I was just watchin you tube and saw this video, it is a must watch for all of us.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtLGuOQemnQ&feature=related
The fact that they were trying to pass a law like this is just sickening.
This message was edited Mar 15, 2010 7:37 PM
This message was edited Mar 15, 2010 7:38 PM
Organic Farms and Gardens Destroyed by HR 875
Well yeah, HR875 has become an Internet darling. The author of this bill seems a little too confident in the Commerce Clause of the Constitution's ability to protect the small farm from federal regulations. The author also has agreed to re-write the bill to further define a "food production facility" to exclude your garden patch. She's looking to provide source traceability for the majority of foods eaten by Americans , and that's probably a good idea, but the bill does need to be tightened up.
Remember the great Georgia peanut butter salmonella scare? Or the deadly tomatoes from Florida, or was that Mexico? The problem was that nobody knew exactly what the source of these foods was. I can guarantee there will be another hamburger scare, or maybe it will be a salad vegetable, or some processed food.
I know for a fact that my representatives have had at least one letter about this matter. In my opinion this type of regulation should only be placed on industrial type farms and the rest should be left alone.
Our entire food system would improve in several ways if more of it was sourced locally. The video said small farms are growing at the rate of 10,000 per year which means people are concerned about their food. I think that's great news and they don't need the burden of more paperwork.
There's been a lot of news lately about obesigyns and endocrine disrupters occurring from pesticides and the weird stuff added to processed foods. I'm far more concerned with that but the FDA and Department of Ag don't seem to be.
jhwentworth, yes I did hear about the peanut, tomato, pepper scare, the fact of the matter is that big industrial farming tecniques don't care about what type of chemicals and pesticides they add into their food sosuce as long as their goal for the year is met and they earn their $, now small organic farmers or even small scale farmers are more concerned about the quality they produce because their reputation is how they really make ends meet.
I agree with Twiggy, it is the big guys they should regulate and not the mom and pop sorth of place or even backyard gardeners for that matter.
I have however heard of parts of the middle east and even Europe where small farmers are not allowed to plant heirloom seeds anymore and were just hybrids are allowed and that is a scary though for many of us.
Wasn't at least one of those salmonella problems proven to have been caused directly by feral hogs? I can understand wanting to be able to trace food back to it's source if there is a problem. I just think maybe we need to look at the cause as well.
Just speaking as one who has had an entire veg garden completely destroyed, overnight, by feral hogs. And then had to move the orrigianl sight of said veg garden because of what they left behind....I have a new turbo wire electric fence up now....Thanks for the advice, ImaTulsaDog!
Sorry to hear that, I am sure it took a lot of $ and time to have to do what you did with your veggie patch, I am sure now with your electric fence up, they'll have a hard time getting at it. I am trying to convince my mother in law who also has a veggie garden in her backyard and seems to have a deer problem that she should install a electric fence as well.
I have to say that my new veg garden site is better....But still.....
C - deer can jump really really high, so make sure your MIL has a tall fence - lol...
I for one hope HR 875 goes away. It seems like the government always finds a way to twist the words to make them apply in whatever situation suits them at the moment. No sense taking a chance that they can someone try and regulate us little people just trying to grow a little clean foods for our families!
On the bright side, we'd all get to meet if they shipped us off to the same federal prison - lol...
Terri I'm sorry you had such problems. Food is necessarily a product of nature and even Congress can't regulate her although they try. Last year the Department of Ag told farmers to eliminate all the vegetation in fence rows and the natural strips bordering their fields. This is to discourage wildlife and birds from going anywhere near crops. This is such short sighted idiocy because among other things, those small areas also harbor bees, beneficial insects and help prevent run off and erosion. As that video stated, this type of thing only helps big ag and I really don't want to support it any more than is absolutely necessary.
"On the bright side, we'd all get to meet if they shipped us off to the same federal prison" LOL, Kelly do you think they'll let us have a garden in the federal prison, I am with you no way I am going to satisfy their political views.
How Twiggy, I had no idea about the fence row vegetation, that is absurd, why are we always trying to change nature? No wonder the polinating bee is in danger to be extint.
They'd let us have a garden, but they wouldn't let us eat any of the produce. Because of contracts with "food" vendors.
God help the prison that tried to take all of us in. ;o) They surely don't have enough solitary confinement closets to keep us from nagging them to death, ha! Right, Michael from IB?
