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Isn’t it time we talk about how to change the system so that it I raised at that USDA meeting: How do we build
we finally is more resilient? I was told that that wasn’t our a more resilient system, one that can absorb dis-
task—we were there to discuss how to minimize ruptions whether they are from weather, disease
address the the damage caused by a stop movement order or economic events?
question while also preventing the spread of FMD. The farmers and consumers in the Weston
In other words, almost a decade ago (and A. Price community have worked for many
I raised at probably many years before that), the industry years to do that. But we are hampered by
that USDA and government officials all knew that a disrup- government regulations and policies that are
meeting: tion to the transportation chain would cause ill-designed and often outright hostile to this
How do we the death of millions of animals, with resulting work. Many changes need to be made, and it
farmer bankruptcies and skyrocketing meat will take years of sustained effort to truly shift
build a more prices. Such a disruption could have come from the system.
resilient FMD reaching our shores, or from a crisis that But at least the Covid-19 crisis has drawn

system, one caused a sudden extreme increase in the price attention to the issues, as well as to one of the
of oil, or multiple severe climate events at one solutions: the PRIME Act, HR 2859/S. 1620.
that can time, or any number of other events. . . such as a This bill would remove the federal ban on the
absorb disease spreading among the people working in sale of meat processed at “custom slaughter-

disruptions dangerous and unsanitary meatpacking plants. houses,” which are businesses that meet federal
They knew. And they chose to do absolutely standards and are regulated by the state, but

whether they nothing to change the system. If anything, in which are not required to have a HACCP plan
are from the intervening years, they have made it even or have an inspector on-site during processing.
weather, more fragile, with even greater consolidation of Those two distinctions not only make it much
operations and the perpetual drive to maximize less expensive to operate a custom slaughter-
disease, or profits at the expense of farmers, workers, the house, but also remove many of the problems
economic environment and consumers. They developed that the inspected slaughterhouses have due to
events? and refined a “just in time” system for raising unreasonable or arbitrary inspectors.
Another good bill has also drawn support

animals and getting them to slaughter, perpetu-
ated government policies based on the philoso- in this crisis: New Markets for State-Inspected
phy of “get big or get out” and sacrificed every Meat & Poultry, S. 1720. This bill would re-
other interest on the altar of corporate profits move the federal ban on the sale of meat from
and supposed efficiency, touting the cheapness state-inspected slaughterhouses across state
of the food as the symbol of their success. lines; since these slaughterhouses meet the
Tyson’s advertisement was intended to same standards as the federally inspected ones
scare the American public into supporting (including HACCP and having an inspector on-
measures to bail companies like Tyson out of site), the ban has never made any sense. This bill
the situation they have created. And it worked, is particularly helpful in building more regional
at least in part. President Trump promptly issued markets. For a resilient food system, we need
an executive order finding that the slaughter- farms and infrastructure of all sorts and sizes,
houses were essential and ordering them to stay from very small farms selling direct to consum-
open. Part of the executive order protected the ers locally to mid-size farms selling regionally
companies from liability for their workers’ ill- and wholesale. Diversity, whether biological or
nesses, allowing them to force people back into economic, helps creates resilience.
dangerous conditions without paying the price As this article goes to print, the Senate is
for their actions. Yet as workers have continued considering whether to include either of these
to fall ill by the hundreds, the packing plants bills in its next Covid-relief bill. Including
have still had to close or reduce their operations, them would be a significant step forward, both
and we continue to face mounting numbers of in helping farmers and consumers weather the
animals killed and wasted, farmers in crisis, and immediate crisis and in building better systems
shortages at grocery stores. for the future. Should the Senate fail to take
Isn’t it time we finally address the question action, however, we must simply keep trying.
96 Wise Traditions SUMMER 2020