This one is going to be not terribly hard to defeat, if people organize and write their representitives. A 'feel good' -we don't need this- will go a long way for the congress and senate, that is currently full of people with very angry constitutiants. It's a terrible bill. It's so bad it makes me wonder what is actually going on that we aren't seeing.
But it's going to require sending your opinion to your representitives. They have less than two years to think about the next election, and I really suspect that after that we will no longer have a deomcratic house of representitives.
So google them up, and email them, and get your relatives and buddies and friends, and anyone else you know that eats to do the same thing.
Julie

http://www.govtrack.us/users/questions.xpd?topic=bill:h111-875


Q&A on H.R. 875: Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009
(from the U.S. government site of the bill)

Here you will find a Q&A discussion of those that have gone over this bill with a fine-toothed comb. And you WILL see, that depending upon how this bill is interpreted that it is VERY possible that a home gardener could be defined.

The exclusion is for 'non-profit food establishments':
(from the link above)-

--"Nonprofit food establishments" are not private gardens. They are nonprofit corporations established to provide food (for eg. the homeless).

--"promulgate regulations to establish science-based minimum standards for the safe production of food by food production facilities." The exclusions you keep quoting are only from a set of regulations. The FSA will still have authority to regulate what are classified as production facilities. That being the case, the fact that there doesn't seem to be any distinction among different scales of production facilities becomes a big issue.

--Re A9, the "Food Establishment" clause only supplies to areas which process the food. Gardens, in all technically, fall under the definition of "Food Production Facility" (Sec 3[14]) , which are subject to the restrictions of Sec 206. According to Sec 3[15][B] anything that can be defined as a "Food Production Facility" cannot also be defined as a "Food Establishment"
Currently, I don't believe a private garden meets the definition of a farm. I have read that the definition of a farm is any agricultural area that produces (or what have produced) $1,000 in agro products during that year (haven't looked it up in the actual law code, so I could be wrong here). It's important to note, however, that no restrictions are placed within the bill. It would be a simple action a little way down the line to simply redefine a "farm" to be any land that produces food products.

--The "Food Establishment" is defined as anywhere food is stored, processed, etc. I don't know about everyone else, but I store food in my pantry, and under the wording of this law, my pantry, as a food storage facility, would be subject to these rules. Therefore, any goods grown from my garden, and stored in my pantry, would be contraband goods. Read it as a shady lawyer would read it, after all, weren't most of our politicians shady lawyers at one time?

I don't know the ins and outs of this forum well enough yet to know who copied and pasted this argument on this forum, but I can tell you this - you brought it to the wrong forum. I will not get caught up in these political debates about who did what to whom. There are no surprises here - we are reaping what we sowed.

Now, before I end up with a public outcry about burying my head in the sand or not getting involved, let me share a couple of things with you:

1) I spent several years before Y2K traveling around the
United States speaking at the preparedness shows -
trying to teach people how to be more self-sufficient -
how to take more responsibility for their own health -
trying to help people understand that life as they know
it could change at any moment due to natural disasters,
job loss, pandemic outbreaks - any number of things can
happen unexpectedly.

One day I had someone show up on my doorstep to inform
me that I needed to lay low for awhile - I
was 'marked'. They said I was being 'watched' because I
was a non-conformist and a trouble-maker. "They" didn't
want people to be self-sufficient because people who are
self-sufficient are not easily controlled.

I did not lay low and continued to teach and write.

2) A couple of years later I was sent a 'cease and
desist' order from the state I was living in because I
was poking people's fingers to do 'live blood'
analysis and to check the blood of the women I was
delivering.

I did not stop delivering babies at that time.

3) A few years later I was told my name was on a list
being shown to parolees wanting to know if they knew of
my where abouts and what I was 'up to'.

I share a few of these examples to let you know that I have not buried my head in the sand or run from the issues. I have some strong opinions about what is going on in our country. Unfortunately, I think when we could have actually done something about it - too many of us weren't doing anything - we were far too complacent and naive. Now that we are reaping what we have allowed to happen, many who sat on the side-lines are waking up and screaming 'time out'. If you still believe it will help to write to your congressman - then, by all means, write. I hope you are right!

However, the political end of this is not my forte right now. My job/calling is to continue to help people understand that they need to wake up and get prepared:

- put away heirloom seeds so you can plant your own food and then harvest the seeds in the fall so you are not dependant on someone else to buy them every spring
- put away food supplies - making sure you have sprouting seeds to supply you with fresh, live food (sprouts)when there is no where to buy it or grow it
- put away herbs, oils and medical supplies, so if, for any reason you cannot get to a hospital, you will be prepared to take care of yourself, your family and all the others who show up on your doorstep needing help
- learn about the plants in your area, so that when your supplies run out, you will have a back-up
- make sure you have water stored for drinking and sanitation
- learn how to cleanse and purify your body so that you are not suseptible to disease (this is also an excellent way to learn how to overcome your addictions, so that if you had to go without for awhile, you wouldn't panic - can you imagine being next to someone who couldn't get their prozac or morphine?)

I think all of us who watched what happened in New Orleans were shocked to see how fast things unraveled. Just stop and imagine what would happen if a pandemic swept across this country (which it will) and they instituted marshal law which kept everyone quarantined for 30 to 60 days. Would you have everything you needed to survive? Would you know what to do?

I don't believe in living with a 'doomsday' attitude. I think life was meant to be lived and enjoyed, but we also need to be realistic. We need to educate ourselves and be prepared for whatever life deals us. If we are prepared, we don't need to fear!

If your expertise is in politics, then jump in there and make a difference. However, my energies right now are being devoted to educating, not politics - I will leave that battle in smarter and more capable hands than mine.

Just mentioning that Mugabe disallowed growing/gardening of plants by home gardeners.

Then he killed all the white farmers.

Now he rules by blackmail and bribery.