Tell them what you want or Cargill and Monsanto will do it for you!

I try not to get too political on this blog because it’s really about where to get local food, whether you purchase it or grow it, but it’s hard not to when I know what’s going on at the federal level. Everything that happens in Washington affects our ability to get local food here in Nevada. Without public intervention the USDA, big agriculture, big food processing corporations, and big pharmaceutical will get exactly what they want and we’ll be eating food that nature never intended. And bonus for them, these laws makes it increasingly difficult for small producers to compete and reduces our access to local, healthy, organic food.

The USDA, food manufactures, and corporations are making a huge push to change the laws that help protect us all, without any pesky strings that make them responsible to the consumer or the environment. They’re trying to get more GE (genetically engineered) food onto the grocery store shelves without labeling (some is already on it’s way to your local grocery store), exempt big producers from environmental, safety, and health laws, and make it increasingly difficult for small producers who must comply with laws designed to reign in huge producers bent on profit. The Bush administration passed some seriously eater-unfriendly laws through during their last days. Did you know the USDA is planning to implement a law that would require every animal in the country associated with food be electronically tracked? Yup! If this plan goes through you’ll have to register every single one of your backyard chickens with the federal government and pay a fee to do it. Those in the know expect this requirement to drive small producers out of business. See National Animal Identification System (NAIS).

What’s my point? Your voice counts so tell your federal government representatives/agencies what you expect from them! There are all kinds of watchdog groups out there trying to keep us informed about who’s messing with our food supply. You can help immensely by signing up for alerts and signing petitions on line. I do it while checking email. A couple of minutes a day and I can help keep franken-food off my dinner plate. A good place to start is the Center for Food Safety.

Okay, I'm off my soapbox now.