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marmar

(76,982 posts)
Tue Jan 10, 2012, 11:54 AM Jan 2012

If You Want More Local Food, Stop Criminalizing Family Farmers


Published on Tuesday, January 10, 2012 by [font color="blue"]CommonDreams.org[/font]
If You Want More Local Food, Stop Criminalizing Family Farmers

by John Kinsman


On Wednesday January, 11 Wisconsin dairy farmer Vernon Herschberger must appear before a county judge in Baraboo, WI. His crime? Providing unpasteurized dairy products from his small herd of about twenty pastured cows to members of his own buying club. Half way across the continent in Maine, Daniel Brown, another family farmer with a small livestock herd was notified last November that he was being sued by the state for selling food and milk without a license. At the time he was milking one Jersey cow.

In Valencio County, New Mexico, the Hispano Chamber of Commerce was forced to cancel its popular Matanza Festival set for Jan. 28th under pressure from the USDA which said the centuries old tradition of processing and serving pigs on site could no longer be done outside of a federally certified slaughter facility. Last July in Oak Park, Minnesota bureaucrats threatened Julie Bass with up to three months in jail for daring to grow vegetables in her own front yard. In September, Adam Guerroro was ordered to remove his kitchen garden because it was deemed a “public nuisance” by Memphis, Tennessee officials. Apparently, Michelle Obama’s victory garden at the White House falls under a different jurisdiction.

This government crackdown on family farmers is absurd given the current sordid state of our food/farm system and the urgent need to relocalize agriculture for the sake of our health, as well as that of the planet. Study after study has shown that the most dangerous food is usually that which has endured the most processing and traveled the furthest.

“With millions of Americans contracting food borne illnesses each year, the USDA is committed to supporting research that improves the safety of our nation’s food system,” wrote USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan in the December 2011 issue of Agriview. In the same issue, it was also revealed that U.S. meat and milk exports had failed to pass the European Union’s standard for drug residues. Deborah Cera, leader of the drug compliance team at the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, admitted there were many violations involving scores of drugs in U.S. livestock. In a November 2011 article in the Wisconsin State Farmer, Kim Brown-Pokorny of the WI Veterinary Medical Association, warned that Wisconsin was the worst violator nationwide in terms of illegal drug residues in the meat of culled dairy cows. Yet, there was no mention in either article of prosecuting or penalizing these drug users or even informing U.S. consumers of this obvious food safety threat. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/01/10-0



25 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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If You Want More Local Food, Stop Criminalizing Family Farmers (Original Post) marmar Jan 2012 OP
Du rec. Nt xchrom Jan 2012 #1
Yep, agribusiness is not your friend. nt bemildred Jan 2012 #2
The grief they're causing local growers... Mr_Jefferson_24 Jan 2012 #3
Well, about half our town is owned by real family farmers, and they're doing quite well... TreasonousBastard Jan 2012 #4
Must be nice! JDPriestly Jan 2012 #9
In another thread about raw milk, somebody mentioned a thousand or so... TreasonousBastard Jan 2012 #15
Here are some numbers caraher Jan 2012 #21
Yes but I'll bet the majority of food sold in your state is through chain groceries fasttense Jan 2012 #11
The three chain grocery stores around here DO sell local produce when it's available.... TreasonousBastard Jan 2012 #16
Seems you are one of the lucky few. fasttense Jan 2012 #22
Well, where I live xtraxritical Jan 2012 #25
Title doesn't match the story, and then the author wanders into the ditch jeff47 Jan 2012 #5
The funny thing is Demeter Jan 2012 #6
Except they don't get a pass jeff47 Jan 2012 #12
Big agra gets a huge pass. MedicalAdmin Jan 2012 #17
Yes, they have been shown to be dangerous jeff47 Jan 2012 #19
Agreed. Excellent rebuttal. MedicalAdmin Jan 2012 #24
K&R Odin2005 Jan 2012 #7
indeed! K&R katty Jan 2012 #8
Saw that some of these folks went to OWS. Good article, thanks. freshwest Jan 2012 #10
FARMAGEDDON BrendaBrick Jan 2012 #13
Only two of the examples in the article plantwomyn Jan 2012 #14
Those are very good points. MedicalAdmin Jan 2012 #18
What I want to know is-- eridani Jan 2012 #20
I attended a meeting with a group of farmers and they were passing around legislation fasttense Jan 2012 #23

Mr_Jefferson_24

(8,559 posts)
3. The grief they're causing local growers...
Tue Jan 10, 2012, 12:06 PM
Jan 2012

...and dairy producers is driven by Big Agri corporate money -- they just don't want the competition.

