| The latest on HR 2749 (The Food Safety Enhancement Act) is that there won't be a vote tomorrow - if things work out it will happen next week. So, we have some work to do before then. Representatives Sam Farr and Marcy Kaptur have proposed an amendment to the bill that is apparently very good for sustainable food and small farms. Without even reading the content of the amendment, I'm prepared to believe that it's likely a good one as Sam Farr comes from the Salinas Valley and he's a chair of the House Organic Caucus. Both Farr and Kaptur are members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Two organizations - the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) and the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) have really stepped up to ensure that the bill is fair to small farmers. Here is some text from a recent PASA email (I haven't been able to locate the exact language of the Farr-Kaptur amendment yet):
To date we have achieved some things we can be proud of, including exemption for direct marketers from most traceability requirements (including for sales to restaurants and grocery stores), and now including some clear language in the bill to define what on-farm processing activities might be exempt from FDA registration as well. Things are still in flux as I write, but we believe all such processing will be exempt as long as 50% or more of sales (including by Internet and mail order) are made directly to individuals (i.e. retail, as opposed to wholesale). And a huge gain just this week will likely be another exemption on sales of feedstuffs for livestock from one farmer to another, which had been included in the Bioterrorism Act of 2002 (thaaat's right...) as an activity requiring registration. There have been other gains in specific wording of the bill, too detailed to enumerate in this email right now.
But we're still disappointed that the fee being assessed to eligible businesses, including some on farms, will be the flat rate of $500 instead of our preferred sliding scale for smaller operations, including a minimum size below which no fee would be charged. We in fact would prefer to see a much higher fee paid by the largest food processing companies, from which most food safety issues seem to emanate in any case -- but that may not be achievable at this point. We also have other language we'd like to see in the bill that would focus attention on high risk aspects of food production, protect organic farmers from duplicative paperwork and expand the research agenda into more diversified systems. All of these concerns are contained in an amendment being sponsored by Representatives Farr, Kaptur and others that E&C [Energy & Commerce Committee] must deal with if they expect to get their two-thirds vote to limit debate.
The bottom line from this email is: We need you to call, email, or fax your representatives ASAP and ask them to support the Farr-Kaptur amendment to H.R.2749.
Also... if you'd like to speak with your credit card, I'm sure PASA and MOFGA would appreciate your donations :) |
