The Proposal to Outlaw the Home Garden - HR 875 and S 425

[garden_frog]

Forgive me if I'm posting something controversial here. That's not my intent at all. I'm not looking to start a debate, just trying to get informed.

I read something regarding these bills in one of my gardening news groups and what I read scared me. But all I can seem to find on them isn't from a reputable source. I did find the bill itself, but the language is such that I can't really figure out what exactly it's saying. I get that they want to introduce an agency solely responsible for food saftey in the US, but beyond that I'm a bit lost.

I'm hoping what I'm reading regarding these bills is just hype or paranoia, but I just don't know. If they are really proposing what I'm reading then I am just sickened. Trying to force organic farmers to use pesticides is just ludicrous and that doesn't even touch on the claims that the bill would attempt to regulate farmer's markets and backyard gardens. It seems far fetched to me, but I don't want to ignore it either if that truly is a component of the bill.

So does anyone know anything about these bills or have any credible sources of information regarding them beyond the actual bill itself?

Here's the link I found to the bill itself...

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h875/text

And here's the link that the newsgroup sent me to, but again, I don't really know of this as a reliable source so I don't know if it's hype or not...

http://connect.bioneers.org/video/hr...25-criminalize

Thanks in advance for any information you can provide.

[organichris]

Yeah, I'm serious. It's called HR 875: Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, and the supposed justification for such a law is food safety. It is being sponsored by Rosa DeLauro [D-CT] and co-sponsored by 39 other representatives from various states.

Here are some preliminary observations of the bill:

• 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.
• Affects anyone growing food even if they are not selling it but consuming it.
• 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 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.

Here's the link to the bill text:

http://www.congress.org/congressorg/...?c111:H.R.875:

[garden_frog]

I just posted a thread about this very thing. I just read about the bill this morning and was disturbed by what I read. I did find another article about it. At the end of the article is a link you can click on to voice your opinion on the matter to your elected officials as well as your local newspaper.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Mon...90309-337.html

[PaulF]

As I read the bill, the most impact could be on farmers markets and only if a state had enough free cash to have enough inspectors for touring those markets. Another case of congressional overkill. And for the feds to think states will respond to unfunded mandates to inspect home gardens is pretty far fetched. The sponsors need to be contacted by those from their home states. Don't they have more to think about than forcing us to have more paperwork to fill out just to have a garden? Knee jerk reaction to the food scares of late mostly coming from large operations and most of that from outside the country.

[lumierefrere]

Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose....

wait, where's my thesaurus because that doesn't sound right.

Barb

[organichris]

Here is the list of co-sponsors if you should wish to contact your local representative.

Rep. Timothy Ryan [D-OH]
Rep. Gwen Moore [D-WI]
Rep. Fortney Stark [D-CA]
Rep. Bob Filner [D-CA]
Rep. Timothy Bishop [D-NY]
Rep. André Carson [D-IN]
Rep. Joe Courtney [D-CT]
Rep. Jerrold Nadler [D-NY]
Rep. Mark Schauer [D-MI]
Rep. James McGovern [D-MA]
Rep. John Tierney [D-MA]
Rep. Betty McCollum [D-MN]
Rep. Raul Grijalva [D-AZ]
Rep. Barbara Lee [D-CA]
Rep. Chellie Pingree [D-ME]
Rep. John Hall [D-NY]
Rep. Maurice Hinchey [D-NY]
Rep. Louise Slaughter [D-NY]
Rep. Eliot Engel [D-NY]
Rep. Nita Lowey [D-NY]
Rep. Janice Schakowsky [D-IL]
Del. Eleanor Norton [D-DC]
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz [D-FL]
Rep. Robert Wexler [D-FL]
Rep. Sam Farr [D-CA]
Rep. Marcy Kaptur [D-OH]
Rep. Kathy Castor [D-FL]
Rep. Mazie Hirono [D-HI]
Rep. Betty Sutton [D-OH]
Rep. Anna Eshoo [D-CA]
Rep. Eddie Johnson [D-TX]
Rep. Diana DeGette [D-CO]
Rep. Shelley Berkley [D-NV]
Rep. Linda Sánchez [D-CA]
Rep. James McDermott [D-WA]
Rep. Christopher Murphy [D-CT]
Rep. Sanford Bishop [D-GA]
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords [D-AZ]
Rep. Peter DeFazio [D-OR]

[garden_frog]

Never mind! I found this that seems to break it down fairly well.

http://cryptogon.com/?p=7362

Plus it appears some one else started a thread on this about the same time as me!

[organichris]

Didn't mean to steal your thunder, man. If I had realized you started the thread first, I would not have started mine.

[Worth1]

I’m all for it myself, It’s about time the government stepped in and did something about amateur gardeners.
This sort of practice should be left up to professional responsible companies that know what they are doing.
It would also create new jobs as we would need more garden police to look out for these illegal gardens so they can go in and arrest the violators, take away their children, burn the crops and seize their property.
The only people that should be allowed to grow gardens are ones that have a license and pay out a tax on said garden.
Grocery stores and suppliers lose millions of dollars a year just because some of us grow our own food and it is about time it stopped.

