Should You Be Able to Buy Food Directly From Farmers? The Government Doesn’t Think So

Source

This would seem to embody the USDA’s advisory, “Know your farmer, know your food,” right? Not exactly.

For the USDA and its sister food regulator, the FDA, there’s a problem: many of the farmers are distributing the food via private contracts like herd shares and leasing arrangements, which fall outside the regulatory system of state and local retail licenses and inspections that govern public food sales.

In response, federal and state regulators are seeking legal sanctions against farmers in Maine, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and California, among others. These sanctions include injunctions, fines, and even prison sentences. Food sold by unlicensed and uninspected farmers is potentially dangerous say the regulators, since it can carry pathogens like salmonella, campylobacter, and E.coli O157:H7, leading to mild or even serious illness.

Taking to the extreme they could in theory shut down local Farmer's Markets. There is a ranch here in southern Arizona that offers "herd shares" so families can get beef, pork, eggs, and chicken the way they want it raised. I know several families in the area that have private farms and sell their extra produce at several local Farmer's Markets near by. Within driving distance from Tucson AZ there is at least 1 market every day of the week from Sep to May and some year round.

With the near weekly recall of commercial foods because of contamination I would trust a local farmer over a corporation with no local connection. The article goes on to list a few cases of farmers being prosecuted and the trial results.

The website linked above has articles and opinion columns on a variety of subjects and not just food.

The Government needs to butt out of our business and get to cleaning up it's own. It's house is in pretty sorry shape with new things every week, it seems, while they try and regulate everyone out here right into the poor house OR loony bin....whichever comes first.

I'd make a joke about lemonade stands and regulation except they really HAVE sent too many kids away crying with citations in hand instead of a few bucks profit as kids USED to tend to do during long summers.

reply to post by Carreau


I am smack-dab in the middle of Amish and German Baptist (Dunkard) Country. Make note they are exempted from allot of OUR laws because of their doctrine. That is why they don't pay taxes.

No Need to go to the farmers market, just go down to their house about 3/4 away.

Besides, if they (The Government) would pull their heads out of their @$$es and think about it. . .. .

How the hell often to you hear about someone getting sick OR dying from locally grown food in the last couple of hundred years?

Africa,and even South Africa,is seen by the rest of the world as backward-but at least here we can buy food from whom ever we damn well please,collect rainwater,grow our own veg gardens,in most places except cities+towns with bylaws one can keep poultry-we have a lot of freedom-and yes,we do take it for granted.Its the way the world has always worked-and it works well like this.If my government had to try all these restrictions and verbotens that Americans have to put up with,there would be a bloody revolution,heads on sticks in the streets.

There is an agenda to slowly but oh so surely cut people off from alternative means of gaining a food supply other than supermarkets,it seems.How claustrophobic life in America must seem to older people,who are used to as much freedom as you had,and we still do.

In SA you could eat your belly full from a roadside fruit vendor for next to nothing,hell in many places you can just pluck lunch off the trees as you stroll by.Our government knows if they tried to put a stop to this,it Would be their end-and a bloody end it would be.

reply to post by ShadellacZumbrum


From the article:

Most recently, Wisconsin’s attorney general appointed a special prosecutor to file criminal misdemeanor charges against an Amish farmer for alleged failure to have retail and dairy licenses, and the proceedings turned into a high-profile jury trial in late May that highlighted the depth of conflict: following five days of intense proceedings, the 12-person jury acquitted the farmer, Vernon Hershberger, on all the licensing charges, while convicting him of violating a 2010 holding order on his food, which he had publicly admitted.

Luckily the jury didn't convict him of all charges.

reply to post by Carreau


I stand corrected.

I will be asking the neighbors if they heard about this.

But, I don't think that will prevent me from getting what I need. I won't be telling on them anytime soon.

P.S. .. And I'll never even mention a damn thing about that Wet Bottom Shoe-Fly Pie. Some of the best on the planet.

