Organic Farmers in the sights of Congress

July 8, 10:58 AMPortland Civil Rights ExaminerDianna Cotter

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Farmers Market Myinwood.net Nov. 2008

For those of you who have not heard, HR 2749  the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, is a bill in congress that would basically eliminate Organic farming, and pretty well wipe out your back yard organic garden. For heaven’s sake, don’t even consider selling your homemade jam at a Farmers Market or the Saturday Market! Not unless you are willing to pay the 1000$ licensing fee anyway.

With the stated purpose of making the Food system in the United States safer, the liberal Washington DC Government has decided in its wisdom to make the entire industry formulaic and regulated. They will dictate what good practices are, not the farmers whose livelihoods demand they take the very best care of their land, and produce the best products. It will be the federal government who will dictate with this bill what sorts of fertilizers can and cannot be used, as well as nearly every detail involved in the production and importation of food in America. Failing to follow the government mandates, will result in fines and jail time.

Every single Organic farmer in Oregon should be repeatedly calling the offices of their Representatives: David Wu, Greg Walden, Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio and Kurt Schrader, in the Senate Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden to let them know just how this bill will affect both farming, and will effect Organic farmers in particular.

HR 2749 will require a minimum fee of 1000$ on any facility that holds or processes foods and the agency will be able to adjust that fee upward with Inflation. It will also regulate the use of Manure of any sort in fertilizer as listed in section 419A(3) "may include standards addressing manure use, water quality, employee hygiene, sanitation and animal control, and temperature controls, as the Secretary determines to be reasonably necessary;” but does not include any references as to what the Secretary is to consider “reasonable”. Organic farms will likely be forced to use industry’s products, as well as GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) as no other alternatives will be available due to the tracking requirements of this law. This will essentially eliminate Organic farming as we know it. In fact, growing one’s own grain to feed livestock might also be eliminated.

This bill will also give the FDA the power to quarantine geographic areas, and control the movement of food within that area. It also gives the FDA the power to search business records without a warrant, as the agency will have been given subpoena powers, and without evidence of any sort of wrong doing, merely the legal term “reason to believe”, and all such businesses and farms must keep their records for a minimum of 2 years.

The bill will also require a system for tracing food. “person(s) who produces, manufactures, processes, packs, transports, or holds such food” must “maintain the full pedigree of the origin and previous distribution history of the food,” and “establish and maintain a system for tracing the food that is interoperable with the systems established and maintained by other such persons.” The new law does not provide a system for doing so, nor does it give any analysis of what such a system might cost both to producers and manufacturers of food, or the persons buying it. It includes no instructions for multi ingredient foods.

Violations of this new and utterly unconstitutional law would create penalties of up to 10 years in prison, and fines of 100,000$ for each violation, up to 500,000 per person.

If it was not clear before the dangers of a repressive and totalitarian government which dictates to each of us what we can and cannot do and when, it should be getting clearer. over the entire food supply system in the United States.

This totalitarian bill will have the effect of putting a disproportionately high burden on small farms and co-ops, and potentially eliminating the Organic food industry altogether. It is quite apparent that the Federal government knows little about running itself efficiently, how on earth can it propose to run the family farm?

Liberalism and government control have just gone too far. All in the name of keeping us safe. It sounds good, but in the end we are trading freedom for the Governments definition of Safety.