Initiative 300, Nebraska’s Ban on Corporate Farming, Struck Down in Federal Court
In 1982, by a vote of the people, the constitution of Nebraska was amended to include a provision that prohibited corporate farming.
Article XII of the Constitution of the State of Nebraska…Sec. 8. (1) No corporation or syndicate shall acquire, or otherwise obtain an interest, whether legal, beneficial, or otherwise, in any title to real estate used for farming or ranching in this state, or engage in farming or ranching…
The constitutional amendment goes on to generally prohibit corporations and certain other business entities from owning farming or engaging in farming or ranching, with crucial exceptions for family farm and ranch corporations.
But on December 15, 2005, a federal judge declared that Initiative 300 interferes with interstate commerce and violates the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and enjoined the state of Nebraska from enforcing the law.
Attorney General Jon Bruning promised to appeal the decision. Initiative 300 will remain in effect while the case is appealed.
Others are now debating and will continue to debate the merits of the decision in this case, and that debate may play out in an appeal to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. But, at a time like this, it is also important to remember why the Center for Rural Affairs and our allies have fought so hard and so long to preserve Initiative 300.
Dr. Rick Welsh and Dr. Thomas Lyson found in a 2002 report that anti-corporate farming laws are beneficial to the economies and people of rural communities when compared to states without such laws. Rural communities in states with anti-corporate farm laws have lower poverty levels, lower unemployment, and a higher percentage of farms reporting cash gains.
Since 1982 Nebraska has increased its share of the nation’s hog operations, lost fewer hog operations than most pork producing states, and increased its share of cattle on feed. Since 1997 Nebraska has maintained its number of feedlots with cattle on feed and ranks at the top of the nation in the number of smaller commercial feedlots.
Actual numbers of Nebraska cattle and hogs rose (30 percent and 12 percent, respectively) between 1990 and 2000, and Nebraska is currently the #3 corn producer, the #5 soybean producer, the #3 livestock producer, the largest red meat producer, and the largest livestock slaughterer.
In short, Initiative 300 has been part of an agricultural climate in Nebraska that has helped the state retain more family farmers and ranchers than many other states while also retaining agricultural production. And Initiative 300 has helped rural Nebraska communities weather many economic challenges, by considering the good of the many over the wealth of a few.
Contact: John Crabtree, johnc@cfra.org
or 402.687.2103 x 1010 for information.
Editor’s note: Read more about the I-300 court decision and its implications beyond Nebraska in Chuck Hassebrook’s essay on page 8 of this newsletter. This article takes the place of our Corporate Farming Notes this month.
Federal Budget Reconciliation Bill Passed by One Vote
On December 19, shortly before 6 a.m. Eastern time, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Budget Reconciliation Conference Report, a bill that cuts vital programs while increasing the budget deficit to provide more tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans.
The conference report was subsequently taken up and passed by the U.S. Senate on December 21 by a vote of 51-50, with Vice President Dick Cheney casting the tie-breaking vote.
The Senate raised objections to some provisions within the bill and garnered three “Point of Order” votes that removed those from the bill. The House is expected to vote on the measure again immediately upon reconvening. It is expected to pass and become law just the same.
This bill does not reflect fiscal responsibility. It reflects fiscal larceny and the profoundly misguided priorities in Washington DC. It cuts critical conservation, rural development, and energy programs, including support for farmer-owned ethanol and wind power production, while increasing the deficit. It does all this so it can finance a tax cut for the richest Americans and keep million dollar subsidies flowing to mega farms to help them drive smaller operations out of business.
For example, under this bill the Conservation Security Program (CSP), a program designed to reward farmers and ranchers for protecting and improving our natural resources, was cut by more than $1 billion over 10 years. This will allow for a small 2007 sign-up and very little if any growth in subsequent years.
The Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems (IFAFS), a research, extension, and education competitive grants program to address a number of critical emerging agricultural issues including the viability and competitiveness of small and medium-sized farms, was zeroed out and eliminated.
These two programs alone make up more than 70 percent of the total real cuts in the agriculture portion of this bill, even though they equate to only 1 percent of total spending.
