Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

As you know I'm a small grower for farmers markets. I have as much concern 
for the subject as anyone. We know the agencies have failed to prevent food 
illness and properly regulate food growing and distribution. They have a job 
to do. How to do it right is the issue. We've seen what they did with organic 
standards, and it's so full of loopholes there's no way to tell if anything 
certified is pesticide free or free of chemicals of any kind. Yet in spite of 
that, small growers like myself have not been put out of business as the 
fearmongers warned. I believe the real threats come from a very different 
direction. And one of them is starvation.

That said, this piece has been circulating on the Internet long, long before 
Sept 27 of this year. Alarmist and exaggrated writing from Prison Planet does 
not help us to analyze and counter unwise or counterproductive legislation.

This is untrue on its face: "Well, big  food corporations and big agriculture 
are actually very much in favor of this  bill." Actually they've killed every 
effort to crack down on unsafe food handling. It's deceptive because the big 
boys use this fearmongering to kill any attempt to regulate THEM. Whatever 
passes eventually will be toothless and ineffective.

Just as misleading: "demand for organic food has skyrocketed". In fact the 
organic market has taken decades to reach six percent of the total and 
climbing very slowly, and the big producers and chains are carrying and 
coopting "organic" brands. Instead of being threatened they're taking over 
"organic".

It's called Yellow Journalism. That piece is full of "what ifs" instead of 
actual wording from the bill:
   "how  dangerous this bill potentially could be"
   "could  potentially"
   "could be greatly curtailed"
   "unprecedented discretion to  regulate U.S. food"
   "potentially a very, very dangerous law"
   "will have  their very existence threatened by this bill"
   "how  dangerous this bill potentially could be"
   "It is feared that"
   "Opponents of S. 510 believe that"

None of which tells us what the bill actually says.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net


*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 9/28/2010 at 8:55 PM John D'hondt wrote:

