Ann Rehmert said:The farm bill is also scary - Glen B. reported on his show today that if the bill passes we would have to sign a paper each time we purchased something from our local farmers denoting when we were going to consume the food. In turn the farmer or food grower would have to save a copy! How outrageous! Our freedoms seem to be slipping away one by one.....Ann Marie
I decided to create a new discussion for this topic, since it wasn't really related to the Community Service bill.
Yes, this food safety bill is scary to me. I got a copy of it, and read it (well, not the whole thing, but enough to know what the issue is). The effect of the bill on a local gardener is scary, and it comes from the definition of a "Food Production Facility" in the bill, which is:
(14) FOOD PRODUCTION FACILITY.—The term
‘‘food production facility’’ means any farm, ranch,
orchard, vineyard, aquaculture facility, or confined
animal-feeding operation.
The problem is that this definition could apply to home gardens, too. In other parts of the "definitions" section of the bill, specific exclusions are made, but not in this one.
The bill then goes on to place a bunch of onerous requirements on "Food Production Facilities".
I don't think it is the intent of this bill to target home gardeners, and I bet they will add some exclusions.
However, it is more scary to me, what this bill will do to the cost of food production. In order to comply with this bill, everyone in the food supply chain will have new requirements imposed, that will cost them money. Larger farms might be able to meet these requirements, but smaller farms might not.
If you increase the cost of food at every level in the supply chain, that will increase the cost of food to us! Add to that the increases from Cap and Trade, and all the other socialist programs, and our cost of living will go way up!
Yes! I want my food to be safe - but I also want to be able to afford it!