TreasonousBastard

(43,049 posts)
4. Well, about half our town is owned by real family farmers, and they're doing quite well...
Tue Jan 10, 2012, 12:16 PM
Jan 2012

thankyouverymuch.

But, they don't butcher pigs on the street, sell possibly poisonous raw milk, or violate zoning laws with veggies on the front lawn.

Should those be legal? Maybe, especially the veggies on the front lawn thing, but the fact is they aren't, and usually for good reason.

Our farmers sell wine, veggies, some cheeses, the occasional duck and piglet, and lots and lots of pies and jams, and agribusiness or local regulation hasn't hurt them one bit.



JDPriestly

(57,936 posts)
9. Must be nice!
Tue Jan 10, 2012, 02:57 PM
Jan 2012

I live in Los Angeles -- about 5 miles from City Hall. I and many, many of my neighbors grow a few of our own vegetables. I grow a lot in pots, but a lot of people grow tomatoes and squash in their front yards. (Next year if I can talk my husband into it, and besides pepper plants are pretty.)

Why do we go to the trouble when we live on small, city lots? Because the food that we can buy in the supermarkets was picked green, ripened on the shelf and doesn't taste like the tiny bit of food we can grow ourselves.

As for unpasteurized milk, it can be very dangerous, but it also can be very healthy. The problem is that you just about have to drink it while it is warm. I lived across the street from a dairy farmer at one point in my life. I rushed over every day right around milking time to pick up my fresh, unpasteurized milk. I would let some of it sour on my kitchen counter and drink the rest.

Perhaps unpasteurized milk should not be permitted to be transported off the farm, but I would bet that lots of very healthy people who are now farmers themselves grew up on the stuff especially in its soured form.

I'm not advocating for the sale or use of unpasteurized milk. To the contrary. But have there actually been any incidents of disease from unpasteurized milk in recent years? I've heard of problems with contaminated meat, fruits and vegetables. But milk?

I'm wondering whether this is just government bureaucracy picking on a couple of little guys instead of attacking the important problems like depletion of our soil and therefore of nutritional value in our food due to the over-industrialization of a lot of our farming or lack of sanitary conditions on corporate farms that can result in contamination of food.

TreasonousBastard

(43,049 posts)
15. In another thread about raw milk, somebody mentioned a thousand or so...
Tue Jan 10, 2012, 07:37 PM
Jan 2012

(usually nonfatal) poisonings from raw milk, with at least as many unreported. I forget the time frame, but it is a problem-- don't forget that some little guys can be as greedy and careless as the big ones. Probably haven't heard as much about it simply because it's not as common as, say, spinach.

As to the rest of it, there has to be some balance when we're feeding 300 million people from less and less farmland. Modern American farming does give us enough food, with some left for export. Is it as wholesome as the more natural stuff our parents and grandparents grew up with? As my mother once said, "Organic? That's all we had back then."

And a lot of people died from bad food back then, too. Probably more than now.






caraher

(6,276 posts)
21. Here are some numbers
Wed Jan 11, 2012, 08:32 AM
Jan 2012

From an FDA press release...

From 1998 to 2008, 85 outbreaks of human infections resulting from consumption of raw milk were reported to CDC. These outbreaks included a total of 1,614 reported illnesses, 187 hospitalizations and 2 deaths. Because not all cases of foodborne illness are recognized and reported, the actual number of illnesses associated with raw milk likely is greater.
 

fasttense

(17,301 posts)
11. Yes but I'll bet the majority of food sold in your state is through chain groceries
Tue Jan 10, 2012, 03:11 PM
Jan 2012

that don't sell local foods.

Wal-Mart and other grocers sell mostly imported foods. Imported from other states and other countries.

