The U.S. Senate passed S510 by a large majority, including the provisions of the Tester-Hagan amendment exempting small food producers. It’s looking ever more likely that the U.S. House will approve the Senate’s version and, presto, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will have powers approximating those of the airport screeners (part of Homeland Security), which is absolute power, as anyone who travels well knows (and in point of fact, the legislation requires FDA to work together with the Department of Homeland Security in implementation).
It couldn’t have been an hour after the Senate acted that I received an email promo from one of the largest accounting firms in the country, wondering if I wanted to interview one of its experts advising on the impact of the legislation on businesses. Yes, there will be many services for large accounting and consulting services to sell–drawing up HACCP plans (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points), preparing companies for recalls, having your records in a form that will please U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspectors who can come calling at any time. Kaching, kaching, kaching.
Well, I have my own advice, and it’s a lot simpler than what the big accounting and consulting firms will tell you (and priced a lot lower to boot). Despite the supposed protections of the Tester-Hagan amendment, it’s just a matter of time, as several readers have pointed out, before they are whittled down. Definitely less time if your operation happens to be doing more than $500,000 a year in revenues, or ships product more than 275 miles–not such big numbers, as Pete points out, for an operation that is capitalizing on the fast-growing demand for nutrient-dense food.
My advice is to do all you can to stay out of harm’s way. This is authoritarian stuff we are dealing with–agents able to march in and rummage through your business materials without even having to wave a search warrant–so you’ve got to be nimble, and creative. Food producers in places like Rumania, Poland, Russia and Cuba have had lots more practice than we have, so it’s time to do some catch-up. Here are several approaches you can take:
1. Examine ways to divide your business into several separate entities, each falling under the small business revenue guidelines. Perhaps you have a vegetable LLC, an egg LLC, a cheese LLC, and a chicken LLC. You see where I’m going. The Europeans, who have long had onerous regulations on all businesses, are masters at such techniques. As you grow, you continue subdividing the business. Maybe eventually you have ten or twelve independent businesses that are part of your “organization.” But better act fast, so you don’t get sucked into the regs to begin with; it will be much more difficult, I’m sure, to exit the FDA’s tentacles than to avoid them in the first place.
2. Consider keeping two sets of books. One covers the operations in summary form, and doesn’t include lists of customers, suppliers, and other details. This is the one for FDA inspectors, while another off-site has more detailed info. Once again, get going on this quickly, so you have some practice on keeping things in order.
3. Avoid registering or getting permits from any government agencies, if possible, since the new legislation requires the FDA to work in concert with state regulators. I appreciate that my advice comes too late for many food producers, which have permits of various sorts. The idea is to be as little known to the regulators as possible.
4. Go private. Related to the previous suggestion to stay outside the permit systme, explore leasing and CSA arrangements, since there’s no evidence the new legislation will apply to these non-commercial situations. In other words, as much as possible, sell your products privately, outside the conventional distribution system.
I’m sure others here have other ideas…for example, what to do when the FDA agents come calling to implement Good Agricultural Practices on your farm. I think it’s useful to share ideas as much as possible, to get as many producers as possible sowing confusion for the enforcers. Just because Congress has no problem sacrificing our rights to be able to point to a rare “accomplishment” doesn’t mean we have to make it easy for them.
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Yes, you can have that but it is only a matter of time before you are found out. I don't really know what to say but I give the most kudo's to the "REPUBLICAN" Senators who voted nay to this bill. Unfortunately, most farmers in the local food movement are in the liberal pursuasion so . . . . go figure.
Of course our RINOS in Maine voted for it.
Has anyone bothered to actually read the bill? In essence . . . . if you produce more than $500,000 gross income or sell over a 250 mile radius (there goes my future Boston market) you cannot raise a green crop on your farm . . . . lettuce, produce, etc., if you are also raising beef, chicken, etc.
Our dear farm friends down the road are for the most part out of business.
Should we now take to the streets of DC with our pitchforks . . . . . that is what it is going to take to reign in our elected officials who voted for this crap.
Now let us discuss . . . . We demand better than going underground. . . .
Kind regards,
Violet
http://www.kilbyridgefarmmaine.blogspot.com
Second order of business. We must read and know exactly what bill says
Then we prepare well for battle. Nothing will happen for a while. Do not be a target
Mark
Have you read the bill . . . . . I have and it will terrify you . . . .
