Happy Spring Everyone!
I thought it be a good time to take a moment to give you a farm update & to talk about some important food legislation bills that have surfaced and that need some action.
We've been quite busy already getting ready for the new season that is just a couple months out of reach at this point. What are we spending time on? Danny - preparing hoophouses for crop rotation and planting. He's organizing, repairing, taking care of his animals. We've had 2 calves born already this year. Michelle-greenhouse work for the most there are thousands and thousands of seed to be started. During the month of March in the greenhouse we are focusing on early crop, greens, lettuce, some herbs & onions & leeks. Onions & leeks are my first big project to get through 150,000 of them. Onion seed is small, black, and very irregular shaped. I just got to the point that when I blink I don't see onion seeds. So things are progressing quite well here on the farm. I just can't wait to get in the fields and really get going, but it's not time for that just yet and I've got lots and lots more seeds to get started in the greenhouse before too much field work starts.
The month of April will be a busy one. There are quite a few Earth Day events planned. We're going to be participating at a few of them and we'll need some volunteers to help. Many of you have helped do this before, and it's a lot of fun. We set up a booth where people make a paper pot using a can and newspaper. Then they fill it with some good soil mix I'll bring down along with some plants-maybe tomatoes or basil and then they take this small little plant home and care for it and then plant it outside after danger of frost. It brings a lot of smiling faces.
Here's a list of event and the ones we plan on being at when/where we'll need some help are noted:
St. Clair County Earth Day Fair
Goodell's Park
4/17 & 4/18
Earth Day Event in Downtown Rochester
4/18 & 4/19
teaming up with Mind, Body, Spirit (the sustainable organic restaurant in DT Rochester)
we'll need help with this one-big time. Let me know if you able to help volunteer.
Local Motion Earth Day Event
4/25 10-2 Grosse Pointe War Memorial
volunteers needed if available
Veg Michigan (formally known as Meat Out)
Ferndale High School 4/26
volunteers needed if available
Ok now for the more serious news of the day:
Back in 2005 I got involved with fighting a seed preemption bill called SB 777. In the most basic terms SB 777 would prohibit any county in the state to declare themselves a GMO free growing zone-meaning that no crop that was genetically modified could be grown in that county. The bill came through the U.S. in a stealth type manner. It did catch our attention here in Michigan and we fought back. Although our testimony clearly showed that organic farming needs protection-our roles as stewards of the land should not be compromised or threaten- I am sad to say our efforts failed miserably. Michigan passed the the bill into law. I've been angry and bitter since.The only silver lining if there is any is that the debate got people talking and taking action about food issues.
I did learn a great deal from the 2005 fight. It is way more important to communicate what you want from the people that represent us prior to fighting on a issue you are passionate about. I wish I would have had a relationship with my representatives prior to asking them to think in another realm (so to speak) and factor in those of us who want food choice, those of us who really don't want lobbyist and paid people making our food decisions. I make a regular habit to sending email and corresponded with the people I expect to represent our voice.
Here's the particulars as I understand them. I'm getting my info from the Organic Consumers Association, Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund & ACRES USA- in addition I've read the bill and due to the lack of information about the practices this newly created board will make, I have to look at the facts.
Trouble is conventional farming and the Agri-business of growing food is a big money making beast that doesn't represent the best interest of our planet, or our health. It cares about profit and profit alone.
Too often bills like this that are backed by Monsanto and other groups like them is that they come up while another issue has the publics attention (the economy). Then the quietly introduce these bills in the Spring when the know it's hard for those on the other side (primarily small sustainable farmers) to get the time to give a good honest fight without causing him or herself to give up time from their farm and potentially compromising their successful season.
There are actually several bill regarding food policy out there right now and without know what bill will move forward it is far more important to call or write your reps and remind them of your feelings about food and the type of food & farming policy you support and embrace.
The issue they say is food traceability and food safety. 5 bills have surfaced.
HR 814, introduced by Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), would mandate traceability for all poultry and livestock-specifically cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses, mules and other equines presented for slaughter for human food purposes-where the animals or the resulting food are shipped inter-state. The bill could also effectively mandate NAIS for many people who never ship animals or food interstate, because the Secretary is authorized to prohibit entry into USDA-inspected slaughterhouses for animals not identified under the system. Therefore, any farmer that uses a USDA-inspected slaughterhouses could be required to be in the program, even if his or her animals are raised and marketed entirely within the state.
The other three bills create traceability requirements for foods under FDA's jurisdiction, which does not include meat. They authorize namely a virtual NAIS for vegetables, fruit and other foods.