If your local farmer were competing on a even playing field all (even imported) foods would be required to meet the same stringent requirements. But states do NOT require the same stringent inspection of imported foods and local foods. Imported foods get a free pass.

Take for example those salmonella infected eggs from Iowa that had to be recalled. It was revealed that that Iowa egg producer hadn't been inspected in over 5 years. Yet in my state, 100% of small farmers who sell eggs are inspected - 100 percent. When the Agriculture Department was asked how frequently imported foods are inspected, the response I got was that less 1% of all foods imported into my state are inspected. Yet if you are a small farmer you must be inspected.

This is just one overly stringent regulation on small farmers that are not required of imported food sales.

Glad to hear your local small farmers are doing well. But be careful, if they start cutting into sales from Wal-Mart, you can bet some new impossible regulation will pass to put them in their place.

TreasonousBastard

(43,049 posts)
16. The three chain grocery stores around here DO sell local produce when it's available....
Tue Jan 10, 2012, 07:54 PM
Jan 2012

saves us the time running around to all the farmstands. Wal-Mart, Target, and BJ's don't, though, and not many people food shop in those places anyway.

But, it's kinda tough finding any fresh local lettuce, carrots, or blueberries around here in January.

Food inspections? Take it up with those asshole legislators who keep cutting back on th inspection budgets.

(FWIW, a while back I talked to one of the few remaining Long Island Duck producers here on Long Island and he told me I can't get a fresh duck unless I'm lucky enough to be there when the inspector is there-- he can't slaughter without an inspector present. The large slaughterhouses have full-time inspectors.)



 

fasttense

(17,301 posts)
22. Seems you are one of the lucky few.
Wed Jan 11, 2012, 08:37 AM
Jan 2012

The Wal-Mart here makes a big to-do about selling a handful of local produce in the middle of the season. Big deal, they sell a few tomatoes from the next county over and melons, pumpkins and watermelons from the state next to us and call it local. Yet there is a lot more local food available they refuse to carry. And come winter, no chance of you selling your local greenhouse tomatoes, they would rather import them from the other side of the country. If Wally World would buy mostly local during the full growing season, Appalachia might not be the job desert it is today.

I suppose blueberries would be tough to grow in winter but lettuce and carrots are fairly easy to grow in a greenhouse in winter if you get them stated before your daylight hours drop below 10 a day. Just think of the thriving greenhouse businesses that would dot the landscape if Wally World would buy local during the winter or buy most of their produce local.

Yes, you can't get bananas and oranges in a four season climate but you would be surprised what you can grow in greenhouses. The problems is the market is not there.

Our egg inspector is coming today to re-inspect us (another $50). We failed when he was here the last time. He said the goldfish we had in the upstairs bedroom (where we do not keep or wash eggs) was a health hazard and we had to get rid of it. We put our dog outside (in a warm dog house) and gave away our cats in the basement (where we do not keep or wash eggs) in order to pass, I had no idea goldfish were such a health hazard.

 

xtraxritical

(3,576 posts)
25. Well, where I live
Wed Jan 11, 2012, 09:43 AM
Jan 2012

it's not possible to find an eatery that's not a corporate franchise. I go to Europe and there's good home made food everywhere. They're proud of their comestibles. Here everything is regulated and licensed to absurdity. It's an entire patronage job system for picayune bureaucrats. I live in So. Cal., but it's the same everywhere, because this country is the same everywhere. Americans like it bland.

jeff47

(26,549 posts)
5. Title doesn't match the story, and then the author wanders into the ditch
Tue Jan 10, 2012, 12:48 PM
Jan 2012

They're not persecuting "family farmers"

They're requiring all farmers, be they "family" or not, to comply with federal law. Which means things like not selling unpasteurized milk, and regulations on slaughterhouses.

If you want to know why those laws are a good idea, "The Jungle" is still in your local bookstore.

But that's not the oddest part. The author then goes on to demand that stricter European food regulations apply to the US. That would increase what he sees as persecution of "family farmers", since they would have to comply with those stricter regulations too.

 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
6. The funny thing is
Tue Jan 10, 2012, 01:03 PM
Jan 2012

Agribusiness gets a pass (until there's a LOT of death) on inspections, etc. The corruption has been well-documented: the peanut warehouses in GA, the spinach crisis, downer cows in hamburger, e coli and salmonella.

