The real QE2 (Queen Elizabeth 2)I’ve been referring to S 510 as the so-called food safety bill. I’ve done that because, while some of it has to do with food safety, much more of it has to do with repression. So in looking over the comments over the last week, I was inspired to come up with a name that seems more accurate in describing the legislation: The Food Terrorism and Sedition Act.
We are great in this country at marketing, and in recent years, even totally clueless functionaries like those at the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have gotten in on the act of packaging things that are threatening to us with euphemistic names, as if they are something good for us.
So when the Fed goes and prints up $600 billion of new money, it’s called “quantitative easing”–a term no one outside the Fed or academia can explain. The media don’t understand it, but rather than call it what it is, dub it “QE2”, as if it’s a cruise ship.
In reality, it’s what Germany did in the 1920s, to ruinous effect. Eventually, you had people taking wheel barrels full of paper money to the bakery to buy a loaf of bread. You don’t think that could happen here? Over just the last ten years, our currency has depreciated by more than 80% if you calculate how many dollars it takes to buy an ounce of gold, which is a timeless store of value. With ongoing “quantitative easing,” expect the depreciation of our currency to accelerate.
But back to the Food Terrorism and Sedition Act. Concerned Person correctly points out that many people (myself included) spent a lot of time jumping up and down about the need for SB 201 in California. But remember, that was mainly about one rule concerning the quantity of a harmless bacteria in raw milk. One more hoop for producers to jump through, but that’s about it.
Bigger picture, S 510 has been used to pile a bunch of repressive measures affecting control of our food, and eventually, control of our health–authority to quarantine parts of the country, do warrantless searches of food producers, establish “Good Agricultural Practices”, implement “scientific standards” of its choice, and gain more control of intrastate food commerce. Amazingly, some high-profile foodies trust the FDA with all this added authority, even writers Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser, as they state in a new op-ed.
Yes, the Tester-Hagan amendment will provide some protection for some producers, but as Dave Milano put it aptly, “The hidden reality here is that rules such as these are a form of death by a thousand cuts. Undoubtedly it will be incumbent upon producers, for example, in classic bureaucratic guilty-until-proven-innocent manner, to demonstrate that they have not strayed off the prison yard by documenting that they have not sold their wares beyond a 275-mile limit, that half or more of their sales are “direct” (a term which simply cries for a thoughtful definition), and that they have not exceeded a certain dollar amount of sales. (Just wait, by the way, until the fed is finished inflating our currency.) And when those rules have been met there will surely be, as history instructs, even more daggers invented to jab into us.”
And if you have thoughts of resisting the new law, like Violet Willis expressed following my previous post? Not so simple. Violations carry prison sentences of up to ten years in prison. Yes, that’s ten years in prison for something that, in most cases under current state law, might be worth a citation, punishable by a $50 fine. And don’t think the FDA wouldn’t mind exercising its authority, just to make sure very few hold onto the idea of resisting.
As I suggested in my heading, food producers will be treated as potential terrorists, and violators as if they were guilty of sedition. You may want to call your senator tomorrow, and push him or her to vote against cloture. ?
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Aajonus Vonderplanitz, one of the founders of Rawesome Food Club, is opening a new food club in Los Angeles, with the name Ra Healthy Foods. Prospective members can get signup information, and vote on the their favorite logo, at the club’s new web site. How’s that for a productive raid June 30 by a half dozen federal, state, and local agencies. They’ve boosted the membership at Rawesome by something approaching 50%, and now have a second club to boot.
I am facing S 510 right in the face right now. Currently, to sell to my buying clubs and through my store . . . if I have a chef come through the door . . . I have to truck my poultry down to Augusta, Maine to get my birds inspected and processed . . . it costs me $4.00 per chicken, $7.00 per duck and up to $10.00 per turkey (This is a six hour round trip drive by truck). This is due to "CURRENT" regulations and these costs reflect a discount if my DH works the line at the processing facility (which, bless his heart he does).
If S 510 passes, we might as well pack it all up. The paperwork alone would eat up at least 10 hours of my time per week (more so if I sold breeding stock) and the costs to put in "Approved Composting", etc., etc., would eat into our profits so much that we could not farm to make a profit ever. I don't ever want to get big as a farmer . . . . I want to be small and niche . . .
The Tester ammendment is only a window dressing . . . . . It is only a matter of time before they whittle this down to 150 miles, 100 miles, 75 miles . . . . etc. Maine is a big state and I don't see this ammendment as being very positive in the long run.
Our two RHINO Senators have no opinion on this bill (I called both the DC and Local offices last week) although someone in the Bangor office did mention the Tester Ammendment from which I stated has no teeth to reel in this huge regulatory burden on the small farm in the long run.
Right now I am thinking that I should have stuck with my very successful Antique Costume and Textile business rather than go into farming which is my real passion . . .(along with cooking) growing great produce and producing high quality heritage meats.
Kind regards,
Violet
http://www.kilbyridgefarmmaine.blogspot.com
If you don't care why are you even here? If you don't care why are you even alive?
Your presence on this blog adds nothing and actually detracts from it.