It would also help create new illegal crop sales that would bring in vast amounts of money to those that would care to partake of such practice.
It would cause the government state and federal to build more prisons to house the violators and would cause them to hire more guards to watch them.

These prisons would have grandmothers, mothers, fathers, grand fathers, collage students and just good folks all around in them and we would have to let out rapists child molesters and violent criminals all around to make more room.

Sounds like a GREAT PLAN to me.
Why haven’t they done this already?

Maybe we could get the tobacco and alcohol companies involved somehow
While we are at it we should make it illegal to purify our own water so the big water companies can do it the right way so we won’t hurt ourselves doing it at home.

We could call the new government organization the VEA (vegetable enforcement agency) consolidate it with the DEA TSA CIA FBI Border Patrol ad it to Home Land Security and charge violators with terrorist acts against national security then we could toss in endangerment to children, suspected domestic violence, and call it a hate crime some how.
Ad a new law that would say they are using a garden tiller to commit a felony and add 10 years to the sentence.
That should keep them in prison for years to come
If you buy a garden hoe water hose rake fertilizer or anything evolved with common yard work you would have to be put on a list.
They have to hire folks to keep up with the list and it would create a whole new government bureaucracy and make even more jobs.

I think I will go out now beat the rush and start breaking the law.

I just love it.

Worth

[garden_frog]

No worries at all! Yours is getting more views anyhow! Guess that's what I get for using the name of the bill in the title! Glad to see someone else is concerned about it.

[lumierefrere]

Hmmm. They were once called Victory Gardens. I wonder what the new term will be.

[feldon30]

Because gigantic monolithic corporations are misbehaving, they want to start registering gardeners and small time farmers? I wonder who thought that up. Last I checked, the health scares have been because of:

• peanuts -- massive corporations running cut rate operations, selling peanut butter at rock bottom prices to government assistance programs, nursing homes, cheap "peanut butter cracker" type products, etc.
• spinach -- monoculture on a massive scale such as thousands of acres of spinach farmed by illegals
• tomatoes/peppers -- out-of-country tomatoes and peppers grown in Mexico under questionable conditions
• mad cow disease-- cattle ranchers under the previous Food and Drug Administration were legally blocked from individually testing their cows for mad cow because it would be an "unfair advantage"
• dog food -- it turned out that hundreds of dog and cat food brands all had common supply sources for many of their ingredients. It really brought to the forefront this mythical idea that customers have real choice when you shop at a grocery store -- when in fact you are choosing between different formulations of the exact same garbage

And somehow the fear is small farmers and gardeners who want to sell products at farmer's markets? They think the answer is to start "registering" home gardeners and small time farmers who have never been accused of food safety issues? Gotta love out-of-control government.

Maybe they can save money by using the same police officers, sheriff's departments, and judicial system that currently handles sex offender registrations to start registering "dangerous" farmers and gardeners who want to sell at farmer's markets.

I'm already shocked at states that have banned any sort of slicing and tasting of melons, tomatoes, etc. at farmer's markets.

[lumierefrere]

Jerrold Nadler never saw a vegetable he'd eat (have you ever SEEN him?). And Maurice Hinchey is my Congress Castrati--he never voted for a bill that didn't give the government more control over the citizens.

"Excuse me, m'am. Do you have a concealed carry permit for that tomato?"

[ctx00978]

Sounds like they want it to be "History Gardens" (as in "They're outta here.") I've never been too sure about what "hackles" are, but I'm pretty sure they've got mine up. That's just ridiculous. Hopefully it will get no farther than it already has.

[feldon30]

Contacted my Representatives. Who knows if it will help...

To the honorable ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~:

I write this in regards to your sponsorship of bill HR 875: Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009.

I am very concerned at the provisions of this bill and do not feel that it will measurably improve food safety at all. Furthermore, I believe it will destroy the Farmer's Market and Home Gardening.

The food safety scares over the last 5 years have largely been attributed to the irresponsibility of major corporations. The peanut scare, spinach scare, tomato scare (which turned out to be a jalapeno scare) were all caused by corporations with in excess of $1 million profits.

Yet, the provisions of HR 875 would put the burden of food safety mostly on small farmers and the provisions would potentially BAN farmer's markets. It would require all farmers to register (like sex offenders) and follow federal safety guidelines and open their property to federal inspection, regardless of scale of farming and annual revenue.

Already, in other states such as Kentucky, customers are not allowed to sample melons, tomatoes, or other produce before they buy them due to overzealous food safety legislation. So far, such draconian measures have spared the Great State of Texas. A farmer can still slice a tomato and share it with a friend without being arrested.

Please reconsider your support of this controversial bill. Instituting federal regulations on farmer's markets would destroy this thriving and important business.

Signed,

Morgan