Out discing the field one day, the ride rattling the ideas around in his head, Joe Maxwell realized that too many of the decisions dictating the path of his life were being made by people sitting in boardrooms and in Washington D.C. offices (and they were not good decisions).

The next day he walked into Harold Volkmer’s campaign office to volunteer, and they put him to work stuffing envelopes. That was the beginning of a career in politics that would lead him through law school and years of work as a lawyer working with farmers and ag-related issues, then on to two terms in the Missouri House of Representatives and one term as Missouri’s Lieutenant Governor.

All along the way, Maxwell has been fighting passionately to protect the interests of small farms against a sort of perfect storm of forces with policies from both sides of the political aisle opening the door to their decline. In 2017, research showed that 65 percent of people saw corporate monopolies as a central problem, so Maxwell and a handful of like-minded advocates launched Family Farm Action Alliance. 

The alliance brings together people and groups to raise awareness about the corporatization of agriculture in this country, and to pool resources so they can push for policies and politicians who will fight on the side of the little guys. Over time, this effort has evolved into two separate organizations: Family Farm Action Alliance, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, which focuses on research, policy development, and public awareness, and Family Farm Action, a 501(c)(4) organization, that works for the adoption of legislation to put  power back in the hands of farmers instead of international corporations from places like Brazil and China. By getting to the root of what is rotting the system from below, FFAA is also slowly helping heal a wide range of issues like unfair agriculture markets, farm worker abuses, inhumane animal conditions, and environmental degradation.

Family Farm Action and Family Farm Action Alliance are both run by a dedicated team of seven people with support from foundations and individual donors. Many of the team members have outside jobs to help leverage a very lean budget as much as possible while competing against trans-national corporations with billions of dollars to spend on these fights. Current projects range from country-of-origin labeling to reining in corruption in commodity promotion programs (like “Pork: The Other White Meat” and “Got Milk?”). 

The biggest impact opportunity on their plate is pushing for major reforms in the 2023 Farm Bill. 

As Maxwell says, “It should really be called the Food Bill, because it encompasses such a range of issues, including nutrition standards and even what food will be available for many people.”

Maxwell and his organizations  - he always points to his amazing team - have advised senate and presidential campaigns and helped draft antitrust, agriculture, and food policy positions. In the course of 40 years of fighting, Maxwell has been profiled by Huffington Post, Mother Jones, Politico, and The Nation. He has also been cited by CNN, The New York Times, NPR, USA Today, Washington Post, among others. 

Make no mistake, though, he is also still that same farm kid who grew up in Rush Hill, and the same man who retired from the Army National Guard as a first sergeant with certification as a diesel mechanic. 

In fact, as he likes to share, “Aside from the birth of my daughters, one of the proudest moments of my life was the first time I stripped a diesel engine down and rebuilt it . . . and it started on the first try!”

When asked how he keeps up his energy for the messy political fights, Maxwell points to two things. The first is his amazing support network—his family, his law partners, his team at FFA and FFAA, and to his brother, Steve, who still runs the family farm. The second is the farm itself.

“When I start to feel worn down by the never-ending process of politics and policy, there is something deeply satisfying when you tear out some old fence line or replace part of a barn roof, and it feels done.”