permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>]

On 12/1/2010 5:16 PM, Gasper Family Farm wrote:
> Its not a major victory at all. The so called protections for small
> farms have major loopholes and will present zero resistance to the FDA
> in their ongoing effort to destroy the last vestiges of small farms in
> this country.

omygod, say it isn't so. Are you sure?
I won't say this is hysterical unsubstantiated rumor because it may not 
be and you may be on to something important.
Is all the work of Hagan, Tester, Burr and many others not going to 
benefit the small local farming community? Intead of a few lines of 
accusation can you give us necessary background so we can understand 
your viewpoint? If you're right I'd like to know more about this so as 
to be prepared for contingencies in the near future. Truthfully I 
supported S.501 with the necessary amendments (even though they are far 
from complete in support for small local and family farms, markets and 
processors) and campaigned for passage of the bill. I was going on the 
assumption that we had a bird in the hand and should go with the final 
version of the bill because if the bill was defeated, it would be very 
likely that the Republicans would later propose their own version of a 
Food Safety Modernization Act and get it  passed without any protection 
or exemptions for small farmers. What say ye? Lets hear it.