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FLAG HomeWays to Support FLAG
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7th Immigrant and Minority Farmers Conference Friday and Saturday, February 3-4, 2012 St. Paul, MN (12/19/11) FLAG Presents Awards to Three Outstanding Advocates for Family Farmers (12/8/11) FLAG Announces Three New Board Members (10/17/11) FLAG Celebrates 25-Year Fight for Family Farmers with Civil Rights Pioneer Shirley Sherrod (10/14/11) Family Farmers Mourn the Loss of a Friend and Legend (9/8/11) FLAG Announces New Staff Attorneys (2/18/11) FLAG Submits Comments to USDA in Response to GIPSA Rulemaking (12/16/10) FLAG Outlines Legal Tools Available for Dairy Farmers in Tough Economic Times (12/16/10) Keepseagle v. Vilsack Case Settles (11/2/10) Documenting and Reporting Losses Is Key to Securing Assistance for Flood Losses on the Farm (10/26/10) 6th Immigrant and Minority Farmers Conference SAVE THE DATE (10/8/10) New Report Says Federal Policies Discourage Farmers from Growing Fruits and Vegetables (8/3/10) Farmers’ Legal Action Group Calls on Agriculture Secretary Vilsack to Reinstate Shirley Sherrod (7/21/10) News and Press Release Archive For Release: Dember 19, 2011 7th Immigrant and Minority Farmers Conference Friday and Saturday, February 3-4, 2012 St. Paul, MN
Women and immigrants are among the fastest growing sector of farmers. The conference supports these new and aspiring farmers and their contribution to an adequate supply of local foods, local economic development and healthy communities. The 7th Immigrant and Minority Farmers Conference will be held on February 3-4, 2012 at the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters Event Hall, 710 Olive Street, St. Paul, MN. The theme of the conference is “Planting Seeds for Success on your Farm.” Registration is on-line at www.mnfoodassociation.org, or by calling MFA at 651-433-3676, or the Association for the Advancement of Hmong Women in Minnesota at 651-222-0475 or for Spanish speakers call the Main Street Project at 507-786-9900. The conference is free to farmers, and language interpretation is available. The cost for other interested parties is $50 a day. Please register by Monday, January 23, 2012. Interested farmers and CBOs who have questions should contact Ly Vang, at 651-222-0475, e-mail: lyvangaahwmn@yahoo.com; Joci Tilsen at 651-433-3676 ext. 14 or e-mail: jtilsen@mnfoodassociation.org; or Nigatu Tadesse at 651-602-7705 or email nigatu.tadesse@mn.usda.gov. For Release: December 8, 2011 FLAG Presents Awards to Three Outstanding Advocates for Family Farmers
Dale Reesman, who passed away on September 6 of this year, was a member of FLAG’s Board of Directors since its beginning in 1986 and served as an officer on the Board since 1999. Throughout his long career as an attorney in private practice in Boonville, Missouri, Dale represented many family farmers and, in particular, worked on farm credit cases since the credit crisis began in the early 1980s. Dale was one of the few attorneys who stood up to USDA’s Farm and Home Administration in the 1980s when it was foreclosing on family farms with no due process. He filed a successful challenge to FmHA’s attempted foreclosure of the Allison family farm, which set legal precedent and paved the way for the Coleman v. Block national class action that halted the foreclosures of tens of thousands of family farms. The same year FLAG was founded (1986), Dale was honored with the Pro Bono Publico Award from the American Bar Association and the Missouri Bar Association Pro Bono Award. During his law career, he also received the Missouri Bar Foundation Spurgeon Smithson Award and the Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, Inc., and Special Meritorious Award for Service to the Poor of Missouri and the Nation. Dale served in the U.S. Army in the 1950s, graduated from law school in 1959 (having served on the Board of Editors for the Missouri Law Review), and joined the law firm where he practiced for 52 years (now Williams, Reesman and Tate). In addition, he was a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Dale never stopped representing family farmers, always taking the case that no one else would take, always representing David in the fight against Goliath—often regardless of the farmer’s ability to pay. He provided mentoring and guidance to new generations of lawyers through his 25-year service on FLAG’s Board, always with kindness and humor. He was FLAG’s longest-serving Board member. We will miss him