Freedom To Homestead Under Attack
Are you guys familiar with the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009? It’s also known as HR 2749. Honestly, I hadn’t heard anything about it until just recently. This is some scary stuff. If this bill passes through Congress, it will dramatically affect not only family farms, but the small scale homesteaders who sell ANY food products as well. And it has the potential to allow lawmakers to get their “foot in the door” to further control homesteaders who are just trying to grow food for their own families. (When I say “homesteaders” I’m including anybody who grows a garden or owns even a single chicken, goat, or other livestock.)
Under this bill, we would essentially lose the freedom to grow and consume our own food. Complying with every mandate and paying all of the required fees would make it impossible for the average homesteader or small scale farmer to be able to afford to keep legally producing their own foods.
They say this bill is to protect us from contaminated foods. In reality, it will do no more to protect us than the agencies we already have in place, but will cause so much damage to small farms that only the big food corporations will survive, and ultimately dominate the food industry. (No wonder the big food industries are backing this bill financially!)
Here is an idea of what we would be dealing with:
- A yearly registration fee of $500.
- Every single livestock animal will be required to be registered, and possibly tagged with a micro chip. Talk about expensive!
- For each animal you would be required to keep all health documents and documentation as to their origins. So, if you buy a chicken off of Craigslist, you’ll have to keep a record of who you purchased that chicken from, etc., just in case the feds raid your home and want to see your paperwork. Failing to do so would cost you a hefty fine!
- You’d have to keep a record of all persons entering the farm (or your backyard). People, we shouldn’t have to do this! The government has no business knowing who comes and goes on our own private property!
- You’d be required to keep medical certificates of every person dealing with the animals. Again, none of the governments business.
- Keep documents proving the water you give your animals meets specific criteria. We would have to constantly be sampling our well water, possibly amending it, and keeping a record of it.
- Keep samples of the feed that we give to our animals. How do they think we can possibly store samples of every batch of the feed that we give our animals??
- Keep all documents of official inspections.
- Keep records of treatment and procedures on all animals. That means every little thing that you do to your own animals would have to be documented.
- You’d be required to prevent domestic animals from roaming in and around livestock. So, if you have a pet cat or dog, or use a dog to guard your livestock, you’d be forced to separate them from the other animals, or get rid of them. Of course this would allow predators to freely attack our livestock… perhaps that is the governments plan.
- We’d have to place all of these documents at the disposal of the competent authority. Which means they would allow warrant-less searches of our property and business records.
- The FDA would regulate how crops are raised and harvested. Organic growers would be no more. The would be allowed to outlaw the use of manure, require Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) animal feed, mandating animal drugs and antibiotics, and forcing use of petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides. We would not be allowed the money saving option of growing our own natural feed for our animals.
- We would have to register our property, which means constant government surveillance via satellite.
- We would be required to document every time we take an animal off of the “farm”.
- It would give the FDA the power to order a quarantine of a geographic area, including “prohibiting or restricting the movement of food or of any vehicle being used or that has been used to transport or hold such food within a geographic area.” This means that they would have the power to shut down farmers markets (among other things), and even seize the vehicles of those selling goods within a certain area, even if their is no evidence of them being a source of contamination.
- Would establish a tracing system for our food. Each “person who produces, manufactures, processes, packs, transports, or holds such food” would have to “maintain the full pedigree of the origin and previous distribution history of the food,” and “establish and maintain a system for tracing the food that is interoperable with the systems established and maintained by other such persons.” How are we to possibly track every single thing that we use in processing our food? How burdensome and time consuming! Just another way to make it impossible for us to keep producing.
- We would be facing severe fines and penalties if we do not comply with all of these mandates. Fines of up to $100,000 for each violation, and even up to 10 years prison time!
If this bill passes, you can say goodbye to farmers markets, roadside produce stands, U-pick farms, buying from local farmers, and any other kind of food purchases from local producers. And if you are the one selling any kind of produce, meat, or even homemade jelly, you’re really in for it!
And after this they’ll attack your personal backyard garden. After all, it could be a potential health hazard for your entire community!
What scares me the most is that this reminds me so much of the book of Revelation where it talks about having to have the “mark” to be able to buy or sell. If the government takes away our freedom to grow our own food and raise our own livestock, how easy would it be for them to require a microchip or something for us to be able to purchase their food?
This bill has passed in the House, now it goes to the Senate. We need to contact our representatives and voice our concerns over this bill NOW!
For more information about HR 2749, and to see what you can do to stop it, check out these other links:
Say “NO” To Fake Food Safety Bill
Mother Earth News: About NAIS (A program that was shut down, but it’s regulations are included in the new HR 2749 bill. Learn more about it!)
Contact Your Local Representatives
Call Your Rep- Vote No On HR 2749 (has some updated info on the bill)
Please read up on this, and do your part to protect our freedom!
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This is no different from the act they passed making it so that thrift stores and small businesses couldnt sell childrens items. CPSIA made it impossible for small time operations like those on Etsy to be able to sell their goods. The thing was so extensive that they cannot enforce it. I hope that this new one doesn’t make it thru the congress. Dont forget to get ahold of your local congressman. You can go to the state’s website and find out who it is. There might even be a link to that person’s website. Send them emails, letters, or faxes to let them know that you dont approve of this bill. They do actually listen to their constituents. I’ve recieved many letters from my congressman in response to faxes that I’ve sent. Dont be afraid to let them know how you feel about this. I dont agree with the government trying to tell me how to brush my teeth.
Hi! Thank you for posting about this! SO FEW MAMA’S KNOW ABOUT THIS!!!
I just posted about it on my blog, so you will have to check it out!