For example, Senate Bill 425, by Sherrod Brown (D-OH), would require FDA to establish a traceability system "for all stages of manufacturing, processing, packaging, and distribution of food." HR 759, by Rep John Dingell (D-MI), goes further and imposes regulations on production and harvesting methods for fruits and vegetables. It also mandates farm registration and electronic record keeping. HR 875, by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), establishes a new agency within the Department of Health and Human Services to take over food safety responsibilities currently held by the FDA. The bill requires a traceback system for food and gives the new agency authority to inspect farms, ranches, orchards, and vineyards. The bill also calls for "good practice standards," often a euphemism for very restrictive requirements based on industrial farming practices, such as not allowing livestock on the same farm where vegetables or fruit are grown. HR 875 also includes implied approval of NAIS, by stating NAIS is "authorized" by the Animal Health Protection Act of 2002.
Just a little more food for thought- Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) husband works for Monsanto-hey don't act surprised you knew it was coming.
I'll be the first to say that food safety is very important. We know we are handling people's food-we treat our farm with the highest respect and care we can-human and environmental health is important to us. Our bottom line isn't in a dollar figure it's a bottom lined based upon the most responsible way we can grow food using practices that heals not hinders the environment.
If the proposed bills were going to crack down where they need to - factory feed lots, the genetic modification of food, the creation and use of more toxic chemicals, mono cropping, food coming out of China and other countries where they use practices that are not safe for food production they great we need legislation like that, but you have to look at the special interest and the above screams-profit, disregard for human health and harm for our eco-system.
I personally don't need a fancy record keeping electronic reporting system. I'm proud to say that my farm has an 80 mile food shed radius. I know where my food goes, who ends up with our calves or meat products. I keep detailed records of field history, seed orders, harvest production, and more for our organic certification. Ask me, I can tell you.
There is an art to growing good food. It's doesn't come out of a bottle so to speak. Real food, grown by real farmers that you know is very safe, it's very responsible, and it's crucial to our recovery in many more ways then just the economic crisis being felt. There is a larger crisis at hand and it happens to be about our food and our right have choice. If we fix the way our world produces food and the type of food we eat, many of our other problems would be solved. You would see a reduction in poverty, crime, healthcare would see a huge reduction in illness and disease. Growing & eating better food is extremely important to a peaceful society.
I urge you to not listen to the hysteria that this bill is causing, I do not believe anyone will get away with outlawing organic farming. I personally could care less-pass all the laws you want-it won't change a damn thing on my end-fine me, lock me up, I could really care less. With that being said I still think it's important that we all contact our representatives and make sure they hear not only your voice but the voice that speaks the words of another food system-a local food system that provides clean safe food. Food that is produced with practices that heal and not hinder. Respect those of us who want to decide for ourselves the kind of food & farming systems we want to be a part of. Follow the bills-if you haven't signed up to get the scoop here's some websites you can get notified by:
Call your U.S. Representative and Senators. If you do not know who represents you, you can find out at www.congress.org or by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Ask to speak to the staffer who handles food safety issues.
Talk with the staffer about why you support local foods. Tell them you oppose the five bills listed above. Ask that they support a food safety bill that focuses on the real threats to food safety, such as uninspected imports from China and lax inspections of massive slaughterhouses and other factory processing, and ask that any new laws explicitly exempt small farmers. Explain that this issue cannot be left to the agencies' discretion, and you want a clear focus on the broken factory farm system and not on small, sustainable farmers.
Another option is to use this link-you enter your zip code and it will submit a letter on your behalf-quick-easy-effective-pass it on:
Click on the link below to tell Congress they can improve food safety by stopping factory farming.
Click on this URL to take action now
http://capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/utr/2/?a=12878056&i=92564034&c=&u=capwiz.com%2Fgrassrootsnetroots%2Fissues%2Falert%2F%3Falertid%3D12878056
If your email program does not recognize the URL as a link,
copy the entire URL and paste it into your Web browser.
Click on this URL to take action now
http://capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/utr/2/?a=12878056&i=92564034&c=&u=capwiz.com%2Fgrassrootsnetroots%2Fissues%2Falert%2F%3Falertid%3D12878056
If your email program does not recognize the URL as a link,
copy the entire URL and paste it into your Web browser.
Localfood.org reports late yesterday that they do not think HR 875 will go anywhere. And that's not necessarily great news, given that it contained some ambitious, positive changes. Our friends at the Cornucopia Institute tell us that 875 has been passed over for another food safety bill, HB 759. They, and others like Food and Water Watch think that we will need to make our voices heard as HB 759 moves forward, to ensure that the bill that is eventually passed includes exemptions for small food processing facilities and the same kind of smart, risk-based inspection processes that are contained in HB 875. To stay posted http://www.localharvest.org
I appreciate your time & I applaud your interest. Back to the greenhouse-time to start the peppers & eggplant.
Eat & Be Well,
1 comments:
Great post Michelle..
I have already forwarded it on to several friends and family...Happy farming
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