Sterilisiing the farm - "Leafy greens marketing agreement"

[Donk]

San Francisco Chronicle

 

This idea can only have been dreamed up by somebody who lives in a city and works in an office.

 

Look at some of the demands:

• No animals within 30 feet of growing crops
  
• If "contaminated", crops to be destroyed
  
• No children under 5 years old on a farm.
  
• Visitors to farms to wear identification badges
  
• Elimination of wildlife
  
• Bare-dirt buffers
  

I thought at first that it was just a crazy media scare. So I googled "Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement", and found this. Looking at the audit process, everything in the article seems to be true. No mention of children, but an auditor sticking rigidly to the rules would very likely exclude anyone wearing diapers. Which could also include the farmer's ageing parents ;)

 

"It's all based on panic and fear, and the science is not there," said Dr. Andy Gordus, an environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Game.

[Cedars]

From the article:

"You have to think about what's the logical end point of looking at food this way. It's food grown indoors hydroponically."

 

We toured a hydroponic tomato greenhouse (not organic) back in the 70s. They used pesticides because of the prime habitat for tomato pests was the controlled environment of the greenhouse.

 

Earlier today I found this. Grant to help Restore Bumblebee Habitat:

 

Grant to help restore bumblebee habitat near farms - Yahoo! News

 

Sheesh, I wish I knew funding was available!

 

No organic farmer has to drain their ponds, trap the wildlife, etc. This is a mandate by one/some of the purchasers of such products to sell it to the masses. Its good that the SF Cronicle put the info out there, as the hippy types of that region should start protesting the killing of bambi, draining of ponds, etc.

 

Now they just gotta get hand washing stations out there in the fields so when the migrant workers relieve themselves, they can wash their hands.

[Donk]

And don't forget the bird splat. I have a vision of teams of sharpshooters around the perimeter ready to bring down any bird that looks like crossing the Interdiction Zone

[lemit]

Donk, I think you're probably right about the origins of the people proposing those demands. So, what ever happened to cleaning agricultural products between the farm and the table. All those people in between the consumer and the farm, the people who take home most of the money spent on food, could do some of that, as they have throughout history. And people putting the food on the table could make sure it's safe, as they have throughout history.

 

If you consider all the handling farm products go through after they leave the farm, those demands are in some ways kind of akin to washing your hands before you go to the restroom.

 

--lemit

 

p.s. For the few of you who can read but couldn't guess, I have a farm.

[Essay]

I read that in the EU they won't let you sell milk if it was hand milked. So all the family farms no longer have a cow (well, 2 still do), down from 500 in this one village mentioned (in Poland, I think).

 

Agri-business and distributed marketing seem to be the bane of localizing, community-building, self-sufficiency, and sustainability strategies.

 

There ought to be a way of running both systems concurrently, side-by-side.

[Cedars]

And don't forget the bird splat. I have a vision of teams of sharpshooters around the perimeter ready to bring down any bird that looks like crossing the Interdiction Zone

 

Yeah, but add to that what could be big problems for the individual farmer trying to comply with this marketing mandate (lookie, we got rules for our spinach/lettuce), the Migratory Bird Act which protects ALL migratory birds. Might want to forward that article to EarthFirst or some such org to begin the recinding of these mandates.

[Cedars]

Donk, I think you're probably right about the origins of the people proposing those demands. So, what ever happened to cleaning agricultural products between the farm and the table. All those people in between the consumer and the farm, the people who take home most of the money spent on food, could do some of that, as they have throughout history. And people putting the food on the table could make sure it's safe, as they have throughout history.

 

If you consider all the handling farm products go through after they leave the farm, those demands are in some ways kind of akin to washing your hands before you go to the restroom.

 

--lemit

It really does break down to the inbetween the farm and the table. Massive production lines with limited quality controls (whether due to the sheer volume or lack of effort) is the largest source of this issue. I would assume you've experienced the butchering of animals and know full well a good butcher does not split the gut, spilling stomach contents onto the meat. I can only imagine what a line processing 500 beef per shift looks like. Drop one cut off the line and the whole days worth of hamburger is tainted.

 

Heres a link with some sources of contamination:

Sources of E. coli infection

 

"During the trace-back investigation the strain of E. coli O157:H7 associated with the outbreak was found in two environmental samples gathered from dairy farms near a lettuce field in California’s Central Valley. "

 

But then again, with the millions of pounds of food processed each day in the USA, I think we've had a pretty good record and truly a lack of contaminated food issues.

[Cedars]

I read that in the EU they won't let you sell milk if it was hand milked. So all the family farms no longer have a cow (well, 2 still do), down from 500 in this one village mentioned (in Poland, I think).

 

Agri-business and distributed marketing seem to be the bane of localizing, community-building, self-sufficiency, and sustainability strategies.

 

There ought to be a way of running both systems concurrently, side-by-side.

 

It was the Reagan administration who began to affect the milk suppliers with rules/regs regarding farms and how milk is handled. Our neighbor delivered his milk in the old milkcans from his herd of like 15 cows. I dont think he hand milked but had a small machine he moved cow to cow, but the milk ended up in the cans because he didnt have the big holding tanks. He was done with milking that year and raised crops instead (wife worked off the farm) after selling off 60 acres. He was very old and sold the farm about 5 years later to developers.

[lemit]

It really does break down to the inbetween the farm and the table. Massive production lines with limited quality controls (whether due to the sheer volume or lack of effort) is the largest source of this issue. I would assume you've experienced the butchering of animals and know full well a good butcher does not split the gut, spilling stomach contents onto the meat. I can only imagine what a line processing 500 beef per shift looks like. Drop one cut off the line and the whole days worth of hamburger is tainted.

 

Yeah, I've helped butcher, and I remember the devastation we felt if the gut walls got perforated. The only running water we had was the kind you ran down to the bottom of the hill and pumped and ran back up the hill carrying a bucket in each hand, so it was hard to clean the meat adequately. We gave a lot of meat away to a neighbor who had 'coon hounds. (I think that may be the first time I've ever written "'coon hounds." It looks much less rustic than it sounds.)

 

Essay, the rule against hand-milking is probably all right, since machine-milked milk can be sanitarily piped directly to refrigeration units, while hand-milked milk is exposed to air, flies, straw, cow tails, cow urine, cow manure, and an occasional cow hoof.

 

When I was growing up, farmers separated and sold cream. They usually kept the cream in the farm cave, a root cellar, until Saturday night, when they exchanged it for groceries. Why they were allowed to get groceries for the by-then rancid cream I couldn't say, except to note that in my home town of around 500 people, there were at least a half dozen different places that bought cream. It was most likely a seller's market.

 

So, I would like to extend my sincere apologies to those people in the Chicago-Des Moines area who, in the early '50's, ate bakery goods made with sour cream. It really was sour cream.

 

--lemit

[freeztar]

This is the kind of article you would expect to read on April fool's day. It's certainly the craziest thing I've heard all day.

 

It seems like California DNR, or Dept of wildlife, or some group would step in and try to stop this.

 

At the very least I hope some environmental group sues the companies responsible.

 

It's amazing that we go through such lengths to maintain complete sterility. We just can't seem to control our need for dominion over nature. It's sad really.