There has never been a better time to start growing your own
food!
"Farmers, ranchers and rural residents need affordable and
accessible health care. We remain concerned that mandating
individuals and businesses to buy insurance will impose an expense
that creates economic hardship, particularly for self-employed
individuals and small businesses." ~ American Farm Bureau
Federation President Bob Stallman
June 28th 2012, Washington, D.C. -- The Supreme Court ruling
upholding the constitutionality of the Health Care Reform Act has
increased concern among intelligent individuals that are preparing for
when the store shelves are empty. Mandatory health care will generate
increased expenses for small farming families who make their living
performing a dangerous occupation. Insurance companies have always been
reluctant to insure farmers, and if they did create a policy, it came at
a huge expense. High deductibles, matched with limited coverage, make it
almost impossible for farmers to successfully produce food and pay for
health care. Today they have a choice, but what happens when that choice
is made for them?
I would like to know if the president, along with the entire Supreme
Court, understands that consumers spend $547 billion for food
originating on U.S. farms and ranches. Of each dollar spent on food, the
farmer's share is approximately 23 cents. The rest is for costs beyond
the farm gate: wages and materials for production, processing,
marketing, transportation, and distribution. Now, add in the fact that
each farmer will be required to purchase health care, and you get a
net income well below poverty level.
Now, what happens when they are faced with the decision to continue
farming, or break the law? My guess is that they will sell what land
they have, hang up their boots, and look for a job with benefits.
There has never been a better time to start
growing your own food!
Sadly, this isn't the first time the government strong-armed the food
and farm industry. One of the most ambitious grabs for control over food
production since the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt was the
Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010. After months of wrangling, the
Food Safety Modernization Act passed the House and Senate, and received
the president`s endorsement.
The Food Safety Modernization Act grants the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) almost unlimited power to regulate the food supply
across the nation. Those new powers, many believe, could virtually take
the food off your plate. That's because the new law could bankrupt many
small farmers across the nation. As small farmers vanish, consumers will
no longer have access to fresh, local, organic produce. It's a huge blow
to those who believe in the right to choose what foods they eat. Most
consumers, and even farmers, didn't see it coming.
Local food movement threatens corporate
profits
As the local and organic food movement has gathered steam in recent
years, small farming has enjoyed resurgence. The items on your dinner
plate have traveled an average of 1500 miles from farm to fork--unless
you buy from a local farmers market or farm stand. More and more, people
want to know where their food comes from. Nationwide, food recalls are
one reason driving the trend. In 2006, fresh spinach from a
multinational corporation sickened hundreds of people. Three people
died. In 2008, fresh produce used to make salsa at a leading fast food
chain sickened hundreds across the country. And most recently, on June
24th 2012, a major corporation recalled over 1,000 bags of lettuce due
to a possible listeria risk.
It's no wonder that farmers markets have exploded in the past 15 years,
growing by 245%. In 1995, there were only 1,775 farmers markets across
the nation. Today, there are 7,175. Many communities now even have
winter markets as farmers use innovative growing techniques to meet
year-round demand.
The local and organic food movement, however, has not escaped the notice
of industrial giants. In recent years, agri-biz public relations
campaigns reflect a "damage control" strategy aimed at protecting their
turf. With major portions of the Food Safety Modernization Act shaped by
agri-biz lobbyists, many local food advocates suspect the bill is also
part of that strategy. Burdensome new regulations, small farm advocates
say, will squeeze out small farmers. It's a blatant attempt, they
believe, to quash the local and organic food movement.
Big Government to micromanage all farms
That's because the Food Safety Modernization Act gives the FDA broad
new powers to dictate to farmers how they must grow produce. New
regulations will control every aspect of farm production. Almost nothing
is left to a farmer's discretion--not soil composition, water use, what
chemicals are permitted or even required, harvesting techniques, packing
processes, production temperatures, and more.
The Tester Amendment was added to the bill to appease critics. The
amendment exempts small facilities from the same types of large,
expensive food safety plans that larger operations use. Small facilities
are defined as farms with less than $500,000 in gross revenue that sell
directly to individuals, restaurants, or grocery stores within a 275
mile radius. The mountain of documentation to qualify for the exemption,
however, is almost as onerous as the safety plans themselves. The cost
of complying with other parts of the bill, including record keeping,
will still be a huge burden for small operations. Small farmers will
find it almost impossible to grow or innovate.
Next season, when you go to your local farmers market, you could find
that your favorite farmer has gone out of business. The prices you have
to pay to farmers who have managed to remain in business could
skyrocket, reflecting the huge costs of the new "food safety"
regulations, and mandatory health care.
