HR 2749: Totalitarian Control of the Food Supply

FoodFreedom

Thursday, June 18, 2009

A new food safety bill is on the fast track in Congress-HR 2749, the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009. The bill needs to be stopped.

HR 2749 gives FDA tremendous power while significantly diminishing existing judicial restraints on actions taken by the agency. The bill would impose a one-size-fits-all regulatory scheme on small farms and local artisanal producers; and it would disproportionately impact their operations for the worse.

HR 2749 does not address underlying causes of food safety problems such as industrial agriculture practices and the consolidation of our food supply. The industrial food system and food imports are badly in need of effective regulation, but the bill does not specifically direct regulation or resources to these areas.

To read a detailed account of the bill, go to: http://www.ftcldf.org/news/news-15june2009.htm

(Read the section on tracing. That is NAIS, isn’t it? – highly disguised yet triggered by the word “trace.” )
Alarming Provisions:

Some of the more alarming provisions in the bill are:

* HR 2749 would impose an annual registration fee of $500 on any “facility” that holds, processes, or manufactures food. [isn't this every home in the US, every garden?] Although “farms” are exempt, the agency has defined “farm” narrowly. [What is the definition?] And people making foods such as lacto-fermented vegetables, cheeses, or breads would be required to register and pay the fee, which could drive beginning and small producers out of business during difficult economic times. [Yes. There are laws against this corporate-size-destroys-the-little-guy policy, aren't there? Are home bread or cheese or lacto-fermented vegetable makers who make for their own families included in this?]

* HR 2749 would empower FDA to regulate how crops are raised and harvested. It puts the federal government right on the farm, dictating to our farmers. [This astounding control opens the door to CODEX. WTO "good farming practices" will include the elimination of organic farming by eliminating manure, mandating GMO animal feed, imposing animal drugs, and ordering applications of petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides. Farmers, thus, will be locked not only into the industrialization of once normal and organic farms but into the forced purchase of industry's products. They will be slaves on the land, doing the work they are ordered to do - against their own best wisdom - and paying out to industry against their will.

There will be no way to be frugal, to grow one's own grain to feed the animals, to raise healthy animals without GMO grains or drugs, to work with nature at all. Grassfed cattle and poultry and hogs will be finished. So, it's obvious where control will take us. And weren't these the "rumors on the internet" that were dismissed but are clearly the case?]

* HR 2749 would give FDA the power to order a quarantine of a geographic area, including “prohibiting or restricting the movement of food or of any vehicle being used or that has been used to transport or hold such food within the geographic area.” [This - "that has been used to transport or hold such food" - would mean all cars that have ever brought groceries home so this means ALL TRANSPORTATION can be shut down under this. This is using food as a cover for martial law.] Under this provision, farmers markets and local food sources could be shut down, even if they are not the source of the contamination. The agency can halt all movement of all food in a geographic area. [This is also a means of total control over the population under the cover of food, and at any time.]

* HR 2749 would empower FDA to make random warrantless searches of the business records of small farmers and local food producers, without any evidence whatsoever that there has been a violation. [If these bills cover all who "hold food" then this allows for taking of records of anyone at any time on no basis at all.] Even farmers selling direct to consumers would have to provide the federal government with records on where they buy supplies, how they raise their crops, and a list of customers.

[NAIS for animals and all other foods?]

* HR 2749 charges the Secretary of Health and Human Services with establishing a tracing system for food. Each “person who produces, manufactures, processes, packs, transports, or holds such food” [Is this not every home in the US?] would have to “maintain the full pedigree of the origin and previous distribution history of the food,” and “establish and maintain a system for tracing the food that is interoperable with the systems established and maintained by other such persons.” The bill does not explain how far the traceback will extend or how it will be done for multi-ingredient foods. With all these ambiguities, [with all these ambiguities, it is dangerous, period, separate from the money] it’s far from clear how much it will cost either the farmers or the taxpayers. [It is massive and absurd and burdensome beyond the capacity of people to comply - is this not fascism? - so it is a set up for being used to impose penalties endlessly and/or to eliminate anyone at will.]

* HR 2749 creates severe criminal and civil penalties, including prison terms of up to 10 years and/or fines of up to $100,000 for each violation for individuals. [Does it include judicial review, Congressional oversight, a defined and limited set of penalties and punishments for a defined set of "crimes"? Or is it entirely ambiguous and left to the whim and sole power of "the Administrator"? Who is that person set to be? Is it Michael Taylor, Monsanto lawyer and executive, as Food Democracy has said? That is, do these bills set up an agency by which the entire US food supply will be turned over to the control of a multinational corporation under WTO regulations (and not to US farmers and not to US laws under the Constitution), with boundless freedom to do what it wants, and one infamous for harm to farmers and lack of safety of food?]

