Rep. Ron Paul addresses Washington reception for food rights lobbying on Wednesday.Wednesday was a busy day on the lobbying front.
It’s encouraging to learn there were anywhere from 500 to 800 people at the joint legislative hearing in Eau Claire, WI, on allowing sales of raw milk from the farm. Nearly 200 people signed up to testify. As Wayne Craig reports in a comment on my previous post, the big question is whether the legislation will come up for a vote, or whether the regulators and special interests will succeed in delaying a vote. (The Farm Bureau’s representative in his testimony requested that the legislature put off voting on the bill—a sign Farm Bureau is worried that there is strong support for the legislation.)
I spent Wednesday in Washington, along with dozens of other food rights proponents, lobbying legislators on the food safety legislation pending in the U.S. Senate (S 510 and HR 2749), as part of a Food Rights Lobbying Day sponsored by the National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association (NICFA). At the end of the day, everyone gathered, along with several senators and their aides, for a lively reception. It was replete with wonderful food, including a stuffed pig from Joel Salatin (who served as emcee for the event), beef, lamb, and chicken from area farms…plus all the raw milk and raw milk ice cream you could consume. The main speaker was (former presidential candidate) Rep. Ron Paul, who declared, “When you have the right to drink raw milk and raise kemp, you’ll know we’re making progress.”
My meetings with congressional aides were pleasant, but difficult to assess. This seemed a fairly common reaction among other citizen lobbyists. Maybe the most encouraging thing about the aides I met was that they seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say. Most discouraging was that the aides seemed not to know very much about key problems in the food safety legislation—the absence of significant exemptions for the smallest food producers and farms, the huge financial burden imposed by the requirement for HACCP (hazard analysis critical control point) plans, and the imposition of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) standards on farmers.
I should add that NICFA arranged for a professional lobbyist to coach everyone via a couple of conference calls in advance of yesterday’s events. He provided suggestions on how best to arrange appointments (via phone calls followed up by emails), and what to say (have a few talking points, and not be confrontational). It all seemed to work out as expected. He said that members of Congress generally welcome constituent visits, and that seemed to be pretty much the case in my experience.
A policy adviser to my Massachusetts representative, Stephen Lynch, wondered if there might be “some kind of technical assistance” that could be provided to small food producers to help in putting together their HACCP plans. While that sounded intriguing at first—say, university instructors coming in at no charge to help producers in putting together the plan—it turns out that what the aide, Jim Gordon, actually had in mind was perhaps an instructional web site on putting together such a plan. There are plenty of those if you google HACCP.
Jim Gordon told me that his wife likes to buy local produce at a well-known Boston farmstand. He also said that Rep. Lynch had voted for HR 2749 when it passed the House last year, but noted that he, Gordon, is “new to this particular issue.” He reflected that when he said at the end of our twenty-minute conversation that some kind of regulatory oversight of vegetable and fruit growers is essential. “If there’s no regulatory oversight, who knows what people are doing?…You have to be careful.” I didn’t have a chance to tell him that no regulators are inspecting the produce his wife is buying at the farmstand.
The aide to (former presidential candidate) Sen. John Kerry said she had been following the food safety legislation, and that constituents had been phoning and emailing the senator. “We’ve been hearing from a number of small farmers,” said the aide, Karen Neubauer. Presumably they have been voicing concerns. While she said she was familiar with S 510, she seemed not to appreciate the stresses the legislation will likely place on small food producers.
Documentary film maker Kristin Canty (right) with Sen. Scott Brown aide Kristen Granchelli.At the office of the Senate’s newest member, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, there was no pretense that anyone knew what the hell was going on. I attended a brief meeting with aide Kristen Granchelli together with Kristin Canty, a fellow Massachusetts resident who has just completed a documentary about raw milk, “Farmegeddon.” After we both told the aide our concerns about the food safety legislation, she said it wasn’t yet clear who in the office even had responsibility for advising the senator on the legislation, let alone how he might vote.
Like I said, nice polite stuff. This was my first person-to-person “lobbying” effort, and like anyone who does it, I liked to think my voice might be heard in the din of the roar. The senators’ offices, in particular, seemed something like revolving doors as various groups of men and women regularly entered and exited the offices. So crowded did things get, one my meetings had to be held in the senator’s lobby.
I have to think it helps for our politicians to learn that food rights is emerging as a real issue, and that rapidly growing numbers of voters care—not only because of the effect on rights, but the effects on health and on jobs. I’ve been trying to emphasize the jobs issue, since we know for certain that politicians care about jobs, and don’t want to be caught running for re-election against claims they have voted to squash jobs. That’s what will happen if this legislation passes.
By the way, the outcome of food safety legislation may well hinge on what happens to health care legislation. The more Congress is consumed with health care legislation, the less time and energy it may have for giving the U.S. Food and Drug Administration vast new powers and money for so-called food safety. And that may be the best hope of derailing the food safety legislation.
***
A promotional display of aseptic milk at a Whole Foods store in the Boston area.Over the last few months, I’ve been noticing ever more promotion given over to aceptic, or sterile, milk at Whole Foods stores in the Boston area. A few days ago, the promo, including sale pricing, had become a major display by the checkout counter. Maybe it’s the “organic” label that I find most bothersome, since it suggests this is a real food. I would guess this is the result of a glut of cheap conventional milk.
http://www.jsonline.com/business/87234707.html
Though there was an alphabet soup of representatives from agencies and corporate interest groups opposed to the legislation (reciting the same old tired, uncreative warnings about how oh-so-risky raw milk is), they were outnumbered by (I would guess) about 20 to 1.
