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Regional Farm & Food Project March 2006 News If you believe you are what you eat, these stories should interest you! 7 news stories:
1. Feds Consider Law to Take Food Regulation Away From States H.R. 4167 "Food Uniformity" Bill is Uniformly Bad for Consumers CONTACT YOUR U. S. REPRESENTATIVE NOW AND URGE THEM TO VOTE "NO"! Call 202-224-3121 for a directory listing to find the name of your congressman. Once again, our federal government is fast tracking legislation designed by lobbyists for their big money clients without getting input from a diversity of constituents. Under the guise of national "uniformity," this bill would eliminate critical state laws that protect consumer health while leaving in place an inadequate federal system based on the lowest common denominator of protection. The bill threatens emerging markets such as grass-fed meats, raw milk and raw milk cheeses, and GMO-free foods. As drafted, the bill would wipe out state food safety laws and regulations that are not "identical" to federal law - even in areas where the federal government has not acted. In order to keep current laws in place, states would be required to go through a new costly, time-consuming, and burdensome regulatory appeals process, which the Congressional Budget Office has estimated would cost the federal government alone more than $100 million over five years. In the end, the federal government could wind up denying state requests to keep their own laws in place. The bill would handcuff the authority of state and local food safety officials to enforce current laws. These officials, who are responsible for 80 percent of the country's food safety work, regularly improve training, sanitation and labeling standards to address food borne diseases and other dangers to our food supply whether natural or man made. In 2001 alone, states took action in 45,000 separate instances to remove adulterated foods from the marketplace. H.R. 4167 could nullify the enabling legislation for most of these actions. From the President of the Association of Food and Drug Officials: www.afdo.org/afdo/HR4167.cfm "HR 2699 has been reintroduced in this Congress as HR 4167 by Congressman Mike Rogers (MI-8). This bill is identical to HR 2699, which failed to pass during the 108th Congress. Once again, state and local resources dedicated to ensuring consumer public health and safety in food processing, storage and retail sales are at risk. Similarly at risk is our non-federal resources directed towards ensuring compliance with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE a/k/a Mad Cow Disease) and medicated feed regulations. As before, this bill undermines proven consumer protection programs. This opinion is the collaborative position of Counsel for eleven (11) state food safety agencies. HR 4167 contains many provisions that will preempt state and local laws and ordinances. The preemptive sections of this bill will dismantle the authorities of all state and local laws that address adulterated foods which includes food laws, antiterrorism laws, etc. The preemption embodied in this legislation is broad, vague and sweeping. State and local food safety programs are our first line of defense against acts of terrorism involving the food supply - now is NOT the time to dismantle the very programs that are essential to a national food safety system that maintains the safest food supply in the world..." From the Weston A. Price Foundation Action Alert: "Here is how the bill works. Under the guise of promoting "uniformity" of food safety laws in the U.S., the bill requires all state food safety laws to be identical to the requirements of the Federal Food and Drug Administration. If the FDA has not passed a regulation on a food threat, then all state regulations on that threat would immediately be voided. And, since the states regulate many food safety issues not covered by the FDA, many food safety laws will be voided and replaced with no law at all. For example, the bill would preempt California's Proposition 65, a very effective law that requires labeling of food products that contain cancer causing substances. IT WOULD ALSO HAVE A NEGATIVE IMPACT ON THE AVAILABILITY OF RAW MILK PRODUCTS. The "uniformity" to be achieved by the bill is in many instances the uniform absence of food safety regulation that the food industry seeks. This bill is opposed by dozens of environmental health groups, by California's State Attorney General Bill Lockyer, the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, the Association of Food and Drug Officials, the National Conference of State Legislators and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture. There are currently 226 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives to pass the bill in the House, so every letter is needed to ensure that these Representatives understand what a bad bill this is. The bill would require the states to adopt federal standards that define adulterated foods. Under the federal standards raw milk and raw milk products (except for raw cheeses aged 60 days) are adulterated foods. The FDA has issued a regulation banning the interstate shipment of raw milk under the power granted to it by Congress to regulate communicable diseases (believe it or not). The FDA has also issued standard of identity regulations requiring that milk shipped interstate for human consumption be pasteurized. Only the sale of raw milk for pet consumption would be legal since there's no federal prohibition against the interstate sale of raw pet milk. State laws legalizing the sale of raw milk for human consumption would no longer be valid. If Washington passes the law requiring shareholder dairies to obtain a Grade A license, then all shareholder dairies would become illegal if the federal bill becomes law." 2. Northeast Livestock Producers Association Calls for