Progressive Agriculture Organization

Family Farm Defenders (FFD) incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1994 and was granted permanent 501(c)(3) status by the IRS in 1999. FFD began as an outgrowth of two national grass-roots campaigns: demanding a national referendum to end the mandatory check-off on raw milk that funds the lobby and propaganda efforts of the corporate dairy industry; and to defend consumer "right to know" in response to the stealth introduction of recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) into the nation's milk supply. Our mission is to create a farmer-controlled and consumer-oriented food and fiber system, based upon democratically controlled institutions that empower farmers to speak for and respect themselves in their quest for social and economic justice. FFD has worked to create opportunities for farmers to join together in new cooperative endeavors, form a mutual marketing agency, and forge alliances with consumers through providing high quality food products while returning a fair price to farmers. Family Farm Defenders (FFD) is committed to building a farmer-controlled and consumer-oriented food system. FFD developed its own cheese label: Family Farmer Cheese. Milk for its cheese comes from small dairy farms in South-central Wisconsin that use no artificial hormones. Cedar Grove Cheese Co. makes this cheese and pays farmers "the cost-of-production plus profit price."

Working to keep family farmers on their land, Farm Aid brings together family farmers and citizens to guarantee family farm food is available to you. Farm Aid's mission is to build a vibrant family-farm centered system of agriculture in America.

Community Farm Alliance (CFA) is a statewide grassroots organization of persons committed to family-scale farming as the most efficient and sustainable form of producing the best quality food, while protecting the environment and strengthening rural community life. CFA believes that family-scale farming and people working together lay a foundation for community life. Current economic and political conditions eroded family scale farming so significantly that a new system of agriculture is needed-one that keeps people on the land. CFA seeks to ensure the health and well being of rural communities by advocating rural economic development whose first priority is the protection of family-scale farming.