Well, of course the USDA is embedded with former Corporate agriculture lobbyists end execs. These are people who have weaseled their way into our government and installed their own interests across America; with complete detriment to the people and environment.
And are able to LEGALLY declare our god given home grown organic food poison. This is the doublespeak we get from all TPTB today. The reality is big agriculture would force the people, through the device of their own government, to eat their food only. Big Agricultures food, which in reality is the GMOed, Petrochemically grown POISON in this whole equation.

The real agenda here, as usual, lies in plain sight.
This dynamic of corporate interest installation is rife across every department and agency within the US government.
These people are unelected, but form the policies that force corporate enslavement upon us all, inconsiderate of all but their own profit.

I'm in the UK and I buy all my meat from my local farm. I can see the animals in the fields. I know the farmer and I know where my meat has been sourced. The taste and care that has been put into the product is like no other.

reply to post by sussy

There are many such places in the US as well. But issues such as this, find the tentacles of big business greedily reaching to probe even those places that remain idyllic.
Giant timber companies still carelessly log the remaining tracts of forest to ship oversea, and companies like Nestle aim to drain pristine aquifers such as Mt. Shasta.
And broad reaching restrictive laws from Washington find their way to the heart of Amish country, which is quite exactly as your beautiful home you describe.

Disgraceful.

reply to post by Carreau


You should be able to, but I am sorry those activities still should face some regulation. I really hate these kinds of questions. Usually they are posed by someone that hates Government altogether and phrased in a way to make the issue sound simple when in most cases they are not. I agree there is a problem with corporate lobbying interests in every facet of Government. It is an issue we have to address. But there are also issues with unregulated food sources. We see it every couple months as it is with ecoli outbreaks and what not. Couple this with us living in an age where should a pandemic occur it could decimate the world in just a few days. We cannot deny that possibility. Look my uncle raised beef as his hobby in his retirement, the differences in what he raised and what you bought in the store was astounding. I like the idea of naturally raised beef being available. But I also understand there are health concerns.

To me it seems that articles and threads like this aren't about getting to a good place of wanting to limit the corporate lobby. But yet another in a long string of Government is evil and must be broken threads. You see it all over these boards day in and day out. Usually a pack of Conservatives jumping down on anyone who thinks differently than they do with no attempt at an actual dialog.

Originally posted by KeliOnyx
understand there are health concerns.

If we shoulder the responsibility of what we eat and from where, we also shoulder the risk. If one farmers food is bad or unhealthy, we go to another farmer. The market regulates itself, no Government intervention required.

Originally posted by Skyfloating

Originally posted by KeliOnyx
understand there are health concerns.

If we shoulder the responsibility of what we eat and from where, we also shoulder the risk. If one farmers food is bad or unhealthy, we go to another farmer. The market regulates itself, no Government intervention required.

It isn't just your risk, that is the problem. One virulent strain and a large portion of the world's population is gone. If it were just yours I would happily let you buy and consume whatever your little heart desires. But when your choices have the possibility of wiping out my friends and family there is a problem.

Originally posted by KeliOnyx


It isn't just your risk, that is the problem. One virulent strain and a large portion of the world's population is gone. If it were just yours I would happily let you buy and consume whatever your little heart desires. But when your choices have the possibility of wiping out my friends and family there is a problem.

The Pro-Government-Regulation Argument always begins with an appeal to a great threat we need protection from. You apply the same method of conviction. I however am not convinced that our entire civilization will be wiped out if I have just a little freedom of choice.

reply to post by KeliOnyx


I am kind of amazed at how long the human population on this world has managed to survive with out the various governmental agentcies watching over every aspect of their lives and livelyhood.
Where you get your meat and produce is not near as important as how it is cleaned and prepared.
If fruits and vegitables are washed and cleaned before eaten, most will never cause a problem with the consumer.
As for meats; they should ALWAYS be washed and cleaned of any and all contaminants just before cooking. They should be cooked slowly over a fire or in a closed oven, depending upon the degree to which is needed.
It is mainly when people try to "half-cook" meat or when they try to cook it in a hurry which causes the problems.

Having been raised on a farm and eating many, many meals cook on a wood burning stove, I can testify to the difference in both flavor and health benefits over a microwave.

Interestingly that you can tell this have big crap manufacturers behind it with their corrupted money feeding the FDA as usual.

