Could the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 be the End to Farmers’ Markets and Organic Farms?
As spring is in the air (when the north wind does not blow), I have begun longing for the good times my children and I have at the local farmers’ market and contemplating our participation as vendors this year. I can’t tell you how much we look forward to our weekly adventures at the farmers’ market, and how excited we are if we happen to visit a neighboring town on the day of their market; however, that could all change.
H.R. 875: Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 could end farmers’ markets as we know it by requiring growers to register, be subject to inspections of their gardens by federal agents, and maintain safety records related to food production or face large fines.
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The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 reminds of the Consumer Product Safety Information Act (CPSIA) in the sense that is responding to recalls (salmonella in peanut butter/lead in toys) that needs addressing; however, the people responsible for providing consumers with safe products are inadvertently targeted. I feel much safer knowing the people and gardens my food comes from rather than some multinational food corporation providing produce in the supermarket.
Under H.R. 875, all participants in farmers’ markets will be forced to register, otherwise the market will be shut down as an illegal operation. Failure to comply with the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 would result in a fine of up to $1,000,000 per violation. Specifically, the law would apply to any food establishment, including farmers’ markets, defined as:
(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.
Just like small family handmade toy companies can’t afford the requirements under CPSIA, the extra requirements and inspections required of small family farms under the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 would be a burden. I believe this bill is well intentioned; however, some critics have gone so far as to say the bill criminalizes organic farming. Ironically, or not so ironically, the bill was introduced by Rosa DeLauro whose husband Stanley Greenburg works for Monsanto. OpEdNews explains why this is Monsanto’s dream bill:
The bill is monstrous on level after level - the power it would give to Monsanto, the criminalization of seed banking, the prison terms and confiscatory fines for farmers, the 24 hours GPS tracking of their animals, the easements on their property to allow for warrantless government entry, the stripping away of their property rights, the imposition by the filthy, greedy industrial side of anti-farming international “industrial” standards to independent farms - the only part of our food system that still works, the planned elimination of farmers through all these means.
The full text of the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 reveals its well intentions, like protecting us from food grown abroad, and its favoritism towards agribusiness. While Ron Paul is trying to give consumers choice by legalizing interstate raw milk sales, other members of Congress are trying to outlaw small organic farms. We need to stand up for our local family farms!
Clifton, I appreciate your trying to respond. I believe you did not notice the references to farming, direct and indirect.
But at the root, I am genuinely interested in whether there really is a problem that needs solving, and what that problem is. The E. Coli problems originate from livestock excrement contaminating plants. I wonder if organic farmers are more careful in how they site the various fields involved.
Does anyone have information on the incidence of food poisoning from organic foods vs non-organic?
Another issue this bill may be addressed to would be truth in advertising i.e. making sure that food labeled organic really is organic. But, does the same agency that refused to allow organic milks to say that no antibiotics or growth hormone were used, is that agency really concerned with truth in advertising.
I am not 100% sure, but this new bill does seem like a power grab by a government that continues to be dominated, in the farming arena, by giant agribusiness. I am not against a strong government where it is needed, but in this case the government bodies should be more focused on encouraging healthier and more humane (for animals) farming practices, where the REAL need is, and less effort on adding layers of dubious regulations.
This really ticks me off. If anything like this passes in congress, there will be revolts in this country. I will be on the front line…
Ever since organic food movement started, everyone has gotten it wrong.
Organic farming is normal, natural. Chemical farming is abnormal, unnatural.
All chemical farmers must be required to label and specify exactly what synthetic ingredients and amendments are going into their food. Something like this:
“This watermelon is brought to you from Topsoil Erosion Farms, LLC,and was grown with the assistance of malathion, fungicide ABC, herbicide DEF,ammonia nitrogen fertilizer, irradiation sterilization and whatever else we think will convince you to buy it, no matter how deadly it really is.”
Do you see? It is the unnatural deadly practices that should be required to precisely validate all the garbage they use. And to absorb the costs of doing so.
The organic guys should have free reign and no extra costs to “prove” they are legit, cuz they don’t poison people.
I think this is an excellent way to drive the cost of food out of reach for the average American. When will people see that big brother isn’t looking out for our health, only a way to pad the politicians pockets.