Producers The Northeast Livestock Processing Service Company (NELPSC) assists livestock farmers by making it easier to get their livestock processed. The Processing Coordinator advocates on the farmer's behalf for the best quality processing, discounts, scheduling, cutting instructions, and technical assistance. The Northeast Livestock Processing Service Company, LLC (NELPSC) is a producer-based company born of a grassroots effort by the Hudson-Mohawk Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) to address the ongoing issues associated with obtaining meat processing for livestock and poultry. The sign up of producers will begin March 1, 2006. If you are a producer or a member of a producer group and you would like more information about the Northeast Livestock Processing Service Company please contact Processing Coordinator, Kathleen Harris at (518) 673-5193 or by email nelpsc@logical.net. 3. Growing Leafy Greens in Winter Outdoor Production of Leafy Greens in the Winter Under Row Covers Each year, Tobacco Road Farm has one acre under row covers for the production of leafy greens through the fall and winter. Bryan has been able consistently over the years to produce and market greens through Thanksgiving and then starting again at the beginning of March. This year, he continued harvesting through December, made some deliveries in January, and then started full production again at the beginning of February. At this on-farm meeting, participants will see and discuss aggressive use of low hoops and various row covers to stretch the harvest season as far as possible; management of the covers, including tricky issues about how to hold them down, how to harvest, how to deal with snow; selecting for winter hardiness and other valuable traits in Brassica greens. Samples of seeds to try will be available! Phone number at the farm: 860-423-4834. This meeting is part of a project funded by the Northeast SARE to improve production of Brassicas in Massachusetts and Connecticut. For more info contact Ruth Hazzard, UMass (413) 545-3696 or Kim Stoner of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (203) 974-8480. 4. New York State May Require Labeling of GM Seed Bill would require labeling of genetically modified seeds ALBANY, N.Y. -- Lawmakers in Albany want New Yorkers to know not just what they're eating, but what they're planting as well. A bill introduced in the Legislature would require the labeling of all seeds that include genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. Organic farmers fear having their crops tainted from birds, insects or wind that could transmit pollen from GMO crops while many consumers fear there isn't enough information available on the long-range consequences of eating genetically modified foods or on their environmental impacts. "Organic food is considered healthy because it's natural. The one thing genetically modified food is not is natural," said Sarah Johnston, executive director of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York, which represents 650 farms. "Farmers are in some cases purchasing genetically modified seeds unbeknownst to them. At the very least, people need to know what they are purchasing." The measure, one of several bills around the country relating to genetically modified crops, is backed by the New York Farm Bureau and the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York. Democratic Assemblyman Peter Rivera, a sponsor of the bill, said that since GMO crops are patented, farmers also fear they could be sued for patent infringement. Republican state Sen. James Seward is sponsoring the bill in the Senate. "Really there has not been enough testing done on the effects genetically modified crops have on people, the environment and animals," said Maureen Knapp, whose family owns an organic dairy farm in Preble, about 20 miles south of Syracuse. "We grow crops to feed our animals and we do have conventional farmers all around us growing (pesticide resistant) corn. It's scary." According to the Organic Farming Research Foundation, about 2 percent of the U.S. food supply is grown organically. Sales of organic products have shown an annual increase of at least 20 percent, the fastest growing sector of agriculture, the organization reported. The growth has come even though organic foods cost more to produce that conventional crops. "The organic movement has grown tremendously because of consumer demand," said John Bunting, a grass-based dairy farmer in Delaware County. Organic farmers "want to guarantee to the consumer that they are in no way involved in GMOs." To get their organic certification, farmers are required to use organic seed and required to make sure their vegetable crops aren't contaminated with GMOs. Genetic technology has been widely used by major seed companies such as Monsanto Co. to promote insect resistance or herbicide tolerance in crops. About 80 percent of the U.S. soybean crop and 50 percent of the corn crop is genetically modified, said Michael Fernandez, executive director of the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology. A 2004 study by the initiative found that state legislatures are increasingly debating issues surrounding biotechnology's use in agriculture. The number of bills and resolutions introduced by state legislators nationwide addressing biotechnology and farming rose 7 percent to 130 in 2003 from 121 in 2001, according to the study. Rivera is also sponsoring a bill that would make manufacturers of genetically engineered plants and seeds liable for damages caused as a result of cross-contaminating crops, seeds or plants, including wild plants. A similar bill is now being considered in Vermont. In Hawaii, the Legislature is debating a bill to require companies to make public disclosures of locations of crop fields and test sites of genetically modified crops and to specify the types of genetic tests conducted.
