Aloha mai kākou,
I have been growing my own vegetables and fruits in my garden and it is enough for us and even our neighbors or friends, but a new bill that would promote wholesale agricultural production (and killing home gardening under the threat of $100,000 penalty if you block federal inspectors to inspect your garden) is ready to be introduced.
A new bill is ready for introduction. S 425 http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:s425:
This bill is sitting in committee and I am not sure when it is going to hit the floor. One thing I do know is that very few of the Representatives have read it. As usual they will vote on this based on what someone else is saying. Urge your members to read the legislation and ask for opposition to this devastating legislation. Devastating for everyday folks but great for factory farming ops like Monsanto, ADM, Sodexo and Tyson to name a few.
I have no doubt that this legislation was heavily influenced by lobbyists from huge food producers. This legislation is so broad based that technically someone with a little backyard garden could get fined and have their property siezed. It will effect anyone who produces food even if they do not sell but only consume it. It will literally put all independent farmers and food producers out of business due to the huge amounts of money it will take to conform to factory farming methods. If people choose to farm without industry standards such as chemical pesticides and fertilizers they will be subject to a vareity of harassment from this completely new agency that has never before existed. That's right, a whole new government agency is being created just to police food, for our own protection of course.
DO NOT TAKE MY WORD FOR IT, READ THIS LEGISLATION FOR YOURSELF. The more people who read this legislation the more insight we are going to get and be able to share. Post your observations and insights below. Urge your members to read this legislation and to oppose the passage of this legislation.
Pay special attention to
Section 3 which is the definitions portion of the bill-read in it's entirety.
section 103, 206 and 207- read in it's entirety.
Red flags I found and I am sure there are more...........
Legally binds state agriculture depts to enforcing federal guidelines effectively taking away the states power to do anything other than being food police for the federal dept.
Effectively criminalizes organic farming but doesn't actually use the word organic.
Effects anyone growing food even if they are not selling it but consuming it.
Effects anyone producing meat of any kind including wild game.
Legislation is so broad based that every aspect of growing or producing food can be made illegal. There are no specifics which is bizarre considering how long the legislation is.
Section 103 is almost entirely about the administrative aspect of the legislation. It will allow the appointing of officials from the factory farming corporations and lobbyists and classify them as experts and allow them to determine and interpret the legislation. Who do you think they are going to side with?
Section 206 defines what will be considered a food production facility and what will be enforced up all food production facilities. The wording is so broad based that a backyard gardener could be fined and more.
Section 207 requires that the state's agriculture dept act as the food police and enforce the federal requirements. This takes away the states power and is in violation of the 10th amendment.
There are many more but by the time I got this far in the legislation I was so alarmed that I wanted to bring someone's attention to it. (to the one person who reads my blog)
Didn't Stalin nationalize farming methods that enabled his administration to gain control over the food supply? Didn't Stalin use the food to control the people?
Last word...... Legislate religion and enforce gag orders on ministers on what can and can't be said in the pulpit, instituting regulations forcing people to rely soley on the government, control the money and the food. What is that called? It is on the tip of my tongue..........
I haven't read any of the Senate's version of the bill as I have been poring thru the House's version. Here is the link and I hope some of you can take a look and post your observations and insights below. One thing I am pretty sure of is that very few if any Senator's have actually read the legislation and when it comes up for a vote they will more than likely take someone else's word on how they should vote. The other thing I am pretty sure about is that the legislation was probably written by lobbyists and industry experts.
Things you can do
Contact your members at 202-22... and ask them to oppose HR 875 and S 425. While you are at it ask them if they personally have read the legislation and what their position is? If they have not read the legislation ask them to read it and politely let them know that just because other representitives are not reading the legislation and voting on it does not mean they can do the same.
Get in touch with local farmers and food producers by attending a local farmers market and asking them how business is.
Attend a local WAPF meeting, this is a good start to learning about what is going on in farming and local & state initiatives . The website is http://www.westonaprice.org/localchapters/index.html
Check out the Farmers Legal Defense Fund at http://www.ftcldf.org/index.html
Find out who sits on your states agriculture and farming committee and contact them with your concerns.
Continue to contact your elected officials and let them know your position on legislation and why.
You can get active at the local and state levels, for some this might be the quickest way to initiate change, but I would resist it a different way. Making it a hell for inspectors to enter my garden.
