, Neb., a small town of less than 300 in the eastern part of the state. Paul currently helps run the Schroeder family farm with his parents Mike and Diane, also Farmers Union members, where they raise cattle, chickens, corn, beans, wheat and alfalfa. Paul first started helping his dad with the family farm when he was in high school, and has returned to help full-time after completing his college education.

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Rick Pfanner is a difficult farmer to track down.

Rick grew up on his family farm near Hunnewell, Missouri. Hunnewell is a small rural community of about 250 in Northeast Missouri, and the Pfanner farm is located four miles south, in the heart of Missouri’s farming country. After finishing high school, Rick began full-time in the business that his parents had started. For twenty-one years, Ricky, as his family and friends refer to him, has been running the family farm with his mother and two brothers. The Pfanner farm raises cattle and sheep and produces corn, beans, wheat and milo.

Although he doesn’t find his busy life allows him much free time outside of farming and Farmers Union, Rick enjoys hunting and fishing, but most of all enjoys spending time with his newborn son, Blake. Friday, Nov. 2, also just happened to be Rick, and his wife Dawn’s first wedding anniversary. Congratulations, Rick and Dawn.

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NFU believes that enacting a permanent disaster assistance program is one of the most important pieces of the farm bill. As we can all see by Mother Nature’s devastating effect across the country just in recent weeks – the west coast is on fire while the southeast is drying up – farmers and ranchers would greatly benefit from a permanent program. With the political and economic climate today, ad hoc programs are just not going to cut it.

The current structure of providing disaster assistance on an ad hoc basis often leaves producers waiting for years for relief. Since 1998, Congress has approved 23 ad hoc disaster assistance bills and with each bill, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has to develop and implement a different program.

A permanent disaster program was approved in the Senate Ag Committee bill passed last week, but as the farm bill heads to the Senate floor, many have indicated they will oppose this vital program. It is important to contact your Senators and tell them to support this legislation as the bill goes to the floor the week of Nov. 5. Visit NFU’s Take Action! page to call or email your Senators today.

Last Thursday night, Frank and Laura Jones attended a special dinner hosted by chef Roger Bowser of Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor. Bowser hosts these gourmet dinners every few months to promote local producers and products in his restaurant, and this time around the Joneses were the featured guests. Bowser says of the Joneses’ poultry, “Every time I get a hold of a bird from Earth Shine Farm, I roast it in nothing but salt and pepper, then share it with as many friends as I can.”

Frank and Laura Jones have been raising pastured poultry for 10 years. Together, they run Earth Shine Farm, a ten-acre organic poultry farm outside Durand, Mich., that annually processes and supplies 1,500 table birds directly to consumers and to high-end restaurants mostly within a 45 mile radius of Durand. The Joneses’ birds often make it to the tables of nationally-recognized restaurants and the chefs have nothing but praise for the poultry. Continue reading…

Last week, John Ellis sold an acorn squash to James Taylor. Yes, the gold, platinum, multi-platinum and Grammy award-winning musical artist James Taylor. But for this tractor collecting, local food promoting, kinetic machine racing, Boulder, Colo. farmer, it was just another day.

Growing up in a rural area and acting as a “shadow” to several farmers when he was younger, John was well prepared to begin his own operation in 1970 after returning from serving in the Army. On his farm outside the town of Niwot, Colo. in Boulder County, John grows irrigated hay and wheat, pumpkins, winter squash, rhubarb and dry beans. He also owns a certified organic peach orchard in Palisade, Colo. on the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains. The orchard is about 250 miles west of Boulder.

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