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  • From: Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [permaculture] Big Rules Spell Bad News for Small Farms - Organic Consumers Association
  • Date: Sun, 27 Oct 2013 09:50:26 -0400

Big Rules Spell Bad News for Small Farms - Organic Consumers Association

Love your local farms, farmers markets, and CSAs (Community Supported
Agriculture)? They could be in trouble thanks to heavy-handed new rules
proposed under the Food Safety & Modernization Act (FSMA).

Unless the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) agrees to some key changes
in the FSMA, your local farmer could be forced to shell out up to $20,000
for a fancy "Hazard Analysis and Risk-based Preventive Control plan." For a
farmer on a small budget, all that extra cost and paperwork means raising
prices. Higher prices could force even the most loyal consumer to
reluctantly settle for inferior, industrial food, trucked in from
out-of-state corporations.

And that could force your farmer out of business. While perpetuating the
chemical-intensive, environmentally unfriendly corporate agribusiness
model.

Under the guise of "food safety," the FSMA would create new barriers for
small and mid-scale farmers and processors who have for years been working
to create local markets – restaurants, co-ops, groceries, schools – for
their locally grown produce.

Who wins? The big guys, as usual. Who loses? Consumers. Farmers. Local
markets. And Mother Earth.
TAKE ACTION BY NOVEMBER 15: Tell the FDA: The FSMA puts small and mid-scale
farmers and processors at a competitive disadvantage against corporate
farmers and producers who can more easily absorb costs, fees and fines.
Please revise the FSMA to level the playing field for small growers.




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