Go away and don't come back. You sound like you have lost the battle and you have. It is only a matter of time until raw milk and it's products are available everywhere. This includes chilkdren.
Are you are really so tired of listening to people express concern about how proposed new regulation might affect their ability to produce and/or consume the food of their choice?
While I agree with Steve that a blog is better when it is not just an echo chamber, can't you at least refrain from making nasty, pointless remarks that do nothing but provoke personal attack? That really doesn't help convince people who are trying to understand your point of view.
Call your sentators. We have hundreds of "facebook" followers calling like crazy this morning.
I have one piece of advice for the FDA. Do not screw arround with farmers too much….there will be a rebellion and the acts of sedition will be their acts….We are the ones with the tractors, the food, the people, the pitchforks and the passion.
Yes…. that was a threat and a promise!! There will be a seige of Washinton DC. We will blockade all food and watch you starve. If you love C-RATS or Military MRE rations….go ahead and screw with the people that feed you!! Calling us "Bioterrorists" will come back to empty your stores and clear off your tables.
Seriously….TSA Gate Rape, and now Family Farm Rape.
Mark
David
I greatly appreciate your posts.
I am driving four hours round trip tomorrow to have my ducks butchered. The inspectors drove our closest poultry processor out of business just last year. They never had a complaint against them or any trouble with their customers, the state just kept making more and more demands on them to update equipment, fill out paperwork, etc …the usual government nonsense that has nothing at all to do with safety.
Interestingly, the processor that closed was much more modern than the processor I am seeing tomorrow. It's a small family business with much older equipment and facilities so I am guessing it is only a matter of time before the state eliminates them as well.
I am fortunate that they only charge $6.00/duck for processing. However, they don't have a freezer so I will bring my birds home on a two hour trip trying to keep them cold with ice packs. It is a much riskier process, but the ducks will have that blessed USDA stamp of approval on them. (Note to all regulator types on this blog, don't panic, I don't sell my birds.)
As David has correctly pointed out so many times, the raw milk issue is only the tip of the iceberg.
Even though I firmly believe that it will do no good, I am calling my senators this morning. It can't hurt, can it? So far, the lines have been busy. That's encouraging.
I'm afraid you're about 8 years too late with your warnings about The Food Sedition, etc Act…
the problem is FDA is ALREADY empowered to come onto farms under the hastily created Bioterrorism Act of 2002.
So that puts S.510 in a much different light. While far from perfect, farmer friendly amendments from Senators Sanders, Boxer, Bennett, Stabenow — and now Tester — are part of the Manager's Package for tonight's potential up or down vote. Importantly, these provisions actually substantially LIMIT FDA oversight on small farms.
The blanket dismissal of S.510 ignores what's coming next to clobber small farms — including the produce "Guidances" already coming out of FDA as well as the ruinous provisions supported by Big Ag in the National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement they're trying to foist on the whole country.
Maybe you're comfortable with your Big Ag bedfellows in rejecting this bill — but in reality S.510 stands as the best protection that's now available for small farmers…
Steve Gilman
Movements are not born, created or fueled in a vaccum of happiness or normalcy….Movements and leaders need an emminent crisis in order to be identified and fueled.
This could be our greatest day… either way!!!
Mark
That is crazy expensive. That sounds more like the cost to kill the Golden Goose.
Mark
Have you ever dressed a duck? Lemme tell ya', six bucks ain't bad. Those pinfeathers are a nightmare.
So disappointing to see Pollan/Schlosser throwing their weight behind S510. It addresses such a shallow elucidation of food safety as to be utterly worthless. Never mind what might come of small producers trying to remain viable under its weight, Tester amendment or no.
I learn much from this blog. Thank you David and to the frequent commentators.
Ben
To understand Mike Pollan, you really need to watch Food Inc again. The Food Inc message is really a confusing one if you really watch it closely. It shows the CAFO and all that is bad about it….and it shows local food systems at work with Joel Salatin and others.
But then is shows the mother that lost a child from CAFO hamburger illness and Ecoli infection. The mothers tears are heart renching but it also tells the story of the mom that yearns for more USDA and FDA Control over foods. The mom never realizes that it was the system of CAFO's that killed her son and no one ever really comes out and says this in Food Inc.
Food Inc for all of its good intentions does not really bring it home about personal responsibility and the increased food safety that comes from health and connection to your local farmer and his whole complete foods. This measage is lost.
The Food Inc message seems to still say….the government must protect us and keep bad bacteria out of our kichens. The Food Inc message says little or nothing of the consumers reconnecting back to their farmers and consumers doing dilligence to find the best farmers to feed their families and building better immune systems and making responsible decisions about their food choices.The Food Inc message is anti-corporate but not pro-personal responsibility.
Mike Pollans message is lost in all of the dramatic grey area between CAFO verses Green Poly Face messaging. When Mike was on Bill Maher show…he failed to really seize the day adn bring home a concise message of personal investment or responsibility or reconnection to farmers and the soil.
Do not get me wrong…I really like and respect Dr. Mike Pollan….but in supporting SB 510 he has not sent the his message very well.
