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A Clay County Farmers Union leader is among the dozen Minnesota Farmers Union (MFU) members who joined nearly 250 Farmers Union members from across the nation for the National Farmers Union Legislative Fly-in held Sept. 14-16.
Clay County Farmers Union President and MFU Executive Committee member Melany Thomas traveled to Washington, D.C., to participate in the advocacy event. For her, participation in the Fly-in is putting the preamble of the Constitution into practice and advocating for policy that increases market power for independent businesspeople, family farmers and consumers.
“A lot of issues seem to stem from the same thing, and it seems like the solution is glaringly obvious: We need stronger antitrust and antimonopoly laws,” Thomas said. “Instead, those at the top just continue to buy their way into our democracy when it should be ‘we the people.’”
Thomas met with Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, staff from the office of Rep. Michelle Fischbach and other policymakers.
The priority issues addressed by Farmers Union members included:
- Creating an updated safety net that reflects present realities, not decades-old formulas.
- Promoting fair competition to lower costs for families and raise returns for farmers.
- Reinstating honest labeling so consumers know where the meat they purchase at the grocery store comes from.
- Building durable markets, both domestic and international, to deliver a fair return to farmers.
MFU members spread out across Capitol Hill to meet with many lawmakers and other policymakers while in Washington, D.C.
“Our members met with Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, Reps. Angie Craig, Kelly Morrison and Pete Stauber and aides for Reps. Betty McCollum, Tom Emmer, Brad Finstad, Michelle Fischbach and Ilhan Omar. In addition, they met with officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Department of Justice and Surface Transportation Board,” said MFU President Gary Wertish. “Thank you to all the policymakers, legislative leaders and staff members who took the time to meet with us during our annual trip to Washington, D.C. With record high diesel prices and soaring fertilizer costs as we enter the fields for fall harvest, a chaotic tariff environment creating challenging trade headwinds and pending changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that will impact both consumers and farmers, it’s important that we sit down across from one another and share our challenges and concerns. I remain hopeful that members of Congress will act to pass legislation that supports our family farms and rural communities.”
“Leaving the farm isn’t easy, but the decisions being made in Washington have real consequences for family farmers and our rural communities,” said MFU Vice President Anne Schwagerl. “That’s why I am grateful to our members for making the trip—to make sure lawmakers hear directly from farmers about the need for a stronger farm bill, mandatory country-of-origin labeling, and restoring SNAP and Medicaid funding. Farmers can’t afford to sit on the sidelines when the policies that shape our future are being written.”
Learn more about the NFU Legislative Fly-in at https://nfu.org/events-programs/legislative-fly-in/.
Minnesota Farmers Union news release
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