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The Leopold Center’s Agriculture of the Middle task force
organized by Fred Kirschenmann and a U.S. Department of
Agriculture initiative launched in 2003 by California
extension leader Larry Yee have united to form a new
organization, the Association of Family Farms (AFF).
The new group has a 20-member organizing committee and an
ambitious slate of projects. While they wait for by-laws to
be approved, the group has launched a web site and developed
a brochure that outlines their solution to what members see
as a huge problem under the current agricultural production
system: loss of midsize family farms.
Kirschenmann said the new association’s goal is to create
opportunities and markets for midsize operations with
special emphasis on farms with gross annual sales between
$50,000 and $500,000. A nonprofit branch is being formed to
develop standards and to adapt an electronic certification
system currently used in Europe. A for-profit group has
started work on a national branding campaign.
The national effort is closely linked to work being done in
Iowa by the Leopold Center, Kirschenmann explained. “Our
on-the-ground research in the Marketing and Food Systems
Initiative helps support the national effort, which in turn,
is working to create larger markets that Iowa farmers, such
as those involved in the Pork Niche Market Working Group,
can plug into,” he said. “If we only look at markets that we
develop in Iowa, it’s not going to work. Companies like
SYSCO can’t get a sufficient supply of such differentiated
products if we limit ourselves to Iowa.”
Rather than supplying commodities, farmers will produce
highly differentiated products that are tied to point of
origin, sustainable production practices and absence of
genetic engineering, antibiotics and growth hormones. Also
key is the value chain – producers, processors, distributors
and retailers who share core values of sustainability,
transparency, fair distribution of profit, high quality
product and relationships with the consumer.
To organize its efforts, the association received grants
from several foundations including the W.K. Kellogg
Foundation, Farm Foundation and Johnson Foundation, and an
organic pet food company, Pet Promise, Inc., as well as
SYSCO, Inc., North America’s largest distributor for
restaurants and food services. The Leopold Center has
contributed Kirschenmann’s time and travel expenses to
attend meetings.
A California consultant, Michael Dimock, has been contracted
to coordinate the project. The AFF web site is at:
www.associationoffamilyfarms.org.
The Agriculture of the Middle web site is at:
www.agofthemiddle.org.
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