What is the education that
needs to happen both in Washington D.C.
and around the nation, I asked
BARRY LOGAN,
of LA MILPA ORGANICA FARM
in Escodido, California.


"Bio-diversity is everything!"
says BARRY LOGAN
of LA MILPA ORGANIC FARM

Please listen to Barry Logan's comments on the importance
of building up the soil.

July 20, 09
Today I talked to RUSSELL LIBBY of the
MAINE ORGANIC FARMING AND GARDENING ASSOCATION.

I wanted to understand how closely interwhined were
The LEAFY GREEN MARKETING GUIDELINES and #HR 2749,
as well as the mindset that is calling for sterility in farming.

Some retailers, the ones who buy the food
from the farmers are learning toward sterility on the farm.
They have been instituted quasi-government rules and regs
that the farmers much follow to sell their crops.
This is described in the CAROLYN LOCHHEAD article
of July 13.

That article also mentions
the National Green Leafy Marketing Agreement,
I talked to RUSSELL LIBBY who has been answering good
questions posed by members
of the ENERGY and COMMERCE COMMITTEE
who sent #HR 2749 to the AGRICULTURAL COMMITTEE
of the HOUSE, July 16.

I talked to NICK MARIVELL the other day.
He was concerned that objectives of #HR2749
would affect his diversified farm. He had concerned
that they would pass agreements that livestock and vegetables
could not be grown within two miles of each other.

HR 2749 gets into manure use on the farm.


THe Leafy Green Marketing Guidelines
have been sent to the USDA. Some in Big
Ag would like to see this standard become National Policy.

"One does not preclude the other," Russell told me.

HOW PERVASIVE are the STERILITY IDEAS????

Russell pointed me in the direction of Japan, where
sterility in growing food has gained is practices
and popular among so.

Here is another piece of this puzzle

Rusell Libby pointed me in a number
of directions

1. REPORT FROM THE GOOD SAFETY WORKING GROUP
CAME OUT JUNE 9, A DAY AFTER THE NGLMG WERE SUBMITTED
TO THE USDA...THEY ARE ALL PARTICIPATING IN THIS
TRANSPARENT COMMITTEE...

Vice President Biden, Secretaries Vilsack and Sebelius announce key findings of food safety working group (7/9/09)

Today Vice President Biden was joined by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to announce the key findings of the Food Safety Working Group. Created by President Obama in March to advise the Administration on how to upgrade the food safety system for the 21st century, the Working Group is recommending a new, public health-focused approach to food safety based on three core principles: prioritizing prevention; strengthening surveillance and enforcement; and improving response and recovery.

KEY FINDINGS OF WORKING GROUP

http://www.foodsafetyworkinggroup.gov/ContentKeyFindings/HomeKeyFindings.htm


Preventing Contamination of Leafy Greens, Melons, and Tomatoes: By the end of July, FDA will issue commodity-specific draft guidance on preventive controls that industry can implement to reduce the risk of microbial contamination in the production and distribution of tomatoes, melons, and leafy greens. These proposals will help the Federal government establish a minimum standard for production across the country. Over the next two years, FDA will seek public comment and work to require adoption of these approaches through regulation.
National Traceback and Response System

http://www.southernstates.com/sscinfo/news/0709vpbiden.jsp


"There isn't a single American that isn't impacted by our efforts to protect the food supply," said Secretary Vilsack. "We owe it to the American people to deliver on President Obama's bold promise to greatly enhance our food safety system, moving our approach into the 21st century, employing the best surveillance techniques available, and ensuring that we are doing all we can to prevent illness before it occurs."

Today, the Working Group announced specific steps designed to advance its core principles:


HHS and USDA are targeting salmonella contamination by developing tougher standards to protect the safety of eggs, poultry, and turkey.
To fight the threat of E. coli, USDA is stepping up enforcement in beef facilities and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is developing new industry guidance improving protections for
leafy greens, (LEAFY GREENS....PLEASE NOTE!!!!!) melons, and tomatoes.

Let me repeat that
LEAFY GREENS
LEAKFY GREENS
LEAFY GREENS.


2. IS THIS THE FUTURE OF FOOD?

Japanese 'plant factory' churn out immaculate vegetables
By DAVID DERBYSHIRE
Last updated at 9:56 AM on 03rd June 2009
Comments (57)

They look more like the brightly
lit shelves of a chemists shop than
the rows of a vegetable garden.
But according to their creators,
these perfect looking vegetables could be the future of food.
In a perfectly controlled and totally sterile environment -
uncontaminated by dirt, insects or fresh air -
Japanese scientists are developing
a new way of growing vegetables.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1190392/Is-future-food-Japanes...

