Bills Could Reorganize Farming and Criminalize Organic Farming
In two vague bills introduced both in the House and Senate of the US Congress, a vast reorganization of America’s agriculture system aimed at tracking and regulating foods for public safety could endanger organic farms and gardens.
The bills, S.425 and H.R.875, attempt to modernize food safety and regulate and standardize agriculture by creating an agency called the Food Safety Administration, but in the process they could threaten organic farming.
- » See also: MSNBC to Air 2 Hour Special on Animal Conservation: “100 Heartbeats”
- » Get Planetsave by RSS or sign up by email.
Provisions include mandatory registration and inspection for “any food establishment or foreign food establishment engaged in manufacturing, processing, packing, or holding food for consumption in the United States,” and sets standard practices such as minimums for fertilizer use.
Any food that the agency deems “unsafe, adulterated or misbranded” can be seized and the food establishment or farm fined. It’s not clear how these foods will be deemed unsafe. The bills aim to industrialize farms, standardize farming practices, require registration and inspection for any one producing food, and make practices key to organic farming illegal.
While we certainly need to improve our food safety, the problem with these bills is that they are so vague and open-ended, they could be used to justify banning organic practices such as composting and seed saving, or to put into law standard practices such as the required use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
The bills are speculated to have been funded by agri-business giants including Monsanto. The threat of the new standards is that only approveed seeds, fertilizers, and farming methods could be used, and if Monsanto gets their way, all farms and gardens be growing their plants and using their products. That is definitely a scary thought.
Organic farming is certainly already revolutionary, but it could be an illegal act if these bills are passed without reworking to protect organic farmers and backyard gardeners. Please contact your senators and representatives today and urge them to protect public health and safety without criminalizing organic farming. There isn’t much time to comment on this bill, so act now!
“Organic farming is certainly already revolutionary”
Do you have any idea how ridiculous that statement is?
I don’t think it is much of a strecth to say that agrichemical companies did not exist prior to 1900. So for almost the entire history of man, homo sapiens “ate organic”.
Sorry to burst your bubble.
The main problem I have with legislation is that (a) it’s been proved repeatedly that you can’t legislate morality - see Boesky, Milken, Madoff, Ponzi, prohibition, etc., etc. - and (b) it’s largely too complex even for the best lawyers to comprehend. Oh, and how do these Congresspersons propose to enforce said legislation? Ask the FDA, TSA, FBI, EPA, and so on how that works.
The text of the bills do not in any way support the alarmist assertions made in that news broadcast, and having watched the video, I’m very skeptical that that is a bona fide news organization.
I realize that the bills are very vague and don’t come right out and say that organic farming will be banned - but the danger is that they are so open-ended that they could be used to justify regulating how we grow food, requiring the use of certain chemicals in the name of “safety”, etc. I do agree that the video is a bit alarmist about it, but as an organic gardener, after reading the bills, it was easy to see that they would bring about a massive reorganization of the farm system that could have detrimental effects on small organic farms, farmer’s market growers, and home gardeners.
And I do believe organic gardening is revolutionary in today’s world - yes, it’s the way farming was for centuries before the post-WWII introduction of chemical-based farming, but I think growing one’s own organic food can be a revolutionary act, especially in light of things like this bill trying to bring it down. This is of course, my opinion, so I’d appreciate it if you would ponder what I mean rather than just calling me ridiculous. Organic farming, especially on a small scale, can be more expensive and more difficult, so in my eyes doing the more difficult (but right) thing when it seems most of the world is doing things differently is pretty revolutionary. Viva la organic revolution!
“The bills aim to industrialize farms, standardize farming practices, require registration and inspection for any one producing food, and make practices key to organic farming illegal.”
Could you point out where in the bill this assertions are supported? In particular the provision about industrializing farms and making certain practices illegal? Also you mention that the bill is speculated to be supported by agri-business giants. I find it very hard to believe that agri-business would want a bill like this - especially the industrial meat industry. If nothing else this feels more like a disinformation campaign by the agri-businesses themselves, in order to get well meaning, but frankly highly impressionable people to ask their senators to not support the bill.
Put in context of Obama’s committment to organic farms (and an organic garden in the whitehouse), these assertions are absurd and smack of paranoid consipiracy theory.
Ok I looked over the bills and I am a little confused I know that there is nothing saying that they will ban organic in them. So I guess what I am trying to understand is how do you jump from open ended to banning organic farming or as I have read on other blogs to banning seed banks? I am just a little confused.
I might see that some people are worried about the need to trace product back to its origin but in Canada beef now need to have a special ear tag with a bar code and registered number or it cannot leave your ranch. I am just a little confused please explain the concern. thanks
Whereas these two bills are of great concern if indeed their broad interpretation could require home gardeners to register their gardens, could effectively make organic farming illegal, or could even shut down framers’ markets, I’m not sure if that is actually the case.
Please read SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS of H.R.875. If you look at 13(b) and (14) within this definition section, it specifically excludes any “farm, ranch, orchard, vineyard, aquaculture facility, or confined animal-feeding operation”.
In other words, this bill, as defined in Section 3, is about what happens to the food after it is produced. It is not about where or how food is produced. It clearly differentiates between what it calls a FOOD ESTABLISHMENT (using the bills all caps) and a FOOD PRODUCTION FACILITY.
Of course, farmers’ markets and roadside food stands would clearly be regulated by this bill.
This is a very important distinction that needs to be acknowledged before reading the rest of the bill. Understanding House and Senate bills is a tricky proposition at best.
If others read this differently, please comment.
The quote in the article from one of the bills doesn’t seem to exclude places where food is manufactured, i.e. grown: “any food establishment or foreign food establishment engaged in manufacturing, processing, packing, or holding food for consumption in the United States.”
Farmer’s markets would definitely be affected. There is mention of standardized practices that would be required of every registered food producer (and that’s everyone, from what I understand anyone producing food for public consumption would have to be registered and inspected), and fertilizers are mentioned there - I don’t know about you, but I highly doubt that these required fertilzers would be organic.
Monsanto is the company that has been tied to this bill - they would definitely benefit directly because if everything having to do with food production is controlled and regulated, Monsanto’s seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides would provide an easy solution to standardizing farm practices. The fear that I have heard about this bill is that the regulations put in place will require all food producers to be standardized by using only “approved” (Monsanto) fertilizers and other products. So that is why there’s a bit of a scare about this.
The language of these bills is very difficult to read and very vague - so while it does not come right out and say “this bill bans organic gardening” - the danger is in how the law will be applied. There’s certainly a lot of room in the language to force certain practices and products on food producers since they’ll be required to be registered and regulated by the agency the law creates. I just see a lot of room for abuse in this bill, though you do have to read between the lines to see this.
My main concern is that with such vague language, these bills could potentially spell doom for organic food producers and sellers since they’re using “non-industry standard” practices already. While the intention is good on the surface, these bills need a lot of work before they go into law - and the window of time for debate and public comment on this bill is very narrow, so our representatives need to know that these bills are not ready to be laws until all the details are hammered out and organic farming is protected and addressed in them.
Thanks for the discussion, everyone.
I found another article on these bills, and why they could threaten organic farming, if anyone is interested: http://www.appomattoxnews.com/2009/my-problems-with-h-r-875-the-food-safety-modernization-act-of-2009.html
Here is another one Megan, and thanks for bringing this up for discussion.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/03/law-farmers-market-vendor-million-fine.php?dcitc=daily_nl