Because Congress failed to consider enacting effective payment limitations – the best alternative to cuts in conservation, rural development, and other progressive programs – we will continue to send mega checks to mega farms, all while bankrupting opportunities for everyday rural Americans.
But please let us remind you that we will have more opportunities to advance reform in the future. We will continue to fight for a rural America that includes thriving family farms and vibrant rural communities. We will not rest, and neither should you, until our vision becomes reality.
Contact: Traci Bruckner, 402.687.2103 x 1016 or
tracib@cfra.org for more information on Congress and the budget.
Building a National Network for Action
Organizing rural people across the country is the focus of a new effort the Center and others are spearheading to strengthen all of rural America
You have made a difference in our fight for Rural America, and we thank you. However, greater numbers of people focused on the same issue together can make an even bigger difference! The Center for Rural Affairs is in the beginning phases of creating a vehicle for change: the National Rural Action Network.
We need federal policy that creates a fair opportunity for rural people. Rural areas are falling farther behind metropolitan areas in all economic indicators, and yet national policymakers have not responded with rural policies that create genuine opportunity for rural people.
The need for a well-organized constituency for rural opportunity is obvious. The Center for Rural Affairs, along with some key partners, plans on creating such a constituency that will impact policy decisions.
This network for action will allow thousands of people throughout the country to speak out on the need to create public policies that support a better rural future. Over the next few months we will invite and create an Advisory Committee.
The National Rural Action Network is an aggressive idea whose time has come. As we move forward, look for updates in our newsletter. We are very excited about this concept and expect it to have a major impact for Rural America. Stay tuned.
Contact: Kathie Starkweather, kathies@cfra.org
or 402.687.2103 x 1014.
What if Rural Mattered?
The question itself is presumptuous. And it depends on one’s point of view, I guess. In pop culture, in New York City and Los Angeles, and on Wall Street, not many concern themselves with rural people. In Washington DC, the same is often true.
So, what if rural mattered? Would mega farms be allowed to use unlimited farm payments to drive beginning farmers and smaller operations out of business? Would rural development always be the last farm bill programs funded and the first cut? Would rural poverty and economic hardship be as enduring and persistent as they are now?
If you read what we have written in these pages, you know what we think. But what do you think? What is the value of rural America? What makes it worth fighting for? What would it look like, if rural mattered? Not more than we deserve, but not less either.
Send me an email, write me a letter, or post on our Blog for Rural America –
http://cfra.blogspot.com – because we want to know, we all need to know, what it would look like if rural mattered.
Contact: John Crabtree, johnc@cfra.org
or 402.687.2103 x 1010 with your opinion.
Taking Care of Our Own: A Good Mental Health Model
A town successfully combines education, training, and new personnel to create a rapid, comprehensive system for mental health treatment
The past few months I have concentrated on mental health in small rural communities and the inherent danger we face in the shortage of trained help and the lack of care available. Our situation is not unique. Powell River, a coastal town of less than 20,000 in British Columbia, came up with a creative solution to their lack of mental health care in the community.
Patients needing mental health care were handled by local family practitioners. Many were transferred to other facilities miles away or forgotten completely. Local practitioners and social workers were seeing outpatients of mental health facilities, yet they were not qualified to provide treatment.
The community and the local hospital teamed up to create the Acute Short-term Assessment Program (ASAP) in 1991. Specially trained psychiatric nurses were hired through the hospital, funded by Mental Health Services. They were available to assess patients needing mental health care Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Most of their skills were consistent with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, third edition (DSM III). Nurses were also trained, for a fraction of the cost, on basic biopsychosocial treatment models. And they studied drug and alcohol programs. The end result was uniformity in assessing mental health needs in their small rural community.
Once an assessment was complete, a referral to an area psychiatrist was made. A Triage Team consisting of the psychiatric specialist, the patient’s family physician, the assessment nurse, and sometimes the coordinator of mental health programs within the community was created.