Most of the poisoning in Americas food comes from big manufactures and processing plants not from small local growers and farmers.

The irony.

As usual the laws will be passed written and pay for those that buy outs and runs our for the people government agencies.

America the most corrupted nation in the world

Should You Be Able to Buy Food Directly From Farmers? The Government Doesn’t Think So

It's all about control. Having control over every critical part of human existence assures that the government can do as they please...

Water? Heck, you can be jailed for collecting rain water these days.
Energy? The days of gas wars is long over. Pricing system is pretty much regulated.
Communications? Obama has a kill switch for internet and cell services.
Healthcare? We all know the answer to this.
Food? The OP here says it all.

Originally posted by KeliOnyx
reply to post by Carreau

 

You should be able to, but I am sorry those activities still should face some regulation. I really hate these kinds of questions. Usually they are posed by someone that hates Government altogether and phrased in a way to make the issue sound simple when in most cases they are not. I agree there is a problem with corporate lobbying interests in every facet of Government. It is an issue we have to address. But there are also issues with unregulated food sources. We see it every couple months as it is with ecoli outbreaks and what not. Couple this with us living in an age where should a pandemic occur it could decimate the world in just a few days. We cannot deny that possibility. Look my uncle raised beef as his hobby in his retirement, the differences in what he raised and what you bought in the store was astounding. I like the idea of naturally raised beef being available. But I also understand there are health concerns.

To me it seems that articles and threads like this aren't about getting to a good place of wanting to limit the corporate lobby. But yet another in a long string of Government is evil and must be broken threads. You see it all over these boards day in and day out. Usually a pack of Conservatives jumping down on anyone who thinks differently than they do with no attempt at an actual dialog.

you seem to be convinced that govt. regs actually stop anything from happening when in fact you will find no empirical evidence as to such a claim, therefore are you believing something because everyone else does, or are you believing it because your "friends" at the white have told you that?

the govt has become unstable and non trust worthy and i'm sorry for that, i had hoped they would have matured by now but unfortunately greed has run it's course and we now have quite a mess on our hands.

i'm not anti govt., i'm anti bull sheet and they have become bull sheet central. show me something they have done that wasn't a scam or a lie in the last 50 years?

reply to post by KeliOnyx


Dear you can eat any crap you hart desires coming from the poisoning of our food supplies thanks to big manufacturer giants for profits, perhaps knowing what goes in the food that is manufactured this days for profits will change your mind, is no only sick but outright poison.

Now, with that out there I am a grown women and I have the right to put in my body whatever I desire that is fresh, wholesome and cleanly grown, I will not tell you what no to eat so do not tell me what to eat either

When people tell others what to do, how to dress, what to eat and what to believe is call totalitarian rule.

The present commercial system of distribution does little testing of their products. It is actually less safe than a farmers veggies bought directly from the farm. There are too many chances of cross contamination in commercial food, possibly spreading disease over greater distances. The Government wants the present system in place, they can steer the economy this way, creating a bunch of low paying jobs and keeping farmers starving.

A good farmer takes care of his products. A greedy farmer looks at profits and chemicals that increase profits.

I will take a carrot out of the garden, rinse it off and eat it. I peel the commercially produced carrots, including the organic commercially produced carrots knowing that they have all been sprayed, the organic ones have been sprayed with more natural based sprays though. I'd rather eat my carrots with no spray on them.

I am not afraid of what is in the natural ground, my immune system is strong. I am afraid of what man has caused to happen with the microbes though, they are creating super bugs. We have not yet adapted to these. No wonder other countries don't want to buy USA created foods, the other countries understand what is going on, after all the people in these countries are our relatives. They seem to be the smart ones. Everything with the FDA and USDA seems to be about big business, not about the little farmer trying to make a living.

It seems if there is a big food recall, they always pass the buck to a small farm. Why wasn't there any testing on these products done at all after they were mixed and processed. I am not saying they should have to test everything, I am trying to say that a good small farmers produce can be as safe or even safer than the commercial foods. If it is a good farmer, they will try to do a good job but even then problems can happen, but commercial foods are no safer. The stuff they spray on commercial fresh foods to extend it's shelf life is not good for us.