Persistent Progressives: The Rocky Mountain Farmers Union. By John F. Freeman

Extract

In 2013 a fourth-generation Colorado farmer and member of the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union (RMFU) urged his fellow members to support a “Buy Fresh, Buy Local” campaign. “The last thing [large agribusinesses] want is consumers who care what’s in their food, where it comes from, and whether it’s safe,” he wrote, adding that union members understand “the social importance of a viable family farm economy and the need to keep rural America strong” (p. 195). With farmers and ranchers now a tiny proportion of the Colorado population, the RMFU mission was to defend small and midsize producers by promoting healthy food, consumer alliances, and sustainable practices.

In Persistent Progressives, John F. Freeman details how the RMFU, originally the Colorado chapter of the National Farmers Union (NFU), has battled with great determination but limited success on behalf of family farmers for more than a century. As founder of the Wyoming Community Foundation and author of High Plains Horticulture (2008) and Black Hills Forestry (2014), Freeman has a keen grasp of the economic, political, environmental, and institutional challenges that the RMFU has faced. Today, it has only 22,000 members—85 percent of whom have joined solely for the insurance benefits (p. 220). Yet the RMFU has survived despite almost constant struggle, which the author describes in a sympathetic but clear-eyed manner.