Included among the speakers in favor of raw milk was Dr. Ted Beals, an epidemiologist from Michigan who thoroughly debunked the claims of raw milk opponents about the relative risks of raw milk, and Mary Falk of Lovetree Farmstead who had the whole room in stitches about her under-60-day raw milk cheese "fish bait."
The committee members seemed to express concern about why the WI Secretary of Agriculture had not included Mary in the raw milk working group, given her expertise on the subject. The bill sponsor is also concerned that the working group is an attempt to stall the legislation.
The legislators are by and large in favor of the raw milk legalization (many of them even say they grew up on dairy farms drinking it), and were critical of the industry reps and DATCP. The problem is going to be DATCP’s ongoing attempts to creatively re-interpret the law in favor of corporate interests. Even once this bill passes, vigilance and political pressure will be important to protecting our food sovereignty, family farmers, and consumer choice.
I wish I could have been there with you.
Whole Foods is really slipping on a slippery slope. Their namesake….wholefood is being betrayed by sterile dead fake milk. Guaranteed this is something that is being pushed by organic processors as a last ditch effort to dump organic milk. There is a glut and sterile milk with its long non refriguerated shelf life beats dumping it down the drain.
Until dairymen connect directly with consumers products like sterile milk will continue to be sold. It is a guaranteed looser. It will cause lactose intolerance worse than UHT or Pasteurized milk ever did…..
My concern for Wisconsin is that the raw millk bill will pass only to be vetoed by the governor as a favor to the executive branch cronnies in the regulatory agencies and or the FDA. Thats the big wild card. Who knows the governor….it is not to early to really make sure he will not kill the will of the people.
Raw Milk sales in CA are out of control. Our delivery trucks are over gross and we are having to buy bigger trucks just to carry the raw milk to the same number of stores. We have added 50 more cows and that milk is being gobbled up. Gobbled as if it is a "get even with the FDA bastards food" for the "Food Inc" movie watchers that are really pissed off.
Maybe not…perhaps it just tastes great and kids stop having ear infections and there is no lactose intolerance.
Can not wait for FARMAGEDON to get released. It is a paradigm changer. Good job Kristin!! Gary Cox, Jordan Rubin, Liz Reitzig, Joel Salatin, Ron Paul and many others….did great work in Farmagedon. What a game changer. Proud to stand with you all.
Mark
I am almost done reading Joel’s book titled Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal. This in my mind would be a great read for those that want a perspective on how wide-sweeping regulations affect those of us on the small side of things. If the people that are involved with making the regulations read this book, maybe they might have the perspective needed to not squash the small farmers intentionally.
I think that some of us think that these regulations are made to intentionally squash the small farmer. Joel gives an example in his book where he had a chance to interact with his representatives before a regulation was put in place and they also didn’t understand how what they wanted to do would affect the small farmer. They were receptive (somewhat) to his suggestions and the end result was something that worked for both parties.
It is heartening to hear that there are still reasonable people that haven’t been purchased by corporate interests.
I think the biggest wild card is the Senate committee chair. She is an organic dairy farmer with a P.hD in Public Health, now that is quite a combination. She had to be disappointed with the public health people testifying. They used the same dogma as the last time a raw milk bill was discussed in a committee setting about 4 years ago. They had no clue that there has been a sea change in public perception of real food and raw milk. A telling moment was when a public health employee was asked by a legislator, under what circumstances would they consider allowing some form of raw milk access in the state. The person had no response other than the same old dogma "raw milk is an inherrently dangerous substance".
Help writing a HACCP plan wouldn’t be enough help. How about the day-to-day grind of all the paperwork, and the fines for forgetting to dot an i or cross a t? And, the food the inspector says must be destroyed because the temperature wasn’t taken at 2:00pm. Or, the farm shut downs at the behest of a worried official, even when there is no evidence of injury or harm to anyone?
I woke up the day after my lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill, just so fed up with our lawmakers. They are knee jerk reacting to the outcry against mass outbreaks. They think laws will fix things. How about less laws? I am with Ron Paul on this. These rules upon regulations, overlapping agencies, bureaucrats trying to tell farmers how to farm are KILLING our economy.
This food safety bill doesn’t even address the problems that cause mass outbreaks. And by including small local farms who don’t cause the problems to begin with, FDA is even more sure to fail.
How about the FDA not saying toxic food is perfectly safe? Or that cloned animals are fine food? Or that GMO’s are the same as real seeds? How about outlawing powdered milk and other additives? How about just saying NO to Big Food for a change and putting our faith in Mom and Pop? How about stopping food imports from growing exponentially and feeding ourselves from the closest farms?
Now, that would be food safety!
I have resigned to the fact that we are on the verge of a real rebellion. I do think it is important to get involved political one Ron Paul in the the democratic dessert is not enough.
We must take on more responsibility, instead of begging for rights, declare our rights.
I just heard the news about Whole Foods dumping raw milk from the shelves. This is a perfect example how through other means we can be forced into submission.Lets return to the basics of reconnecting farmer and consumer without Government regulations.
What is at stake is not raw milk it is our liberty
I am so proud of what you, Michael, and others including Mark, the Nolt Family, and many others are doing! You guys are inspirational! And now we have Dan Allgyers here in Lancaster Cty. standing up for his rights as well! These dangerous Amish farmers… And Kimberly you are such a clear voice in this debate, as well as Liz and many others. If you haven’t already, check out my blog below, where I posted about this the other day:
http://liberationwellnessblog.com/author/mamasfollies/
Maureen