dearly. Dale’s wife, Phyllis Reesman, graciously accepted the Lifetime Friend of the Family Farmer award on his behalf. Betty Puckett has been a member of FLAG’s Board since 1989. Betty and her husband farm near Alexandria, Louisiana, and Betty has worked as a farm advocate for decades at the Louisiana Interchurch Ministries. “Farming is a special way of life,” says Betty. “Helping farmers stay on their land and continue farming is a matter of social justice for me. It’s in my blood.” Betty travels throughout the state and the region, consulting with farmers, helping them with their financial planning and finding access to credit, dealing with the aftermath of weather disasters, teaching them their basic legal rights, sometimes needing to find help for farmers to avert suicide attempts, and representing them at USDA administrative appeal hearings. Betty was a critical member of the response team for farmers in the South whose operations were devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Benny Bunting, who joined FLAG’s Board in 2010, is a farmer and the Lead Farmer Advocate with The Rural Advancement Foundation International–USA (RAFI-USA) based in North Carolina. Benny is a self-taught authority with encyclopedic knowledge of federal, state, and local farm programs. Years ago, Benny had to fight to save his own farm and has since helped countless farm families avoid bankruptcy and foreclosure. He does this by logging long hours and miles, traveling to meet with farmers who are in distress, and working day and night, seven days a week, to help them. According to the calculations compiled by RAFI-USA, he “has been successful 90 percent of the time and has saved farm families an estimated $42 million.” In 2008, Benny received the Nancy Susan Reynolds Award for Personal Service from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, in honor of his many years of hard work as one of “the unsung heroes of North Carolina whose vision, determination, resourcefulness and strength of character have caused them to make a positive difference in the state...often...at great personal or professional sacrifice.” When presenting FLAG’s Family Farm Champion awards, Susan Stokes thanked Ms. Puckett and Mr. Bunting for their decades of service to those who have struggled to earn a living off the land. “They have reached out, with generosity, compassion, and skill, to help the other family farmers around them. We are enormously grateful for their years of selfless service.” View Press Release (PDF) For Release: Oct. 17, 2011 FLAG Announces Three New Board Members ST. PAUL, MINN. — Farmers’ Legal Action Group, Inc. (FLAG), the 25-year-old nonprofit law center that works to keep family farmers on their land, has appointed three extraordinary new members to its Board of Directors. Sarah Vogel, an acclaimed attorney, returns to FLAG’s Board after serving for more than a decade before she left in 2009 to focus her work on the Keepseagle v. Vilsack discrimination class action lawsuit on behalf of Native American ranchers and farmers. Sarah began representing family farmers in 1981 and was the original lead counsel in Coleman v. Block, a famous national class action case on behalf of 240,000 farmers that resulted in an injunction prohibiting the federal foreclosure on nearly 80,000 farm families. She served two terms as North Dakota’s Commissioner of Agriculture from 1989 to 1996, where she established the North Dakota Agriculture Mediation Service. Sarah is currently of counsel at the Bismarck firm of Baumstark Braaten. Other significant cases Sarah litigated on behalf of family farmers include Wiley v. Glickman, in which 8,000 farmers received $43 million in crop insurance coverage for their durum wheat, and Jorgenson v. Agway, Inc., which held that farmers may use the consumer fraud laws to recover losses from the sale of bad seed. Robert Lee is Hmong American farmer and FLAG client who came to the United States in 1988 from a Thai refugee camp. Robert and his wife, Nancy, reclaimed their farming traditions in Minnesota, and now grow vegetables in St. Michael for Twin Cities-area farmers’ markets and institutional customers. The Lees have been pioneers in the Hmong American farming community, becoming one of the first immigrant farm families to master the complexities of federal farm programs’ application and claims process, and they have also become mentors for other immigrant farmers. Thom Petersen is the Director of Government Relations for Minnesota Farmers Union (MFU), and a long-time