H.R. 2749 Food Safety Enhancement Act Passes

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It was not a great day for conservation or small and medium-sized farmers when this bill passed the US House of Representatives at the end of July, 2009. A list of amendments that would have spelled out important protections was not adopted, but the following language did make it into the final version:

"shall take into consideration, consistent with ensuring enforceable public health protection, the impact on small-scale and diversified farms, and on wildlife habitat, conservation practices, watershed-protection efforts, and organic production methods"

Additionally, the legislation now focuses on the riskiest crops, instead of all crops, so this should lessen the food safety impacts to conservation and small and medium farm issues.

In order to better confirm the intent of this legislation in regards to organic and conservation practices, two colloquies from Congressmen Farr (CA) and Blumenauer (OR) were made:

Unofficial transcript below from http://www.recipeforamerica.org/:

Rep. Farr: I rise to engage in a colloquy with my friend, the distinguished gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Dingell California, Mr. Waxman. We are passing an historic food safety measure today and I truly appreciate the effort that you, the Committee and Staff have worked to move this legislation to the floor today. As the Member of Congress that represents the Salad Bowl of the World I feel the landmark legislation is long overdue and look forward to working with my colleague as this process moves to the Senate and Conference and also as a member of the Agriculture Appropriations I look forward to working with the gentleman to allocate resources necessary to make the safest food in the world even safer.

I have deep concerns, however, about the fee structure in the measure, which would charge a farm family making jams or syrup or cheese the same fee as a processing plant owned by a multinational corporation employing hundreds or thousands or workers. This strikes me as not only unfair but contrary to federal farm policy that has encouraged small and mid-sized family farms to get into small scale value-added enterprises to survive economically. I am seeking an assurance from the gentleman that a more progressive fee structure will be found that does not inhibit our farm families from taking advantage of new markets.

As a member of the Organic Caucus, I also have concerns about the interplay between this bill and the National Organic Program. Is it the Chairman's understanding that this bill would not establish any requirements for organically produced or processed products which are in conflict with the requirements established by the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 and the USDA's National Organic Program regulations?

Mr. Blumenauer: I thank my colleague Mr. Farr for his statement and for the yielding of his time and I would like to echo both his praise and his concerns. Like Mr. Farr, I recognize the need for food safety reform. This is a very important issue that must be addressed by the House, and I appreciate the efforts of the Chairman to address some of the concerns of small and organic farmers. I have pushed for food safety reform since being elected to Congress and am proud that this is the year we will finally see it receive the attention it deserve. However I am concerned about the impact of this bill on the small farmers in my state and across the country. Over sixty percent of Oregon farmers make their living from a farm that is smaller than fifty acres. I echo Mr. Farr's concerns regarding the fairness of some of these requirements for these farmers.

I am also concerned about the language regarding interaction between wildlife, livestock and farming practices. Biodiversity is a prerequisite for a healthy farm and not something we should penalize farmers for. Last week in my state, staff from Oregon State University and the Xerces Society led a tour to four diverse Oregon farms where farmers are utilizing techniques such as naturescaping, floodplain restoration and natural hedgerows to encourage crop health, control pests and invasive species, and enhance soil quality. I am concerned that these practices, which are cost effective and bring benefits to the farm and local wildlife, would be in jeopardy under this legislation.

I believe we should target reform and safety efforts towards practices which have been directly linked to food disease outbreaks, rather than limiting approaches that farmers have used for centuries to reduce their dependence on pesticides, herbicides and other carbon intensive farming techniques.

I would like assurance from the Chairman that as the Food and Drug Administration develops these criteria, they will consider the needs of small farms and the practices of organic farmers.

Mr. Dingell: With respect to the National Organic Program, it is my expectation that FDA will work very closely with the NOP as it implements this bill to ensure there are no such conflicts. There is direction within the bill for the FDA to consider small farms, organic practices and conservation methods, and I trust that this will be followed. The intention of this bill is not to harm farming practices that have existed for centuries with minimal documented health risk.

For more perspectives on H.R. 2749, read Gourmet Magazine's article, and the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition's response to a memo Mr. Dingell put out about sustainable and organic agriculture concerns.