LOL
Well, this fence row/hedge row thing wouldn't fly in England. I have a friend who transferred to England. She was trying to clean out a two-three foot section of the hedge rows growing around the house she and DH rent. This section was holding water and she thought she would clear it, put fill dirt in, and replant with a couple new or transplanted shrubs. Well, half the village turned out to stop her. You can't mess with hedge rows there. It kind of reminded me of a "To the Manor Born" episode!
If England had a problem with feral hogs, I wonder if anyone would protest if they had feral hog hunts instead of fox hunts? See how my mind works?
Twiggy, was it the USDA or Darden restaurant group that regulated the fence rows? I know Darden (Red Lobster, Olive Garden) makes the farmers that supply them have no other trees or vegetation near their fields because a bird might poop on a piece of lettuce.
You're probably right Cala. Somebody did it and yes I should check my facts before I open my mouth. I get mad every time I think about it and wonder what other whacko practices they've come up with. If they're that worried about it they ought to just grow in greenhouses.
Wow I am learning all kinds of things from this thread, thanks for sharing. I also think is absurd, couldn't they just wash the lettuce in the first place to get rid of all the germs, a vinegar wash might do it. Also birds are good, they get rid of those ugly catterpillars that eat lettuces etc...
It's simple, go to your farmers market, buy some lettuce & don't eat at those places. Neither has very good food as far as I can tell.
Their food is all prepared ahead of time in some big factory and frozen. Even their salad stuff comes in a big bag all cut up.
That's the way of the world. Every grocery store has the "fresh salad" bags. Why not, boxed dinners might as well have prepared salads to go with them. Then they wonder why the country has so many overweight people.
Besides, the restaurants can hire people that know nothing about cooking. Just throw it on the plate & nuke it!
Bernie
You said it Bernie. I actually hardly ever go out and eat, maybe once a month with my kids and it is ussually chick-fillet since that's about the only kid friendly place in my town.
I wish I had a nickel for every internet scare about how the government is going to do something terrible to family farms or organic gardens. These guys with these websites and now these youtube videos must be making a fortune from whipping up all this hysteria. Big food processors, which this bill would affect, would really really hate to see it passed, just like back in 1906 they hated to see the Pure Food & Drug Act passed and I am sure they complained about having to stop using formaldehyde to preserve milk, because it was interfering with the rights of dairy farmers.
Never believe what you read on some webiste or god forbid see in a youtube video about a piece of legislation. Go read the legislation yourself. It is free. It doesn't require that much work.
Here is the bill:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-875
Here's what this bill prohibits, and I quote:
It is prohibited--
(1) to manufacture, introduce, deliver for introduction, or receive in interstate commerce any food that is adulterated, misbranded, or otherwise unsafe;
(2) to adulterate or misbrand any food in interstate commerce;
(3) for a food establishment or foreign food establishment to fail to register under section 202, or to operate without a valid registration;
(4) to refuse to permit access to a food establishment or food production facility for the inspection and copying of a record as required under sections 205(f) and 206(a);
(5) to fail to establish or maintain any record or to make any report as required under sections 205(f) and 206(b);
(6) to refuse to permit entry to or inspection of a food establishment as required under section 205;
(7) to fail to provide to the Administrator the results of testing or sampling of food, equipment, or material in contact with food, that is positive for any contaminant under section 205(f)(1)(B);
(8) to fail to comply with a provision, regulation, or order of the Administrator under section 202, 203, 204, 206, or 208;
(9) to slaughter an animal that is capable for use in whole or in part as human food at a food establishment processing any food for commerce, except in compliance with the food safety law;
(10) to transfer food in violation of an administrative detention order under section 402 or to remove or alter a required mark or label identifying the food as detained;
(11) to fail to comply with a recall or other order under section 403; or
(12) to otherwise violate the food safety law.
Now, where's the part in there you think is wrong and evil? Where is the part that you disagree with?
Here are the establishments that the bill says are not required to abide by this bill. Pay special attention to "Exclusions" and "Section 14," which defines what is exluded.
(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.
So it says that a "food establishment," which would have to abide by this bill's rules if it passed, does not include "farm, ranch, orchard, vineyard, aquaculture facility, or confined animal-feeding operation."
I don't know. Does this sound like the government is trying to regulate small farms and gardens?
Don't let yourself be manipulated by big corporations that are going around the internet setting up websites to whip up the public against any further regulation of their industry. This is not about the little guy being regulated. This is about the big guy being regulated. They must be regulated, because if they are not, they will happily poison us all in the name of profits.
"Last year the Department of Ag told farmers to eliminate all the vegetation in fence rows and the natural strips bordering their fields. This is to discourage wildlife and birds from going anywhere near crops."
Wasn't that practice also responsible for the Great Dust Bowl of the 1930's?