THE LORD ABOVE, IN THE TEN COMMENDMENTS IT SAYS THOU SHOUT NOT KILL IN THE WORDS WRITTEN BY G-D> IF THE GOVERNMENT PASSES THIS> THEY ARE GOING AGAINST THE ALMIGHTY ABOVE>
Clifton, and others,
Don’t know if you read the bill very well. Included below is the main part which bothers me. I am actually a small farmer doing vegetables for local markets and restaurants. I also have chickens and sheep. I use organic and biologic farming methods. Look below to see the vague wording which has me concerned - I have it in all caps to make it clear.
Fertilizer and nutrient uses between conventional/industrial agriculture and organic/sustainable/biologic are worlds different. If they tell me I have to stop using compost, fish emulsion, and kelp and use chemically sanitized or soluble chemicals to supply my crops with the nutrients they need then they have put an end to non-chemical farming. My beliefs in farming are that bacteria and fungi in the soil provide more for crop health then harsh chemicals which quickly supply nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium but otherwise destroy all soil life.
And for animals, I don’t believe anti-biotics and various treatments to animals are beneficial to animals who are raised sanely and naturally - in fact I think they’re detrimental. Anti-biotics are only treating the symptoms to the real problems; which are unmaintainable and unhealthy living conditions for the animals. If the government tells me I must include X, Y, and Z drugs with my animals’ feed to solve problems that my animals don’t have because they’re happily living on spacious pastures with more room then some housing developments, then I think that’s intrusive and wrong.
I agree that many farming techniques need serious cleaning up because they ignore the health, happiness, and safety of everyone involved from growing, to processing and eating. But also, I am very worried about how vague the language is and how people writing and passing legislation don’t know what real farming is since they’re sitting in cities being counseled by big agribusiness representatives.
Sec. 206 Food Production Facilities
(3) include, with respect to growing, harvesting, sorting, and storage operations, MINIMUM STANDARDS RELATED TO FERTILIZER USE, NUTRIENTS, packaging, temperature controls, animal encroachment, and water;
(4) include, with respect to animals raised for food, minimum standards related to the ANIMAL’S HEALTH, FEED, AND ENVIRONMENT which bear on the safety of food for human consumption;
Jennifer Lance said on March 10th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
“Lisa, I know. I love Obama too, or maybe I love the idea of who I think Obama is. Agribusiness does need some serious oversight, but we should leave the small local organic farmers alone. I trust them!”
This is EXACTLY the problem. 54% of American voters were DUPED on Nov 4th. The government CREATES problems, it does not solve them. You reap what you sow.
Mr. Moore,
I question your allegiance. Every producer in this country experiences government controls and regulations.
I cannot fathom, sir, how you seem to welcome more.
Furthermore, humans have been growing and producing their own food since the beginning of history. I don’t really imagine,then, it is a process that needs any more help.
OK, after reading the bill (PLEASE read it before you draw conclusions) and observing how dramatically small farmers and ranchers could be negatively impacted, no comments I have seen so far have detected one explosive provision: Section 409, Citizen Civil Actions. This will open the door for extremist groups to file dozens of malicious federal law suits against big and small entities, including small organic meat and vegetable producers, which could destroy the food supply system. Do you think just because such suits are looney, they won’t have an impact? Do you know how enormous the cost can be for defending a federal lawsuit - - even a suit that has no merit? You can’t count that high.
I just read the bill (boring!) it is available in full through the Library of Congress Thomas search engine: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c111:1:./temp/~c111YcoJun:e0:
There is nothing, I repeat NOTHING in it about animal GPS tracking, seed banking or any of the other incendiary bits listed above. Nothing. So…let’s all calm down.
This is a food safety bill. It does propose to have annual random inspections of food producing facilities (which include farms and orchards) to make sure they are producing sanitarily. (clue- using fresh pig manure for fertilizing is a no-no, etc.)
There is no big bogeyman (or woman) trying to get you. People seem to prefer regulation over risk, so the legislators are delivering. Me? not so much. I’d rather take personal responsibility and have less legislation. But we live in a litigious society, so…..