Maybe I'm just paranoid...

[Varmit]

Has anyone seen HR 875?  Maybe I'm just paranoid but it seems this could be used as a way for the government to require backyard gardners to resister their gardens.  When you look at Executive Order 10999, HR 875 would give the gov't a way to find and control possible food sources for local communities.  After some of the things this administration has done it wouldn't surprise me.  I mean on the surface 875 doesn't sound all that bad, but the wording leaves plenty of room for interpatation.  While it doesn't mention small gardens, it doesn't NOT mention them either.  What are your thoughts?

[Wilma]

I think someone is nit-picking.  What are the exact words that we are supposed to worry about?

[Varmit]

Well, thats the thing, its not what it said, but didn't say.  I mean requiring farmers to have a plan to keep their crops free of contaiminants, surprise inspections from gov't officals...just to big brother for me.  Espcially when you compare it with Executive Orders.

[Warph]

MYTH:  H.R. 875 "makes it illegal to grow your own garden" and would result in the "criminalization of the backyard gardener."


FACT:   There is no language in the bill that would regulate, penalize, or shut down backyard gardens.  This bill is focused on ensuring the safety of foods sold in supermarkets.


Oh, I might add that this bill just might knock out foreign produce markets and eventually the U.S.consumer will pay $3.00 for a banananananana...

[Diane Amberg]

With the bananas we are used to buying hit hard by disease, we may have no bananas to buy at any price.

[Wilma]

Do you think this will affect the garden Michelle is making on the White House lawn?

[Teresa]

Many of you have been hearing about HR 875, a food safety bill that has been introduced in Congress.  Although some of the Internet reports are not completely accurate, HR 875 does pose serious problems for small farmers and their consumers.  Unfortunately, there are already four other "food safety" bills that also pose serious problems:  HR 814, HR 759, S 425, and S 510.  HR 814 is essentially a mandatory NAIS bill, while the others focus on produce, processed foods, and game under FDA jurisdiction.


Congress faces a lot of pressure to improve the safety of the mainstream food supply.  But these bills all take a "one-size-fits-all" approach and would create significant burdens on small farms, which are not the source of the food safety problems.  Congress needs to focus on solving the real problems, not simply expanding agencies!  The federal agencies' past actions clearly show that, unless Congress places strict limits, they will impose burdensome and unfair regulations and enforcement actions on small farms.

We don't know which of these bills will move forward to committee hearings.  Or perhaps another bill, not yet filed, will be the one to move forward.  So we encourage everyone to call their Congressmen with a clear message: Protect our farms from bad regulation!


TAKE ACTION:  Call your U.S. Representative and Senators.  If you do not know who represents you, you can find out at www.congress.org or by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.  Ask to speak to the staffer who handles food safety issues.


Talk with the staffer about why you support local foods.  Tell them you oppose S425, S510, HR 814, HR 759, and HR 875.  Ask that they support a food safety bill that focuses on the real threats to food safety, such as uninspected imports from China and lack of inspections of massive slaughterhouses and other factory processing.


Tell them you want any food safety bill to explicitly exempt small farmers.   Explain that this issue cannot be left to the agencies' discretion, and you want new regulations expressly limited to the large factory farms and processing facilities, not small and local producers.


Go to http://farmandranchfreedom.org/content/food_safety_bills_09 for more information on the food safety bills.