BTW . . . . I was once a "DEMOCRAT" Congressional Staff Assistant back in the early 1990's that also would write bill parts . . . . the evil secret of congress is . . . our "LAWMAKERS" do not read these bills . . . . they ask and pay for staff to tell them how to vote.
Kind regards,
Violet
Your Congressman or Senator at work . . . .
That is what we are up against.
Kind regards,
Violet
how does one coax a room full of good and smart people to identify the important issue when doing so results in near mental breakdown, panic and cold fear.
it's not a matter of going nazi, we're sure more then a little bit down that road already and maybe even picking up the pace to a trot.
what we have coming is not in our control. we're going the route of a sponge out of water. we're at peak oil. our civilization is soaked in oil and as completely dependant on oil for it's life as a sponge is to sea water. but this is far in the future! don't be silly!
well $5 a gallon gas may be a few years off yet… hopefully…. but as an intro we're gonna have a debt collapse to ease us into the real pain. most american middleclass jobs have left our shores. meanwhile a housing bubble had everyone drunk with happy thoughts of a rich(er) retirement. now, we have the middle east oil fields surrounded so we'll be fine… well maybe not so easy… but we'll see…
the oil thing is a real sticky thorn and nearly everyone doesn't get it. i know because when you do get it you turn white as a sheet and often double over with stomach cramps. without more oil next year then we used this year our economy won't grow, we could have more oil, we just need to pay for it but at $3 a gallon i'm paying enough and even curb my trips its $100 to fill my little car not $35 anymore.
curbing my activities doesn't boost the economy much and getting out of debt as fast as i can doesn't help my consumerism a bit. this is not the 70's oil spike, gas will never be $1 a gallon again. but before i get that typed out i realize i'm probably wrong. as the economy slows and oil supply buldges we may see gas fall quite a bit. but if it does it will become a yoyo era for the economy as oil isn't cheap to pump anymore.
peak oil doesn't mean no oil it means less oil for more effort. china and india are on fire economy wise and bound to end badly for the people but meanwhile oil demand will remain as any slowdown in our use will be offset by them.
europe is in second stage debt collapse and still no bond holder (debt owner) will lose a penny of payments due while the citizens do austarity. here is usa our fed is actively printing $130 billion a month… a month! to fund the gov't deficit. will this stop in mid 2011? ha ha!
these are the issues that matter. there is no "recovery" coming oil will see to that longer term and meanwhile housing still needs to fall 20% comercial re 30% foreclosures galore and a commute to china for that day job. errr…99 weeks unemployment. oops thats expired. no wait… they'll extend it 27 more weeks, by then everything will be fine for sure!
hard times are coming and if you think you're doing good shopping at wholefoods god bless you. but food's gonna get more expensive and less good for you over the coming days, months, years. and less available in general except at a price. and we can't have none of that! gov't will bring price controls and empty shelves. best to have a little land and some critters and stuff… if not god bless ya.
with the gov't printing money while debt is collapsing just as fast it's hard to say what will happen with moneys value but food and stuff you really need will get expensive while everything else will get cheaper like houses and ipods and tv's…
they say there are 100 claims of debt to every 1 asset in the world today…. that's a whole lotta debt! most of it in banking and pension funds and gov't debt and such. but each of us carries too much debt. we've purchased the future to consume today. now a new dollar in debt actually costs the economy like $1.15. debt saturation is when debt goes exponential. europe must refinance gobs of existing debt every month now whiile addng new debt to finance it. on top of that collectively providing debt to those so soaked in debt that the market won't finance them any longer…
the usa is in the same boat only twice as big. we're just lucky that we have the worlds reserve currency. shooo! that was close. we'll be fine with that reserve currency thing i'm sure! … well unless it collapses too of course. or if a loaf of bread is $25 and i'm still making $7.50 an hour… yikes… well no worries gov't will control food prices right! right-e-o they will. then there won't be no bread. but the sticker on the empty shelf will say "bread – 3.99". heck i can afford that!
well we still have food stamps and unemployment. and the gov't can just print money to fund those programs. and the gov't can…. oh, the gov't can do anything it wants always done well and efficient! <— it's a song…
oil is the reason we'll not see our economy recover under the current model. it's a debt based system that relies on growth and cheap energy just to survive. without growth it fails quickly, without cheap oil it can't grow….
as the world awakes to the fact that oil is only a finite thing and we've wasted all the cheap stuff getting to today and the rest of it in the ground is going to cost a fortune to get out…. in 1900 burning 1 barrel of oil would pump 100 new barrels out of a well. today a new well needs 1 barrel of oil to pump 3. as we go deeper and deeper or process the oil sands and shales we move toward 1 to 1. when it takes a barrel of oil to pump a barrel then there is effectively no more oil to pump.
