Farm Aid Awards Grant to Support OEFFA’s Family Farm Policy Work

The Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA) was awarded a $7,000 grant from Farm Aid to support policy advocacy on behalf of sustainable and organic family-scaled farms, in recognition of the benefits they provide to the environment and rural communities. This is OEFFA’s eleventh grant from Farm Aid.

“We are both grateful and proud to receive this support from Farm Aid, with whom we share a passion for keeping family farmers on the land,” said OEFFA Executive Director Carol Goland.

Farm Aid’s grantmaking is focused on work that enhances the viability of family farm agriculture in the United States. They issue grants to qualifying nonprofit organizations that are growing the good food movement, helping farmers thrive, or taking action to change the food and farm system. This grant will allow OEFFA to continue to protect and advance organic agriculture, advocate for policies that elevate agriculture’s contributions to solving climate change, and work for policies that preserve farmland and make it more accessible to new farmers.

“Our goal is to create real change in our farm and food system, from the ground up,” said Farm Aid President Willie Nelson. “Farm Aid grantees strengthen family farmers, they build communities that can support each other in hard times, and they organize people to stand up and challenge corporate power in our food system. These are essential activities that benefit everyone—eaters and farmers.”

“Farm Aid began in response to a crisis in our farming community. 2019 was one of those years that has stressed farm families due to a number of factors, none so visible as the unprecedented challenges caused by a changing climate,” said Goland.

“We’ll be bringing this problem, and agriculture’s unique potential for solving it, into clearer focus in 2020, in a multi-faceted effort, starting with our conference in February and continuing throughout the year in our education and policy work, including advocating for legislation to incentivize soil health practices that combat climate change,” she said.

To learn more about OEFFA, visit www.oeffa.org.

For a complete listing of Farm Aid’s 2019 grant recipients, visit www.farmaid.org/2019grants.