Washington, D.C. (March 19, 2020)—“I would like to applaud the Department of Homeland Security for designating the entire food and agriculture production chain as critical infrastructure as our country responds to the COVID-19 pandemic. This action will help ensure that as we face this unprecedented crisis Americans will continue to be able to find nutritious food on store shelves. It provides much needed reassurance to our hardworking farmers as planting season gets underway. I’d also like to thank Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue for his leadership and hard work on this issue.
“The Trump Administration should especially be commended to recognize the importance of the entire supply chain—from input provides to farmers and ranchers to food processors to retailers. Leaving one link in this chain out of this designation would have made the task facing American agriculture all that much harder.
“America’s co-ops and their farmer-owners stand ready to play their part in this chain. In conversations with our members in the past week, one phrase used frequently is that our country’s farmer co-ops will ‘get it done.’ The coming weeks will require sacrifice, ingenuity, and determination, but I have no doubt that, as we have so many times in our country’s history, farmers and ranchers will rise to the challenge.”
About NCFC
Since 1929, NCFC has been the voice of America’s farmer cooperatives. Our members are regional and national farmer cooperatives, which are in turn composed of nearly 2,000 local farmer cooperatives across the country. NCFC members also include 26 state and regional councils of cooperatives. Farmer cooperatives allow individual farmers the ability to own and lead organizations that are essential for continued competitiveness in both the domestic and international markets.
America’s farmer-owned cooperatives provide a comprehensive array of services for their members. These diverse organizations handle, process and market virtually every type of agricultural commodity. They also provide farmers with access to infrastructure necessary to manufacture, distribute and sell a variety of farm inputs. Additionally, they provide credit and related financial services, including export financing.
