S-510 headed for Senate Floor
likely 9/16/10

Take action.
Call for the Tester Amendment to protect
local farms from over regulation.


FROM THE NATIONAL SUSTAINABLE FOOD COALITION

http://sustainableagriculture.net/take-action/current-action-alerts/




RELATED

Local Small Farm In San Diego Likely Going Down
Saturday? The Last Harvest scheduled for
September 18 at La Milpa Organica Farm.
at 5 pm?

I am calling for a community council to meet
soon to discuss fulfilling Barry Logan's dream
that the first seven years at La Milpa Organica Farm
be seen for what it has been--an Open University.
Barry Logan is a local farm hero
representing a tradition of 10,000 years
of Agriculture wisdom that is now at risk,
but shall never die.

We will not lose one more farm.

Our local farmers are not criminals.
The Regulation of small farms
such as La Milpa Organica Farm
is a crime against nature.

Speak up.
Let your Voice be heard.

Leslie Goldman
Your enchanted Gardener








BEET KEEPERS, RETURN!
Join us.








The La Milpa Organica Farm Land needs to be preserved
no matter what.

Read that PLANT YOUR DREAM BLOG HERE

http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1689649


FROM THE NATIONAL SUSTAINABLE FOOD COALITION


About Donate Take Action
ACTION ALERT!
September 15, 2010

FOOD SAFETY LEGISLATION MUST PROTECT
FAMILY FARMS, SUSTAINABLE & ORGANIC AGRICULTURE

CALL YOUR SENATORS TODAY AND URGE THEM
TO SUPPORT THE TESTER AMENDMENT

The Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) could reach the Senate floor as early as tomorrow. NSAC has been able to win several improvements to the bill but more changes are needed to avoid serious harm to family farm value-added processing and the emergence of local and regional food systems.

S.510 would considerably ramp up FDA regulation on farms that even minimally process their crops and sell them to restaurants, food coops, groceries, schools and wholesalers. An amendment sponsored by Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) would exempt small farm and small food processing facilities as well as small and mid-sized farmers who primarily direct market their products to consumers, stores or restaurants within their region.

Please call your Senators today and ask them to support the Tester Amendment.

It's easy to call:

Go to Congress.org and type in your zip code. Click on your Senator's name, and then on the contact tab for their phone number. You can also call the Capitol Switchboard and ask to be directly connected to your Senator's office: 202-224-3121. Once connected ask to speak to the legislative staff person responsible for agriculture. If they are unavailable leave a voice mail message. Be sure to include your name and phone number.

The message is simple. "I am a constituent of Senator___________ and I am calling to ask him/her to support the Tester Amendment and to include the Tester language in the Manager's Amendment to the food safety bill. The Tester Amendment will exempt small farm and food facilities and farmers who direct market their products to consumers, stores or restaurants. We need a food safety bill that cracks down on corporate bad actors without erecting new barriers to family farms and the growing healthy food movement. Our continuing economic recovery demands that we preserve these market opportunities for small and mid-sized family farms.


Report your Call:

Click here to tell us how your call went.

Learn More:

Most sustainable agriculture and family farm groups think the Senate bill with changes won by NSAC is a very significant improvement over the companion bill passed by the House of Representatives (HR 2749) last year. The changes listed below will be included in the bill that goes to the Senate floor for a vote. We can't support the Senate bill, however, unless the Tester amendment is also adopted. We strongly oppose the companion House measure, and stand ready to defend the "good amendments" to the Senate bill when it goes to conference with the House later this year.

The best way to ensure that the Tester provision is included with the final bill that emerges from conference is for it to be included in the Manager's Amendment as it goes to the floor of the Senate. The Manager's Amendment includes all of the language that has the support of the three Democrats and three Republicans who are sponsoring the bill. Please call your Senator and request that the Tester language be added to the Manager's Amendment.

The Manager's Amendment to S.510 already includes the following important improvements to the bill that have been backed by NSAC:

Sanders (D-VT) amendment (requiring FDA to write regulations to determine low risk on-farm processing activities that can be exempt from regulatory requirement);
Bennet (D-CO) amendment (to reduce unnecessary paperwork and streamline requirements for farmers and small processors);
Stabenow (D-MI) amendment (to create a USDA-delivered competitive grants program for farmer food safety training);
Boxer (D-CA) amendment (to eliminate anti-wildlife habitat language from the bill); and
Brown (D-OH) amendment (on traceability requirements, including exemptions for direct marketing and farm identity-preserved marketing).
For more information on the Senate Food Safety bill, read our latest information alert here and our Food Safety Policy Brief here.




 

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