In the face of shrinking supplies and rising prices, many will turn to
gardening instead. After all, if you can't buy the vegetables you need,
you can grow them, right?
Today you can. But the next growing season ... perhaps not.
Will heirloom seeds be confiscated, or even outlawed?
According to the FDA, seeds are food. That means they get to regulate
them. The FDA decides what seeds are "safe" and what are "unsafe." And
just as with contaminated food, they can seize or even outlaw any seeds
they deem "contaminated."
Today, there's a robust community of farmers, gardeners, and
environmentalists who use heirloom seeds. Heirloom seeds are seeds that
have been cultivated for hundreds of years. They don't grow well using
modern industrial methods. That's why you seldom see heirloom produce in
your grocery store. Heirloom varieties yield crops that offer superior
flavor and nutrition. If you grow your own heirloom crops, a few simple
techniques will allow you to save the seed from one harvest to use in
the future. (You can't do that with modern hybrid and genetically
modified seeds. Instead, you must buy new seeds each year.) On a larger
scale, seed cleaning equipment is necessary to clean enough heirloom
seed to meet commercial demand. The seed is then stored in special
facilities on its way to farmers and gardeners.
It's these equipment and facilities that have recently come under the
scrutiny of the FDA. According to the FDA, seed cleaning equipment and
seed storage facilities could "contaminate" the seeds. Complex
regulations are now on the books to prevent this "potential
contamination." It's those costs that are squeezing many small seed
cleaners out of business. Only the global giants can afford to comply
with the convoluted and numerous regulations.
When small seed cleaners do manage to scrape together the capital to
install expensive equipment to meet regulations, they're often bullied
out of business. Giant agricultural corporations have a history of suing
small seed cleaners because they "might" have inadvertently cleaned
patent-protected genetically modified seeds. In the strange world of
agricultural law, the seed cleaners are "guilty until proven innocent."
Many can't afford the years of litigation and hundreds of thousands of
dollars in legal costs to prove their innocence. They simply give up and
shut down their businesses.
The FDA hasn't reached into the home gardens of citizens to impose seed
saving laws on them - yet. But they might as well have. With the passage
of the Food Safety Modernization Act, the small companies that provide
home gardeners and small farmers with heirloom seeds are in the FDA's
crosshairs more than ever before. It may just be a matter of time until
heirloom seed companies are forced out of business.
How to ensure your access to fresh food -
while you still can
Some companies have seen the changes coming down the pike, and have
stockpiled supplies. Seeds can last for decades or even longer when
properly stored. Illinois-based Solutions From Science currently has
sufficient supplies of its non-hybrid, heirloom seeds for the current
growing season. But if the FDA decides to play the "contamination" card
and shuts down small heirloom seed cleaners, existing supplies could
sell out quickly. The potential need to store heirloom seeds long-term
is what inspired Bill Heid, president of Solutions From Science, to
develop the Survival Seed Bank.
"That's the beauty of the Survival Seed Bank," said Heid. "It can be
stored safely in a freezer until needed, or even buried in the ground.
Some of our customers buy multiples to save for themselves or to give to
family and friends in the event of a food shortage."
The
Survival Seed Bank contains 22 packs of non-hybrid heirloom seeds,
with enough seed to plant a full acre crisis garden. Ordinarily, if
gardeners can even get them, the seeds would separately cost well over
$600. Heid's relationship with small, fiercely independent farmers has
been a godsend to the company and its customers. Solutions From Science
has been able to streamline the buying process and offers a complete
package to customers for just $149 plus shipping. The Seed Bank is one
of the company's biggest sellers.
Keith Allen, a California gardener, found that the generous amount of
seeds in his Survival Seed Bank was more than ample. That didn't stop
him from saving the seeds at harvest time, however. "Even though I still
have plenty of seed left to last me for years, I started saving just for
fun," he said. "I actually have more seeds now than I started with."
Connecticut gardener Jamie Burnside bought a
Survival Seed Bank as a hedge against hard times. "I have followed
the instructions to seal it and keep it in a cool dark place for future
use," he said. "Now that I have my Survival Seed Bank, I feel prepared
for facing a possible food shortage."
One Survival Seed Bank customer, Mike Metzker of Oregon, sealed and
buried several Seed Bank canisters and plans to add even more in the
future. He said, "It gives me a feeling of security knowing that I have
provided a means of growing food for my family in an emergency
situation."
As government regulations become more and more draconian, Americans will
have to become more resourceful in finding ways to get fresh food.
Resources like the Survival Seed Bank can help. More information about
the Survival Seed Bank is available at
www.survivalseedbank.com.
Solutions From Science
2200 Illinois Route 84
P.O. Box 518
Thomson, IL 61285
Email us at
info@solutionsfromscience.com |