5. If You're Feeding Your Ruminants Grain, You're Paying Too Much DISCOVER THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT DAIRY GRAZING: NATIONAL SPEAKER, AUTHOR and SEASONAL DAIRYMAN DAVE FORGEY IS COMING TO CENTRAL NEW YORK MARCH 25, 2006 Dave and Helen Forgey are 50/50 partners with longtime employees Scott and Darla Foerg in the operation of a 200 cow seasonal pasture based dairy in Logansport, Indiana. Dave is a seasoned veteran of grazing and writes articles for GRAZE, Stockman Grass Farmer, Hoard’s Dairyman and maintains his own website @ www.forgraze.com for grazing information. He will be speaking on raising dairy heifers, forage species strategies and bringing the next generation back to the farm. If you want to hear about profit in a grazing dairy, you really need to come and hear all the ideas and passion that surround this dairyman. Other speakers include Greg Judy, author and grass farmer; Shannon Hayes, cookbook author and grass farmer; NYS Commissioner of Agriculture, Patrick Brennan; Dr. Ben Lucio, Director, Poultry Vet Service, Cornell University, Onondaga Cty.; Jim McLaughlin, Troy Bishopp and others. Admission $35.00 which includes lunch, info and trade show. To pre-register call Kim Totten, CNY RC&D, 607-334-3231, Ext. 4 Check out Shannon Hayes' Meat Blog and follow her travels from plate to plate...www.shannonhayes.info/disc.htm "The Carnivore Chronicles, accounts of an earth-loving epicurean's savory adventures of the flesh... So here's the background. I'm working on a new book -- The Farmer and The Grill: Adventures in Living Deliciously and Saving the Planet...One Bite at a Time. My plan is to do this great barbecue odyssey, picking through the coals and filling my plate at the alters of the great Southern barbecue pitmasters and asadores of Argentina." Chime in with your opinion, add your insights and debate the issues at the Regional Farm & Food Project's new blog: http://blog.farmandfood.org/ We can change the world by changing what we eat. But first we have to change the way we think! 7. Keeping MESSes Out of Schools From Hank Herrera of NY Sustainable Agriculture Working Group and Growing Home Partnership... "Allow me to suggest the following definitions for policy consideration: Food is an edible plant or animal that grows, walks or swims on the earth and its waters with no genetic engineering, no hormone-driven growth, and no synthetic chemical substances to mimic natural qualities. Over millennia human metabolism and cultures have adapted to the foods growing in every ecological niche. Any other edible substance is a manufactured edible substitute substance, or MESS. A MESS has ingredients that depend on genetic modification and genetic engineering, hormone and antibiotic residue from concentrated production, and synthetic additives. Emerging research demonstrates that human metabolism cannot handle MESSes. MESSes subvert food cultures and food sovereignty. MESSes and the processes used in their manufacture and packaging contribute to the alarming toxic load that every human being now carries. Let’s keep MESSes out of schools." |
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