Mark
It seems that the broader media has adopted Alice Waters and Dr. Mike Pollan as the spokespeople for the local organic sustainable movement. They are the ones that get the media interviews. At least we have them. But they are not farmers or front line activists. Alice tries hard to effect nutrition at the policy level but gets marginalized by all sides. Dr. Pollan is not really approachable and stays very private. I like them and respect them both very much…but they are not of the soil. They do not feel the heat of the FDA or the stress of forced innovation when under fire in the battle of living verses dead foods. They do not grow things and till the soil. They have little to lose and have no dog in the fight. Although Alice can really cook a meal that is for sure.
It is my goal to change and expand the mouth piece of this movement and get the farmers to start speaking truth to power and standing against the CAFO PMO FDA machine.
On a brighter note…OPDC was just given its Christmas gift….
GOOGLE just called and requested that OPDC bring a cow ( so their employees could experience milking by hand ) and give out samples of raw milk to its employees during their annual Christmas event at their campus on December 15th . OPDC said yes of course…..Google had just been told no by Strauss Dairy. Google also asked that we provide educational information about our farming, cows, nutrition and raw milk to all that attend.
All of this comes when we can barely supply raw milk to the 400 stores in CA that supply our wonderful consumers. I am so honored. What a great Christmas.
When Google calls… you go… even with a cow…you go….!!!
Mark
Mark
Do you Google????
Eat your heart out!!!
Please consider going armed with latex gloves filled with water and have folks practice with that first.
I think what you will be doing is great, but make the ktutzy newbies respect Bessie and don't give PETA and the like any more fodder. This could so easily turn into a low-lying-fruit event for them!
Violet,
I was sweating the same issues right along with you yesterday. Thanks for your inputs here –
We just a few workers short of a family here. And the great example of local farming Polyface Farms would not qualify for this exemption.
So much for small family farms.
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=2&vote=00257
I am greatly disappointed in Michael Pollan's stance on this bill — he was my hero when it came to food knowledge and philosophy, but now I'm not so sure. It's so easy for him to not worry about regulations — after all, he's a writer, not a farmer. I guess I just learned that lesson.
WRT Polyface — I thought the EXACT same thing when I read about the so-called "small" farm exemption. With as wildly successful as Salatin is, there's no way he'll escape the Government's tentacles. You had better believe they'll come after him with vigor. I sense another book by him soon. If you haven't read _Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal_, now is the time.
I am a bit depressed by the state of our country and the direction our government is taking.
"You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."
Richard Buckminster Fuller
"You have to remember that 80% of people are part of the herd. Do not think that because you saw ten people today and only two of them had a clue of what you were talking about that today was a failure. That's an absolute, 100% successful day. Because 80% of the people, I don't give a damn what the issue is, they're going to follow whatever is in front of them. It's just the two out of ten that you want to worry about." Howard Lyman
My best recommendation is for consumers to keep demanding raw milk and traditional foods, and for farmers to keep producing them. I at least am seeing an increasing number of people looking for raw milk in my area, and it's very difficult to put the genie back in the bottle once people get accustomed to full-fat creamy milk and orange-yolked pastured eggs.
I work for a bank and HAVE to take this AML (anti money laundering) ecourse to learn about all that (even though my job as a software engineer will never put me in a position to even care about the stuff). I was taking that online yesterday while learning of all the BRIBES that U.S. Senators had taken from special interest groups and big corporate interests to vote yes on S510….oxymoron???? I think so. Makes me sick that such rampant corruption (and blatant) runs amok in DC and with BIG government.
When I called Dickie D (who I think originated S510 – and I called quite a few times and faxed quite a few things to in the past 6 months) I told the staffer that corruption needs to STOP with him and to vote no for S510 and listen to the people. Did not really think it would do any good but had to do my part. I also called Lugar and Bayh in IN and one staffer at Lugar's office was arguing with me that Lugar did not take bribes….ha! I told him he should not be arguing with me but to take my comment! How can these staffers work for these crooks?
When will legislation be introduced that STOPS ALL BRIBES and special interest groups! When will legislation be introduced to sets term limits? There must be a way to get crooks out of office that are not representing the people.
Violet – I am so sorry for what you have to go through. Please don't give up. I am praying for repeal of this in 2011 and for God to reign in on this and bring condemnation and conviction on those involved in the corruption. I know eventually they will have to answer for their evil deeds, if not in this world but when they meet their maker…and it won't be pretty.
For now, we REAL FOODIES MUST PRESS ON and do what we need to do to feed others and ourselves real food!
I tried wading through the actual text of the bill on thomas.gov but I got lost in the legalese. It was very hard for me to determine what would actually happen under the conditions of the bill. However, even I understood this text on p. 213:
(1) striking credible evidence or information indicating and inserting reason to believe; and
(2) striking presents a threat of serious adverse health consequences or death to humans or animals and inserting is adulterated or misbranded.
Wow – this is really broad language.
One hope I have is that so many new small farms will spring up that it will be difficult to keep tabs on them all.