advisor, collaborator, and friend of FLAG. Thom works with MFU’s farmer-members in both Washington, D.C. and St. Paul, and has served as a member of the State Organic Task Force and the Minnesota NextGen Energy Board. Petersen grew up on a farm in Pine City, Minnesota, and lives with his wife, Alana, their two sons, and some horses, across the road from his parents, who still farm. Petersen brings to FLAG’s Board an enormous range of experience and connections—unequaled knowledge of state and federal farm policy and how those policies affect farmers’ daily lives; a travel schedule that takes him to most every county of our home state every year; and intense work with the state Legislature on issues that affect family farmers. “We feel incredibly fortunate to have Sarah, Robert, and Thom agree to join our Board,” said Susan E. Stokes, FLAG’s Executive Director. “FLAG’s mission of serving family farmers will be stronger with their experience, perspective, and counsel in the years ahead.” View Press Release (PDF) For Release: October 12, 2011 St. Paul, MN - Shirley Sherrod—the civil rights pioneer driven from her executive position at USDA by a right-wing media campaign, and who later received a personal phone call from President Obama—will be the featured speaker Thursday, November 3, 2011, at an event in St. Paul celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Farmers’ Legal Action Group, Inc. (FLAG), the nonprofit law center dedicated to serving family farmers. The Nov. 3 event—with Minnesota’s Commissioner of Agriculture Dave Frederickson as Master of Ceremonies—will begin at 7 p.m. at William Mitchell Collegeof Law’s Auditorium (Room 245), 875 Summit Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota. A reception will follow the program. Sherrod, a long-time FLAG Board member, was the USDA State Director of Rural Development in Georgia last summer when a blogger posted a distorted video suggesting that she, an African American woman, had denied help to a white farm family. In fact, the speech portrayed in the video was about Sherrod’s work saving a family’s farm many years prior to her accepting her position at Rural Development. No matter. The cable channels and talk radio exploded. The USDA fired Sherrod without an investigation. And, when the truth emerged within days, President Obama called Sherrod confirming the USDA’s apology, expressing his “regret” for her dismissal, and asking her to return to USDA. She chose to continue her work outside of government. Sherrod’s upcoming remarks— “Healing Racial Wounds: Poverty, Race and Family Farming” — will cover her decades of advocacy on behalf of family farmers, civil rights, and a life that began in the tumultuous segregated South and became shaped by a dedication to the idea that much of the fight for justice and family farmers is about poverty, not race. “It’s not just about black people, it’s about poor people,” Sherrod says. “We have to get to the point where race exists but it doesn’t matter.” Register for the Nov. 3 event by clicking here or call FLAG at 651-223-5400. View Press Release (PDF) Family Farmers Mourn the Loss of a Friend and Legend
Dale never stopped representing family farmers, always taking the case that no one else would take, always representing David in the fight against Goliath – often regardless of the farmer’s ability to pay. He provided mentoring and guidance to new generations of lawyers through his 25-year service on FLAG’s board – always with kindness and humor. He was FLAG’s longest-serving board member. We will miss him dearly. View Dale's obituary News Release FLAG Announces New Staff Attorneys ST. PAUL, MINN. — Farmers’ Legal Action Group, Inc. (FLAG) announces that Hli Lee Xyooj and Amanda Noonan Heyman are FLAG’s newest staff attorneys. FLAG, a 25-year-old nonprofit law center based in St. Paul, Minnesota, is dedicated to providing legal services and support to family farmers and their communities in order to help keep family farmers on the land. Hli Xyooj joined FLAG in 2006 as its Hmong Community Outreach Coordinator and became a Staff Attorney last year. Ms. Xyooj leads FLAG’s work providing legal services to the Hmong farming community and works with Hmong American farmers in all aspects of their farm operations. Ms. Xyooj earned her B.A. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1999, with majors in International Relations, Political Science, and Asian Studies with a concentration in Southeast Asia. She graduated from Hamline University School of Law with a J.D. degree in 2007 (where she also obtained her Certificate in Dispute Resolution from the Dispute Resolution Institute) and completed her M.B.A. degree from Hamline University School of Business in 2008. Hli was born in Thailand but raised in Minnesota. Amanda Noonan Heyman joined FLAG as a staff attorney in January 2011. Prior to joining FLAG, she served as a judicial law clerk for U.S. Magistrate Judge Franklin L. Noel and U.S. District Judge Ann D. Montgomery in the District of Minnesota. During her clerkships, Ms. Heyman worked on a wide variety of cases, including contract disputes, civil rights litigation, administrative appeals, and First Amendment claims. In addition, she has significant experience in the legal services setting, including advocacy on behalf of Hurricane Katrina survivors on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Ms. Heyman earned her law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 2008, where she was a Clarence Darrow Merit Scholar, an editor of the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, and co-chair of the Environmental Law Society Board. In 2003, she obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism and a certificate in Environmental Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before embarking on her legal career, Amanda won several awards for her work as a newspaper reporter in Wisconsin and New Mexico. View Press Relase (PDF) New Release FLAG Submits Comments to USDA in Response to GIPSA Rulemaking ST. PAUL, MINN. — In November, Farmers’ Legal Action Group, Inc. (FLAG) submitted two sets of comments on the proposed rules issued by the Grain Inspection and Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) at 75 Fed. Reg. 35338 (June 22, 2010), making a case for a return to fairness in the markets for slaughter livestock. One set of comments was filed on behalf of the Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC) and the Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment; the other set of comments was filed on behalf of the Rural Advancement Foundation International – USA (RAFI) and the Coalition for Contract Agriculture Reform (CCAR). Both sets of comments focus on the Packers and Stockyards Act (P&SA) and promoting fair competition and ensuring fair trade practices in livestock and poultry and swine production markets. These comments are available in the “Comments to Rules” section of the FLAG website (www.flaginc.org) They address a wide range of problems that livestock and poultry producers face as a result of two prominent methods used to accomplish vertical integration or coordination in today’s highly concentrated agricultural commodities markets: (1) the use of production contracts in the poultry industry, and (2) the use of captive supplies procurement methods (forward contracts, marketing agreements, and packer ownership of livestock) in the hog and cattle sectors. View Press Release (PDF) News Release FLAG Outlines Legal Tools Available for Dairy Farmers in Tough Economic Times ST. PAUL, MINN. — As Minnesota’s dairy farmers struggle through another year of low milk prices and high operating costs, Farmers’ Legal Action Group, Inc. (FLAG) has posted on its website a booklet – “Tools for Dairy Farmers in Tough Economic Times” – that outlines legal tools available for the state’s dairy farmers who are facing such challenges as loan restructuring, disaster assistance, access to credit, and bankruptcy. Dairy farmers’ incomes have historically gone through cycles of highs and lows. But during the current recession, they have struggled through a severe combination of low prices for their milk and high prices for inputs such as feed and fuel. In some areas, bad weather has not helped. Organic dairy farmers have suffered particularly from a softening in demand for organic milk at the same time supply was increasing. The new guide is available without charge at FLAG’s website (www.flaginc.org). It outlines possible options for dairy farmers who are struggling to run the farming operation, make scheduled payments on debts, or meet basic needs. This booklet suggests several legal tools to help Minnesota’s dairy farmers achieve a long-term solution to the problem and achieve a positive cash flow for the farming operation. View Press Release (PDF) New Release Contacts:
St. Paul—The Association for the Advancement of Hmong Women in Minnesota, Minnesota Food Association and USDA-Farm Service Agency will jointly co-host the 6th Immigrant and Minority Farmers Conference on February 4-5, 2011 at the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters Event Hall, 710 Olive Street, St. Paul, MN. The theme of the 2011 Conference is “Planting Seeds for Success on your Farm.” The two-day conference will focus on important topics for the farmers that include whole farm planning, season extension, organic practices, finding resources for your farm, seed saving, poultry production and diversifying markets. Keynote presenters at the conference will be Dr. Yang Dao, a Hmong scholar and diplomat with a deep understanding of the role of farming in the Hmong community; and Kathleen Merrigan, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, has been invited to speak on the importance of small vegetable producers to our economy. Registration is on-line at www.mnfoodassociation.org, or by calling MFA at 651-433-3676, or the Association for the Advancement of Hmong Women in Minnesota at 651-222-0475. The major barriers for success in farming for minority vegetable growers in the Twin Cities metropolitan area (as well as other regions in the nation) are: access to and knowledge of markets, access to agricultural land, and language and cultural barriers. The upcoming conference provides welcome opportunities for minority and underserved farmers who have many needs for assure sustained successes in their small farm operations. The 2007 Census of Agriculture shows that immigrants are among the fastest growing sector of farmers today. Immigrant farmers are passionate about and experienced in agriculture, and have shaped the character of U.S. agriculture throughout American history. While the number of farms in our country has been declining since WWII, the census now shows a leveling of this trend, which can be partially accredited to the increasing numbers of immigrant farmers across all demographic groups. Immigrant farmers are diverse in terms of country of origin, where they live now, what they produce and how they sell. By supporting these new and aspiring farmers, we not only will ensure that there will be an adequate supply of local foods available in our communities, and a contribution to local economic development and healthy communities. The conference plans for interpretation into Hmong, Oromo, Karen, Bhutan and Somali languages. The conference hosts invite farmers of any language to register. Interested participants please call the hosts with translation or other needs. The training conference fosters partnerships between non-governmental community-based organizations, the University of Minnesota and other education institutions, and both the Minnesota and US Department of Agriculture agencies to assist minority, limited resources and underserved farmers in Minnesota and Western Wisconsin. This conference is free to farmers; others $20 for one day or $30 for two days. We would like everyone to sign up by Monday, January 24, 2011. Interested farmers and CBOs who have questions should contact Ly Vang at 651-222-0475 or ; Joci Tilsen at 651-433-3676 ext. 14 or ; and Nigatu Tadesse at 651-602-7705 or . View Press Release (PDF) News Release New Eminent Domain Law Protects Farmers, Landowners when Pipelines and Power Lines are Proposed on their Property Farmers and other landowners have new protections from eminent domain when utility corporations seek to condemn their property for power lines and pipelines. The 2010 Legislature overwhelmingly (124-7 in the House and 59-5 in the Senate) sided with farmers rather than corporate interests and eliminated exemptions for utilities from laws passed in 2006 to protect landowners from condemnation. The new law, which applies to a condemnation proceeding for a pipeline or power line easement or fee title (Minn. Stat. §117.189 (2010), provides the following protections:
In addition, for the first time in Minnesota, the Public Utilities Commission ordered in the CapX2020 Brookings Project high voltage power line case (PUC Docket 08-1474) that utilities must inform landowners of their rights at the first contact for eminent domain. In an Order dated September 14, 2010, the Commission required as a permit condition for the high voltage power line that the utilities “distribute to relevant landowners information prepared by state agencies regarding landowner rights.” Farmers and lawyers should know their rights under the new laws and should insist that any Minnesota permit for a power line or pipeline mandate notice to all affected landowners of their rights, so that these rights can be exercised to protect the value of homes and farms. - Paula