i need desiel for my little tractor and i see a need for a bigger tractor. it seems i can plant, mow, hay, disk, harrow or whatever is needed with my little tractor but it may take 10 days. i need the weather to be just right not too wet not too dry… hard to guarantee every time it's needed. but with bigger equipment i can get it done in a day or three… there's food and hay security in that. all it'll cost me is a 7 year loan and a heftier fuel bill….
i'll pay whatever i need too for fuel as it's vital to have. at least till i can hire 100 good hard working folks to hand tend the fields and… ha ha oh my that's funny… imagine the state of the economy when i can find enough people to farm without fuel…. fuel will help dictate my base price for my underground illegal private (secret password required) membership.
while this economic decline will unfold showly and with most in complete denial saying that it will get better any day. it won't… there is nothing to replace oil. there are no alternatives that even come close…. local is the only solution… gov't won't help you go local. they will resist it at all cost. you'll have to honker down and get fingernails dirty. try and get setup so you never have to leave your property.
we had a population overshoot due to cheap oil. it will correct.
please learn about this topic. it's way more important than a food bill or health bill that don't really have an impact for years. you'll need those years to get local and as near invisible as possible to get thru the next 20 years alive. then maybe we can think about rebuilding.
meanwhile gov't will tighten the clamps, but with less and less resources and less and less internal unity. and with less and less effectiveness. eventually they will collapse too and where we go from there is unknown. better? worse? …. different….
I would say there is a big difference between going underground, and going private. For more info on the latter, here is an article I wrote a few months back on the leasing option:
http://www.grist.org/article/food-want-raw-milk-Lease-a-farm-and-hire-a-lawyer
For ideas that complement what hugh betcha is saying:
http://www.collapsenet.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1400&Itemid=191
David
Mark, see if Google can help you to become invisible.
Smart strategies are not shared with the enemy. Smart strategies are not what is expected and get results with the fewest casualties.
I will be reading for the next few days
Mark
Prayer and meditation are in order. God's will be done.
There is an Oneida Nation Cigarette Factory trying to open a new location in Oneida NY.
There is no love lost between the govt and the Oneida Nation – they are constantly at battle over tax issues.
So here's what happens when you get on the bad side of the "officials" –
There is no legal requirement for the factory to install a backflow prevention device on it''s water system. ( What???! That's nuts in itself, no?)
So Oneida nation takes the high road and installs a back flow device anyway.
NOW they must have it inspected because even though not required, once the device is installed, it must meet stringent standards. It also must be inspected annually. And the officials have demanded an engineering report ($$) to explain WHY the device was installed.
(So we have one branch of govt going around to dairies and taking bacterial samples from the DRAINS, while other branches of govt don't understand why you might want to protect the water SOURCE from backflow. )
Next, according to the water superintendent, the plumbing and water meters in the facility are too LARGE for its present needs. He claims water meters that are too large for current use tend to under-register water consumption. (Imagine that, water meters aren't accurate?) "The Nation will be required to purchase water meters from the city and pay for their installation and re-working of the buildings plumbing."
The SB510 creates the same situation where FDA gets a new source of revenue from finding "issues", similar to the malarky above about a too big water meter.
Another interesting thing – I met a recent immigrant to the US, who as we were chatting said he was not going to stay. When I asked why, he said, "false advertising".
What?!? "What do you mean?" I asked.
"They say this is a free country. This is NOT a free country. This country lied to me,"
he said as he began a little rant…
Curious as to which home country it is that feels freer to him? Turkey! Ouch.
House May Block Food Safety Bill Over Senate Error
Thus, the House is now obliged to give this food safety legislation the so-called "blue slip," meaning that it rejects the law and sends it back to the Senate for yet another vote. This would take time and effort, of course, and the Democrats have very little of either remaining in their lame duck session.
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/030588_Food_Safety_bill_blue_slip.html#ixzz16tJrGPx8
http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/2010/11/30/federal-court-orders-first-ever-destruction-of-a-gmo-crop-orders-removal-of-genetically-engineered-sugar-beet-seed-crop/
http://www.factoryfarmmap.org/#animal:all;location:US;year:2002
I do not see "underground" as a negative term or one to be afraid of. Smart, fast and agile can be a good way to go. Organizations, companies, governments, countries who have a lot of money can afford to make the same mistakes again and again. Those who don't can only afford to make a mistake one time and not to do it again. They learn, figure out what works and adapt. Examples: USA/Vietnam, Russia/Afghanistan, USA/Afghanistan, USA/Al Queida, Any invading power/any resistance group.