Due to the program’s success, very few patients are seen outside ASAP. This process streamlines the patient to the appropriate care. An analysis is underway, but the main conclusion so far is that a single-entry system like this is rapid and, in most cases, correct. This is a far cry from the previous system in Powell River.
As we experience continued depopulation trends in the Midwest, it may be important to draw on this knowledge from our Canadian neighbors to help solidify a more comprehensive community-based mental health approach for our needs.
Contact: Michael L. Holton, michaellh@cfra.org
or 402.687.2103 x 1015 for more information on rural community development.
Farmers/Ranchers – Thinking of Retiring?
In an effort to keep family farms/ranches in the hands of family farmers and ranchers, the Center is updating our database of landowners who are thinking about retirement in the next few years – landowners who are interested in seeing the countryside dotted with individual families engaged in agriculture.
Please – if you are going to retire in the next few years and are willing to assist beginning farmers/ranchers in getting started, contact the Land Link program at the Center. Many of the beginning farmers/ranchers are willing to work on your farm/ranch with the understanding that they might someday be able to own and operate the land you’ve cared for so diligently.
The Center will use the database for only one purpose – to provide land-link information to beginning farmers and ranchers. Periodically, the Center will also provide you, the landowner, with names and contact information of persons wishing to make farming or ranching their way of life. Our hope is that this information will result in career relationships being developed between retiring landowners and beginning farmers/ranchers.
If you are a landowner who will probably retire in the next few years and are willing to help a new family get started in farming or ranching, please consider sending the following information for the Land Link data base: name, address, phone, email, number of acres in your operation, year (or range of years) you are hoping to retire, major crops and/or livestock in your operation.
Please return this information to Mike Heavrin, mikeh@cfra.org
or by mail: PO Box 136, Lyons NE 68038. If you have questions, call our Lyons office, 402.687.2100 and ask for Michael or Mike, or call 402.254.6893 in Hartington and ask for
Wyatt or Martin.
Tax Incentives for Endowed Philanthropy a Boost to Non-Profits
Nebraska State Senator Matt Connealy, District 16, of Decatur introduced LB 28, and 21 other Senators co-sponsored the legislation, which was signed into law by Governor Dave Heinenan on June 2, 2005. The bill passed on a 39-4 vote by the Nebraska Legislature on June 1, 2005.
The measure authorizes the development of a Nebraska charitable tax credit for irrevocable planned gifts and outright gifts to endowments of Nebraska-based non-profits with a 501 (C)(3) designation from the Internal Revenue Service. It went into effect on January 1, 2006.
Provisions of the Nebraska credit include:
- A maximum annual credit of $10,000 for individual Nebraska taxpayers and corporations doing business in Nebraska and paying state corporate taxes.
- A 30 percent credit for the present value of irrevocable planned gifts from individuals.
- A 20 percent credit for outright gifts from corporations.
- A sunset on January 1, 2010.
In a recent discussion on ways to increase the Center’s Granary Foundation Endowment, Chuck Hassebrook, CFRA Executive Director, had this to say: “For over 33 years, the Center and its supporters have charted a better course for rural America. Together, we have demonstrated practical strategies that work to create genuine opportunity and a better future on real farms and in real communities. We have developed and articulated a policy agenda that offers hope for rural people and communities – and rewards responsible stewardship. We have prepared the analysis to ensure that both are on solid ground.
Next, together we must build a larger, permanent financial base to move to a higher level of impact. With more funding, we can do more outreach and put more organizers in the field to win more hearts and minds, engage more people, and build more power to win key votes in Congress that shape the future. We can help more people build stronger farms, businesses, and communities.”
LB 28 is a boost to the Center and to non-profits of Nebraska. For further information, please feel free to call
Barbara Chamness, 402.687.2103 x 1009.
Keep up with the Nebraska Unicameral
Starting this month the Nebraska legislature goes back in session. Find out all the latest developments through the Center’s weekly email Legislative Update. Sign up by emailing
Jon Bailey, jonb@cfra.org with a request to be added to the Update.