Maccabee, Just Change Law Offices, successfully lobbied for passage of the eminent domain law and advocated at the Public Utilities Commission to provide landowners individual notice of their rights in any power line condemnation. Email: , url: www.justchangelaw.com. View News Release (PDF) Keepseagle v. Vilsack Case Settles On October 19, 2010, USDA and the class of Native American ranchers and farmers alleging long-standing discrimination by USDA reached a historic settlement. View the Settlement Agreement (PDF). More information can be found at www.indianfarmclass.com. News Release Documenting and Reporting Losses Is Key to Securing Assistance for Flood Losses on the Farm ST. PAUL, MINN. — Note to farmers battered by record floods and tornados this fall: Don’t clean up too quickly. It is vital to document the damage before clearing debris or restoring land and structures if farmers are to maximize the assistance that could be available for their losses. “After any natural disaster, it is extremely important to document losses as best as possible and report those losses to any insurer,” said Karen Krub, Senior Staff Attorney for Farmers’ Legal Action Group, Inc. (FLAG) and co-author of FLAG’s Farmers’ Guide to Disaster Assistance. Documentation of losses can include photographs, contemporaneous notes about losses and damage—and, eventually, receipts for removal and cleanup expenses. If losses to any crop are covered by a federal crop insurance policy or the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP), the farmer is required under those policies to promptly notify the insurance provider or USDA’s Farm Service Agency (for NAP). Krub adds, “It is also important to report all farm losses and emergency conservation needs to FSA and state departments of agriculture to make sure these agencies have a complete picture of the scope of the disaster. That information could affect the types and funding of assistance that might be available.” The Minnesota Legislature this week approved $80 million in funding for repairs and reconstruction for flooding in 21 southern Minnesota counties and tornado aid in 13 counties. But the bill focused on fixing public property, such as buildings and roads, not individuals’ properties. The federal government, which last week also declined a request for aid to individuals, has in some cases made special disaster recovery programs for regions hit hard by storms. For the time being, FLAG’s Farmers’ Guide to Disaster Assistance is available free of charge at the Publications section of the organization’s website (www.flaginc.org), along with other publications on farm disaster recovery. The Farmers’ Guide describes a wide range of disaster assistance programs that might be available for farm and homestead losses, covering issues such as program eligibility; farmers’ obligations; appeal rights; housing assistance and disaster unemployment; federal crop insurance; NAP; the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP); disaster assistance programs for livestock producers; FSA emergency loans; the Disaster Set-Aside program for existing FSA loans; Small Business Administration Disaster Loans (including both home and business loans); as well as bankruptcy and federal income tax issues as they relate to losses caused by natural disaster.
News Release Contact: New Report Says Federal Policies Discourage Farmers from Growing Fruits and Vegetables ST. PAUL, MINN., August 3, 2010 — Federal policies discourage farmers from producing and marketing fruits and vegetables, according to a report released today by Farmers’ Legal Action Group, Inc. (FLAG). As a result of administering farm commodity programs for many years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has developed a rich body of knowledge about historical yields and prices for crops such as corn, soybeans, wheat, rice and cotton. This information enables the federal government and private businesses to offer loans and financing, as well as crop insurance and other risk-management tools, to farmers producing commodity crops. However, similar yield and pricing information has not been collected for fruits and vegetables, and this lack of information poses a problem—especially for farmers who market their fruits and vegetables directly to retailers and consumers, rather than to wholesalers. Farmers who direct market tend to use a business model that relies on higher prices and lower volumes, but federal programs are based on farm business models that rely on lower prices and higher volumes.
