by Amy Lesperance, NFU Intern Farmers Union has always supported mandatory labeling as a promotional tool for our domestic producers to highlight the superiority of their products.  American producers are proud of their products and want consumers to know when they are buying the best. In order to dispel some common misperceptions about Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL), … Read More

by Brittany Jablonsky, Director of Advocacy Communications Today NFU joined a diverse coalition of 228 other organizations in delivering a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack urging him to protect the integrity of Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL) for meat products. Today’s letter demonstrates the broad-based support for sensible COOL rules. Organizations signing the letter spanned … Read More

by Brittany Jablonsky, Director of Advocacy Communications On Saturday, the Senate passed a budget on a 50-49 vote, with four Democrats, Sens. Max Baucus, Mont., Mark Begich, Alaska, Mark Pryor, Ark., and Kay Hagan, N.C., joining all Republicans in voting no. The budget is non-binding, and is largely a reflection of the majority party’s priorities. … Read More

March, 2013

by Daryll E. Ray and Harwood D. Schaffer, Agricultural Policy Analysis Center, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN Read the original post at agpolicy.org. On Friday, March 8, 2013, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued a new rule to bring the mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) regulations into compliance with the July 2012 … Read More

by Roger Johnson, President This article was originally published in the March 2013 issue of Rooftops, the newsletter of the National Foundation to End Senior Hunger. Read it in its original form here. Senior hunger is a problem that doesn’t discriminate. Whether in the middle of a metropolitan food desert, or on the outskirts of … Read More

by Brittany Jablonsky, Director of Advocacy Communications Today the agriculture community is celebrating National Ag Day, a time to reflect on the contributions agriculture makes to all of us who depend on the food, feed, fuel and fiber that family farmers and ranchers produce. It’s easy for consumers to take for granted the food that … Read More

by Amy Lesperance, NFU Intern As many in the agriculture community are celebrating the spirit of the American family farmer today around the “Ag Day” celebration, NFU is encouraging consumers and producers alike to understand how food is produced. Many of us don’t know much about the origin of the meat we buy.  Whether dinner … Read More

by Brittany Jablonsky, Director of Advocacy Communications The National Farmers Union convention concluded last week in Springfield, Mass., and, as always, the policy debate was a highlight of the convention. Farmers Union members are truly engaged in the grassroots process from beginning to end, starting with suggestions from the smallest county meeting, to each individual … Read More

By Justin Trammel Saturday, Feb. 16,  was the second day of the NFU College Conference on Cooperatives (CCOC) in Minneapolis.  We started the day off with a breakfast social after which we split into three groups and toured three local co-ops. We first toured a senior citizen housing co-op, 7500 York Cooperative, the nation’s first senior housing cooperatives. … Read More