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Re: [OM] Oh My Heart! [was Down the rabbit hold]

Subject: Re: [OM] Oh My Heart! [was Down the rabbit hold]
From: Jan Steinman <Jan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2010 06:36:51 -0700
> From: Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx>
>
> The latest battle shaping up is over rules and procedures for some row
> crops production. The bacterial caused recalls of lettuce and ___(?)
> have led the FDA to start considering much more stringent rules for
> handling and record keeping. As expected, they aren't particularly
> onerous for large operators, but would likely kill off many or most of
> the small farm operators.

Here's the typical situation:

1) Food from a large, industrial food operation makes a bunch of  
people sick.

2) People clamour for their government to protect them.

3) New regulations are put in place that have significant costs.

4) Small, local producers are put out of business.

5) Big food companies get bigger.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

No one is asking, "Why don't you ever hear of Farmer Joe down the road  
making people sick?" The answer is obvious: Farmer Joe feeds his own  
family the same stuff he sells to others -- unlike the fast-food stove  
jockey who spits in hamburgers and would never dream of eating one  
from a fast-food place.

We're losing "food sovereignty" -- control over one's food supply --  
at an alarming rate. Soon, you'll only be able to eat what the  
industry-government allows you to eat.

(Keep in mind that "food sovereignty" is fundamentally different than  
"food security" -- the latter is just a government guaranty that food  
will be available. Look how well that worked in New Orleans.)


----------------
The small organic farm greatly discomforts the corporate/industrial  
mind because the small organic farm is one of the most relentlessly  
subversive forces on the planet. Over centuries both the communist and  
the capitalist systems have tried to destroy small farms because small  
farmers are a threat to the consolidation of absolute power. Thomas  
Jefferson said he didn’t think we could have democracy unless at least  
20% of the population was self-supporting on small farms so they were  
independent enough to be able to tell an oppressive government to  
stuff it. It is very difficult to control people who can create  
products without purchasing inputs from the system, who can market  
their products directly thus avoiding the involvement of mercenary  
middlemen, who can butcher animals and preserve foods without reliance  
on industrial conglomerates, and who can’t be bullied because they can  
feed their own faces. -- Eliot Coleman
:::: Jan Steinman, EcoReality Co-op ::::







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