H.R. 875 New Farm Regulations

There has been a lot of buzz recently about H.R. 875, it seems that a lot of people here in Farm country are scared to death, afraid that they won't be able to grow their own gardend. They are trying to blame Obama for it. First off, President Obama's wife started a small farm at the White House. Why would he want to eliminate them?

I recently started research on H.R. 875 on the suggestion from a sister from the ward. I found some interesting things on it. THere are some good and some bad. While some farms might be negatively effected, it won't be the really small farms, or the home farmer. I found one website ran by an organizaton called "Food and water watch", a group that has been around since 2005.  And according to their website www.foodandwaterwatch.org:

Food & Water Watch is a nonprofit consumer organization that works to ensure clean water and safe food. We challenge the corporate control and abuse of our food and water resources by empowering people to take action and by transforming the public consciousness about what we eat and drink.

Food & Water Watch works with grassroots organizations around the world to create an economically and environmentally viable future. Through research, public and policymaker education, media, and lobbying, we advocate policies that guarantee safe, wholesome food produced in a humane and sustainable manner and public, rather than private, control of water resources including oceans, rivers, and groundwater.

On their site they discuss H.R. 875 and they give some good information on it. Here is a cut and paste from their site. http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/food/foodsafety/background-on-h-r-875

Here are a few things that H.R. 875 DOES do:

-    It addresses the most critical flaw in the structure of FDA by splitting it into 2 new agencies –one devoted to food safety and the other devoted to drugs and medical devices.
-    It increases inspection of food processing plants, basing the frequency of inspection on the risk of the product being produced – but it does NOT make plants pay any registration fees or user fees.
-    It does extend food safety agency authority to food production on farms, requiring farms to write a food safety plan and consider the critical points on that farm where food safety problems are likely to occur.
-    It requires imported food to meet the same standards as food produced in the U.S.

And just as importantly, here are a few things that H.R. 875 does NOT do:

-    It does not cover foods regulated by the USDA (beef, pork, poultry, lamb, catfish.)
-    It does not establish a mandatory animal identification system.
-    It does not regulate backyard gardens.
-    It does not regulate seed.
-    It does not call for new regulations for farmers markets or direct marketing arrangements.  
-    It does not apply to food that does not enter interstate commerce (food that is sold across state lines).
-    It does not mandate any specific type of traceability for FDA-regulated foods (the bill does instruct a new food safety agency to improve traceability of foods, but specifically says that recordkeeping can be done electronically or on paper.)

So, while some farmers may need to worry, the home farmer or the farmer who grows their own goods to sell for themselves need not worry. 

The Obama administration most likely does not represent the end of the world. Sorry to dissapoint. :-)