Annual Gathering Features Candidates
You are invited to join us at the Center’s Annual Gathering on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2006 at the Nebraskan Student Center on the University of Nebraska, Kearney (UNK) campus. We’re planning a full day of activities from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Our popular, informal morning teach-ins are slated to begin at 9:30 a.m. They include two sets of seven concurrent sessions each hour. Topics range from the 2007 Farm Bill to obtaining SARE grants to targeting the Hispanic market.
A new item this year are two listening sessions on the possibility of holding a Nebraska “Marketplace of Ideas” next year. This is a highly successful event held annually in North Dakota.
We’ll also have the Small Business Fair once again, with room for up to 20 displays. Browsing time is available in the morning before the teach-ins and after lunch.
Chuck Hassebrook, the Center’s executive director, will give his keynote at lunch.
The main event in the afternoon is a Nebraska Gubernatorial Candidate Forum, with an impartial panel asking the candidates questions focused on the future of rural Nebraska. Nebraska Educational Television will tape the forum for later broadcast on Statewide, their award-winning half hour news show. The Nebraska Public Radio feed may be live. Our annual awards will precede the forum, and a reception will follow to close the event.
We hope these activities will stimulate your mind. For your appetite, we’ll offer refreshments in the morning and after the forum. The lunch buffet will include chicken, beef, two salads, a vegetable, and dessert. We have requested that UNK use Nebraska products for the day whenever possible.
Look for a more detailed schedule on the Center’s website after mid January. If you have any questions, contact
Marie Powell, mariep@cfra.org or Monica
Braun, mbraun@alltel.net .
Leadership Knox County, Nebraska Style
A new two-phase community development project will result in a leadership academy
Experienced community development workers know there are two constants in all communities. First, struggling communities lack leadership. Communities faring better with projects and programs have progressive and diverse leadership. Secondly, communities are largely unaware of assets they can draw upon.
The Center has joined the Home Town Competitiveness (HTC) program to offer community development to Nebraska communities. The “Knox County Leadership Initiative” is a two-phase process taking place this winter in which all nine communities in Knox County will host and address the asset question. Positive changes and attributes are present in every community, and letting them be aware of each other’s assets makes a stronger base from which to draw leadership.
The two types of assets we ask each community to address are tangible and intangible. Tangible assets are easier to define. We asked them to look at transportation, technology, arts and culture, enterprise, land, natural resources, housing, parks, recreation, general initiatives, health, schools, and churches. The intangible assets are much tougher but still need to be identified. These include new attitudes, energy, relationships within the community, and deeper leadership ability.
The second phase of the Knox County leadership initiative involves using neutral, trained resource providers to go into each community and assess weaknesses and needs. These assessments are not new, but developments have fine-tuned the process to give it more meaning.
One of those tools is being touted as the Wyoming model. Under the guidance of Mary
Randolph, Executive Director of the Wyoming Rural Development Council, a relatively easy community assessment tool has been developed to explore the needs of rural communities. In a clearly defined process, including listening sessions, three major questions are looked at:
- What are the major problems and challenges in your community?
- What are the major strengths and assets of your community?
- What projects would you like to see accomplished in your community in the next 2, 5, 10, and 20 years?
What makes the Knox County Leadership Initiative a little different than what others are doing is that we are using the asset mapping strategy to look at each community, and then we are combining the information with the assessment model to complete an analysis of Knox County. The result will be creation of a leadership academy to bring together Knox County leaders to guide them into the 21st century.
Contact: Michael Holton, 402.687.2103 x 1015 or
michaelllh@cfra.org for more information.
REAP Business Specialist Retires after Long Service
Phil Menke retired as of December 31, 2005. Phil was hired by the Center in September 1997 and served as a Rural Enterprise Assistance Project (REAP) Business Specialist until his recent retirement. Prior to working at the Center, Phil was a long-time Center for Rural Affairs Board member and also worked for UNL Cooperative Extension for many years.
Responsible for implementing key REAP services in the southwest/ central region of the state, Phil’s work with the Center over the past eight years made a great difference. Phil helped a number of small businesses through technical assistance, loans, and training.
