Legislation Alert: Food Safety Act

From my local Farmer’s Market in Austin, TX… Edited only for grammar and spelling…

From Fred & Jackie Pomrenke
Flintrock Hill Farm
Kingsbury, Texas

Friends,

I don’t normally get too worked up about stuff, but if HR 875 & S 425, referred to as “Monsanto’s Dream Bill” (coming out of committee soon and set to fast-track through without debate), are passed we may be well on the way of becoming “Dogs on the short leash of our Government Masters.” While not so evident in Texas, small Farming and small Agribusiness, Farmer’s Markets, etc. are a “Bigger Deal” in other parts of the country. They have been competing successfully in the marketplace and the “big boys” don’t like it. If you are a consumer of food, and who isn’t, then you need to be informed. This will affect some of us much more than others but will affect anyone who eats at some point. They call this a “Food Safety Act,” but it is really a “regulate and harass the little guy out of business act.” This could create trouble even for the Backyard Gardener or anyone who raises food for their own consumption, including raising game animals. This legislation is vague, ultimately resulting in a chosen few controlling the supply. The rest of this email is information I have acquired from other people.

Links:

HR 875 Would Essentially Outlaw Family Farms In The United States

Educating Congress: Do Not Suppress Organic and Small Farmers and Ranchers; Natural Food Products

Didn’t Stalin nationalize farming methods that enabled his administration to gain control over the food supply? Didn’t Stalin use the food to control the people?

HR 875: The food police, criminalizing organic farming and the backyard gardener, and violation of the 10th amendment

HR 875 link: Go to: http://thomas.loc.gov/home/c111query.html and then search for “HR 875.” You should hit on: “Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 (Introduced in House)” and a temporary link will be provided.

This bill is sitting in committee and I am not sure when it is going to hit the floor. One thing I do know is that very few of the Representatives have read it. As usual they will vote on this based on what someone else is saying. Urge your members to read the legislation and ask for opposition to this devastating legislation. Devastating for everyday folks but great for factory farming ops like Monsanto, ADM, Sodexo, and Tyson to name a few. I have no doubt that this legislation was heavily influenced by lobbyists from huge food producers. This legislation is so broad based that technically someone with a little backyard garden could get fined and have their property seized. It will affect anyone who produces food even if they do not sell but only consume it. It will literally put all independent farmers and food producers out of business due to the huge amounts of money it will take to conform to factory farming methods. If people choose to farm without industry standards such as chemical pesticides and fertilizers they will be subject to a variety of harassment from this completely new agency that has never before existed. That’s right, a whole new government agency is being created just to police food, for our own protection of course.

Do not take my word for it, read this legislation for yourself.

The more people who read this legislation the more insight we are going to get and be able to share. Post your observations and insights below. Urge your members to read this legislation and to oppose the passage of this legislation.

Pay special attention to:

• Section 3 which is the definition portion of the bill – read it in its entirety.

• Section 103, 206, and 207 – read them in their entirety.

Red flags I found and I am sure there are more:

• Legally binds state agriculture departments to enforcing federal guidelines effectively taking away a State’s power to do anything other than being food police for the Federal department.

• Effectively criminalizes organic farming but doesn’t actually use the word organic.

• Affects anyone growing food even if they are not selling it but consuming it.

• Affects anyone producing meat of any kind including wild game.

• Legislation is so broad based that every aspect of growing or producing food can be made illegal. There are no specifics which is bizarre considering how long the legislation is.

• Section 103 is almost entirely about the administrative aspect of the legislation. It will allow the appointing of officials from the factory farming corporations and lobbyists and classify them as experts and allow them to determine and interpret the legislation. Who do you think they are going to side with?

• Section 206 defines what will be considered a food production facility and what will be enforced upon all food production facilities. The wording is so broad based that a backyard gardener could be fined and more.

• Section 207 requires that a State’s agriculture department act as the food police and enforce the Federal requirements. This takes away a State’s power and is in violation of the 10th amendment.

• There are many more but by the time I got this far in the legislation I was so alarmed that I wanted to bring someone’s attention to it.

I haven’t read any of the Senate’s version of the bill as I have been poring through the House’s version. Here is the link and I hope some of you can take a look and post your observations and insights below. One thing I am pretty sure of is that very few if any Senators have actually read the legislation and when it comes up for a vote they will more than likely take someone else’s word on how they should vote. The other thing I am pretty sure about is that the legislation was probably written by lobbyists and industry experts.

Link to S 425: Go to http://thomas.loc.gov/home/c111query.html and search for “s 425.” You should get the hit “the Food Safety and Tracking Improvement Act. (Introduced in Senate)” and a link should be provided.

Things you can do:

1. Contact your members at 202-224-3121 and ask them to oppose HR 875 and S 425. While you are at it ask them if they personally have read the legislation and what their position is. If they have not read the legislation ask them to read it and politely let them know that just because other Representatives are not reading the legislation and voting on it does not mean that they can do the same.
2. Get in touch with local farmers and food producers by attending a local Farmer’s Market and asking them how business is.
3. Attend a local WAPF meeting. This is a good start to learning about what is going on in farming and local and state initiatives. The website is: http://www.westonaprice.org/localchapters/
4. Check out the Farmers Legal Defense Fund at http://www.ftcldf.org/
5. Find out who sits on your State’s agriculture and farming committee and contact them with your concerns.
6. Continue to contact your elected officials and let them know your position on legislation and why.
7. Get active at the local and state levels. This is the quickest way to initiate change.