National Family Farm Coalition (NFFC)

The NFFC signed an open letter in support of Greenpeace after the environmentalist organization was found civilly liable for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages related to its role in the Dakota Access Pipeline protests.  ^{3  4}

Background

The National Family Farm Coalition was founded in 1986 by the American Agriculture Movement, the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, the Land Loss Prevention Project, Missouri Rural Crisis, the Northern Plains Resource Council, and other organizations. It was founded as the National Save the Family Farm Coalition, doing business as the National Family Farm Coalition, in 1986 during a farm crisis when thousands of farms faced foreclosure due to falling commodity prices and debt. The organization was established to provide a unified advocacy arm for independent farmers in federal policy debates and to counteract what the organization describes as “corporate domination” in agriculture. ^{5  2}

The NFFC is committed to the left-of-center principles of racial equity and says it seeks to “change the inequities in our farm and food system” and provide communities the right to “define their own food and farm systems.” The organization advocates for policies to establish floor prices for agricultural commodities, restrict corporate ownership of farmland, reform federal farm-loan programs, and alter trade agreements to prioritize domestic food production.  ⁶

Activities

The National Family Farm Coalition’s primary activities include federal policy advocacy, coalition building, and member mobilization. The organization’s headquarters are in Washington, D.C. and it organizes fly-in events during which member farmers meet with members of Congress to advocate legislative proposals. NFFC supports the Farmland for Farmers Act, which would prohibit major businesses from purchasing U.S. farmland, and the Fair Credit for Farmers Act, which would expand access to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) farm loans while strengthening borrower protections.  ^{6  7  8}

The NFFC has also conducted training sessions for farmers and advocates and also supported efforts by ethnic-minority farmers to file discrimination claims against the USDA Farm Service Agency.  ⁹

Controversies

The National Family Farm Coalition signed an open letter supporting Greenpeace after a North Dakota jury found the environmental organization liable for hundreds of millions in damages related to its role in the Dakota Access Pipeline protests. The jury found Greenpeace liable for trespassing, defamation, conversion, and tortious interference with businesses related to protests that included violence, property destruction, and hundreds of arrests. The open letter signed by the NFFC and other organizations declared the conduct for which Greenpeace was found liable to be “legitimate work” and called the lawsuit “meritless.” According to the Capital Research Center, the 219 nonprofit signatories of the letter had combined 2023 revenues of $1.57 billion.  ^{3  4}

Leadership

As of January 2026, the executive director of the National Family Farm Coalition was Tim Gibbons, who was appointed to the position in January 2026. Gibbons previously worked for 20 years as the communications director of the Missouri Rural Crisis Center (MRCC), one of the NFFC’s member organizations, and had been involved with the NFFC and its member network throughout his tenure at MRCC.  ¹⁰

From May 2018 through December 2025, the NFFC operated under a shared leadership model with the North American Marine Alliance (NAMA), with Niaz Dorry working simultaneously as executive director of the NFFC and coordinating director of the NAMA. The shared leadership model was established following the death of the NFFC’s longtime executive director Kathy Ozer in 2017. At its July 2025 annual gathering, the NFFC’s board voted to conclude the shared leadership arrangement, and Dorry continued in her role at NAMA.  ¹¹

Financials

According to tax filings, in 2024, the National Family Farm Coalition reported $1,260,851 in revenues, $969,811 in expenses, and $1,260,851 in assets. Of its expenses, it spent $731,298 on programming, especially advocacy campaigns. The NFFC received $1,850,530 of its revenues from gifts, grants, and other contributions and $8,500 from membership dues. ¹²

The NFFC is a top grantee of Farm Aid. From 1989 to 2017, the NFFC had received more than $807,000 in grants from Farm Aid. ¹³