If it was not clear before how frightening these bills were, this small section of provisions, should make their actual fascism clear now. It goes way beyond “food safety” to absolute control over farms, animals, food, and us, including our movements and access to food at all.

Action to Take:

Contact your Representative now! Ask to speak with the staffer who handles food issues. Tell them you are opposed to the bill. Some points to make in telling your Representative why you oppose HR 2749 include:

1. The bill imposes burdensome requirements while not specifically targeting the industrial food system and food imports, where the real food safety problems lie.

2. Small farms and local food processors are part of the solution to food safety; lessening the regulatory burden on them will improve food safety.

3. The bill gives FDA much more power than it has had in the past while making the agency less accountable for its actions.

HR 2749 needs to be defeated!! Please take action NOW.

Or, contact your Representative by using the finder tool at www.Congress.org or send a message through the petition system (the petition will be on our website this evening) at http://www.ftcldf.org/petitions_new.htm. Or call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.

To check the status of HR 2749, go to www.Thomas.gov and type “HR 2749″ in the bill search field.

In India, Bucking The ‘Revolution’ By Going Organic

NPR
Daniel Zwerdling
Monday, June 1, 2009

Indian farmer Amarjit Sharma grows wheat and other crops on five acres in the heart of the region known as “the breadbasket of India,” the fertile fields of Punjab.

Until four years ago, he was the kind of farmer whom government leaders and agricultural scientists hailed as a model in the developing world.

But now, he has gone organic and is part of a quiet but growing rebellion, which could affect the world’s food crisis.

Decades ago, when the modern, chemical-reliant system of farming — the so-called Green Revolution of the 1960s and ’70s — swept across his region, Sharma became one of its biggest boosters. He abandoned traditional methods and embraced synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and modern, high-yield seeds, much like any farmer in Iowa.

And for about 20 years, Sharma says, the Green Revolution worked wonders. His crop yields and his income soared. But then, things unraveled.

“The Punjabi farmer’s problems had reached such levels, he wasn’t making any profit,” Sharma says, through an interpreter, as he walks through rows of his waist-high wheat crop.

Kicking The Chemical Habit

Sharma’s soil was deteriorating, so he had to buy more and more fertilizer every year to grow the same amount of crops. No matter how much pesticide he sprayed, insects still destroyed large portions of his crops. Sharma says he “realized the vicious circle in which we were stuck.”

In 2005, Sharma kicked the chemical habit.

Environmental groups in India estimate that more than 300,000 farmers like Sharma have switched to organic growing methods in recent years, or have started the transition from conventional to organic farming. Comparisons between India and the U.S. are difficult because their economies and cultures are so different. But consider this: India has about three times the population of the U.S., but 30 times more organic farmers than the U.S.

Sharma’s story symbolizes the dilemma that developing countries are facing around the world: What’s the most sustainable way to grow enough food? The answers will eventually affect people from India to Indiana, because the world’s population is booming — and if fast-growing countries like India can’t feed themselves, it could trigger more global instability.

Agribusiness leaders and many government officials are convinced that genetic engineering will help prevent a world food crisis. Firms like Monsanto Co. have been inserting genes from animals and bacteria into plants so they can grow faster with less water and resist insects.

Monsanto’s India spokesman, Christopher Samuel, says the company’s advances will double the yields of major crops over the next 20 years, while reducing the amount of land, water, fertilizer and pesticides needed — in the process “protecting the environment and its natural resources,” he says.

But activists in India are trying to block Monsanto and other companies from introducing genetically engineered food crops. They point out that it took decades to raise the alarm about serious, long-term side effects of the Green Revolution. They also say that, so far, there are not good studies examining whether biotech food crops could cause long-term problems.

Organic Farming Spreads In India

So a network of environmental groups has been traveling from village to village, preaching that organic farming is the only way that farmers can survive.

Sharma heard their sermon and became a believer.

He argues that organic means much more than simply not spraying synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. It requires farming in a more thoughtful way, he says.

For example, government policies under the Green Revolution have rewarded farmers for growing “monocultures” — vast areas of a single crop, such as wheat or rice. That can help boost yields, but studies show it has leached crucial nutrients from Punjab’s soil, requiring farmers to use five to 10 times as much fertilizer as they used to about two decades ago.

