NFU Offers Associate Membership to Supporters
Posted: February 20, 2013
Categories: Food in the News / GoodFoodBites / News from Sustain Members / News from Sustain Ontario
“The family farm is the cornerstone of the system that provides safe, nutritious food to Canadians. City people, as well as farmers, have a stake in it.” – National Farmers Union (NFU)
The National Farmers Union (NFU), the only farm organization incorporated by an Act of Parliament, offers Associate Memberships to individuals who are not farmers themselves but are seeking a practical method to demonstrate solidarity with progressive Canadian farm families. Joining as an Associate can be an effective way to contribute support for some of the Union’s focal issues such as food safety, environmental protection, and stronger rural communities. Read more about the NFU and this opportunity below.
From the National Farmers Union:
Why should I be a member of the National Farmers Union if I’m not a farmer?
Food Safety
The safety of the food on your table depends largely on the conditions under which it is grown. Producing healthy, high quality food requires that farmers are able to work under just conditions without the economic necessity of sacrificing food quality and safety in order to maximize production. Low prices force us to choose between dangerous shortcuts and losing our livelihood.
Government policies (such as NAFTA) which promote increased global trade in food and the downward ratcheting of safety standards undermine our ability to ensure safe food for Canadian consumers.
We respect public skepticism about Genetically Modified foods, and join with consumers to demand thorough testing, regulation and inspection.
The National Farmers Union continues to work for fair trading policies, greater domestic food self-sufficiency, high safety standards, and full regulatory accountability to the public.
The Environment
Urban and rural communities alike depend on the environment and must take joint responsibility for how it is treated. For example, the use of pesticides can affect water quality in both city and country. Continuing degradation of the soil contributes to urban air pollution.
Progressive, environmentally-conscious farming people are troubled by these environmental problems. But current agriculture policy and the kind of economics it promotes make it very difficult for many of us to change our farming practices.
Farmers need fair prices for the food we produce so that we are not forced to ‘mine our soil’ just to remain viable.
We must have public policy which fosters farming practices that lead to long term environmental and financial sustainability.
Rural Communities
Society is enhanced by a balance between larger, more industrialized urban centres and stable, vibrant rural communities. Stemming the current rural depopulation and the dispossession of farm families (which is contributing to urban unemployment) requires renewed commitment to, and investment in, rural communities. The accelerating drain of wealth and people from the countryside is neither just nor sustainable. All Canadians need to work together on social and economic strategies to achieve a just and healthy balance between rural and urban communities.
An associate membership gives you:
- a voice in shaping agricultural and social policy (Associate members can participate fully in all NFU activity except for serving as voting delegates and/or elected officials);
- an NFU Associate membership card;
- invitations to NFU activities and meetings, including the annual National Convention;
- a subscription to the Union Farmer monthly newsletter – an important source of information and analysis of food and farm issues;
- a subscription to the Union Farmer Quarterly magazine – an in-depth publication that examines timely food and agriculture topics;
- an effective, practical way of showing solidarity with progressive farmers in Canada.
Who is the NFU?
The National Farmers Union is the only voluntary national farm organization in Canada which is committed to:
- ensuring family farms are the primary unit of food production;
- promoting environmentally-safe farming practices;
- giving farm women equal voice in shaping farm policy;
- working for fair food prices for both farmers and consumers;
- involving, educating and empowering rural youth for a better future;
- building healthy, vibrant rural communities;
- ensuring an adequate supply of safe, nutritious food for Canadians.
The family farm is the cornerstone of the system that provides safe, nutritious food to Canadians. City people, as well as farmers, have a stake in it. The National Farmers Union is unique among farm organization in working for people’s interests against corporate control of our food system.
The National Farmers Union:
- promotes fair trade policies for the benefit of farmers and consumers, rather than multinational agribusiness;
- works for fair taxation policies;
- supports public investment in, and control of, transportation and agricultural research for the benefit of all;
- supports the orderly marketing of food for the mutual well being of food producers and consumers.
- took a leading role in getting the ban on Bovine Growth Hormone in Canada.
Progressive farm movements have been at the forefront of the struggles for social and political justice in the past including the fight for Medicare in Saskatchewan (and eventually all of Canada), better publicly-funded education and social services, and equality for women (e.g. farm union women led the campaign for the vote and later Matrimonial Property Acts).
Visit the National Farmers Union to join as an Associate Member.