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Notes...on phone with
notes..in process
with NICK MARIVELLI and
MARGIE MACDONALD...
Date: 7/17/2009 1:35:15 PM ( 15 y ) ... viewed 1608 times
july 17, 09
Would this bill require a local weekly farmer's market to register and pay the fee? - Show 1 Answer
A1: Yes, this bill would require a "$500 annual registration fee for any facility that holds, processes, or manufactures food." [Answer submitted on Jul 6, 2009 8:58 AM]
http://www.govtrack.us/users/questions.xpd?topic=bill:h111-2749
3:55 PM
This is what I was wanting to
see, an update:
Yes,
http://www.agandfoodlaw.com/
WORC PETITION:
http://curezone.com/upload/Blogs/Your_Enchanted_Gardener/Food_Safety_Act2.pdf
http://www.facebook.com/StephanieHersethSandlin?ref=share
12:21 PM
July 17, 09
Tell Congress ‘One size does not fit all’ when it comes to regulating food safety! We the Undersigned urge you to support amendments to Federal Food Safety legislation that draw a clear line between small local processors and direct market growers selling locally and the long, industrial, multi-sourced food supply chains where foodborne pathogens have appeared and created problems. FDA oversight is overreaching and unnecessary for small processors selling into local markets and direct market producers.
"I know of no pursuit in which more real and important services can be rendered to any country than by improving its agriculture."
- George Washington
MOSGA SITE
RUSSELL LIBBY,
REFERED BY
NICK's ORGANIC FARM.
Nick gave testimony at the July 16th Open Public Hearing
on #HR 2749
Russell has been has been working for this Amendment:
Sustainable and Organic Farming Proposed Revisions to Pallone Amendment of ‘Food
Safety Enhancement Act’ – 6/11/09
http://www.mofga.org/Programs/PublicPolicyInitiatives/MOFGAPositionStatements...
| 033009 - Update | 031909 - Position Statement
Food Safety — Different views of the world
June 12, 2009
Russell Libby
Executive Director
Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association
Federal discussions of food safety are moving forward rapidly. Part is happening on the Legislative front; part through a push to establish standards via a marketing order/agreement; part through ongoing industry standardization. Here’s my quick review of what’s happening.
Legislation. The House Energy and Commerce Committee took pieces of several different bills and combined them into HR 2749, The Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009. A subcommittee reviewed the draft on Tuesday, June 9th, and passed it. The full Energy and Commerce Committee plans to meet next week to discuss the bill (date not yet scheduled).
Key elements of HR 2749 include: funding of FDA via fees (now set at $500 per ‘facility’); recall authority when particular foods/products are identified as causing health problems (which we support); traceback systems for most foods; FDA regulation of produce safety standards; and expanded oversight of food imports.
MOFGA and a group of agricultural organizations wrote a dozen proposed amendments to an early Committee draft. We met with a number of Congressional staff who are working on these issues. Three have been incorporated so far -- exemptions for traceback systems for direct market sellers; criteria for produce safety standards that include their impact on family farms and organic farms; and ways to incorporate other standards (e.g. fair trade) into import standards through accreditation. See our latest comments (PDF).
I have been part of two phone calls and a meeting with a coalition of consumer groups pushing for the legislation. We want to be sure that they understand the impact these laws, and the regulations to follow, will have on the kind of food system we have been working towards for over thirty years—one where the farmer and the buyer have a direct, ongoing relationship.
We are making slow progress, but HR 2749, as written, still doesn’t recognize that many farmers, as part of their core businesses, turn fruit into jams; make pickles; bake; dry and package teas; and much more. All of these activities, and even cooking maple sap into syrup, turns you into a food ‘facility’ that is supposed to register under the Food Bioterrorism Act and, as proposed, would have to pay a fee to FDA yearly. There is a real conceptual disconnect here. The Bureau of the Census counts 872 fruit and vegetable canners in the entire U.S.; we have a quarter of that number here in Maine. When is a farm a food processor that is a food ‘facility’ that warrants FDA regulation and oversight? When does a farm have enough potential impact on the food system to warrant FDA scrutiny? These are unanswered questions.
Food Safety Regulation by Marketing Agreement. On a parallel, and completely-related track, a petition was delivered to USDA on June 8th that requests the establishment of a Federal Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement. If approved, this would extend the standards used by the largest greens growers in the country to any farmer that agreed to sign-on, and make the California agreement the de facto standard for any farmer supplying greens to markets across the country.
Congress’ Agriculture Committee favors this approach, because it removes FDA from direct oversight of farms and leads to a self-enforcement solution. MOFGA, and most sustainable agriculture organizations across the country, oppose this approach because the voting system for agreements gives almost complete control to the largest farms. In practice, in California, the standards and accompanying pressure from buyers has led to a significant undermining of conservation practices on farms. See the California Alliance of Family Farmers' and Wild Farm Alliance’s reports on this issue.
I was part of a meeting with USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan last week where this was discussed. I talked about the approach MOFGA has developed, with food safety review and verification offered as an add-on option to the organic certification. She was very interested in this, and would like it actually working on the ground as another possible approach.
