Dear Friends,

Many of you have probably heard about two bills currently on the floor waiting for The Congress - S425 and HR 875.  One of the bills sitting on the floor was introduced by someone with a direct relationship to Monsanto.  The bills are long and difficult to read which means that our politicians will vote based on summaries presented. The problem is, that these bills, more by omission than by inclusion, could essentially prohibit organic farming as well as individual food growing for private consumption. It puts the business of farming into Federal hands and removes the power of the state, and it supports factory farming. It mandates the use of certain chemicals in the name of Food Safety. Some people describe HR 875 as “criminalizing organic farming”.

I had this forwarded to me through a friend with an organic bakery. They order the produce they cannot grow themselves on their local farm from Global Organic of Sarasota, Florida.

A few days ago I came across an alarming bit of information regarding this bill. I didn’t read the whole bill, it is indeed quite long and I decided it was more of an issue for small farmers like Genesis Farms, which raises organic, grass-fed cows, as I saw a line about the bill *not* applying to confined animals. It would also affect people like Ella, an older woman in town who supplements her pitiful income by selling free-range eggs. The creators of this bill are pushing it in the name of “food safety” - when in reality, only the big companies are the ones that have caused all these outbreaks: peanuts, spinach, salads and tomatoes - none of that was from organic farms!

This really shows how much Monsanto and its pundits want to control everything - they want all food to be produced using their products and chemicals. Now, I don’t care what anyone says - you won’t stop me from growing *my* food in *my* backyard, and you also won’t stop me from exchanging my extra tomatoes for someone else’s extra garlic.

The whole idea, really, is extremely unnerving.

Link to the full bill:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-875

Link to a good summary:

http://cryptogon.com/?p=7362

A list of sponsors for the bill:

http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/pacs.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00000615

And a petition:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/t/1128/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26714&t=

And another petition, through the Organic Consumer’s Association:

http://capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/issues/alert/?alertid=12878056