Here we go again… :/
See the following as read on The Cornucopia Institute.
Protect Fresh Leafy Greens and Family Farms
Federal Regulations Would Harm Sustainable Farmers and Biodiversity
We need your help in another battle to stop the slippery slope toward a sterilized and industrialized food system that threatens biodiversity and the very existence of family-scale farms that grow food in a safe, healthy, and environmentally sustainable way.
In response to the E. coli 0157 outbreaks last year in bagged spinach, the USDA is considering a change in the federal regulations that could potentially require growers of all fresh leafy green vegetables to follow specified guidelines in the fields and during post-harvest handling. The federal rules would be similar to the California guidelines that were set by large-scale operations after the outbreaks. The guidelines include growing practices that discourage biodiversity and sustainable/organic farming practices, deplete soil fertility, and create “sterile” fields—methods that have not been scientifically proven to actually reduce E. coli 0157 bacteria but are certain to reduce biodiversity, harm wildlife, and burden family-scale farms.
In addition, you may also wish to review Natural Newswire‘s post on the matter, Corporate Agribusiness Uses Food Contamination Issue to Muscle-Out Small Family Farms. Following is an interesting bit from the article. Get the full story here.
The initiative by the USDA to more closely regulate leafy green production follows an equally controversial rule that mandates the pasteurization of almonds. Mandatory pasteurization of all almonds grown in California by chemical fumigation or heat treatment, which has been a substantial financial burden to many small-scale farmers, also came in response to salmonella outbreaks that were linked to large-scale, industrial producers.
“There are a lot of similarities with the mandatory pasteurization of almonds,” observes Will Fantle, Research Director at the Cornucopia Institute. “In the name of food safety, the government is enacting rules that would encourage a sterile food system at the farm level while doing little to address the root of the contamination problem, which is centralized and industrialized food production. Many of the strains of virulent pathogens involved can be traced back to feedlot-style, unhealthy livestock production.”
