Everyone wants clean safe food. That’s a given. So when you hear the USDA promoting the “Food Safety Modernization Act,” you likely think … “good, the government is improving things.” Think again. The new rules of the game have been drafted to suit Big Ag and will likely make it super difficult and expensive to farm organically or sustainably, on a smaller lever.
Ground Operations joins with FarmAid and the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition to urge the FDA (Food & Drug Administration) & USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) to make changes to the proposed rules under the Food Safety Modernizatoin Act to insure that new regulations do not unfairly burden family farms, target sustainable and organic farming and reduce the availability of fresh, local food in our communities.
Stand up for our veterans who are starting all these amazing farms all over the country. How a small farmer practices his craft — and how the Big Boys do it on a massive industrial scale, are two very different standards for food safety. That must be written into the bill or the over-regulation will put the smaller direct-to-consumer farm families out of business.
If safe food is what we’re concerned with … and we are, then direct-to-consumer farmers who you and your children meet every week at the farmers market, have immediate traceback to them if there’s something wrong with the food — and it impacts a radically smaller population. A small farmer walks his fields daily, watching for every nuance of health in order to stave off disease, since they don’t use the heavy chemicals on our food.
So really, my money’s on the little guy. My money’s on these determined, skillful veterans that I keep meeting, to deliver top quality, nutrient dense, fresh food to a neighborhood near me!
To take action:
http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5735/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=8636