NFFC has been a member of the international peasant movement La Via Campesina for more than 20 years. In 2012, Via Campesina designated November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of All Forms of Violence against Women – a day to call for life and against violence.

Maria Schumann, with NFFC member Rural Vermont, views violence through the oppression of poverty as it expands during COVID-19: low prices for farmers; dangerous conditions and low wages for migrant workers; more wealth and power gained by those who already have it.

“How crazy it is that it took this crisis, this global pandemic, for us to understand that farmers and farm workers are essential. Farmers have always been essential. But you wouldn’t know it if you looked at the low wages and dangerous working conditions of migrant farmworkers all across this country, and you wouldn’t know it if you looked at the suicide rate of US farmers, which is 3 1/2 times higher than that of the general population. You wouldn’t know it if you talked to Vermont’s dairy farmers, hanging in there by a thread. You wouldn’t know it if you talked to almost any farm facing each day with crushing debt. The wealthy and the powerful are trying to use this moment to grab more wealth, while the farmworkers risking their lives to put food on the table are just trying to survive.

Our secret weapon is solidarity, to work together to understand we’re all in it together. And now is the time to build, grow and nourish a regenerative, just, local and restorative agricultural system that treats workers with dignity and honors this beautiful earth.”