Other industry efforts. One major discussion in Washington is how to do tracebacks to the original source when problems are identified. I call this the “push the blame down the ladder” system. The Produce Marketing Association’s tracking system requires every box of produce to have a 14-digit code, bar-code readable. They are on a fast track towards implementation. The costs, of course, will be borne by the farmer who puts the produce in the box.
Conclusion: Because we started to develop a food safety system that is an easy add-on to organic certification two years ago, MOFGA is right at the center of this discussion from the organic/sustainable farm perspective. We will continue to fight for standards that recognize the importance of building connections between farmers and the rest of the food system, and oppose laws that create barriers to entry for farmers and specialty food processors.
LIBBY DIRECTOR
Russell Libby - Executive Director
Russell planted his first garden after getting free seeds at the end of fourth grade. His involvement with MOFGA started at the first Common Ground Country Fair in 1977 where he saw a connection between local, organic food and a strong Maine economy. He began participating in the Consortium for Maine Food Self-Reliance in 1979, and joined the MOFGA Board of Directors in 1983. After a dozen years on the Board, including two years as President, Russell became Executive Director in 1995. He has led MOFGA's growth over the past decade as the organization moved to the new Common Ground Education Center in Unity, expanded the Agricultural Services and Education programs, and created a subsidiary to run the Certification program. Russell has a wide range of agricultural affiliations, including 10 years as Research Director at the Maine Department of Agriculture. He currently serves on the boards of: the Agricultural Council of Maine; the University of Maine Board of Agriculture; Maine Farmland Trust; Eat Local Foods Coalition; National Organic Coalition; and FEDCO Seeds. He has a degree in economics from Bowdoin College and a Master's in resource economics from the University of Maine. With his wife, Mary Anne, and 3 daughters, he operates Three Sisters Farm (a small diversified farm) in Mount Vernon. He served three years on the School Board, currently chairs the Comprehensive Plan Committee, and serves as a Selectman. He also writes poetry in his spare time. His first book, Balance: A Late Pastoral, was published in 2007.
Contact Russell.
HAVE AN EAR TO HEAR about
LOCAL FARMING and ITS NEEDS
re: #Hr 2749
CONGRESSWOMAN
STEPHANIE HERSETH SANDLIN,
http://hersethsandlin.house.gov/
For press inquiries, please contact Betsy Hart at 202-225-2801.
I became a Fan....
11:47 AM
She is listening to the MARGIE MacDonald.
produce to customers--
Fomtenberry
CSA
Peterson--
livestock...
monnisoda...
costa CA
rep
lookinf to lessen the burden--
legislsation--
jurisdiction--
mark it up
unfavorably--
mutual undrstanding--
fifferences can be worked--
no not support--
refinement--
waxman--
needed to be refined--
some attemp--
still fluid--
event thought out of commitee--
one aspect of bill
some recognition--
that small farmers
general perspective--
smalleer perspective--
not much of a voice--
national sus ag coalition--
brian sneider--
penn ass dor sus tain ag
ruseel libby-
main mosga
http://www.mofga.org/Contact/Staff/tabid/229/Default.aspx
http://www.mofga.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=ksBNdrKr6UY%3d&tabid=1102
leader in this--
patty lavera
food and water watch--
some looking...
fast mocing
keep on right track--
Congressman waxman...
chairman peterson
resonable accord--
or sparks fly--
not overly burden--
small--we are a sideshow--
take a position--pertyerson--
not a partisan bill
11:33 AM
July 17, 09
On Phone with
MARGIE MCDONALD
What to do next???
Go for Amendment....
a Bright Line that understands
local farming and diversified farming...
Tone deaf..
and then NICK MARIVELLE
It is over-reaching to establish federal farming standards for produce that is not going into interstate
commerce.
ƒ Care should be taken not to duplicate systems. Products that are already certified under other rigorous
certification standards (e.g. organically certified, etc.) should be exempted.
Fprtenberry
nebraska--
nick...Maravella
new paradign in agrucultyre,,,
amendment
con so dakota--
Stephaniie Herseth-
tone deaf--
the
diversified
direct marketing
adding value--
berry' and jam
integrated and diversified...
row crops--
ecologicality--
starndards--
dould interfere--
witness agriculture--
rocky mt farmers union--
national farmers union--
will they allow amendment--
he undestand---
need congrss make sure that it is not undermind--
A new paradymn
local food a different paradynb
overreaches--
want
asking for a bright lie--
local foodheds--
they already have--
call congrssman
amendments to 2749
remove local from federal jurisd
bright line amendment
defines---
no one wants to to be against it
general public--
vote for food safety--
comsumer educated--
has food points--
farmers market--
not represented--
good animals--
fda guidance good ag practi=ces,,,,,
good intention--
two miles away--
loose points--
mosga web site
good praxtices--
practices--
regulations--
how you plant==libby piece--
no livesti=ock in same place--
don't pass--
ecological--
Ben Bendrock--
e coli--goes with
grain feeding--
not grass feeding...
I NEED WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER FOR MAC
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/flip4mac.mspx
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