Working "underground" gets things done
It's not the government or its alphabet organizations that limits anybody. What limits people is the tyranny of a dull mind (Thank you Tom Robbins)
We are so much better than that . . . . which is why my grandparents left an Eastern European country during the "Cold War" to come here.
No way am I going underground or private . . . .Sorry, David, but my business model that includes my fiber from our sheep will not go anywhere if I go that route.
As a farmer, I need to be face first in front of the people to sell my products (advertising, etc.) ~ that is the only way anyone can make a profit and living.
My raw milk farmer is the absolute best . . . . she dances with her cows, feeds them high quality pasture and hay, milks them once a day, and loves them so much. She even keeps the babies with mom.
Sorry, but I do not think that the small farmers of America should go either underground or private . . . If the PTB but us in such a box . . . . then we should fight.
Kind regards,
Violet
http://www.kilbyridgefarmmaine.blogspot.com
That is great news!
If the FDA and USDA won't stand up to Monsanto's pushing of frankenstein seeds, at least we can get the courts to! An Ohio judge recently ruled that (contrary to the FDA's belief) there IS significant difference between milk of cows treated with rBGH and those not treated.
Also, this just in from the most recent WikiLeaks revelation — the U.S. State Dept. has been trying to get African nations to accept GMO crops.
http://www.grist.org/article/2010-11-29-wikileaks-state-dept-wants-intel-on-african-acceptance-of-gmos
If Julian has caused this to happen . . . . then he needs to be prosecuted . . . . Interpol is on to him and I hope he is found.
GMO's and Africa is not a secret. After all . . . look what happened in India when Monsanto introduced GMO seeds. Monsanto is evil and we all know this. It does not take a slimeball like Julian Assange to "Shine the Light".
Kind regards,
Violet
You are right about the GMO thing not being a new revelation. It is a pretty minor part of what Julian Assange has revealed.
People die because of U.S. foriegn policy. It is the in interest of world peace that the U.S. government be exposed for its lies and corruption. That is the role of the journalist — to question and expose authority.
Julian Assange is a journalistic hero who should be celebrated and protected. That is why we have the 1st amendment. It is too bad the U.S. government doesn't even respect its own constitution.
2nd . . . You have no idea about "Secret, Top Secret, etc.," I won't go into what is protected . . . if you are smart, you can figure this out.
3rd . . . .People such as Hansen and Ames caused deaths due to espionage . . . . btw they leaked secrets.
4th . . . . If you don't understand the above . . . . Canada is due north of Ohio.
Kind regards,
Violet
My degree is in U.S. History.
The history of this country has been rife with resistance to status quo and going "underground" when necessary (hello, Underground Railroad)
Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution are brilliant documents. Go into any bureaucratic system and see if these documents are followed. What does one do then?
I think everyone has to decide for themselves the best way to fight the battle for food rights. I admire your determination to fight back, if S 510 becomes law, and your business is one of those that must deal with having the FDA as a new business partner.
Different businesses lend themselves to different business models, and I now appreciate that yours isn't well suited to a private model.
As for the WikiLeaks…well, as a journalist I take Bill's view, it's great to see so much government info being made public. I'm not sure about lives being endangered–the government frequently makes that claim to protect itself, and deflect public skepticism about the info being leaked. Not unlike the public health establishment's knee-jerk reaction when it wants to shut down a Morningland Dairy or similar. Still and all, the whole affair would be a lot more fun if we were seeing the internal communications from China, Russia, and Iran as well.
David
Julian Assange is not a journalist of your calibre . . .
Loose lips always sink ships . . . .
As a wife of a former Army guy . . . who relied on secrets being kept to save his skin. . . . I do digress.
