By Darrin Williamson, Region V FFA Officer and Chapter Vice President, Minnesota Farmers Union Youth Advisory Council Member Happy FFA Week, an annual celebration of FFA and the impact it has on members like me. I am interested and involved in agriculture – including FFA and Farmers Union – because it’s something we do as … Read More
Blog
How Biden’s Executive Orders Will Affect Food and Agriculture
By Hannah Packman, NFU Communications Director Following his inauguration last Wednesday, President Joe Biden has wasted no time implementing his agenda. In the last week, he has issued more than three dozen executive orders, proclamations, and memoranda on a wide range of issues. Many of these actions have implications for agriculture. Here’s a brief summary … Read More
New Year, New Water Test
By Billy Mitchell, NFU Food Safety Training Coordinator Organize the tools. Clean the barn. Patch the pants. As farmers make their New Year’s resolutions, produce growers have an extra one to add: test the water. Contaminated water is often the culprit of produce-related food borne illnesses – but with proper precautions, it can be avoided. … Read More
How the Justice for Black Farmers Act Levels the Playing Field
By Mackenzie Jeter, NFU Intern A hundred years ago, agriculture was a relatively diverse profession in the United States: a million Black farmers operated about 14 percent of the country’s farms. The makeup of the modern agricultural workforce could not look more different. Today, there are just 48,000 Black farmers – a 95 percent decline … Read More
Using Old Methods to Teach New Food Safety Techniques
By Billy Mitchell, NFU Food Safety Training Coordinator Built on Booker T. Washington’s practice of taking educational opportunities to rural areas, designed by George Washington Carver, and financed by Morris Jesup, Jesup Wagons were “moveable schools” that delivered the university classroom experience to farmers across Alabama. Back in 1906, they were horse-drawn wagons but gradually evolved with the … Read More
New Tools Bring the Farm to Screens
By Melanie Arthur, NFU Intern Pre-pandemic, you needed a few essential things to host an on-farm tour or educational event. First, a place for people to park. Second, some hot coffee brewing. And, finally, a good story to tell and a megaphone to carry your voice across the farm and to your attendees. Now, with trucks staying parked at home and farmers getting their coffee refills at home, farm … Read More
Lakota Rancher Strengthens Community with Agriculture Education
By Jeanne Janson, NFU Journalism Intern The last 400 years of Native American history is marred with stories of land being stolen, children being forced into boarding schools and a crusade for assimilation through the erasure of culture. One result of this traumatic history is an entrenched cycle of poverty that persists on many reservations … Read More
Urban Farm Education Continues to Grow
By Billy Mitchell, NFU FSMA Training Coordinator Over the years, the picture of a farmer and farm service provider working together has often looked the same – two people, sometimes with paperwork sprawled across a tailgate, looking out over rows and rows of a crop surrounded by farmland stretched to the horizon. It’s a classic … Read More
Recap of the First 100 Days: The FDA’s Blueprint for the New Era of Smarter Food Safety
By Tracy Heim, NFU Intern As fall transitions to winter, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is reviewing their New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint implementation. On October 26, the FDA hosted a webinar that gave an inside look at the progress made in the first 100 days since the Blueprint announcement in July. … Read More
No Tricks, All Treats With Value-Added Products
By Billy Mitchell, FSMA Training Coordinator Like a moth to a glowing jack-o’-lantern, you may be drawn towards towering shelves of mass-produced candy this Halloween season and tricked into thinking that local treats are a thing of the past. Do not be scared: farm-made, value-added products are alive and well in 2020. The old classics, … Read More