Phil added, “I was proud to work with REAP, a very good program that serves the needs of rural entrepreneurs. Many of the people we work with are considered underdogs, and I have been proud to work for them. I will keep fighting for rural America.”
Characterized by a great passion and attitude for his work with the Center, Phil will be greatly missed. We wish him well as he enters retirement and thank him for all he has done for rural Nebraska.
I-300 Decision a Blow to State and Local Power over Corporations
The federal court ruling striking down Nebraska’s corporate farm law should send shivers down the spines of all Americans. Its implications reach far beyond agriculture and Nebraska.
The decision will be appealed. But if it stands, it strikes a profound blow to the power of states to control corporate power. And it concentrates power in the federal government. More local and responsive levels of government will be neutered of their ability to control corporate excess.
Nebraska’s Initiative 300 was challenged on grounds that it violates the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution, by discriminating against out-of-state companies in favor of in-state interests. It was prompted by the successful challenge of the South Dakota corporate farm law. But this ruling went much further – to extreme lengths.
The South Dakota ruling was based on circumstances. The judge there found that the law’s proponents demonstrated through their statements that they intended to favor South Dakota companies over out-of-state companies. We disagree with that finding, but the legal rationale was based on longstanding precedent. States cannot pass laws for the purpose of favoring in-state companies over out-of-state companies in interstate commerce.
But in the Nebraska case, the judge never held a trial to discern the evidence. She ruled that Initiative 300 is unconstitutional on its face, essentially because it is inconvenient for out-of-state interests to comply. She based that conclusion on the fact that to qualify as a family farm corporation allowable under Initiative 300, a family member must either live on or operate the farm.
There are two problems with her finding. First, it’s wrong on the facts. Initiative 300 does not distinguish between in-state and out-of-state corporations. So a resident of Utah who works everyday on his Utah ranch could qualify his operation as a family farm corporation with no more difficulty than a rancher in the Nebraska
Sandhills.
And once the Utah ranch qualifies as a family farm corporation, it can place its cattle in Nebraska custom feedlots just like Nebraska ranchers, who don’t drive to the feedlot each day to feed the cattle they own.
But most troubling is the far reaching legal precedent established by the ruling that could undermine a wide range of state laws, thereby transferring power to corporations and the federal government.
For example, it is inconvenient for a Floridian to gain certification to teach school in Iowa, compared to an Iowan prepared to meet those requirements in the state’s teachers colleges. If this ruling stands, will state teacher certification laws be struck down and that responsibility handed to the federal government?
In years past, politicians railed about activist judges handing down liberal rulings. We are in a new era. Now, activist judges hand down rulings that are neither conservative nor liberal, but rather designed to protect corporate interests and concentrate power at whatever level of government they can best manipulate.
This ruling is more evidence that elections matter. It calls on each of us to carefully consider the philosophies of candidates for governor and president on regulation of corporate excess before we cast our votes.
Agree or disagree? Send your opinions or comments to Chuck Hassebrook, 402.687.2103 x 1018 or
chuckh@cfra.org .
Notables this Month
USDA Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Advisory Committee Appointments
In December Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns announced the appointment of 20 members to the Advisory Committee on Beginning Farmers and Ranchers. Among them are two notable Nebraskans: Center assistant policy program leader
Traci Bruckner and Marian Beethe, head of the Nebraska Department of Agriculture beginning farmer program.
Johanns said, “Beginning farmers and ranchers are the future of this nation. I’m confident these committee members will help me find new ways to achieve prosperity for our next generation of farmers and ranchers.” The committee identifies ways to increase participation between federal and state programs to provide joint financing for beginning producers. Members serve for two years and meet at least once a year. Meetings are open to the public.
Workshops for Alternative Farrowing Systems
One of the first educational activities for Iowa and Nebraska hog farmers using alternative production systems will begin in January. The home-based, phone-in system provides farmers with materials and interactive training for high value hog systems.
The workshops are limited to 15 participants. They will receive a CD-ROM of materials, a call-in number, and optional Internet access address. Besides calling in, farmers can view the sessions live on their computers or attend sites at the Gage, Cuming, or Madison County Extension offices in Nebraska. There will be three call-in dates, the first to begin January 18.
