Montana Farmers Union president meets with pope

The president of the Montana Farmers Union was granted an audience with Pope Francis on Wednesday following a weeklong series of meetings with Vatican officials and rural-based nongovernmental organizations.

Alan Merrill met with the pope as a member of a delegation of state Farmers Union presidents to discuss the important role family farmers play in food security and the fact that most of the food produced in the U.S. is produced by family farmers. The delegation also spent time with Caldoritti, the largest farm organization in Italy, the International Catholic Rural Association and the secretary general of the World Farmers Organization. These meetings are leading up to an international symposium of faith, food and the environment that will take place in Milan, Italy, from June 24 to 27.

The discussions extended beyond issues of land use and conservation, to include deliberations on the availability of fresh water in the major agriculture producing regions of the world.

“After spending time revisiting the values we hold, with the emphasis on our spiritual, moral and physical responsibilities to the land and the production of food, Montana Farmers Union grassroots membership should be proud that these same ideas are held high around the world,” Merrill said in a news release issued by the Montana Farmers Union on Thursday.

The Farmers Union delegation said that one of its biggest challenges is to dispel the widely held myth that U.S. agriculture is completely dominated by large, multinational corporations and is inapplicable to the farming paradigms in most of the rest of the world.

“This is an incredible opportunity for South Dakota Farmers Union and our brother organizations across the United States to work with the Vatican and network with others in Europe on the future of family farming,” SDFU President Doug Sombke said. “It also affords us the opportunity to let the world know what farming in the United States is truly like. Many see American farmers as corporate controlled and nothing else.”

Dave Velde, National Farmers Union chief counsel, noted that the discussions that took place in Rome transcended all national borders and religious beliefs.

“All religions are concerned about stewardship and the environment,” he said. “And this is a belief that can help unite a very divided world.”

The two principal organizations representing the U.S. at the Vatican conference were NFU and the National Catholic Rural Life Conference. The findings of earlier symposiums and these meetings in Rome both will be used to develop The Vocation of the Agricultural Leader, a set of resources that Catholic Rural Life is developing with the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in the Vatican.

Montana Farmers Union Communications Director Sandy Courtnage said the Farmers Union delegation would be traveling Thursday, and that Merrill likely would be back in Great Falls on Friday afternoon.