The End of Small Farming and Farmer's Markets
This bill (link below) would require all producers of food (on any scale) to register with the government, follow strict regulations, and open their properties to inspection -including anyone who sales excess produce, small farmers, etc. It would do the same for any vendor of food -including farmer's markets, pick-your-own-farms, and roadside produce stands.
What this means is that anyone who sells excess squash can go to jail and be fined a million dollars. Per squash. The regulations and inspections are deliberately designed to be expensive and time consuming.
What will this really do? Put small farmers and farmers markets out of business. Who wrote this bill? Monsanto and other agribusiness. Becuase you see, a 3,000 acre patch of broccoli is much less likely (and much easier to inspect) to be a safety hazard than a small farm were the farmer visits everything every single day. Not. That explains why every major outbreak of food borne illness in this country comes from industrialized food production.
We can't let this happen. Call congress today.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-875
Labels: farming, food, legislation
posted by RAS at 7:42 AM
5 Comments:
I was reading about some small city where they were looking at community gardens and one city councilor was quite opposed to the idea because people might grow pot there.
Seems nowadays any excuse to keep us serfs down will do.
Did you hear about the Minnesota family that was held at police gunpoint while their home was searched for 7 hours (back in October I think it was)? The family was operating a community co-op food buying group out of their home.
Do you have any links, or references that show where, or who the lobbyists are behind this bill?
Thanks.
PS~ Have not been able to catch up with your story this past couple of weeks, so much on the radar... but will get back to reading it!
Oh my God.
Why is this not shouted right and left? This is terrible. Sending the info on to everyone I know. Thanks for the head's up.
Hey wait --- Read paragraph 13B (EXCLUSIONS), and 14:
(13) FOOD ESTABLISHMENT-
(A) IN GENERAL- The term ‘food establishment’ means a slaughterhouse (except those regulated under the Federal Meat Inspection Act or the Poultry Products Inspection Act), factory, warehouse, or facility owned or operated by a person located in any State that processes food or a facility that holds, stores, or transports food or food ingredients.
(B) EXCLUSIONS- For the purposes of registration, the term ‘food establishment’ does not include a food production facility as defined in paragraph (14), restaurant, other retail food establishment, nonprofit food establishment in which food is prepared for or served directly to the consumer, or fishing vessel (other than a fishing vessel engaged in processing, as that term is defined in section 123.3 of title 21, Code of Federal Regulations).
(14) FOOD PRODUCTION FACILITY- The term ‘food production facility’ means any farm, ranch, orchard, vineyard, aquaculture facility, or confined animal-feeding operation.
I'm reading it as small produce markets are excluded from this bill.
There is still concern and a need to call Congress. One, so they don't get any ideas. Two, so the meat-eating people out there can still get grass-fed beef (since it excludes CONFINED animal feeding operations) and free-range eggs from their buddies with very small farms.
Grey, the part that's taken to apply to farmer's markets is: "... or a facility that holds, stores, or transports food or food ingredients."
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