Open for your thoughts.
Me ke aloha
Janos Keoni Samu
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The latter link may seem a bit extreme but there is some truth to it because they are trying to "standardize" the world... homogenizing it like white milk in order to try to control everything.
This is true, there is a big movement going on in America where they are actually trying to patten food. "He who provides for the belly of a nation owns that nation" i saw this saying in a vegetarian restaurant here on the mainland,they are trying to educate consumers on this issue. i watched an amazing documentry called "the future of food" got it on netflix, it will expose the huge movement,scandal, tactics that america is using to own food, if im not mistaken they were trying to pass international laws on food too, and some countries are fighting back saying get the hell out! It is frightening to think that we can't be self sufficient, alot of friends i know are gathering seeds, they are storing seeds in bottles lots and lots of seeds, there is going to be a time that we are going to need them, they are being advised by native peoples to do this. im starting to do the same, if u watch the movie you'll understand clearly and how pattened chemicals found in Your plants will shut you down........it is about how biotechnology on the nations smallest farmers ..so worth watching
Thanks for sharing. We eat from our garden. I'll go take a look at those bills, in the meantime, here's another bill that is contrary to what you just showed. You can slap them in the face with this one, as they really need to get on the same page, don't they!
This is the first paragraph of H.B. 1011. RELATING TO THE HAWAII PROCUREMENT CODE
SECTION 1. At one time, Hawaii was entirely self-sufficent in meeting its population's food needs. Now, approximately ninety per cent of our food is imported from the United States mainland and foreign sources. As an island state, we are extremely vulnerable to any disruption in supply. Further, this dependence on sources of supply outside of Hawaii means that we are spending approximately $3,100,000,000 annually to support agribusinesses in other states and countries. If just ten per cent of this payment to outside sources could be replaced by purchases of locally raised, grown, or harvested products, the economy-wide impact would be $188,000,000 in sales, $47,000,000 in earnings, $6,000,000 in state tax revenues, and more than 2,300 jobs. While we can never expect to return to the days of complete self-sufficiency, we can make a commitment to increasing consumption of Hawaii products and thereby benefit our economy, increase our food independence, reduce the influx of invasive species, and improve residents' nutrition.
..AND, note these next few lines found on page two....
"The current procurement preferences do not provide enough of an incentive for Hawaii farmers to be competitive in selling to the State. If new local markets are accessible to Hawaii farmers, in the long term they will become more efficient and thus more price competitive.
Since we're not competitive, what's their take in our gardens!?
Tresspasser's better Beware!!
Replies
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:S.425.IS:.
If you copy and paste the URL Thomas servers no longer have the data..
More links
Text of the bill: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-425
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=142795
The latter link may seem a bit extreme but there is some truth to it because they are trying to "standardize" the world... homogenizing it like white milk in order to try to control everything.
Aloha ~~~ Lana
Thanks for sharing. We eat from our garden. I'll go take a look at those bills, in the meantime, here's another bill that is contrary to what you just showed. You can slap them in the face with this one, as they really need to get on the same page, don't they!
This is the first paragraph of H.B. 1011. RELATING TO THE HAWAII PROCUREMENT CODE
SECTION 1. At one time, Hawaii was entirely self-sufficent in meeting its population's food needs. Now, approximately ninety per cent of our food is imported from the United States mainland and foreign sources. As an island state, we are extremely vulnerable to any disruption in supply. Further, this dependence on sources of supply outside of Hawaii means that we are spending approximately $3,100,000,000 annually to support agribusinesses in other states and countries. If just ten per cent of this payment to outside sources could be replaced by purchases of locally raised, grown, or harvested products, the economy-wide impact would be $188,000,000 in sales, $47,000,000 in earnings, $6,000,000 in state tax revenues, and more than 2,300 jobs. While we can never expect to return to the days of complete self-sufficiency, we can make a commitment to increasing consumption of Hawaii products and thereby benefit our economy, increase our food independence, reduce the influx of invasive species, and improve residents' nutrition.
..AND, note these next few lines found on page two....
"The current procurement preferences do not provide enough of an incentive for Hawaii farmers to be competitive in selling to the State. If new local markets are accessible to Hawaii farmers, in the long term they will become more efficient and thus more price competitive.
Since we're not competitive, what's their take in our gardens!?
Tresspasser's better Beware!!