The discussion workshops are led by hog specialists from Iowa State University and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Registration is $20 due by January 10. Contact
Duane Reese, 402.472.6425, dreese1@unl.edu
or Dave Stender, 712.225.6196 or dstender@iastate.edu
.
Salatin to Be Featured
The Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Society’s Annual Healthy Farms Conference is on Feb. 3-4, 2006. Partnering with UNL Extension, workshops and exhibits are included. You don’t need to be a farmer to attend!
The conference will be held at Kimmel Research and Education Center in Nebraska City. Daniel Salatin of Swoope Virginia will be on hand both days for workshops and discussions. Daniel is the son of Joel Salatin, an icon for sustainable agriculture in North America. Contact
Paul Rohrbaugh, 402.869.2396, or visit http://www.nebsusag.org
for registration and information.
FEATURE ARTICLE:
Building Hope for a Better Future in a Challenging Age
Center for Rural Affairs 2005 Annual Report
Our Mission: Establish strong rural communities, social and economic justice, environmental stewardship, and genuine opportunity for all while engaging people in decisions that affect the quality of their lives and future of their communities.
Our Vision: Become the leading force engaging people and ideas in securing a better future for rural America.
Fighting the Good Fight for Policy Change
We gained a partner in the fight for limitations on federal farm program payments that subsidize mega farms to drive smaller operations out of business. Oxfam – one of the world’s largest international development organizations – wants big payments stopped because they are undermining Africa’s small farmers. Too often, family farmers around the world are pitted against each other. We’re helping them join forces.
Congress did not pass payment limitations, but we continue to build strength. Payment limitations gained the support of another major state commodity organization – the Iowa Corn Growers Association – thanks to the efforts of committed family farmers speaking out. And a Kellogg Foundation poll found voters in Iowa, Kansas, and Minnesota favored payment limits over other spending cuts by nearly three to one.
We fought to hold our key gains in the last farm bill – the Conservation Security Program, which rewards farmers and ranchers for good stewardship, and the Value Added Producers Grant Program, which helps family operations build new higher value markets. The Conservation Security Program survived an attack on its budget, but lost some funding. The Value Added Program emerged unscathed.
We helped fix some biases in the Conservation Security Program against farmers who rely on legume-based rotations for nitrogen. And we helped steer one-third of the Value Added Producer grants to projects specifically aimed at small and midsize farms or sustainable agriculture.
We joined with a coalition of conservation and rural development groups to work together in shaping the next farm bill to support family farms, conservation, and rural development. We hired a new organizer to build a National Rural Action Network – tens of thousands of people across the nation speaking out for rural America on critical issues before Congress.
In the Nebraska Legislature, we had our best year ever. With our friends and allies, we won $850,000 for grants to family farmers and ranchers for value added initiatives, $250,000 in grants to rural communities for entrepreneurial development, a doubling of funding for microenterprise development (businesses with five or fewer employees), and the nation’s first ever microenterprise investment tax credit.
Microenterprise Development
Our Rural Enterprise Assistance Program (REAP) is one of the nation’s premier rural development programs. But we are not resting on our laurels.
REAP is aggressively growing its portfolio, surpassing $2.75 million in lending to rural microenterprise, businesses with five or fewer employees. It is now approaching 5,000 businesses served with training, technical assistance, or loans. This year we worked with over 500 businesses.
REAP serves all rural microentrepreneurs. It made strides in reaching out to women and Hispanics entrepreneurs – a growing part of rural America. We launched our new Hispanic Business Center to serve over 50 rural Hispanic entrepreneurs. And REAP’s Women’s Business Center received the “Excellence in Microenterprise Work with Women Entrepreneurs” award from the Association for Enterprise
Opportunity (AEO).
REAP is a national model for small business-based rural development. It guides our efforts to build a program in the next farm bill to provide funding for other rural states to establish statewide small business development services.
