The U.S. Senate is likely to vote on a Food Safety bill (S. 510) when they come back after the election. As the bill is currently written, small local farms will come under a huge new regulatory standard that threatens to put many of them out of the food business. These small producers provide quality food for our community.
Sen. Jon Tester of Montana with Sen. Kay Hagan of North Carolina has an amendment to exempt small direct marketing farms and is critical to protecting local food businesses and giving consumers a choice to buy fresh local produce. It would be counter-productive if a bill designed to curb the abuses of big agribusiness snuffs out local food businesses as an “unintended consequence.” We should all consider calling our senators to urge them to vote for the Tester-Hagan amendment.
Margaret Mattina
Lakeport