Thanks for the encouragment and the links, I signed the petition for my husband and myself and hopefully others will find it on my post too!
Also, I wanted to point out that there are two other VERY important bills they are trying to pass which you can read about (all three of them) here:
http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?p=3262
At the bottom of that article are the links to take action and sign the petition for each one!
God be with us all,
Tarena
(ps. I was just browsing through my heirloom seed cataloge last night with my son…maybe I’ll buy them a bit early!)
Actually, I just noticed that you can sign each of them for EACH MEMBER OF YOUR FAMILY!!
Yea for big families!
I knew about this and contacted my local rep when it was getting ready to go a vote. I’ve also contacted both my state’s senators. I found out that you can sign up to get weekly voting updates, so I signed up for a few and when they vote yay or nay to HR2749 I’ll get an email about it. This could be critical information when it comes time for re-election.
That is INSANE! I can’t believe such a thing in serious possible in this country! I really don’t think it could pass–I mean, even Michelle Obama has a food garden at the White House. Are the Obamas going to pay a fee and implement a “tracing system” for their zucchini? Sheesh!
Laura,
I know it’s hard to believe that something like this could even be possible. What’s scary is that it already passed the House!! I truly didn’t believe it would pass… but lo and behold. Now I’m worried. We have to PRAY that the Senate doesn’t pass it as well.
I can hardly believe this! My friend Stacy posted about this just a few days ago, unfortunately, she has a friends-only journal, so I can’t link it. I can’t believe our government is going this far. All I want is a couple of plants in my backyard! (And I am in full support of people much like yourself who have their own family farm.) How can they think it’s okay to force so many regulations on people who want to grow their own food? I’m going to take every step available to join the non-support of this bill. I’m going to write my senator today, sign every petition I can find, and pray that the Senate sees that this is wrong.
Just went over and viewed the bill. (scraping glaze off eyes)
Do you realize that if your family has 3 vending machines [definition of a facility - Sec. 101(b)(1)(C)(ii)(III)] you have to pay $1500 in fees?! [$500 per machine - Sec. 743(b)(1)(A)] But fear not! There is a maximum amount the government will assess in fees: $175,000. [Sec 743 (b)(3)]
I wonder how many of the 283 House members actually read the bill they voted for.
You are absolutely right about the connection to Revelation…it keeps hitting closer and closer to home. Thank you for sharing this and providing links..I’m on my way to do what I can.
I am shocked and disgusted with what the government has slowly been doing to our lives. I do not see freedom listed anywhere in this! I heard last night that the UN started this idea up. Good luck all you homesteaders out there. I do not homestead but I completely support you all. I will definetly pray about this mess.
HR 875 was apparently already passed this week or so.
There’s another bill that is it’s partner, SB 425 or whatever, haven’t heard anything about that one though.
The CPSIA one was put on hold after all the commotion so it hasn’t officially come to be enforced, but hey, if the gov’t needs to go after the wahm’s that sew cloth diapers for folks in order to pay for their huge deficit, well…
I’ve already told friends that I’ll expect them to come visit me in jail. *sigh*
Oh shoot, I just realized you were talking about the NSIA or whatever the acronym is. Still a sucky prospect, that’s for sure. Have you read the book “Everything I Want to do is Illegal” by Joel Salatin? Good book.
I bet you’d like it (well, in between being outraged, but still).
So they can kill our babies with poisoned formula from China, they can kill our pets with poisoned dog food from China, they can kill our children with lead-based paint toys from China, but we can’t grow a few vegetables for our own family’s consumption in our own back yards.
Yep, sounds exactly like the direction in which our “lawmakers” are headed. It’s just like Congress to not be able to think ten seconds into the future to see what their schemes will do to the average Joe.
There’s so much going on in Washington DC that sometimes it makes my head spin. What’s even more astonishing is the amount of people who see nothing wrong with this or the health care bill or the fairness doctrine, Mother’s Act,….. What does it lead us down to?
I’ve told people this plenty of times and a US Marine spoke in a townhall meeting in WA state, but our country has come so closely similar to that of Nazi Germany. It’s no joke! We really have because of corrupt politicians who serve no other than themselves and the people who buy them off.
Hitler came into power by appealing to the middle class (same as Bush and Obama) Hitler then kept his campaign promises for “change”. (Sound familar?) Because people were leary of some of Hitler’s policies, a staged terrorist act happened that burned their Parliment Building down. People began to scream for their government to take care of them.(9/11 anyone?) Germany’s congress initiates sweeping changes to their laws and enact a homeland security act very much the same to our Patriot Act. I can go on like this but it would take up a lot of space.
End times? Oh yeah! We’re so there.
Siska
Thank you for posting this. I’ve been reading bits and pieces about it here and there. It is scaring me to death.
I just found your blog for the first time and want to thank you for bringing this bill to the light. I knew about it but you broke it down beautifully. You can keep track of it here: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-875 in case you haven’t posted this link.
Whether one believes in Revelations or not, it does seem extremely fascist at the very least. Ironically, I am unaware of whether any of the factory farm lobby are working against this bill despite having had the freedom to feed us sick animals for years. You would think that they of all lobbies would be hot on the heals of such matters but I suspect that they are a part of the epicenter supporting it along with Monsanto.
To know if your voice is going to be heard on this matter at all, check up on your congressman and senators to see who has made contributions to them. Monsanto has contributed to some of mine.
http://www.reporternews.com/news/2010/feb/15/animal-id-system-halted-after-142m/
Thought you’d like to know the whole animal tagging program has been cancelled due to funding.
anna-
Thanks for this! I try to keep up to date. I’m sure they’ll try to sneak it into another bill. We can just pray that we continue to have the freedom to homestead!
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