Introduction

The National Farmers Foundation (NFF) was established as a non-profit organization under Part II of the Canada Corporations act in April,1986. It is registered as a charitable organization.

Representatives of various sectors in the country, such as family farmers, organic product marketers, new rural development groups, churches, rural youth and women, and urban consumers supported the establishment of the organization. Many of these have identified a vacuum with respect to accessible education and plain language research to help direct the crucial ventures in rural development which will mean not only survival, but the thriving of rural communities into the twenty - first century. A new awareness of the interdependence of rural and urban communities creates a challenge to promote action-oriented education and research which will create and enhance positive rural/urban cooperation.

Structure

The National Farmers Foundation has a board of directors made up of five persons known for their commitment to education and research for the benefit of the family farm in Canada.

The directors are in sympathy with the goals, objectives, and policy of the National Farmers Union.

The National Farmers Foundation is, however, completely autonomous and is independent from the structure and authority of the National Farmers Union.

Rural Development

With respect to rural development for the late '90s and into the twenty - first century, the NFF uses the framework of re-development. This is based on the assumption that rural communities in Canada were at one time developed according to the needs of the time. In the process of modernization, particularly of agriculture, many rural communities in all of Canada have lost control. Corporate dominance, making the profit motive the stimulus for agriculture, has tended to break down the ruralness of communities.

There is an attitude towards consuming, towards the extended family, towards education, recreation, religion and politics which is distinctly rural. The challenge is to re-claim this ruralness so that it will better serve the aspirations of both rural and urban dwellers. This means creating new forms and structures of modern rural communities which are people-centered and ecologically integrated.

Communities all over the globe are becoming aware that the late '90s and the entrance into the 21^st century brings us to totally new concepts of development.

"Community development is a child of hard times. (It) becomes increasingly attractive to governments and communities when the existing structures of society seem unable to cope with high unemployment, industrial decay, rural decline and political stability" (Lotz 1987, p.41 as quoted in CJL 1994 document "Community Economic Development)

"Community development is, and has always been, a minority view of development [minority meaning non-mainstream]. It focuses on developing community well-being in an integrated [holistic] manner with general participation, rather than emphasizing economic growth for its own sake through industrialization, advanced technology and centralized control. In fact, it has often emerged as a reaction to such [inappropriate] development. It has served as a means to oppose centralizing governments and corporations and to preserve local communities and their self-identities."

Appropriate community development does not deny the need for good productive and appropriate economic activity. It would, however, replace Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) as a criterion to demonstrate the success of development. GPI factors-in the value of housework and voluntary sector work. It subtracts estimates for such things as pollution, accidents, depletion of non-renewable resources, increases in the rich-poor gap and the detrimental social costs this brings. Human and ecological need would replace the profit motive.

The NFF says that community development must be:

• people oriented
• truly democratic
• responsible for the land, sea and the whole ecological system
• inclusive of women, children, old people, people of varied cultures, orientations, and abilities
• small enough for the community to control
• related to place
• able to generate community-based economic activity
• connected to and coordinated with other communities in the province, country, and the world
• open to negotiating and settling differences
• committed to creating and/or maintaining essential social institutions and services such as recreation, schools, churches, post offices, and meeting places

There are clear, concrete, scientific steps in order to take on the long-term task of rural development.

Some early steps are:

• capacities and vulnerabilities analysis (motivation / attitudes; how does the community view its ability to create change; social organization; what are the relations and organizations among people; physical / material; what productive resources, skills and restrictions exist).
• training in democratic theory, action and processes
• short-term and long-term plans of action
• development of on-going evaluation procedures

Development cannot be imposed. Imposing tends to undermine people's development. Outsiders to the community can only act as allies in development, allies of the people whose lives are engaged in their own development.

Development involves a community defining its own priorities and achieving its own goals and objectives. This occurs when communities are able to identify and build on their capacities and to find ways to decrease their vulnerabilities.

The first priority should be in (re)building the capacity of groups and communities to take care of themselves. (Setbacks) can provide the opportunity to introduce new ideas, to question conventional ways of doing things, to reorganize in different ways, to raise new issues and to strengthen local control.

Operation

The National Farmers Foundation contracts reputable organizations to conduct its education and research projects.

Project criteria and application are available at the Foundation head office.

Initial application for project funding is to be directed to the head office. Deadlines are April 30^th and October 31^st.

The Board of Directors of the National Farmers Foundation will judge the appropriateness of projects presented according to criteria established by the Foundation.

