Legislation Is In The Air

6 Responses

1. Shannon,

   Are you open to supporting two of my desires for amendments?

   1 Re-define farmers’ markets: ALL FARM PRODUCED PRODUCTS including veggies, fruits, jarred products, meats, cured products, dairy (processed and unprocessed), baked goods, farm crafts.

   2 Ditch the requirement for a refrigerated truck. Our State Inspectors use an ice chest with ice/water to transport our milk to the State Labs for inspection. Allow farmers to transport their milk to market in the same manner.

   Thanks for your tme,
   Shari Thomas
   Four Country Gals

   1. Shari,

      I hear you loud and clear, and I agree with you…here it comes, but personally my first priority is to get whatever we can passed to start it moving back in the right direction.

      What follows is my take on why this is happening:
      In Utah we have been grappling with “food freedom” for the past decade or so. This is a familiar scene in many states across the nation. I was struck recently while promoting a Raw Milk bill by the absurdity of it all. This bill, suggested that it was ok to sell raw milk as long as a small producer did not sell more than 120 gallons per month. As a kid I worked on a small dairy with 40 cows, we were selling over 200 gallons a day! We had no militant inspectors, or meticulous labeling laws, no nervous neighbors scrutinizing humanity with fingers posed to call 911 at the first sign of milk poisoning. So Why the sudden concern for public health?
      The production, harvesting and preserving of food has been for the average American, a fully industrialized, commercialized agricultural fact for at least the last 30 years. And overall, the history of industrialized agriculture spans decades clear back to the late 1800’s. And it occurred to me that until just a couple decades ago, nearly every legislator at a state capital and at Washington had mothers and grandmothers and great grandmothers who were growing and canning food out of their back yards. Every summer vacation to grandma’s house including pulling weeds and hoeing beans, picking tomatoes and corn and radishes, and more importantly, cooking and eating that food straight from the ground with no inspectors or politicians in sight. But as industrial/commercial agriculture increasingly became the norm, as the small family farm and backyard gardens became less and less a part of our collective experience, there came point when fewer and fewer kids were having those familial agriculture experiences at grandmas house. What had been “normal” for decades and even centuries was now novel, odd, and potentially dangerous.

2. Fantastic bills. We have to take responsibility for ourselves. Regulations haven’t prevented outbreaks of salmonella or listeria. Only wise shoppers and thoughtful producers can keep these problems to a minimum. Thanks for your efforts in keeping us informed.

   1. I agree. Legislators, let us show that we need less regulation and more choice and personal responsibility.

3. Don’t you have enough to do? We are being legislated to death. Do you think we are so stupid that we don’t know what is good or bad for us without your superior intelligence to inform us?

   I, and my family of twelve siblings have consumed raw milk and home produced products all our lives without legislation and with no deleterious effects.

   I have read your bill and wish you would spend your time addressing something of consequence.

   1. I am confused Clyde, are saying that we should not use the legislative process to secure lost rights?