We agree to disagree:)
Kind regards,
Violet
We are so much better than that . . . . which is why my grandparents left an Eastern European country during the "Cold War" to come here.>>
and this: << If Julian has caused this to happen . . . . then he needs to be prosecuted . . . . Interpol is on to him and I hope he is found.>>
you're living in denial violet. what "should be" and what "is"
i'm in complete agreement with your first though quoted above we do have a constitution and all that good feeling warm and fuzzy stuff. but, and it's a biggie… the reality is quite different.
we don't have a working employed constitution, it has been bound and gagged and is waterboarded daily in the halls of congress. we do live in a police state. no matter how much you or i may hate that, it is a fact.
we need freedom fighters like juliam, i salute him and would offer him safe haven under my roof.
i suspect you have not yet been crushed under the heal of the state (as many good sheeple have not yet been directly assulted by the state. because you'd rather pay the fine and corporate to get along. be meek and beg forgivemess. we accept tsa agents groping our kids at the airport because we "have to".
well, i don't have to and i find it impossible to not speakup to these clowns with their wands and scanners at every county building. even out here in podunk nj.
if you don't protest at every opportunity you are just giving them permission to push you futher and take more "rights" away from you.
this country really is in very grave trouble. it's way beyond the "constitution" or rights or anything reasonable… this country is in trouble…
but most people like yourself are in denial of that pesky little fact and think somehow, someone will fix it. sadly that won't happen. can you give one example of a past empire in decline that did the right thing and reversed that decline?
we'll likely go the whole gammet. we're already governed by the corporations and bankers on wall street. next comes…???? well, what comes next is not a reversal of that trend back to a constitutional republic. of that i am sure….
good luck and please work thru the long and painful denial stage so that we can count on you to become an active rebel in the resistence….
even knowing and believing to my very core that the next 20 years are going to be very bad years for america i cannot crawl under a rock and let it happen. i will be an in your face resistor of the gov't thumb and spy glass. but in the end i will not change the course of the disaster coming.
hummm maybe if there were a hundred million of me….? i bet there are a few hundred rebels on this blog and i bet there are a thousand lurkers who are closet rebels.. we just need enough outrage and courage to all come out and raise holy hell with our local gov't officials.
make them respond and enable the local movement to get underway. but first we all need to get past the denial stage and accept the reality of what we are currently living and see it for what it is. a take over by the corporations and mega bankers has and is actively destroying our country and will not be reigned in by "politics" they must be destroyed by lack of sales. they cannot shrink and deversify and seperate into small local businesses… they are mega global corporations that need ever more growth merely to survive. stunt the growth and you kill the creature.
it really is that easy. denial is much harder to overcome. i wish i had a magic paragraph that got people past denial.
One more post then I am out of here.
You state:
Go into any bureaucratic system and see if these documents are followed. What does one do then?
They are not . . . .
You fight back through civil disobedience (as in the Civil Rights movement) or you do so in other ways. Our plumber had it right yesterday . . . . he said we must wipe the slate clean and start over with new blood.
All Senators and Congressman should go to DC by themselves with one secretary. Term limits must be institued (3 terms for Congressman and two for Senators). The Cannon, Rayburn, Russel and Hart Office buildings should be turned into museums.
How to do that . . . . maybe if we as a people get mad enough . . . . things may change. I fear it will take at least 4 election cycles and another party to emerge . . . . we have turned into such sheeple.
The Underground Railroad was from another time and another place . . . . do we have people around today who would sacrifice the same way . . . I fear we do not.
Kind regards,
Violet
If the author of this article is correct those who supported S510 because of the Testor amendent [to exempt the small farmer] very well may rue the day they did so!
http://www.activistpost.com/2010/12/why-tester-amendment-does-not-help.html
I am crossing my fingers that the House blue slips this legislation. I called my Rep, Tom Perriello (a lame duck Democrat in Virginia, and one of the only Democrats to vote AGAINST the house's version of the bill) and encouraged him to continue his stance against the bill. I don't think it's too late to kill it. Keep calling those Congresspeople.
Alice
**************
This is an especially interesting discussion to me because we just last night my family watched a documentary about of the leaking of the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War.
While it is a downside that folks are put in jeopardy because of leaks – historically it seems far more deaths occur due to secrets that allow corruption to remain hidden.
"Sunshine is the best disinfectant" quote by ???
What amazes me is that every so often when these leaks occur, folks seem to respond with surprise, as if it's an anomaly.
The fact that Power corrupts is the rule…. we know that, we keep getting our noses rubbed in it and yet we have not been able to find the a way to prevent it or even control it.
Except leaks…..
We cannot keep giving more power to this government. I am SO happy to hear about the snafu regarding SB 510.
Secrets are a tool used by those in the business of control (tyrants) in order to mitigate damage. They reap what they sow and thats why individuals are dying.
The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy Niels bohr
The very word 'secrecy' is repugnant in a free and open society. John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Ken Conrad