permaculture

[bob@bobwaldrop.net]

For detailed instructions on how to comment online, see this page I posted
last week with a summary of the problems of this law, its impact on both
growers and distributors of local/organic produce, and a sample comment
letter.

It really is important that many people comment about this. We are going
up against Big Ag, who generally are supportive of these proposals,
because they will know it will cause problems for their competition in the
local ag movement. Even so, the system remains responsive to populist
uprisings, as we saw in the aborted plan for a new Syrian war that was
smashed flat by public opposition. So people need to comment to the FDA
and they need to contact their US Senators and Representatives.

When this law was passed, it was done with much fanfare about exemption
small farmers and no harm to organic ag.  but as the regulations are
promulgated, it appears that there are so many complications and loopholes
in the exemption, and such wide lattitude is granted to the FDA
inspectors, that the exemption may not actually be worth much.  And the
damage to organic production practices in the regulations is very clear.

So. . . make a comment, and forward this info on to others.  We need to
generate a serious political insurrection or the FDA and the Obama
administration may seal the doom of local ag, the White House rhetoric and
garden notwithstanding.

Comment details and other info at --

http://www.oklahomafood.coop/Display.aspx?CN=fsmadetails


Bob Waldrop, president,Oklahoma Food Cooperative
http://www.ipermie.net How to permaculture your urban lifestyle

> 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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