Funny. Just finished writing up a Direct Trade resolution for our local county and this article pops into view.
There is no doubt at all that a food shortage is going to hit very soon. We have to get in front of this and thwart the agenda. The lock down has been bad enough, let’s take back our right to eat food grown by people in our own area. ASAP.
Very short article, small excerpt:
Last month, Florida farmers let countless tons of produce rot in their fields after the restaurants, theme parks and cruise lines they normally serve this time of year were suddenly closed due to nationwide quarantines.
This month, they are changing their business model, selling directly to the consumers who are doing a whole lot more home-cooking these days.
returntonow.net/2020/05/01/florida-farmers-sell-directly-to-consumers-to-avoid-produce-dumps/
Looks like Thomas Massie is trying to get our small farms able to sell their cattle too.
Farmers are going broke and shelves are going empty. Instead of just granting immunity from (American!) employee lawsuits to foreign owned companies, why not put America first? Here’s what the bipartisan bicameral PRIME Act would do:t.co/GpZEwbhkKn
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) May 3, 2020
Farmers are going broke and shelves are going empty. Instead of just granting immunity from (American!) employee lawsuits to foreign owned companies, why not put America first? Here’s what the bipartisan bicameral PRIME Act would do:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, May 23, 2019
Laura Lington, 202-225-3465
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, two cattle-raising lawmakers, Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Representative Chellie Pingree (D-ME) re-introduced the PRIME (Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption) Act to make it easier for small farms and ranches to serve consumers. The PRIME Act (H.R. 2859/S. 1620) would give individual states freedom to permit intrastate distribution of custom-slaughtered meat such as beef, pork, or lamb to consumers, restaurants, hotels, boarding houses, and grocery stores.
“Consumers want to know where their food comes from, what it contains, and how it’s processed. Yet, federal inspection requirements make it difficult to purchase food from trusted, local farmers,” said Rep. Massie, who owns 50 head of cattle. “It is time to open our markets to give producers the freedom to succeed and consumers the freedom to choose.”
“In order for local farms to compete, they need scale-appropriate regulations. It’s not realistic to ask a local farmer in Maine to drive hours to get to a USDA-inspected processing facility and turn a profit,” said Rep. Pingree, who has been an organic livestock farmer for nearly 40 years. “The PRIME Act will help change federal regulations to make it easier to process meat locally—helping farmers scale up and give consumers what they so clearly want.”
Current law exempts custom slaughter of animals from federal inspection regulations, but only if the meat is slaughtered for personal, household, guest, and employee use (21 U.S.C. § 623(a)). This means that in order to sell individual cuts of locally-raised meats to consumers, farmers and ranchers must first send their animals to one of a limited number of USDA-inspected slaughterhouses. These slaughterhouses are sometimes hundreds of miles away, which adds substantial transportation cost, and also increases the chance that meat raised locally will be co-mingled with industrially-produced meat. The PRIME Act would expand the current custom exemption and allow small farms, ranches, and slaughterhouses to thrive.
Massie, a rancher, owns 50 head of cattle on his off-the-grid farm in northeast Kentucky. Pingree raises grass-fed beef and chickens on her island farm in North Haven, Maine. Original co-sponsors of the PRIME Act include Representatives Jared Huffman (D-CA), John Garamendi (D-CA), Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Scott Perry (R-PA), Justin Amash (R-MI), Mark Meadows (R-NC), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Steve King (R-IA), and Mark Green (R-TN).
FP