National Farmers Union (United States) - History

History

The National Farmers Union was founded in 1902, and since then has been politically involved in many issues. It was only a year later that they formed their first marketing cooperative. In the early 1900s they campaigned for both a parcel post system, direct election of senators, and voting rights for women. Their efforts also led to the enactment of the Federal Farm Loan Act. This act established twelve Federal Land Banks.

In 1930 the organization established a youth education program, and in 1936 it promoted the Commodity Exchange Act. In 1934, it absorbed the once-powerful American Society of Equity. In 1943, the NFU campaigned to make school lunches permanent, and two years later was a founding member of Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe (CARE). The NFU once again made their mark on school lunches when they helped pass school milk legislation through Congress. 1954 also saw the organization fight for a refund of the federal gas tax for gasoline used for agricultural purposes.

In 1966, NFU worked to fight poverty by founding Green Thumb (now known as Experience Works), which secures employment for low-income and older workers. When efforts were made to eliminate the United States Department of Agriculture as a cabinet-level agency, the NFU was successful in blocking these efforts.

During the 1970s, the NFU was influential in the development of rural health systems, and was also included as part of the World Hunger Action Council. In 1980, the organization was influential in passing a capital gains tax on foreigners who held US farmland.

In 1982, the NFU was influential in getting a portion of the military budget shifted to humanitarian food aid using commodity surpluses from the US. In 1990, the organization pushed for increased regulation of and a national standard for organically-produced food. In 2002, the NFU was one of the leaders of a coalition of 165 farm and consumer groups which helped establish mandatory country-of-origin labeling. It took even more additional effort in order for the country-of-origin labeling to be officially implemented, and the National Farmers Union led the charge. The labeling finally went into effect September 30, 2008.