This is the subject of a workshop OCA Political Director Alexis Baden-Mayer is giving at the National Occupation of Washington, D.C. Social Forum tomorrow.

The workshop is inspired and informed by the excellent work the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) has done to help localities defend their right to self-determination, participatory democracy, community-control over shared resources, and protection from corporations that want to raid resources or pollute.BioDemocracy is designed to break down the walls between the isolated issue silos of Justice, Peace, Democracy, Health and Sustainability. We want to help build an interconnected movement to boldly address the root causes of our accelerating crisis with fundamental, radical solutions.

National Occupation of Washington, DC Social Forum – BioDemocracy Workshop.

Join Dan Milo and staff from Ohio Department of Agriculture’s Office of Food Safety to discuss farmers’ markets and the food safety laws that apply. Sessions are free.

Columbus Area: March 21, 2012, 9 am -12 noon
The Ohio Department of Agriculture
8995 E. Main Street Reynoldsburg, OH

Reserve your seat today! See all dates and locations.

Re-posted from:

Farmers’ Markets, Cottage Food & Food Processing Establishments « Farmers’ Market Management Network.

Market Forces: Creating Jobs through Public Investment in Local and Regional Food Systems | Union of Concerned Scientists.

President Obama signed the Food Safety Modernization Act today, after a long bout of legislative wrangling by local food advocates, small farmers and their allies for food safety rules that protect consumers without curbing the growing movement toward fresh, local and regional food.  The food safety bill passed by the House in July of 2009 would have imposed a one size fits all regulatory system biased toward  industrial agriculture with a regressive registration fee, expensive food safety plans, and regular on-farm FDA inspections regardless of the degree of the potential risk for food borne illness.  The new regulatory burdens threatened to erect formidable barriers to the developing local and regional markets for many small and moderate sized farms.

In the past two years, small farm advocates worked to win small and mid-size farm amendments to the legislation.  One organization that was key to the efforts was the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

The  amendments incorporated into the Food Safety Modernization Act and signed today by the President include:

• An amendment, sponsored by Senator Sanders (I-VT), giving FDA the authority to either exempt farms engaged in low or no risk processing or co-mingling activities from new regulatory requirements or to modify particular regulatory requirements for such farming operations.
• An amendment, sponsored by Senator Bennet (D-CO), to reduce unnecessary paperwork and excess regulation required under the preventative control plan and the produce standards sections of the bill, including instructions to FDA to minimize the number of different standards that apply to separate foods, to make requirements scale appropriate, and to prohibit FDA from requiring farms and other food facilities to hire outside consultants to write food safety plans.
• An amendment, sponsored by Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), to provide for a USDA-administered competitive grants program for food safety training for farmers, small processors and wholesalers, with a priority on small and mid-scale farms.
• An amendment,  sponsored by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), to strip the bill of wildlife-threatening enforcement against “animal encroachment” of farms and require FDA to apply sound science to any requirements that might impact wildlife and wildlife habitat.
• An amendment, sponsored by Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), to exempt farmers from extensive and expensive traceability and recordkeeping requirements if they sell food directly to consumers or to grocery stores, to allow labeling that preserves the identity of the farm through to the consumer to satisfy traceability requirements, and to in most cases limit farm recordkeeping to the first point of sale when the product leaves the farm.
• An amendment, sponsored by Senators Jon Tester (D-MT) and Kay Hagan (D-NC),to provide a size appropriate and less costly alternative to preventative control plans and produce standards for farmers who:
  • Direct market more than 50% of their products directly to consumers, stores or restaurants,
  • Have gross sales (direct and non-direct combined) of less than $500,000,
  • Sell to consumers, stores, or restaurants that are in-state or within 275 miles, and
  • Provide their customers with their name, address and contact information.

The NASC will now engage the Administration over the details of how they implement the important provisions we all fought so hard to secure.  Please help them to do this work and to respond quickly to other threats and opportunities for sustainable agriculture by making a tax deductible donation to NSAC today.

The food safety bill hit a roadblock after passing the Senate in late November because a provision requiring the collection of user fees violated the Constitutional mandate that all revenue-generating measures must originate in the House.  House leaders then attached the bill as an amendment to two separate spending bills, neither of which were able to gain Republican support in the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) circumvented the original technical mistake by attaching the bill to a House-originated measure (HR 2751) authorizing a cash-for-clunkers program – a “shell bill” with bipartisan support.  Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), who had threatened to filibuster S.510 in November, dropped his objection at the last minute, allowing the food safety bill to pass unanimously.  The Washington Post reported this morning that Coburn staffer John Hart did not know why the Senator relented.

Text of the Bill: HR2751

President Obama is expected to sign the bill before Christmas.

Action Alert – Local and Regional Food at Risk

Update on Federal Food Safety Bill S.510

Read: Senate Food Safety Bill Moves Ahead.

As of 2006, 89% of the soybeans grown in the U.S. were genetically modified.

A study by Russian scientists concluded that GM soy-fed hamsters lost the ability to reproduce in three generations. The details are a cause for concern and emphasizes the need for more research into the long term effects of genetically modified foods and the chemicals that are used to grow them.  There are other reports of similar effects in domestic animals in Austria, Italy and in the United States.

Read the Detailed Article – Institute for Responsible Technology.

More information on U.S. grown soybeans at Wikipedia.

Read the preliminary_ohiograss.pdf (application/pdf Object).