US Farm Union Leaders Attend WFO General Assembly
ARGENTINA - Last week National Farmers Union (NFU) President Roger Johnson attended the fourth World Farmers Organisation (WFO) general assembly in Buenos Aires, focusing on a number of timely issues, including women and beginning farmers, climate change, and contract agriculture production.
2 April 2014
2 minute read
By: Notably, the assembly agreed to forward a resolution on renewable energy, which was introduced by Mr Johnson, to the WFO board of directors and asked that the board develop a process for consideration of that resolution at the next general assembly, to be held in 2015 in Milan, Italy.
“Last week’s meeting made great progress,” said Mr Johnson.
“Simply getting renewable energy policy on the global agriculture agenda, particularly a policy that refers to biofuels production, is an accomplishment. I look forward to continuing this forward-looking discussion during the coming year and at the next WFO gathering.”
Other members of the Farmers Union delegation included:
- Doug Peterson, Minnesota Farmers Union president
- Alan Merrill, Montana Farmers Union president
- Doug Sombke, South Dakota Farmers Union president
- Darin Von Ruden, Wisconsin Farmers Union president
- Mark Watne, North Dakota Farmers Union president
- Erin Schneider, Wisconsin Farmers Union member and NFU’s representative on the WFO Women’s Committee
- David Velde, NFU general counsel
- Susan Carlson, Wisconsin and North Dakota Farmers Union member and WFO Women's Committee facilitator
Robert Carlson, former North Dakota Farmers Union president, stepped down after serving for three years as the founding WFO president. The general assembly elected Peter Kendall, former president of the National Farmers’ Union in the United Kingdom, as its new president for a two-year term.