Please Contrast the photos taken
here at LA MILPA ORGANICA FARM
on Saturday and the next day at
the HILCREST FARMERS' MARKET.

What future of food are you choosing now?





I pulled a beet from the soil
the other day at LA MILPA ORGANICA FARM.
I am planting the dream that
we create a Healthy Food Safety Enchancement Act 2009
that truly understands the principles
of agriculture that has evolved culture
diversity for thousands of years.

As I see it, Biodiversity is the cornerstone
of health Food Safety.

I look forward to seeing our legislators
in Washington coming to understand this
the principles behind organic sustainabile
agriculture.


HOUSE AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE
LOOKING MORE DEEPLY AT #HR2749

#HR 2749 is now being closely looked at
by COLLIN C PETERSON head of the HOUSE
AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE.

He listened to testimon July 16 and had it understored
by much of the testimory that this bill, #HR 2749
needs more work.

The articles that CAROLYN LOCHHEAD Wrote last
week paint a picture of a sterile kind of farming solution
that is contrary to natural law and health in my opinion.

Take a look at CAROLYN LOCHHEADS ARTICLES
of last week.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/12/MN0218DVJ8.DTL&fe...

GOING NATIONAL

For many giant food retailers, the choice between a dead pond and a dead child is no choice at all. Industry has paid more than $100 million in court settlements and verdicts in spinach and lettuce lawsuits, a fraction of the lost sales involved.

Galvanized by the spinach disaster, large growers instituted a quasi-governmental program of new protocols for growing greens safely, called the "leafy greens marketing agreement." A proposal was submitted last month in Washington to take these rules nationwide.

++++++(DIFFERENT TOPIC HERE..._This confuses...two separate
activities!!!!++Leslie The above paragraph and paragraph below
run Consecutively in Carolyn Lochheads article...One refers to
Green Leafy Marketing, the other to the Waxman Bill...
They are not overtly connected....they appear to be part of the
same conversation in the Food Safety Working Group...

CLARIFICATION:

July 21, 09
THE GREEN LEAFY FOLKS have their own regulations
I am not sure how in sync they are with small farmers.....

MORE FROM THE LOCHHEAD ARTICLE...

A food safety bill sponsored by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, passed this month in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. It would give new powers to the Food and Drug Administration to regulate all farms and produce in an attempt to fix the problem. The bill would require consideration of farm diversity and environmental rules, but would leave much to the FDA.

An Amish farmer in Ohio who uses horses to plow his fields could find himself caught in a net aimed 2,000 miles away at a feral pig in San Benito County. While he may pick, pack and sell his greens in one day because he does not refrigerate, the bagged lettuce trucked from Salinas with a 17-day shelf life may be considered safer.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/12/MN0218DVJ8.DTL&fe...

PHOTOS FROM THE LAKESIDE ORGANIC FARM
THIS IS THE FARM OWNED BY DICK PEIXOTO
and DESCRIBED IN THE LOCHHEAD ARTICLE about CROPS.
THIS FARM has been asked by QUASI-GOVERNMENT
rules to tear out buffers.
http://www.lakesideorganic.com/Produce_current.aspx


Many on the Energy and Commerce Committee
have not been exposed to the principles behind organic
sustainable farming, Russell told me.


TIMELINE:

JILL RICHARSON's EXCELLENT WORK!
http://food.change.org/blog/view/food_safety_bill_in_the_house


A new additions!

PROPOSAL SUBMITTED
JUNE 8, 2009.
The day before the JUNE 9,
FOOD SAFETY WORKING GROUP
PRESS RELEASE


REQUEST TO ESTABLISH a FEDERAL LEAFY GREENS MARKETING
AGREEMENT

http://nlgma.org/fresh-produce-industry-associations-peti.php


HERE ARE Q and A about the
PROPOSAL of the NATIONAL GREEN LEAFY ASSOCIATION

http://nlgma.org/faqs.php


FROM THE NATIONAL PROPOSAL
TO THE USDA SUBMITTED JUNE 8

The leafy greens industry took immediate action following the E. coli outbreak associated with spinach in 2006 developing and implementing the California Leafy Greens Producers Marketing Agreement within six months of the outbreak. Ninety-nine percent of all handlers participate in the program. They are assessed a per carton fee which is paid to the state department of agriculture which employs USDA-certified inspectors/auditors. The program is administered by a nonprofit organization under state government oversight. A similar program is also now in place in Arizona. The two agreements account for about 90 percent of the nation’s leafy greens production.

FDA inspects processors to ensure compliance with the law.
http://nlgma.org/faqs.php



5:38 PM
July 20, 09



"Bio-diversity is everything!"
says BARRY LOGAN
of LA MILPA ORGANIC FARM

I recorded this on Sunday July 20, 09.
I was not able to uload the video,
but was able to convert it using
the Software SWITCH and uploaded it
as a MP3.





