1st Annual Conference of the National Association of Latino/Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers

The 1st Annual Conference of the National Association of Latino/Hispanic Farmers & Ranchers will be in Las Cruces, New Mexico on August 25 through 28th under the title "Sembrando Raices: Building Leadership & Nurturing Our Legacy." The conference is the culmination of many years of hard work by many Latino farmers groups throughout the United States who felt the need to organize and set an agenda for the Latino farmers instead of being on other coattails.

"Based on the 2002 USDA Farm Census, the Latino farm operators have double in growth since the 1997 census. We want to take advantage of those numbers to be able to network and provide support for all those farmers who are farming with no real help or support just sheer guts. We needed to move out of the pack and set our own agenda," stated Ms. Luz Bazan Gutierrez, Chairperson of the Board for the national group. "We are grateful for the support of all sponsoring government agencies, corporations and individuals who are making this conference possible. Together we will review current policy issues, gaps in those policies and develop our own agenda," declared Rudy Arredondo, President & CEO and conference organizer.

This conference will offer numerous workshops of programs that exist at United States Department of Agriculture and will showcase some model programs that are presently helping Latino farmers in different areas of the country. A gala dinner, awards ceremony, and dance will welcome the pioneering members of the organization and honor those who have dedicated their life's work to the issues confronting the Latino farmers and ranchers. One critical focus of the conference will be the encouragement of youth into the field of agriculture.

The National Association of Farmers and Ranchers, Inc was officially formed and represented by a Board of Directors which includes: Luz Bazan Gutierrez of Yakima, Washington (Chair) and is president of the Rural Community Development Center, Inc.;

Mr.Lupe Garcia of Las Cruces, New Mexico (2nd Vice Chair) president of the Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers of America, Inc.; and Dionicio "Donnie" Valdez of Weslaco, Texas (2nd Vice Chair) Secretary to the Minority Agriculture Producers, Inc. Rudy Arredondo, a long time advocate of small farmers and former USDA employee was elected President/CEO to represent the organization in Washington, D.C.

For further information please contact: Rudy Arredondo, President/CEO 202-628-8833.

For Exhibit and Sponsorship, contact Ms. Jennifer Carter, NALFR Conference Coordinator, sanghacafe@starpower.net. 202-725-5912. NALHFR is a private non-profit organization. Our EIN is 20-1984694.

The Hispanic Organizations Leadership Alliance (HOLA) is a coalition of the Hispanic leadership of community-based agriculturally oriented organizations. HOLA's objective is to ensure equitable and fair treatment of the Hispanic/Latino community and committed to ensure that USDA programs, specifically, and other federal agencies program resources are accessible, available and equitably distributed to the Hispanic/Latino communities throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico. HOLA is an active member of the board of directors of the Rural Coalition/Coalicion Rural, a trans-national U.S.-Mexico-Latin America advocacy organization.

For more information, visit www.ruralco.org.