The report, Planting the Seeds for Public Health: How the Farm Bill Can Help Farmers to Produce and Distribute Healthy Foods, offers a legal analysis of the 2008 Farm Bill and explains key agriculture and nutrition programs that were enacted into law. The report was commissioned by Healthy Eating Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Key findings include:
In addition to providing policy recommendations to help farmers grow and distribute fruits and vegetables, the report emphasizes that many of the recommended changes could be made by the USDA without the need for additional direction from Congress. However, if such policy changes do not occur, Congress will need to make changes in the reauthorization of the Farm Bill. The report also recommends that Congress and USDA explore possible changes to planting restrictions, which prohibit farmers from planting fruits and vegetables on land that is enrolled in the commodity program. It further recommends that farmers work with public health leaders and consumer advocates to make sure demand for fruits and vegetables will keep pace with the increasing supply. The report can be downloaded at no charge from FLAG’s Web site. A bound copy of the book is available for $20 plus shipping and handling, and orders may be placed by calling FLAG’s office at 651-223-5400 or by visiting the FLAG Web site. Orders also may be placed directly with FLAG’s online publisher, www.lulu.com. ### About Farmers’ Legal Action Group About Healthy Eating Research News Release Contact: Farmers’ Legal Action Group Calls on Agriculture Secretary Vilsack to Reinstate Shirley Sherrod ST. PAUL, MINN. — Farmers’ Legal Action Group (FLAG) today called on Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to immediately reinstate Shirley Sherrod to her position as Georgia State Director of USDA Rural Development. Ms. Sherrod was forced by the Secretary to resign after right wing extremists released a selective and misleading excerpt of a speech she gave to the NAACP earlier this year. “For the Secretary to call for Shirley Sherrod’s resignation before he had all the facts was wrong. The point she was making in her speech was in fact the opposite of racist; she was saying that her life’s lessons taught her that race does not matter – poor people are poor and without power, regardless of race,” said FLAG’s Executive Director, Susan E. Stokes. Ms. Sherrod was a member of FLAG’s Board from 1994 until last September, when she resigned due to her new position with USDA Rural Development. She served as FLAG’s Board President from 1995 to 2001. During Ms. Sherrod’s tenure on FLAG’s Board, FLAG provided legal and technical assistance to thousands of family farmers of all races across the country. In addition, FLAG provided legal and technical assistance to Ms. Sherrod and the many farmers she served while at the Federation of Southern Cooperatives. FLAG’s Board President, Lois Wood, added: “For decades, Shirley Sherrod has worked tirelessly on behalf of family farmers, regardless of their race. No one was more zealous or competent than Ms. Sherrod in her mission to help keep family farmers on the land.” At its annual meeting in October 2009, FLAG presented Ms. Sherrod with FLAG’s Family Farm Champion Award. In a letter sent to Secretary Vilsack earlier this morning, FLAG called on the Secretary to immediately reinstate Ms. Sherrod so that she can get back to the work of helping Georgia’s rural poor. Georgia has the 15th highest poverty rate in the United States. |
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St. Paul—Minority and Immigrant farmers are invited to participate in the 7th Annual Immigrant and Minority Farmers Conference. Hosted by The Association for the Advancement of Hmong Women in Minnesota, Minnesota Food Association and USDA-Farm Service Agency and USDA- NRCS, the two-day conference provides education and resources to small farm operators and fosters relationships between farmers and community partners. Major sponsors of the conference include: AgStar, Farmers’ Legal Action Group, Land Stewardship Project, Minnesota Department of Agriculture, USDA - Risk Management Agency, USDA- Office of the Assistant Secretary of Civil Rights, CHS, United FCS and University of Minnesota Extension. 
ST. PAUL, MINN. — At the 25th anniversary celebration of Farmers’ Legal Action Group, Inc. (FLAG), held on November 3, 2011, at the William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, FLAG’s Executive Director Susan E. Stokes and Minnesota Commission of Agriculture David Frederickson presented awards to three outstanding advocates for family farmers. Attorney Dale Reesman posthumously received FLAG’s Lifetime Friend of the Family Farmer award. Farm advocates Betty Puckett and Benny Bunting each received FLAG’s Family Farm Champion award for serving family farmers and rural communities as tireless advocates for justice during some of the toughest decades for smaller farms in the past 50 years.
FLAG Celebrates 25-Year Fight for Family Farmers
with Civil Rights Pioneer Shirley Sherrod 
September 8, 2011 -- We were saddened today to learn of the passing of Dale Reesman, a founding board member of Farmers’ Legal Action Group. Dale represented family farmers in distress for decades, and was one of the few attorneys who stood up to USDA’s Farm and Home Administration in the 1980s when it was foreclosing on family farms with no due process. He filed a successful challenge to FmHA’s attempted foreclosure of the Allison family farm, which paved the way for the Coleman v. Block national class action that halted the foreclosures of tens of thousands of family farms.
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