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Comment Period Ended for NLGMA before 11:59 pm PST
Comment Period Ended for NLGMA before 11:59 pm PST.
After a long day that began at 5 am July 28, 2011,
I got up before midnight to check the AMS Site
to see how many entries had been recorded.
It was stlll before 11:59 PST.
Keep The Beet Media Star, The World's First Talking Beet Plant
told me to put up "A Love Letter to Joe The Farmer,"
to be the last entry. This is a lovely document I wrote
a number of years ago. I was not able to
entry it. Even though it was before 11:59 pm,
the comment window was no longer functional.
So here is a copy for the USDA and the President
of "A Love Letter to Joe the Farmer."
I want to read this at the USDA, if God wiilling,
I find the strength and grace to plant a beet
at the Organic People's Garden at the USDA.
I am working through details now for a trip there
before the Natural Product Expo East in late September 2011
Date: 7/29/2011 2:18:47 AM ( 13 y ) ... viewed 40967 times
THIS WAS UPLOADED
TO THE NEW PLANT YOUR DREAM BLOG
ENTITLED
A LOVE LETTER TO JOE THE FARMER,
A COMMENT FOR THE USDA LEAFY GREEN MARKETING AGREEMENT
http://plantyourdream.net/?p=2643
It is noted here
on 12:58 am
July 29, 2011
BACKGROUND PLANT YOUR DREAM BLOG
ABOUT THE LEAKY GREEN MARKETING AGREEMENT
(NGLMA)
http://plantyourdream.net/?p=2541
written the week
of July 28, 2011
I appreciate the USDA wanting to help us have safer food, however this Green Leafy Marketing Agreement is ill advised if we truly want a healthy economy and better health for our people. Serious education is needed to return to an organic and sustainable lifestyle, each of us being an Organic Uprising, Standing Up for Nature’s Original Technology. I urge all involved to continue to make contact with the USDA, FDA, USDA Codex Office, and the President about these important issues that will only be resolved through an honest Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Food. A serious reeducation is needed. I urge the AMS to drop these agreements. They will further lead us in a direction away from solving the inherent problem that we need many more local organic farmers, and less Big Ag monoculture centralized farms that are disease producers and contrary to the laws of nature. I sense that Big Ag, who wants this is threatened by more and more people supporting local organic farmers. They do not want to pay the price for the outbreaks of e coli and bacteria that come from a system of ag that cannot possibly work. Food is Sacred. It was not intended to make profit its primary purpose. We want Leafy Green Marketing Agreements that encourage nutrition per ace more than profit per acre. Be well, see you all on the Plant Your Dream Blog. Come visit us at the Hillcrest Farmers’ Market. Our farmers and shoppers will show you why we love good healthy food grown organically.
Leslie Goldman
Your Enchanted Gardener
A DOCUMENT
A LOVE LETTER TO JOE THE FARMER
important document written
to help local farmers.
THUMBNAIL
Love Letter to Joe the Farmer
ABSTRACT
Comment Period Ended for NLGMA before 11:59 pm PST.
After a long day that began at 5 am July 28, 2011,
I got up before midnight to check the AMS Site
to see how many entries had been recorded.
It was stlll before 11:59 PST.
Keep The Beet Media Star, The World's First Talking Beet Plant
told me to put up "A Love Letter to Joe The Farmer,"
to be the last entry. This is a lovely document I wrote
a number of years ago. I was not able to
entry it. Even though it was before 11:59 pm,
the comment window was no longer functional.
So here is a copy for the USDA and the President
of "A Love Letter to Joe the Farmer."
I want to read this at the USDA, if God wiilling,
I find the strength and grace to plant a beet
at the Organic People's Garden at the USDA.
I am working through details now for a trip there
before the Natural Product Expo East in late September 2011
12:02 pm
July 29, 2011
Just woke up from a long nap after a very long day
yesterday that began at 5 am writing.
My first stop after my nap was the Regulations. Gov
site. It was before midnight.
I wanted to check for how many submissions came in.
I saw 1979 or something like that.
There was also one from Food& Water Watch that
contained more than 4000 attachments.
I thought at the last minute I could add one more
comment. I thought to have
A Love Letter to Joe the Farmer" be the last entry,
however, even though it was a few minutes before
11:59 am PST, the comment window was no longer functional.
