The National Farmers Union (NFU), one of the nation’s largest farm organizations representing 250,000 farmers and ranchers in all 50 states, passed a resolution on March 16 in favor of the current sugar policy today at its annual convention.

The resolution passed by NFU reads:

“BE IT…RESOLVED that special emphasis should be placed on preserving agricultural programs such as crop insurance, permanent disaster relief, dairy and commodity supports, the Feedstock Flexibility Program for Bioenergy Producers, the no-cost sugar program and other federal initiatives to strengthen agricultural and rural economies; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that National Farmers Union will defend these policies, which are of vital importance to family farmers and ranchers, that were included in the 2008 Farm Bill.”

America’s sugar producers, many of whom are NFU members, applauded the resolution’s passage and noted the importance of such a statement with the 2008 Farm Bill constantly under attack and debate of a new Farm Bill on the horizon.

“U.S. sugar policy works for taxpayers, grocery shoppers, and this country’s food security.  It supports 146,000 U.S. jobs and contributes nearly $10 billion to our economy, and it shouldn’t be weakened,” said Bill Hejl, a North Dakota sugarbeet farmer who attended the meeting. “We appreciate NFU’s continued support and their leadership on sugar policy issues.”

This resolution marks the second time in the past few months that NFU backed U.S. sugar policy in a public forum.  NFU president Roger Johnson defended sugar farmers during a February interview on CNBC.

During that interview, he said: “[Opponents of sugar policy say] let’s get rid of the sugar industry in this country because we’d rather import our food from foreign countries just like we import most of our oil from foreign countries right now. I think that is absolutely the wrong way to go. We have a sugar industry in this country that costs the taxpayer nothing.”