The reality, however, is that this bill could be a death knell for
small farmers, farmers' markets and CSAs across Vermont and throughout
the nation. The bill creates a stand-alone federal division known as
the Food Safety Administration, which would duplicate many already
existing federal agencies.
But bureaucracy aside, this bill creates a vast all-encompassing
definition of a food production facility and makes that facility
subject to government control and warrantless inspection. Food
production facilities would include any farm, ranch, orchard, vineyard,
animal-raising operation, every grain, vegetable or meat production or
storage facility in the nation.
It gives this new agency the right to set standards for how food is
transported, how animals can or should be fed and how fields must be
planted or managed. Anyone who grows vegetables and sells the excess at
a roadside stand would also be subject to these regulations.
A family that buys and raises a pig, offsetting its cost by selling
quarters and halves to a neighbor, would also be subject to the
regulations, the warrantless searches and a requirement to register
with agency within 90 days of its passage.
Failure to register could mean a $1 million fine. Failure to allow
federal agents unlimited access to private property could mean a $100
million fine. The bill criminalizes seedbanking, something many farmers
do to preserve the purity of their organic seeds, and subjects farmers
to jail for failure to comply with all federal regulations.
Greater attention to food safety is absolutely necessary for this
country, but the federal scrutiny belongs on the factory farms and
agri-business owners rather than on the small local farmers who sell to
their neighbors through CSAs, farmstands and farmers' markets.
We can hold our own farmers accountable if we get sick from their eggs
or meat or lettuce. We can see how they raise their crops and their
animals. We have no such choice with factory-farmed chicken from
Nebraska or lettuce from California or spinach from Florida.
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