Research

The NATIONAL FARMERS FOUNDATION espouses a participatory model of research, called Participatory Action Research (PAR). This form of research goes hand-in-hand with, and is integral to, education. In this model positive action is the natural and necessary result of both research and education. PAR assumes that participants, along with content, programs and procedures, are essential to the process. Participants are subjects, not objects, of this research. The research originates in the needs of the participants, and its plain-language results belong to them. From the results they establish their short-term and long-term plans for the development of their communities.

Participatory Action Research provides participants with the opportunity to reflect on and make plans around what they have learned and done in the research. It is a process gain collective control over their lives.

PAR is a highly specialized and disciplined form of research, which while involving the community, requires the direction/leadership of professional persons trained in quantitative and qualitative research as well as in the dynamics of genuine, integrated and active involvement of the community.

Some examples of specific areas for NFF research are:

• the historical processes by which Canadian rural communities have evolved
• community-specific historical processes
• central role of farm family production in the development history of rural Canada
• the role and nature of farm family production in new models of rural development
• the growth and constitution of the non-farming population in rural communities
• the obstacles and opportunities in the globalized economy for new models of rural community development
• existing theoretical and practical approaches to rural development

Education

The majority of the NATIONAL FARMERS FOUNDATION education work will be done through workshops and seminar designed to provide communities and individuals with the opportunity to take control of their life.

The work is based on the assumption that those who are experiencing/suffering a given situation are the experts. The role of animators engaged by the NFF is: to bring forth that experience from the participants; to facilitate analysis by which the participants recognize the root causes of their group's situation as well as acknowledging the available strengths and resources at the groups disposal; and to identify concrete and feasible action which would change the situation.

Some specific areas which would be dealt with in the NFF workshops in rural communities are:

• non-hierarchial organizations
• philosophy and processes of participatory democracy
• creative/alternative models of leadership
• setting of priorities
• planning and evaluation techniques
• equal work sharing
• consensus decision-making
• collective accountability
• staff-volunteer relations
• human relations within organizations, nurturing members,etc...
• conflict resolution
• gender equality
• anti-racism strategies
• human rights
• international solidarity
• sustainable community and economic development strategies and skills
• new models of appropriate agricultural production
• strategies for communication and cooperation between farming and non-farming rural people
• rural/urban communication and cooperation strategies
• any specific current social or economic issues
• particular skills training

Proposed Program Undertakings

The NATIONAL FARMERS FOUNDATION with its current limited resources cannot embark on a nationwide program. First of all, it is necessary to conduct major fundraising campaigns before any significant program can be implemented.

A process for initiation of the research and education programs could be as follows:

• identification of one or two rural communities that would be suited for a development project (based on history and track record, the existing and potential economic base, community spirit, capacity to be inclusive, openness to expanding their aspirations and dreams, capacity to undertake development as a holistic process, capacity to sustain healthy community organizations and relationships, a reasonable communication with neighbouring urban communities)
  
  
• identification of research/educators capable of and committed to working in the communities according to the designs of, and under the direction of, the NFF
  
  
• situation analysis of the community
  
  
• establishment of the research and education needs
  
  
• formation of a development team from the community which will act as an advisory committee to the researchers/educators and which is committed to long-term implementation of development programs in their community
  
  
• organization, planning, and implementation of research and empowerment workshops according to the needs of the community
  
  
• evaluation of program according to pre-established success indicators

It is taken for granted that this program model can be implemented only if sufficient time and resources are dedicated to a given community to ensure the durability and continuance of the process in, and by, the community. The initial contribution of the NFF to overall rural development in Canada will be modest. It is hoped that in the years to come this effort will expand and have a multiplier effect, giving new hope to rural communities that they can enhance the quality of life of the people, re-establish family farming at the economic center, and make rural Canada a more attractive and sustainable place for future generations.

Sources of Funding

The National Farmers Foundation seeks no-strings-attached funding through:

• GRANTS from
  • charitable foundations
  • community service groups
  • churches
  • sympathetic organizations
  • sympathetic individuals
• WILLS, BEQUESTS, MEMORIALS

How to Make Contributions

Donations to the National Farmers Foundation may be made by:

• making a cheque payable to National Farmers Foundation (Send to Address Below)
• naming the National Farmers Foundation as beneficiary in your will or other bequest either for personal or real property

For More Information

Contact: Jim Phelps
THE NATIONAL FARMERS FOUNDATION
2717 Wentz Avenue
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
S7K 4B6

Current Board of Directors

• President - James Phelps
  
• Vice President - George Calvin
  
• Treasurer - Stuart Thiesson
  
• Secretary - Christina Magill
  
• Director - Michelle Melnyk