Angela Huffman - Fighting for the Future of the Family Farms

Angela Huffman is the President and co-founder of Farm Action, a nonpartisan, farmer-led watchdog that holds government and corporate power accountable in food and agriculture. She's back to talk about sustainability as it relates to agricultural policy and family farms, and what it really takes to push for change in Washington.Angela is the sixth generation on her family's farm up in northwest Ohio. She's really seen firsthand how hard farmers work, how little control they often have over their success, and how corporate consolidation has quietly reshaped the food system over the last forty years. That's the story she carries with her into every letter to Congress, every rally, every petition. It's also what makes her so clear-eyed about the stakes: the average American farmer is around 60 years old, and unless something shifts, a lot of those farms, and a lot of those communities, won't make it to the next generation.Angela walks us through what Farm Action actually does day to day, from tracking shareholder reports and USDA data to running a consolidation data hub that maps every sector of agriculture. She unpacks why so many farmers are pushed into growing commodity crops like corn and soybeans, how contract growers raising chickens for companies like Tyson can be blackballed for simply speaking out, and the years-long fight to restore truth to the "Product of USA" label so consumers finally know where their beef is actually from. And she leaves us with something we can all do about it, whether that's signing up for a newsletter, calling your member of Congress, or voting with your food dollars at the farmers market down the street.Episode in a glance00:10 Meet Angela Huffman & Farm Action01:29 Inside Farm Action's Watchdog Research07:38 What It's Really Like to Be a Farmer Today12:44 Tyson, Contracts & Retaliation Against Farmers15:23 The Product of USA Labeling Win20:35 How You Can Help Fix the Food SystemAbout Angela HuffmanAngela Huffman is the co-founder and president of Farm Action, a national advocacy organization fighting corporate consolidation across the U.S. food and agriculture system. A sixth-generation Ohio farmer with a background in English and public policy from Ohio State, Angela has spent more than 15 years at the intersection of farming, communications, and federal policy, translating on-the-ground realities into pressure that moves lawmakers.Connect with Angela Huffman and her work with Farm ActionAngela on LinkedIn → Angela HuffmanFarm Action → farmaction.usSend us a message!