>> S. 510: 12 Reasons Why The Food  Safety Bill From Hell Could Be Very
>> Dangerous For The U.S.  Economy
>> The Economic Collapse
>> Sept 27, 2010
>>
>_http://www.prisonplanet.com/s-510-12-reasons-why-the-food-safety-bill-from-
>> hell-\
>> could-be-very-dangerous-for-the-u-s-economy.html_
>>
>(http://www.prisonplanet.com/s-510-12-reasons-why-the-food-safety-bill-from-hell-could-be-very-dangero
>> us-for-the-u-s-economy.html)
>>
>> As you read this, there is a bill before the U.S. Senate that has the
>> potential to change the U.S. food industry more than any other law ever
>> passed
>> by the U.S. Congress. In the name of "food safety", the U.S. government
>> would be  given an iron grip over the production, transportation and
>sale
>> of all
>> food in  the United States.
>> Hordes of small food producers and organic farmers could  potentially be
>> put out of business.
>> If this bill becomes law, the freedom to grow what you  want, eat what
>you
>> want and to share food from your gardens with your neighbours  could be
>> greatly curtailed.
>> It would give the FDA unprecedented discretion to  regulate U.S. food
>> production. A version of this bill was already passed by the  U.S. House
>> of
>> Representatives last summer, and now S. 510, also know as the  FDA Food
>> Safety Modernization Act, is in front of the U.S. Senate and it is
>> expected to
>> pass easily.
>>
>> Because of how vaguely it is written and because  of how much discretion
>> it
>> gives to the FDA, it is potentially a very, very  dangerous law.
>>
>>
>> So who is actually in favor of it?
>>
>> Well, big  food corporations and big agriculture are actually very much
>in
>> favor of this  bill.
>>
>>
>> Why?
>>
>> Is it because they are so concerned about food  safety?
>>
>> No.
>>
>> In fact, virtually every major case of food  contamination in recent U.S.
>> history has come from large-scale industrial  agriculture or large-scale
>> industrial food production.
>>
>> The real reason  why they are backing S. 510 is because it will devastate
>> their primary  competition - small food producers and organic farmers.
>>
>> In recent years,  the demand for organic food has skyrocketed as the
>> American people have learned  the truth about how our food is actually
>> made. Big
>> agriculture and the giant  food producers are losing profits as Americans
>> increasingly vote with their  wallets.
>>
>> So now the food giants are using **food safety** as a way to get  market
>> share back. It is an open secret that many of those involved in drafting
>> this
>> bill and in pushing it through Congress have ties to food industry
>> giants.
>>
>> Thousands of small food producers and organic farmers will have  their
>> very
>> existence threatened by this bill. It imposes a bureaucratic  nightmare
>on
>> all food producers that the big corporations will be able to handle
>> easily
>> but that will cripple much smaller operations.
>>
>> Already, many  farmers can see the writing on the wall. One small farmer
>> recently described the  mood among her fellow small farmers to the Wall
>> Street
>> Journal..
>>
>> **I know  people who have been small farmers for 25 to 30 years who are
>> looking to get out  of the business because food safety is becoming so
>> alarmist.**
>>
>> But the  bureaucratic nightmare is just the tip of the iceberg. To get an
>> idea of just  how dangerous S. 510 could potentially be to the already
>> staggering U.S.  economy, just check out the following quote from one
>> opponent of
>> this  bill..
>>
>> **If accepted [S 510] would preclude the public's right to grow,  own,
>> trade, transport, share, feed and eat each and every food that nature
>> makes. It
>> will become the most offensive authority against the cultivation,  trade
>> and consumption of food and agricultural products of one's choice. It
>will
>> be
>> unconstitutional and contrary to natural law or, if you like, the will
>of
>> God.**
>>
>> -Dr. Shiv Chopra, Canada Health whistle blower
>>
>>
>> It would be hard to understate how  dangerous this bill potentially could
>> be.
>> This bill gives the FDA the ability  to exercise a ton of discretion. The
>> FDA could end up exercising that discretion  in a very reasonable way, or
>> they could use it to shut down small food producers  left and right.
>>
>>
>> When it comes to S. 510, the question that you need to ask yourself is
>> this..
>>
>> Do you trust the FDA?
>>
>> If not, then there are some very real  reasons for you to be concerned.
>>
>>
>> The following are 12 reasons why S. 510 could be absolutely disastrous
>> for
>> small food producers and for the U.S.  economy............
>>
>> #1 All food production facilities in  the United States will be required
>> to
>> register with the U.S. government. No food  will be allowed to be grown,
>> distributed or sold outside this bureaucratic  framework unless the FDA
>> allows
>> it.
>>
>>
>> #2 Any food that is distributed or sold outside of  U.S. government
>> control
>> will be considered illegal smuggling.
>>
>>
>> #3 The FDA will hire an army of new inspectors to  enforce all of the new
>> provisions in the bill.
>>
>>
>> #4 The FDA will be mandated to conduct much more  frequent inspections of
>> food processing facilities.
>>
>>
>> #5 The fees and paperwork requirements will be  ruinously expensive for
>> small food producers and organic  farms.
>>
>>
>> #6 S. 510 would place all U.S. food and all U.S. farms  under the
>> Department of Homeland Security in the event of a major  *contamination*
>> or an
>> *emergency*.
>> What exactly would constitute a  *contamination* or an *emergency* is
>> anyone's guess.
>>
>>
>> #7 S. 510 mandates that the FDA facilitate  harmonization of American
>food
>> laws with Codex Alimentarius.
>>
>>
>> #8 S. 510 imposes an annual registration fee on any  facility that holds,
>> processes, or manufactures food. It also includes draconian  fines for
>> paperwo
>> rk infractions of up to $500,000 for a single offense. Just one  penalty
>> like that would drive a small food producer out of  business.
>>
>>
>> #9 S. 510 would give the FDA tremendous discretion to  regulate how crops
>> are grown and how food is produced in the United States.  Basically,
>small
>> farmers and organic farmers will now be forced to farm exactly  how the
>> federal government tells them to. It is feared that the U.S. government
>> would
>> soon declare that many organic farming methods are "unsafe" and would
>> outlaw
>> them. In addition, there is the very real possibility that at some point
>> the
>> U.S. government could decide that the only *safe* seed for a particular
>> crop  is genetically modified seed and would require all farmers to use
>> it.
>>
>>
>> #10 S. 510 will give the FDA the power to impose a  quarantine on a
>> specific geographic area. Basically the FDA would have the power  to
>stop
>> the
>> movement of all food in an area where a *contamination* has been
>> identified.
>> This would be very close to being able to declare martial  law.
>>
>>
>> #11 S. 510 will  give the FDA the power to conduct warrantless searches
>of
>> the business records  of small food producers and organic farmers, even
>if
>> there has been no evidence  at all that a law has been broken.
>>
>>
>> #12 Opponents of S.  510 believe that it would eliminate the right to
>> clean
>> and store seed.  Therefore, control of the U.S. seed supply would be
>> further centralized in the  hands of Monsanto and other multinational
>> corporations.
>>
>>
>> As mentioned above, this bill gives  the FDA a ton of discretion. It is
>> written very broadly and very vaguely. It  opens the door for all kinds
>of
>> abuses, but that doesn't mean that the FDA will  behave unreasonably.
>>
>>
>> So should we trust the FDA?
>>
>> Is there a  viable future for small food producers and organic farmers
>in
>> America?
>>
>> Or is the handwriting already on the wall?
>>
>>
>> **If people let the government  decide what foods they eat and what
>> medicines they take, their bodies will soon  be in as sorry a state as
>are
>> the
>> souls of those who live under  tyranny.**
>>
>> -Thomas Jefferson
>>
>>