At 3 p.m on November 17, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union will host a public meeting at Cheyenne Little America to examine the problem of creating transmission corridors to deliver renewable energy to customers eager for this clean energy.

The panel will be moderated by former PUC commissioner Ron Lehr. Speakers include Craig Knoell (Transmission Infrastructure Manager for the Western Area Power Administration), Loyd Drain (Executive Director of the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority), Brent Orr (President, Cornerstone Transco) and RMFU Director of Renewable Energy Development Bill Midcap.

The panel will look at obstacles and challenges to corridor development. It will offer a new model for cooperative corridor development that includes landowners in the research and development process, provides those in the corridor with fair compensation for the use of their property, and promises to facilitate the build-out necessary if we are to shift our energy use to clean, renewable sources.

Craig Knoell will provide an update on WAPA’s existing transmission infrastructure plan, and Loyd Drain will discuss implications of transmission issues in Wyoming. Bill Midcap will introduce an RMFU white paper on landowner alliances to facilitate corridor development through collective bargaining and annual payments for corridor easements. Brent Orr will discuss his experiences putting into action the ideas presented in the white paper.

The white paper (click for PDF), prepared by the RMFU Foundation’s Renewable Energy Development Center, will be distributed at the panel, which will begin at 3 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17. This event is open to the public.

In a letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union has urged the Obama administration to stand up to corporate agriculture and implement the USDA packers and stockyards (GIPSA) rules. “The Packers and Stockyards Act was passed 80 years ago,” RMFU President Kent Peppler said, “and the regulations mandated by the 2008 Food and Farm Bill, which would control the virtually monopolistic power of industrial livestock operations, have been ‘reviewed’ for nearly two years. Meantime, family livestock operations are trying to stay afloat in a market that is notoriously controlled by a handful of multinational companies. Time has run out for a lot of my neighbors. It’s running out for local and natural meat providers. If these rules are not implemented, time will run out for the credibility of the Obama administration among small agricultural producers.”

In September, RMFU commended Colorado Senator Michael Bennet for addressing this issue with the administration. In a letter to the President, Sen. Bennet urged finalizing the rule published in the Federal Register more than a year ago. RMFU agrees with Bennet that we want “a fair and transparent market in which all livestock and poultry producers compete on a level playing field” and RMFU membership joins in his call to prioritize implementing the rule.

“This is not a political issue,” RMFU’s Peppler observed. “It’s a question of selling out another part of America’s struggling middle class, the independent ranchers whose operations are effectively being reduced to sharecroppers for corporations that own 80% of the meat produced in the U.S. Corporations are not people; they are machines that make money off the hard work of people producing our food, fuel, and fiber. Americans have made it clear that they don’t want industrial meat products if they can choose meat produced through ranching and animal husbandry. If the small rancher is not protected from the predatory practices of the big players in the livestock market, consumers won’t have that choice.”

The Rocky Mountain Farmers Union (RMFU) Cooperative Development Center learned this week that it has been awarded a Rural Cooperative Development Grant of $225,000, which will be used to foster and promote cooperative businesses in rural Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming.
Announcing the awards to RMFU and 35 other organizations in 26 states, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said, “These grants help cooperatives support local projects and initiatives that create jobs and improve rural economic conditions.”

Colorado Senator Mark Udall sent his congratulations to RMFU. “Investing in rural Colorado is a critical piece to our economic recovery,” Senator Udall said, “and I am pleased that RMFU will continue its focus on spurring rural economies so that we can ensure farming and ranching remain a part of Colorado’s way of life.”

Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, which represents family farming and ranching in Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming, has been a leader in cooperative development for many years. Since the founding of the Cooperative Development Center in 1996, RMFU has helped create, manage and sustain more than 100 cooperative businesses.

As part of a three-day legislative visit coordinated by National Farmers Union, members of Rocky Mountain Farmers Union met with Interior Secretary Salazar today in Washington, D.C. The group presented Salazar with a banner carried in the Manassa Pioneer Days parade to recognize his commitment to addressing national problems without causing local ones. Secretary Salazar’s family roots are in Manassa, with many generations of farming in Colorado’s San Luis Valley.