I am new at submitting comments.
I first thought that the comments end 5 pm EST after
speak with a very helpful man at the USDA who gave me that
information.
Then, later, after going to the site and submitting my own
comment, I found that you could submit a comment until
11:59 pm on July 28, 2011.
I would like clarification if that means EST only.
It was before 11:59 PST.
So I would like the USDA AMS help desk to clarify this for me.
In national elections, a person on the West Coast gets to
submit a vote even thought the East Coast voting is done.
I would like that to be the case with this.
In any case, here is the submission I made,
with a couple typo corrections.
HERE IS MY ENTRY
SUBMITTED YESTERDAY
HERE IS ANOTHER ENTRY
I CAME UPON
melissa, hello. i am writing to chime in on the ams national leafy greens marketing agreement. as a small scale grower i feel that this is preposterous, outrageous, and completely unnecessary. i am becoming increasingly alarmed at the advancing sets of regulations that are looming on the horizon. this leafy greens agreement is just one of the first. it's preposterous because all produce should be safe to eat , not just produce grown under a so- called marketing agreement. in the end whether you are gap certified, organic, natural, or you sign up with this ams agreement , it is still a matter of trust. in other words, i still think it is possible for a bad grower who can afford to jump through all the hoops that the regulation puts in front of them to still be a bad and unsafe grower, just as i think a good small grower who can't afford to jump through the hoops can still produce the healthiest produce available and take the best care of their operation. i guess the argument can be made visa-versa as well, but it is still all just a matter of trust. this is all outrageous because we need to keep small farms around to help with rural economic recovery. these regulations are too expensive for small growers and ,personally , i believe the big monied interests know this and this is why they continue to push these regulative actions through, however voluntary they may initially be. there was a reason why this food safety modernization act was originally penned by a representative in congress whose spouse worked for monsanto. the corporate interests want to choke out the small farmer with whatever prohibitive draconian nonsense they can come up with . why? because in the end they know that a grassroots movement is raging across the country in the form of the local food movement that is capable of putting them out of business and who are the foot soldiers of that revolution? the same small scale farmers that are indirectly(?) targeted in the crosshairs of weapons such as the national leafy greens marketing agreement. all that being said, it's not up to ams staff to define what food safety is. they aren't experts in that field. this is all unnecessary becuase there are good growers out there who grow and process produce safely. and we need to trust them. the trust aspect cultivates the kind of "food with a face" personal relationship between growers and consumers that we need . why? because it keeps us in touch with our humanity .we need to interact with each other on a local level and we need the economic stimulus that local small-scale food production offers. the other realm of big growers and impersonal buyers might continue to exist, but it cannot act to cut off the economic advantage that local small scale growing and selling presents.
yours truely,
kevin mcgraw
United States Department of Agriculture Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement Comments
I am writing to oppose the Proposed National Marketing Agreement Regulating Leafy Green Vegetables (Docket # AMS-FV-09-0029-0150.) Food safety is not a marketing issue and the Agricultural Marketing Service is not a food safety agency. Therefore this proposed marketing agreement is an inappropriate way to deal with the critical issue of developing food safety standards for leafy green vegetables.
This proposal represents a new industry-driven approach to food safety and is being proposed by the trade associations that represent the largest players in the industry. The proposal would expand upon a model used in California and Arizona, but small-scale, organic, and other producers oppose these state level agreements, and are particularly concerned with the environmental impact of the standards.
At the 2009 hearings on the proposed agreement, a significant number of opponents representing leafy greens producers, consumers, environmental organizations and cooperative food retailers turned out to voice their concerns about the proposal. Points raised at the hearings included the potential impact on small-scale, organic or other producers, potential impacts on the environment, and the appropriateness of putting responsibility for developing food safety standards on a marketing agency and the leafy greens industry. I am very disappointed that USDA is moving forward with this proposal despite these objections.
The Food and Drug Administration is currently writing produce safety regulations as part of its implementation of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. The FDA is the federal agency with the responsibility for the safety of produce, not the USDA, and especially not a marketing agency like AMS. Therefore, I urge you not to go forward with the proposed National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement.
Sincerely,
Ms. Ruth Miale
Lawrenceville, NJ
INTELLIGENT VOICES
http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=AMS-FV-09-0029-0265
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