I know that a lot of my US friends support local, organic, sustainable farms. I certainly do whenever I'm in the states and my folks still do. Fairly soon, S. 510: FDA Food Safety Modernization Act will come for a vote before the Senate. This bill is designed to prevent and contain outbreaks from farms. The problem is that the paperwork and bureaucracy involved (and some generally inane portions that are just moronic) will destroy small farms: they won't be able to handle the costs or laws. And generally speaking, people don't get e. coli or salmonella from a local 50 acre farm. They get it from a 10,000 acre farm that's destroyed the earth and such (no, I'm not biased).
Senator Jon Tester of Montana has created an amendment for S. 510, that will provide some exemptions for small farms, allowing them to both stay in business and still provide safe and healthy produce and meat. Please, contact both your senators and ask them to support Senator Tester's amendment to S. 510. The easiest way to contact the senators is to go to their official Senate website and use the "Contact" form. If you don't know who your Senator is, well, I'm not going to help you there, but the website is [senatorlastname].senate.gov. If you're an Oregonian, those will be wyden.senate.gov and merkley.senate.gov.
For more information on the bill and amendments you can visit S. 510 text:
Senator Tester’s Amendment:
Farmer-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund Opinion:
Additionally, here's a more generic version of what I wrote to Oregon Senators Wyden and Merkley. I'm more than happy for people to copy/paste this and send it to their Senators. If you're extra enthusiastic, mention some of your local farms by name (I did). Also, mention your specific local, fragile economy (in all seriousness, this would probably destroy Oregon). I did all the hard work, so please, copy this and send it along to your Senators.
Currently awaiting a Senate vote is S. 510: FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. S. 510 is a one-size-fits-all bill, provided the "all" is massive, commercial farming. Small farms, particularly those who sell directly to the consumers, will get royally screwed by this bill.
I'm sure you're well aware of the number of small, farms that exist in the US. I'm passionate customer of many of these farms farms that sell directly to customers, whether from a farm shop, a booth at a local market, or through weekly "Farm Box" services sold to and directly delivered to members. These farms are dedicated to sustainable, safe practices already. Though I believe in oversight and monitoring of safe practices, lest people get lazy, generally these farms are too small to be able to adhere to methods outlined in S. 510, and would most likely go out of business, which would not only deprive consumers of local, generally organic and sustainable produce, but it would also destroy the livelihood of the farmers and potentially be catastrophic to already fragile local economies.
Senator Tester has an amendment to S. 510, which would grant exceptions to these small farms, allowing them to stay in business, while still allowing for stronger food safety practices. Please support his amendment to S. 510, for not all farms are the same size.
Thank you, and your staff, for all your hard work and time. There are those of us who truly appreciate your efforts and energy.
Yours,
2 comments:
Permission to forward this?
Awesome and agreed! :)
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