For Immediate Release: November 21, 2006                    

Contact: Association of Family Farms

David Ward 202-997-1112

Contact: National Farmers Union

Emily Eisenberg 202-314-3104

DENVER (Nov. 27, 2006) - The newly established Association of Family Farms (AFF) has been created in the effort to help family farms become more profitable by providing the source-verified, direct from the farm foods that consumers are demanding. National Farmers Union is teaming up with AFF in an effort to help farm families grow the safe products American families want.

"The food industry faces a major paradox," said University of California Extension's  Larry Yee, an AFF founder and co-chair of the board. "On the one hand, American consumers are demanding healthier, safer, more differentiated food. And on the other, we're losing the very farmers who could best satisfy that demand."

Yee said farms with less than $50,000 in gross annual sales sell most of their crops at farmers' markets, but don't provide enough volume to satisfy growing demand in the retail and food service sectors. Farms much larger in scale grow mostly commodities -- mass produced, undifferentiated wheat, corn, soybeans, livestock and a few other staples, but not the diversity of vegetables, meat and grains that consumers are now demanding from supermarkets and restaurants.

"Many of the farmers in the middle, as we call them, grow the diverse variety of healthier, higher quality food consumers want to buy and also produce enough volume to satisfy demand," Mr. Yee said.

NFU will be working with AFF to educate producers about how they can capture more of the food dollar by participating at a more prosperous level of what AFF calls "value chains." Value chains are essentially food supply chains that replace conventional buying and selling with collaborative practices that ensure a fair return to each participant in the effort to grow and bring trustworthy, high quality food to consumers.

"The Association of Family Farms is embarking on what could be a revolutionary change to our food systems," explained Bart Chilton, NFU's Chief of Staff and Vice President for Government Relations, who joined AFF's national board at its inaugural meeting here last month. "This effort will help to bring farm families and consumer families closer together to provide some of the healthiest foods available, while allowing farm families to retain a greater percentage of the value of differentiated food products -- foods that Americans are increasingly demanding. We know our 250,000 farm families as well as consumers will benefit from this effort," he said.

The AFF board includes ranchers, farmers, fishermen and representatives from all levels of the food industry, including SYSCO, the largest supplier to restaurants, hospitals and schools. Specifically, the board includes Yee and David Ward, serving as co-chairs, Chilton, Fred Kirschenmann, Clark Driftmier, Allen Williams, Fred Stokes, Steve Stevenson, Craig Pendleton, Diana Endicott, Jim Slama, Joe Maxwell, Doc and Connie Hatfield, Kent Mullinix, Craig Watson and Scott Marlow.

Fred Kirschenmann, a third generation North Dakota farmer, said that AFF will provide a "seal" that participants can use on their products that certifies to consumers that farmers meet various standards, including, but not limited to sustainable environmental practices, safe and fair working conditions, humane animal treatment and the absence of hormones, excess antibiotics and genetically modified organisms.

"The AFF seal, accompanied by regional brands for individual products, promises consumers they can trust the quality of their food," Yee said. "They'll know their purchases support family farms and rural communities and are grown by farmers, ranchers and fisherman they can trust."

Sales of organic food, for example, have been expanding yearly by 20 to 25 percent and marketers report that the number of customers with organics in their shopping baskets has increased beyond 65 percent.