Do you grow, transport, store or sell agricultural products? Do you prepare any type of product in a restaurant? If so, you have to read this article!

If the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 (HR 875) passes, organic agriculture as we know it will change forever. Once signed into law, this bill will mandate that anyone who produces fruits or vegetables for public consumption register and comply with the new standards. The government will give birth to another agency that will be empowered to arrest, sixteen, convict and take “other appropriate enforcement action” against anyone who proves non-compliance. Under the guise of food safety, organic farmers will be told what chemical to use, how much to use, and when its use is required, and violators will be prosecuted. In addition, organic growers will be told what kinds of seeds can be “safely” used and where they should be purchased. Once it becomes law, the parameters covered by this bill could easily be expanded to cover all food grown on private property for personal use. And your input and preferences won’t matter.

Does all this sound far-fetched? There are people working hard right now to make it happen! I’m not talking about a group of patients in a facility for the criminally insane, I’m talking about a member of the United States Congress who has introduced a bill that is already being studied in committee.

Let’s see the motivation behind such an idiotic law.

The bill was first introduced by Democrat Rosa DeLauro, the wife of Stanley Greenburg, who is a Monsanto executive. Monsanto, as you probably know, is the world’s largest manufacturer of chemical herbicides (herbicides and herbicides) and genetically modified seeds.

Can someone say “conflict of interest”?

Second, let’s examine Section 3, Article 14 of this bill. Note that the official definition of “food production facility” means any farm, ranch, orchard, vineyard, aquaculture facility, or confined animal feeding operation. That means any farm, regardless of size, even a small family farm.

Some more high points:

3. Producers will be required to register and comply with all new regulations; failure to comply will be countered by an agency empowered to detain, seize, convict, and take “other appropriate enforcement action.”

4. Producers will be told what chemical to use, how much to use, and when to use it.

5. Organic farmers will be told where to buy their seeds.

If this doesn’t sound bad enough, it’s a good bet that the paperwork and compliance regulations are going to be as easy to understand as current tax laws. So what happens after registering as an organic producer? What are these new rules that must be followed? How much will it cost to register? What kind of fees will be imposed? The answer to all these questions is: nobody knows yet, because the head of this new agency will decide and this bill specifically states that all regulations will be retroactive.

What is particularly unsettling is that this potential new agency will be headed by a presidential appointee. (Here are some rhetorical questions worth considering: How often, in recent memory, has a presidential appointee actually possessed the necessary qualifications for the job, rather than receiving a top job as a reward for some political favor? Can we expect the appointee to be anyone with a background or experience in agriculture or food safety? Will the new “food safety czar,” like other agency directors we’ve seen, scoff at future questions from Congress?)

Back to the bill: Oh, but you’re not an organic farmer or grower, so this won’t affect you, will it? Wrong! Further investigation of this bill reveals an expanded scope of authority, to the extent that persons who handle anything defined as “food” or who are involved in the production, storage, transportation, or preparation of food must register and comply with all regulations. of this new agency.

Doesn’t this sound like something written about Russia in the cold war era? Can this really happen in America?

If you think not, consider that the word “terrorist” has been removed from official Department of Homeland Security guidelines and speech. Consider that soldiers who have faithfully served with honor in Iraq and Afghanistan have been placed on the Department of Homeland Security’s official watch list. The same kind of mindset that emerged with those winners will now define “food” for us and tell us how to grow it.

If we don’t raise our voices collectively and in the streets to confront this kind of nonsense, we will soon wake up and discover that we have lost our ability to say anything. Call your state representatives today and tell them to kill this bill in committee! We know that it is a fact that those who do not learn from history will see it repeated. Let’s roll