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National Farmers Union delegates pass eight special orders of business

National Farmers Union delegates strongly supported efforts to stop climate change during their national convention, but they were split on whether to support The Green New Deal recently proposed in Washington. 

President Roger Johnson says, “The big debate there was there was an attempt to merge some talk about the Green New Deal. That was defeated. There was I think very much a feeling that we don’t want to get bogged down in the politics of that.”

Johnson says the group strongly supported the final climate change proposal and additional climate change language in Farmers Union policy, and they want to be a part of the discussion and the solution.

Delegates voted to support a special order of business seeking improvements to the farm safety net.  Delegates said the free fall in commodity prices persists, and that trade disputes and market challenges have evaporated economic security for farmers and ranchers.  Johnson says floor debate strengthened the original proposal. “There was a sentiment that the economic crisis in agriculture is much more severe than what a lot of folks tend to think that it is, and so that was strengthened.”

Farmers Union is calling on Congress to improve upon the new farm bill and strengthen the safety net by increasing PLC reference prices, divert more acres to conservation, and create a mandatory supply management program starting with the dairy segment.

Farmers Union delegates want to see mandatory County of Origin Labeling brought back for beef, poultry, and pork.  Johnson says their convention delegates brought a special order of business to the floor that calls for that and more. “They also talked about this cell-based meat and all of those kinds of things. There was a very strong support for weighing in on those questions as well.”

The National Farmers Union delegates wrapped up business in Belleview, Washington Tuesday.

Overall, National Farmers Union delegates passed eight special orders of business at their 117^th convention covering issues including trade, market concentration, biofuels, and farm labor.