Shopping at the HILLCREST FARMERS MARKET
July 19, 09

RELATED LINKS AND BLOGS

FOOD SAFETY PROPOSAL ISN'T GOING DOWN SMOOTHLY
http://www.omaha.com/article/20090718/MONEY/707189950


Published Saturday July 18, 2009
Food safety proposal isn't going down smoothly
By Roger Buddenberg
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

THERE ARE SOME OF THE AMENDMENTS
THAT RUSSELL LIBBY and his GROUP have been
proposing to #HR 2749.

Some have been accepted
http://www.mofga.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=ksBNdrKr6UY%3d&tabid=1102

MORE ON STERILE FOOD GROWING TECHNOLOGY

http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/Spinoff2008/ch_3.html

http://www.biocontrols.com/aero43.htm

BETH OF TIERRA MIQUEL BIODYNAMIC FARM
WINS AWARD

Artilcle by BROOK LARIOS

Local Sustainability Savant Receives National Accolade from SELF Magazine


According to the San Diego Farm Bureau, San Diego County has more small farms (under 10 acres) than any county in the United States – between 5,000 and 6,000 in fact, said Kathy Rathbun, Program Coordinator for the Bureau. The 2007 Crop Report, a biennial account of the county’s agricultural production compiled by the county’s Department of Agriculture, Weights & Measures, shows that San Diego leads the nation in production of avocados and nursery crops as well as in the number of part-time farmers it employs, and it ranks second in the production of guavas, pomegranates, limes, macadamia nuts and, interestingly, in the number of farms with women as principle owner. Counted among them, Levendoski is a leader in raising awareness of the importance of local farms, with support from widely recognized organizations like Kashi, a primary sponsor of the foundation, and The Kellogg Foundation, which supports one of the farm’s initiatives.
“The reason we began doing this work is because we understood that the nutritional value of produce and the biochemical background – the seed quality – was degenerating, and…we were interested in [bringing] awareness that there are practices to increase soil vitality…to increase the value of food,” Levendoski said. “[Early on], really, nobody cared [about the] quality and nutritional value [of food]. We observed that people were disconnected to food – unconcerned.”
While change is slow, over the last ten years Tierra Miguel’s programs may have contributed to the public’s interest in eating organic and locally sourced foods.
“We have been running programs to reconnect, particularly children, to their food, because we thought that children would be the most likely population to take it in,” she said. “Children are the best group as open books and vehicles for information.”
Children are also good barometers of quality. If they don’t like the taste of something, they won’t eat it, and fruits and vegetables grown in unhealthy soil are essentially bland. One of Tierra Miguel’s educational programs teaches children about the full cycle of food from seed to table. They learn about worm composting, planting seeds, caring for crops and they pick their produce, wash it and eat it fresh from the farm.


According to Levendoski, the nation’s obesity epidemic can be attributed, in part, to the fact that many adults and children are not exposed to wholesome, flavorful fruits and vegetables, which come from healthy soil. The overuse of chemical fertilizers without the practice of increasing organic material is one perpetrator in tasteless foods. Much of the produce sold in supermarkets is sourced from the arid San Joaquin Valley, one of the largest agricultural regions in the state, which Levendoski says a person need only drive through to detect the soil’s unhealthiness.




July 20, 7:08 PM

FROM THE CAROLYN LOCHHEAD PIECE:
http://www.sfgate.com/c/a/2009/07/12/MN0218DVJ8.DTL


CAPTION: Organic farmer Dick Peixoto walks through an unharvested section of a lettuce field at Lakeside Organic Gardens Farm in Aromas, Calif., on Thursday, July 2, 2009. White flags mark the areas that can't be harvested as a precaution to prevent e. coli contamination after a deer was spotted wandering through the field a few weeks ago. =


FOOD AND FARMING
http://attempter.wordpress.com/2009/07/18/land/

MONSANTO VP
NOW at FDA

http://naturalfoodsmerchandiser.com/tabId/119/itemId/3992/Former-Monsanto-VP-...

ARTICLE ON BIODIVERSITY
http://www.miller-mccune.com/science_environment/eat-em-to-save-em-1338

MONSANTO HELPS REDUCE PESTICIDE USE
http://www.monsanto.com/responsibility/sustainable-ag/reduce_pesticides.asp

CITY SLICKER FARM
OAKLAND
VIBRANT COMMUNITY BASED
local, organic food growing...
site is teeming with life
http://www.cityslickerfarms.org/WhatWeDo1.htm




 

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