By Karen Cowgill, CAGJ Board Secretary
In February, I joined representatives of the 30 or so other organizations that make up the National Family Farm Coalition in “the other Washington” for NFFC’s annual Fly-In advocacy days. We split into five groups, each headed by a NFFC staff person, to advocate for legislation to support farmers: mandatory country-of-origin labeling for meats, support for small dairy farms, on-farm slaughter, fair credit for farmers, and farmland for farmers.
Our group spoke to staffers in nine legislators’ offices seeking support and co-sponsorship for the Farmland for Farmers act authored by Sen. Cory Booker. This bill would block large corporations and entities not engaged in farming from buying up farmland as a speculative asset.
The issue of farmland ownership hits close to home for CAGJ in its fight for a just food system, fair treatment of farm workers, an agroecological approach to farming, and exposing and opposing the influence of philanthrocapitalists like Bill Gates, who as of 2025 was the single largest private farmland owner in the US.
It was a great opportunity to meet dedicated people from NFFC and member organizations and learn about this legislation and the struggle to get a fair Farm Bill passed, especially in the current political climate.
Photo of the Farmland for Farmers team:
Left side: Karen (CAGJ) & Augusta Catherin-Sauer (Northern Plains Resource Council)
Right side: Stephanie D. Banks (Federation of Southern Cooperatives) next to Tristan Quinn-Thibodeau (NFFC)