Hometown Competitiveness Initiative
We are one of four core partners in an initiative led by the Nebraska Community Foundation and funded by the Kellogg Foundation to bring a four-pronged development process to rural communities. Hometown Competitiveness is based on the philosophy that rural communities can control their own destiny by investing their time, talent, and money in small business development, leadership development, youth engagement, and local philanthropy (charitable giving).
The Center’s REAP is a major element in the initiative, providing business training, technical assistance, and loans to existing and potential small businesses. We also arranged youth engagement and leadership development activities in six communities and are facilitating development activities in Knox County.
The Center will play the lead role in carrying the lessons learned to state and federal policymakers. Hometown Competitiveness can provide a model for federal and state programs to support local initiatives to revitalize rural communities across the nation.
New Farm Opportunities and Sustainable Agriculture
We continue to open doors of opportunity to a new generation of farmers. We made three loans of livestock to beginning farmers in partnership with Heifer Project. And we joined forces with the state of Nebraska, University of Nebraska, and Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Society to launch the Farm Beginnings initiative to provide beginning farmer training.
It not enough to help farmers get started; we must also develop opportunities to prosper. Toward that end we assisted seven small cooperatives with 114 members. For them we prepared two feasibility studies and seven market analyses. The cooperatives’ activities include selling natural meats, honey, fresh produce, and products from ostrich and emu fat.
We assisted one dozen Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota family farmers in forming a new cooperative – Family Farmers and Ranchers Meats (FFARM) – to negotiate fair prices for volume delivery of family-farm raised natural hogs and cattle. The cooperative completed a feasibility study and was legally established during the year.
We worked with 39 farmers and three Natural Resource Districts to demonstrate innovative ways of building soil organic matter, thereby reducing atmospheric greenhouse gases. We believe this will ultimately provide farmers across the nation income-earning opportunities as the world struggles to manage climate change.
Doing Our Homework: Research and Analysis
We’ve become one of the nation’s leading sources of analysis on asset-based rural development. By asset-based development, we mean development that helps low and moderate-income people build assets – start businesses, own homes, and gain education.
We provided timely analysis to the national media, policymakers, and the public on proposed federal budget cuts affecting rural America, including a devastating critique of the “Strengthening America’s Communities Initiative.” The Bush Administration Initiative would have eliminated 18 community development programs and replaced them with one – which our analysis demonstrated would bypass most rural communities.
Together with Iowa State University, we analyzed the extent to which a series of USDA programs were serving small and midsize farms. We found much room for improvement. We presented our preliminary report in Washington briefings to 25 congressional and USDA staff and national media.
We published six editions of the Rural Action Brief distributed to 1,900 readers across the nation seeking in-depth analysis of critical rural issues. Our analysis is highly respected by reporters across the nation. It has appeared in over 1,000 news outlets from coast to coast and thereby brought the critical issues facing rural communities to all Americans.
Organizational Strengthening, Communication, and Administration
We are putting the voice of rural America before the nation. We passed a milestone in getting our stories played on as many as 1,300 radio stations across the nation. Our newsletter and website set high standards for timely information on rural issues. Our web blog allows our supporters to talk with us.
The Center runs a lean but effective administrative operation. We passed our annual audit with flying colors, demonstrating that grants and donations are properly spent and accounted. We’re a leader in adopting procedures and creating a culture that prevent self-serving actions by management, such as those that brought down some of the nation’s largest corporations. Our top salary remains little more than twice the lowest.
We cut the number of staff devoted to support services and administration by replacing two directors who left with one director of Administration and Organizational Development. That enables us to commit more of our resources to media outreach and financial development to build power for change.
Even with the reduction, our administrative staff is unsurpassed in timeliness and effectiveness in
keeping the books, paying the bills, and getting out large mailings when developments in Congress demand quick and massive action.
Our new internal staff Unity Council is building teamwork and skills within the staff. The Center has never been blessed with a more cohesive, effective, and motivated staff.
In all of these efforts, we are guided by a skilled Board of Directors with unparalleled dedication and passion for our work and mission. They keep us inspired and on track.
Contact: Chuck Hassebrook, Center Executive Director, at 402.687.2103 x 1018 or
chuckh@cfra.org .
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