March 25th, 2009 by Jess

I’m sure everyone remembers the series of food and product safety scares that became big news last year.  The mainstream media has continued to cover food safety loudly, in part because Americans care and, in part, causing Americans to care more than we ever would have otherwise.  (Want to see something scary?  Good thing the media isn’t covering those with the same level of attention.  It might be the final nail in the coffin of American consumerism.)

There are currently five food safety bills making their way through Congress.  Unfortunately, if passed in their current forms, these bills will have a tremendous negative impact on local farmers and the sustainable food movement.  The standards and regulations will raise costs substantially for all farmers, but prohibitively for small farmers who are not operating with an economy of scale.

Each of these bills addresses several elements of the food production system:

• Tracking the origins of food
• Creating standards for production methods

At the core of the concern about these bills is the National Animal Identification System (NAIS).  This is a policy requiring the identification of all livestock which, if implemented, would be prohibitively expensive for many small farmers and ranchers.  While none of the legislation currently in Congress specifically calls for NAIS, if the Department of Agriculture implements the program, much of this legislation will affect the scope and range of the system.  Specifically, none of this legislation distinguishes between factory-scale farming and local sustainable agriculture.  Unfortunately, the 2009 omnibus Appropriations bill, passed in February, included funding for NAIS.

As with so many pet issues of the mainstream media and of Congress, food safety has become a victim of a fundamental issue in framing.  The argument can be made that tracking is necessary in industrial agriculture and food processing.  If something goes wrong, officials need to know the source so that they can more quickly identify and remove products from the market — on a national scale.  In industrial agriculture, food is grown on one one side of the country, processed on the other side of the country, and distributed everywhere.  Knowing where food comes from is a key element in keeping people safe.

Tracking systems such as NAIS and the other mechanisms outlined in these bills protect us from something that is not an issue in local agriculture.  With locally sourced food, I know where my food is coming from.  And the people who grow and raise my food know where their products are going.

Local farmers do not have the economy of scale to necessitate this level of governmental regulation.  And they cannot afford to shoulder the expense of regulation mechanisms designed for industrial agriculture.   It is time to pay attention to what Congress is doing with our food.

food safety, local agriculture, NAIS, sustainable agriculture