Screwing Small Farmers
In a plot to screw over small farmers and boost corporate farms, a bill, introduced by one Henry Waxman, HR 2749 - This bill . . .
* authorizes warrantless searches of farms
* imposes a $500 tax (or "registration fee") of all operators in all steps of the food production chain
* imposes civil penalties up to $20,000 per individual for each violation
* creates a food trace-back system, burdening farms and small businesses with reams of new paperwork
* empowers the Dept. of Health and Human Services to micro-manage the raising and harvesting of crops (you might have assumed that Congress would've handed the U.S. Dept of Agriculture this terrible power).
In essence, Congress wants to punish the innocent and protect the guilty. It is not small farms and businesses that were the source of contaminated food scares, but rather the processing facilities of large corporations. Yet this bill will only drive small farms out of business, which means reduced competition and higher prices in an already-bad economy.
It's totally screwed. The small farmer is the historical backbone of the country - what could be more American? They've been working for years to put the nail in the coffin, and this is another huge step in that evil plot. It wasn't the small farmer that was behind mad cow, or all the various E Coli and Salmonella poisonings of years past, it was the huge corporate farms, with their cost-cutting to the detriment of food safety.
* authorizes warrantless searches of farms
* imposes a $500 tax (or "registration fee") of all operators in all steps of the food production chain
* imposes civil penalties up to $20,000 per individual for each violation
* creates a food trace-back system, burdening farms and small businesses with reams of new paperwork
* empowers the Dept. of Health and Human Services to micro-manage the raising and harvesting of crops (you might have assumed that Congress would've handed the U.S. Dept of Agriculture this terrible power).
In essence, Congress wants to punish the innocent and protect the guilty. It is not small farms and businesses that were the source of contaminated food scares, but rather the processing facilities of large corporations. Yet this bill will only drive small farms out of business, which means reduced competition and higher prices in an already-bad economy.
It's totally screwed. The small farmer is the historical backbone of the country - what could be more American? They've been working for years to put the nail in the coffin, and this is another huge step in that evil plot. It wasn't the small farmer that was behind mad cow, or all the various E Coli and Salmonella poisonings of years past, it was the huge corporate farms, with their cost-cutting to the detriment of food safety.