Organic farmers like Sharma grow a mixture of crops in the same fields as their wheat or rice, including types of beans that replenish the soil — so they don’t have to buy fertilizer. By growing a variety of crops, they also attract beneficial insects, which take the place of synthetic pesticides.

The difference between Sharma’s farm and his chemical-using neighbor’s is visible. The neighbor’s fields are like an endless green shag carpet. Sharma’s farm is like a busy quilt — a patchwork of wheat, beans and mustard plants exploding in bunches of bright yellow flowers.

Mixed Results, Hope For The Future

In the courtyard of his house in the village of Chaina, Sharma reviews his balance sheets.

“Our rice yields under the organic system are almost as good as before,” he says, as his wife scoops up cow manure with her hands and pats it into disks to fuel the cooking fire. “And we’re spending much less money on inputs, since we’re not buying pesticides and fertilizer — although labor costs have increased.”

On the downside, Sharma concedes that since he went organic, his wheat yields have fallen in half.

But he is optimistic. “I’ve been farming organically only for four years now. My land is still recovering from the Green Revolution. So I’m sure my yields will increase,” he says.

Imagine how much organic farmers might be able to produce, Sharma says, if India’s government spent even a fraction of the billions of dollars it has spent promoting chemical farming.

“We are not worried about how much yield we will get,” he says. “We are worried about our families, and our children. We want them to be healthy. We will never sell or eat poison.”

India’s organic movement is getting some support from influential voices in the agriculture industry. Late last year, the Punjab State Farmers Commission, which advises the agriculture department, published a report that angered organic activists by concluding that if all farmers across India went organic — including in Punjab, the most intensively cultivated region — food production would drop and “seriously jeopardize the national food security.”

But the commission’s chairman, Gurcharan Kalkat, says the researchers reached another conclusion: “For 70 percent of the area in the country (outside Punjab), farmers must go for organic farming,” he says, because organic methods will replenish the soil and improve their productivity. As for Punjab, the report concluded that 20 percent of its farmers could go organic and remain productive, too.

And the report says government scientists should begin to help them now.

“They should collect all the new [organic] techniques,” Kalkat says, “so that over the next two years we are in a position to say, ‘If you want to do organic farming, this is the way to do it.’”

Farm in the sky could feed our booming population!

Xavier Dune
Organic Vida
Monday, May 25, 2009

A dramatic vertical greenhouse shaped like the wings of a dragonfly could revolutionize farming in cities across the globe, according to its architect.

The amazing looking 650yd tall building was designed by Belgian designer Vincent Callebaut and would be constructed on Roosevelt Island in New York.

Spanning 132 floors it would provide urban farming space with enough room to raise cattle and poultry and 28 different types of crops, within a controlled environment.

There would also be space for housing and offices with walls and ceilings used to grow kitchen gardens. Each level would be cultivated by the permanent residents.

The Dragon Fly has two central towers arranged around a huge greenhouse that are linked together via two wings made from glass and steel.

It would be heated using solar energy in winter, which would harness the warm air between the wings. In summer it would be kept cool using natural ventilation and evapo-perspiration from the plants.

Exterior vertical gardens would filter rain water that would then be mixed with domestic liquid waste. After organic treatment it would be recirculated for farm use.

Self contained paradise? Residents of the 132-floor building would grow crops and cultivate kitchen gardens

Floor by floor, the tower superposes not only stock farming ensuring the production of meat, milk, poultry and eggs but also farming grounds, true biological reactors continuously regenerated with organic humus. It diversifies the cultivated varieties to avoid the washing of stratums of soft substratum. Thus, the cultures succeed one another vertically according to their agronomical ability to provide some elements of the ground between the essences that are sowed and harvested. The tower, true living organism, becomes thus metabolic and self-sufficient in water, energy, and bio-fertilizing. Nothing is lost; everything is recyclable to a continuous auto-feeding!

Mr Callebaut is known for his eccentric designs. A 2008 plan of his featured a self-sufficient floating city in the shape of a huge lilypad.

While the lilypad city was designed as a solution to rising sea levels in the future, the Dragonfly was designed to deal with a world food shortage as the human population continues to increase.

‘The worldwide urban population will go from 3.1 inhabitants in 2009 up to 5.5billion inhabitants by 2025,’ Mr Callebaut explained.

‘The ecological city aims to reintegrate the farming function on the urban scale in the use and reuse of natural resources and biodegradable waste.’

The revolutionary farm would completely change the New York’s skyline. Read more about the design here…