As the Interior Department prepares to update a key federal plan for developing solar projects on public lands in six Western states, RMFU members urged the Secretary to protect traditional land uses, natural resources, and rural families. They provided the Secretary with their on-the-ground perspective about the importance of siting solar plants and transmission lines in a way that will serve local communities, protect the public lands and sustain the region’s agricultural economy and natural heritage.

“Our members support responsible solar development in the San Luis Valley and throughout the West,” Midcap said. “Solar farms are spreading across the country, and many more will be developed in the near future. The Secretary’s personal leadership is the key to ensuring that solar energy is developed in a directed and responsible way.”

Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, which represents family farming and ranching in Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming, has been a leader in rural renewable energy development for many years.

On behalf of family producer operations in Colorado, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union commends Senator Michael Bennet for his fair and thoughtful statement about the controversy surrounding the USDA’ packers and stockyards (GIPSA) rules. In a letter to the President, the senator gave his support for finalizing the rule published in the Federal Register more than a year ago.

“The multinational livestock corporations have tried every trick in the book to thwart the democratic process and protect their privileged status,” said Kent Peppler, RMFU President and fourth-generation Mead farmer/rancher. “The game was over almost a year ago, and it’s time for them to stop whining and move on. The GIPSA rules give small livestock operations a level playing field when they compete with corporate interests. If the corporations don’t think they can win a fair fight, too bad.”

Sen. Bennet’s letter takes into account the issues raised by livestock commodity organizations. As the senator observes, they have had extensions to the comment period for the rule, which the senator called “a valuable forum.” There may be room for improvement in the rule, but until it is implemented, there’s no way to know. RMFU agrees with Bennet that we want “a fair and transparent market in which all livestock and poultry producers compete on a level playing field” and RMFU membership joins in his call to prioritize implementing the rule.

“Family livestock operations and small, local packing plants have been bankrupted by big business tactics the GIPSA rule will curb,” Peppler said. “Americans are tired of hearing that big corporations are going to fail if we don’t give them special privileges. And we aren’t frightened by the threats that they’ll get even by raising prices. Local producers are the lifeblood of a secure food supply, and the GIPSA regulations will give them a fair chance to return to the success our country was built on.”

Rocky Mountain Farmers Union members will join with National Farmers Union to meet a challenge grant benefitting Feeding America. Executive Director Ben Rainbolt announced today that RMFU and FUSA Insurance Agency will donate $500 to start RMFU’s commitment.

The Howard G. Buffet Foundation has offered to match every dollar given through Farmers Union members to Feeding America, up to his $50,000 challenge. Howard G. Buffett is a farmer and philanthropist with roots in the Midwest and an advocate for of Feeding America’s fight against hunger. The challenge grant provides a medium for the agricultural community to support hunger relief and help their neighbors in need. Feeding America will send the funds from each states’ members back to food banks serving their communities.

Over the years Feeding America has been a friend to farmers, standing by their side on many legislative issues of interest to the farming community. The Buffet challenge is a chance to give back. Feeding America is the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization. Every year they reach 37 million hungry Americans, nearly 14 million of them children. Their network of local food banks uses donations so efficiently that each dollar donated is worth $17 in food and groceries. The Buffet challenge is a chance to double that impact.

RMFU members and FUSA agents will be spreading the word and donating generously in the coming months. Donations can be made online at www.feedingamerica.org/NFU, or by sending a gift to Feeding America NFU Campaign, PO Box 96749, Washington, D.C., 20090-6749.

Rocky Mountain Farmers Union hosted a roundtable discussion Thursday, July 14, at RMFU’s offices in Denver with National Farmers Union (NFU) President Roger Johnson. The program focused on consumer issues, including the environment, organic foods, health care, and nutrition programs. Roughly 70% of the budget for the “Farm Bill” is dedicated to nutrition programs like SNAP (formerly “food stamps”). The discussion was moderated by RMFU President Kent Peppler, a fourth-generation Mead, Colo., farmer.

“In addition to its impact on farmers, ranchers, and agriculture, the Farm Bill addresses many food and nutrition issues,” said Peppler. “As the time to shape national policy on food and farming approaches, RMFU and National Farmers Union will hold listening sessions to see that everyone with a stake in the bill gets a fair hearing. Our first meeting emphasized the common interests of consumers and producers. In the coming months, we intend to keep the needs of family farmers and ranchers, and the needs of rural America, in front of Congress during the debate on agricultural policy.”