But to put the screws (and these things are not FREE) on small hobby producers is just wrong.

jeff47

(26,549 posts)
12. Except they don't get a pass
Tue Jan 10, 2012, 03:13 PM
Jan 2012

Agribusiness isn't selling unpasteurized milk.

Agribusiness is complying with slaughterhouse regulations. Which can never completely eliminate contamination, so yes there are outbreaks. But still better than "The Jungle".

Is your argument that because a small farmer could only kill a dozen or so, we should just let him ignore the law?

MedicalAdmin

(4,143 posts)
17. Big agra gets a huge pass.
Tue Jan 10, 2012, 08:04 PM
Jan 2012

They get advanced notification of inspections. They get waivers. They get to set the rules by participating in the revolving door or regulator / employee rotation.

I'm not saying that I agree with the commercial sale of raw milk, or the onsite slaughtering of pigs, but on the other hand have they shown them to be dangerous? If so then regulate them and if not then don't.

And big commercial operations should be held to a higher standard simply because of the potential for greater harm. This is a common principle in many licensed operations and professions. Smaller operation, less potential for harm, which, or course, doesn't mean that they shouldn't be required to run a clean operation.

jeff47

(26,549 posts)
19. Yes, they have been shown to be dangerous
Tue Jan 10, 2012, 11:57 PM
Jan 2012

That's why the regulations were created in the first place.

Raw milk can be safe. But very small mistakes can be fatal. Hence the requirement for pasteurization.

Slaughtering animals used to be done in horrifically dirty environments, with extreme quantities of contamination. Hence the USDA regulations. And that's why there's all the stainless steel around modern slaughterhouses. If you particularly want to slaughter on-site, there are butchers who will bring a USDA-approved slaughterhouse-in-a-trailer and do it for you.

"Smaller operation, less potential for harm, which, or course, doesn't mean that they shouldn't be required to run a clean operation."

Which is why they're required to comply with the minimum standards. If the concern is potential for greater harm, then the standards should be made stricter for large operations. Not looser for small operations.

BrendaBrick

(1,296 posts)
13. FARMAGEDDON
Tue Jan 10, 2012, 05:55 PM
Jan 2012

trailer for this independent movie here:

http://farmageddonmovie.com/

Hope to heck CURRENT TV will air this!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shoot, I'll even take Food TV or Discovery or damned near ANY STATION willing to make this known!!!

plantwomyn

(876 posts)
14. Only two of the examples in the article
Tue Jan 10, 2012, 06:18 PM
Jan 2012

could even remotely be considered "family farmers". As for the raw milk question, even Daniel Brown from Maine admitted that if someone got sick the Raw milk industry would suffer. You see there are LICENSED Raw milk producers but Daniel Brown says that he doesn't make enough to get licensed. Yet Walter Whitcomb, the Agriculture Department, who is one of Daniel Brown's good friends, had Daniel's milk tested and it showed elivated bacterial content.
The examples that the author sights about growing vegetables were ZONING conflicts in RESIDENTIAL areas. In short, they were gardeners NOT farmers. Get a waiver or change the law, that's how zoning works.
This guy is a hack. There are undoubtedly hundreds of examples of how real family farmers are getting screwed by agribusiness but this article doesn't sight even one true example. Just look at the fact that big agribusinesses took over the very word "organic". Family farmers have been forced to use the word "natural" now, not because their was a national cry for regulation but because big AG was feeling the bite in their bottom line and wanted to regulate the little guy out of the market. It's a racket.

eridani

(51,907 posts)
20. What I want to know is--
Wed Jan 11, 2012, 02:26 AM
Jan 2012

--does anyone have model legislation (preferably state-based) that could be used to correct this situation?

 

fasttense

(17,301 posts)
23. I attended a meeting with a group of farmers and they were passing around legislation
Wed Jan 11, 2012, 08:45 AM
Jan 2012

from one of the northern states that exempted Farmer's market farmers from a lot of the silly paperwork and fees required by most states. It was dusted off and handed to our State Rep (a RepubliCON) and we have NOT heard one word about it since.

Just remember don't wash eggs in a house with a goldfish, it just might kill you. (SARCASM)

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