CalCAN Action Alert:Farmers need your help TODAY: Congress is making decisions right now about aid for people and businesses impacted by the pandemic

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Farmers need your help TODAY:Congress is making decisions right now about aid for people and businesses impacted by the pandemic

The global COVID-19 pandemic is touching nearly every part of our lives – including food and agriculture. Necessary measures to contain the spread of the virus have resulted in the immediate loss of key markets for growers, and ongoing uncertainty threatens farmers’ ability to plan for the growing season just underway. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of people nationwide have been laid off, and the need for emergency support – including food – for the most vulnerable in our society is now.

The Senate and House of Representatives are in the final hours of negotiating their first relief package. Please make calls to your federal representatives today.

Let them know that this is the time to make sure that farmers, ranchers, and the innovative food and farm businesses building resilient local and regional food systems get the support they need to continue feeding our communities, paying their employees, and responding rapidly to emergency needs. The pandemic is compounding other challenges already facing farmers, including climate impacts, and more than ever they need our support.

Can you leave a message for your members of Congress today? Please call your Representatives and California’s two Senators:
  • Click here to find your representatives in the House, then go onto their websites to find the phone number for their DC office.
  • Leave messages for Senator Feinstein (202-224-3841) and Senator Kamala Harris (202-224-3553).

Calls are much more effective than emails. Here is a message you can use:

In any broader stimulus or farm recovery package, we need:

  • Aid for vulnerable farmers: Provide direct payments to farmers who have lost revenue from local and regional markets due to the crisis.
  • Resources to connect local farmers to families in need: Invest in community-based emergency efforts to buy food from farmers and get it to those who need it most.
  • Credit to keep farmers in business: Expand farmers’ access to credit and offer debt flexibility to ensure they can plant, grow, and harvest the food we need this year.

    Time is of the essence – the pandemic’s impacts are happening now in our communities and on farms around the country. In the months ahead, the resilience of our farm and food system will be an essential factor in determining our success in responding to this pandemic – now is the time for critical investments in farmers and food systems to help us only navigate this major challenge but take proactive steps toward making our food and agriculture system more equitable, resilient, and sustainable.

    You can help: please take action today! Thank you!

    Please email info@calclimateag.org to let us know you made your calls.