Panelists included Dan Grossman of the Environmental Defense Fund, Rocky Mountain Organics Farmers Union President Claudia Ferrell, Moe Keller and Amanda Callahan from Mental Health America of Colorado, and Kathy Underhill and Katherine Moos of Hunger Free Colorado. After brief presentations by the panelists on each area of expertise, the morning was spent in lively discussion.
Roger Johnson and Kent Peppler provided overviews of the Farm Bill and the legislative process that historically shapes it. Johnson pointed out that direct agricultural interests actually make up a small percentage of the total bill, more accurately termed “the Farm and Food Bill.” Kathy Underhill pointed out that child nutrition is the key to maintaining our social fabric, rural or unban, and the panelists agreed that nutrition, conservation, and agriculture have common interests that outweigh any differences.

After the meeting, Johnson said, “Americans pay less for food than citizens in any other industrialized country, and they get the safest, most abundant food supply in the world. This is because America’s family farmers and ranchers have a safety net and can keep producing in tough times. We must make sure they continue to be protected in the next farm bill, so that they can keep producing food for all of us.”

RMFU President Kent Peppler praised Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar’s announcement today that Interior will look closely at water issues and agricultural impacts as the discussion of oil shale development moves forward. “Secretary Salazar described water use as an essential issue in the oil shale debate, and we couldn’t agree more,” Peppler said. “Most of the oil shale lands are on the Colorado River basin, which has been over-allocated from the beginning of the interstate compact. We need to know how much water oil shale developers need, where they expect to get it, and what condition it will be in when they are through with it. Agriculture is the cornerstone of Colorado’s economy and the basis for America’s food security. The secretary understands this, and we urge him to keep it in his thoughts as we move forward slowly on oil shale development.”

Among those recognized at the RMFU Convention was FUSA insurance agent Kyle Bradley of Colorado Springs. Announcing the award, RMFU President Kent Peppler said, “Farmers Union Service Association and its agents are our friends and partners in rural communities. Our success depends on the FUSA agencies’ strong tradition of community service. The Agent of the Year Award goes to an agent who stands out among these friends, one who  strives to make a difference for their clients and also takes an active role in RMFU and their community.”

Kyle Bradley certainly fits the description. He has been with Farmers Union Service Association for nine years.  During this time he has worked hard to serve the values and needs of the RMFU community. He has committed time and effort as the president of the RMFU Agents Association. He has sponsored a camper each year to RMFU summer leadership camps in Bailey, Colo. He has worked the RMFU booth at the Colorado State Fair and supported the RMFU/FUSA charity golf tournament. He has demonstrated leadership through his service.

Kyle is a graduate of the RMFU Fellows program and newly elected president of the Denver/Jefferson County Farmers Union, which he served last year as vice president. He has consistently been one of the top membership recruiters, and he contributed his agency’s time to help test a new on-line membership dues process.
Bradley’s commitment to his community extends beyond RMFU and FUSA. He is a member of the Black Forest Business Group and the Castle Rock Chamber of Commerce. He helps with the local fairs, and he sponsors the Royalty Breakfast at the El Paso County Fair and High School Rodeos.  “His District Manager describes him as ‘a model agent,’” Peppler concluded, “and we at Rocky couldn’t agree more.”

This year’s annual convention of the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, a grassroots organization representing family farmers and ranchers in Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming, will feature the Harvest Moon Gala, a fundraiser for the RMFU Foundation. The event, on Friday evening, November 19, at the Colorado Springs Doubletree Hotel, will include dinner, games, an auction and a grand prize drawing for a week at a condo in Mazatlan.

The RMFU Foundation is a 501c3 that offers educational programs to not only our members but a broad base of  interested people in the Rocky Mountain region,” said RMFU Executive Director Ben Rainbolt. “In these tough economic times, an event like the gala gives people a light-hearted way to make their charitable contributions. We have put together a great selection of prizes and auction items, thanks to the generosity of members and friends.”

Recent Foundation programs include summer leadership camps for school-age members, a Fellows training program for young adults that concluded with a visit to Washington, D.C., and community programs presented in two dozen Colorado counties to provide information on ballot initiatives.

The Harvest Moon Gala is a ticketed event. For more information, call 303.752.5800.